Ranivus

Ichigo Mashmiaro is another slice of life anime set around the life of four Elementary School friends and a sister. Theres no ecchi but there are LOADS of fanservice in this show. You can tell just by watching the first episode. Its even more frequent in the ova's. Also, the power word for this show is CUTE. I cant emphasize this enough... CUTE is allover. For some reason the chemistry between all of them really make for a unique experience. Their character traits sound so standard for a slice of life comedy but the way its executed is far better than most anime of itskind. Every minute you'll be going "aww" or even "omfg how CUTE!" Thats mainly in part by the way the girls react to each other and feed off each others actions/reactions. The voice acting is top notch for what its worth... all the girls all have their cute tendancies intact and their voices are just to gaddamn cute *_* Their singing the credits is even good too. Speaking of singing, theres no music whatsoever during the show. Just the seiyu and the enviromental sound effects, with a fair dose of typical comedy sounds. I think absence of the music is just a plan to emphasise how cute the girls are in their "tranquil" and "innocent" enviroments. it does work very well to set off that cute aura that surrounds the entire show. When i said the power word for this show was "CUTE" the art and animation shows that in spades. First of all you'll notice the color scheme consists of only pastel spring colors. Even the dark colors like black and brown have that pastel touch to it. Theres so much color that some might even be drowned in the pastel. The enviroment art is half part of how they show how great their cute theme is executed. Every thing from the Chika's simple bedroom layout with the pink bed sheets and sunflower yellow wall, to the dirty laundry stacked in the laundry basket filled so high sleeves are pouring out the side, down to the different individual lunches ALL the kids in the classroom are eating with their little milk jugs. They even seem to enjoy their art so much that there is quite a few still life shots when they're showing time is passing. This just shows how much time and effort they put into setting the mood and enviroment for their viewers. The character artwork are in a whole nother level than any other anime you've seen. Not only do they draw individual background characters with sheer detail and cuteness, but they somehow manage to give the main characters dozens of different costumes to wear. Theres so many, i wouldnt be surprised if there were over 100 costume designs for the girls. The character themsselves are detailed as any high value anime should be. You can also tell this anime has its own art style from the begining. And it works very well showcasing the cuteness of the girls. Everything about this show seems to mold together extremely well. When it seems like theres a school comedy, or 2, or 5 every season, Ichigo Mashimaro surely sticks itself out far above the rest. Its a school anime that if you like it, you'll definitely remember it long after your finished. But if youre not into all that cute loli stuff then by all means, avoid this like the plague. But this is by far one of the best loli anime i've ever seen. Too bad im not really into the cute loli anime.

dollie_mixtures

Excuse me while I gush over this series, it's almost too cute to bear. I, perhaps, would have overlooked it if it wasn't for the 3 volumes of the Ichigo Mashimaro manga I have sitting on my shelf. I often find myself not liking the art in the anime if I was exposed to the manga first, but in this case I was pleasantly surprised; the characters in both were drawn very similar, almost identical. The backgrounds lack the detail of other anime, but I can't say that it bothered me much. (If you've read the manga, you'll notice the shuffling of the chapters, theanime certainly does not follow the manga faithfully, but that does not detract from the story.) The premise is quite simple, we follow 5 girls - Nobue the oldest, her sister Chii, their friends, Ana, Miu and Matsuri - but not continuously, mind you, but rather, we drop in and out of their everyday lives. And what cute lives they lead! Don't expect complex plot here, each episode is filled with the every day things we all have done, the girls go to school, enjoy cake, shovel snow, get lost and play sports. But it never gets boring, because mischief is just right around the corner and it will have you giggling to yourself over the silliness. The simplicity of the plot is the anime's strong point but also it can be its undoing. If you appreciate the innocent, stress-free and, dare I say again, CUTE things in life, you most likely will love this series, I certainly did. Otherwise, you may find the cuteness tooth-rottingly sweet.