Ichigo Mashimaro | complete

What a brilliant series!

I just can’t get enough of these anime that celebrate everyday life, especially the vibrance of childhood and youth. Ichigo Mashimaro of-course means Strawberry Marshmallow, and as the name implies the anime is as sweet as its name. 12 eps of pure absolute cuteness in every epeisode that always instills a great sense of warmth and optimism. One of the cleverest and most surprising things about this anime though is its depth. Sure it doesn’t delve into the depths of what it means to be a sentient being in an age of technology that blurs the boundaries of defined consciousness, but it does do is something very clever indeed. Each of the four younger girls represents a small part of Nobue’s character, their older counterpart and sister to one of them, though of-course she does play a sisterly role to them all.

Ichigo Mashimaro was everything I hoped it would be and more. There are subtleties to this anime that really do reach into the warmest of emotions and the fondest of memories. It creates a wonderful atmosphere in everything it does, and really does a great job of highlighting the very real joys and humourous elements of ordinary childhood life. Furthermore, Noboe herself (around 20 while the other four girls are around 14), is an extremely well balanced character; vibrant, lazy, compulsive, and above all extremely caring. While most of the time I wished Miu would get hit by a bus, it was great to see her in ep 5 as the catalyst for Nobue to shine particularly brightly.

I’m so glad anime like these are still being made, without any sign of letting up. Everyday life has become one of my favourite genres, and Ichigo Mashimaro stands as one of the best so far.

(anime notelog)