Strawberry Marshmallow
| Strawberry Marshmallow | |
| File:Ichigo Mashimaro.jpg Cast of Ichigo Mashimaro | |
| Genre | Comedy |
|---|---|
| Created by | Barasui |
| Manga | |
| 苺ましまろ | |
| Written by | Barasui |
| Published by | Media Works |
| Anime | |
| 苺ましまろ | |
| Directed by | Sato Takuya |
| Studio | Media Works |
Ichigo Mashimaro is a manga series by mangaka Barasui about the adventures of four elementary school girls and a high school student. It was created by Barasui for the comic magazine Dengeki Daioh since 2001. In 2005, the series was made into an anime series and a PlayStation 2 game.
The character designs seem to be highly focused on the kawaii and moé aesthetic. This has led to some labelling the series lolicon. While the series contains no explicit sexuality, Barasui has a history as a lolicon author, so the label is not denied.
Characters
- Chika Itoh (seiyū: Saeko Chiba) While being 12 years old, this cheerful girl has a little more common sense than the other girls (especially Miu); she is considered the leader of the group because of this. She is in the same class as Miu and is Nobue's little sister. She is nicknamed Chi-chan or just Chi.
- Miu Matsuoka (seiyū: Fumiko Orikasa) Another 12 year old girl with a bit of an undefinable personality. A childhood friend of Chika, she lives next door to the Itohs and is in the same class as Chika. She likes to say random things out of the blue and often plays pranks on Matsuri and Ana, but is most of the time cut short by Nobue. She has the least common sense or manners of all the girls, and is rarely taken seriously because of her weird ideas and comments.
- Matsuri Sakuragi (seiyū: Ayako Kawasumi) An 11 year old glasses-wearing girl with a pet ferret and a very timid personality. She is often the subject of Miu's teasing and can resort to crying and hiding behind Nobue, which makes her one of the cuter characters (according to multiple viewers/fans of the series). She is one grade below Chika and Miu, she is in the same class as Ana and quickly became friends, even if she was a little nervous at their first encounter.
- Ana Coppola (seiyū: Mamiko Noto): An 11 year old girl who originally came from Cornwall, England, but seems to have forgotten how to speak English. She first pretends that she speaks only English, but it's not long before she's discovered by Matsuri while speaking very polite Japanese. Matsuri tries to helps her re-learn English. Ana is often teased by Miu because of her name, Ana Koppora, which in kanji read from left to right as 'hole', 'bones' and 'cave'. She is nicknamed 'Coppola-chan' much to her grief.
- Nobue Itoh (seiyū: Hitomi Nabatame) A 16 year old high school student (she is 20 years old in the PS2 game and the anime to comply with regulations against depictions of underage drinkers or smokers) with a tendency to sub-conciously reach for a smoke. She is Chika's older sister and a welcome stop to Miu's antics. She often tries to 'borrow' some money from Chika to get cigarettes and usually comforts Matsuri and Ana because of Miu. She is desperatly searching for a part-time job to get money for more cigarettes. Nobue's being 20 is something of a joke. She first introduces herself in the Anime as a "typical 16 year old high school student", but then quickly claims it's a lie and she is 20. Despite this proclamation nothing else in the show suggests she is 20. It is a common joke in other hentai and anime games to claim a character is 20 when they clearly aren't in order to get around censorship laws.
License information
Ichigo Mashimaro is co-produced by Geneon USA. However, while the license for American distribution has not been confirmed and no plans have been announced for it as of yet, it is widely assumed (and most likely true, due to their being credited as co-producers) that they have the license.
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