Strawberry Marshmallow
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is a Japanese
manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
series written and illustrated by Barasui about the adventures of four elementary school girls and their older sister-figure. It began serialization in
ASCII Media Works , formerly , is a Japanese Publishing, publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing headquartered in Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. It originally formed on April 1, 2008, as a result of a Mergers and acquisitions, merger bet ...
' manga magazine '' Dengeki Daioh'' in 2002. In 2005, the manga was adapted into an
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
television series and a
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
video game. Three
original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the ...
(OVA) episodes were later released from February to April 2007. Another two-episode OVA project titled ''Ichigo Mashimaro Encore'' was released in 2009. The manga's tagline is "Cute is justice." There is an unrelated manga by Touko Mizuno with the similar title of .


Plot


Themes

According to the manga, ''Strawberry Marshmallow'' is set in Hamamatsu, Japan. Seasons play an important role throughout ''Strawberry Marshmallow'' as the characters are involved in many normal seasonal activities. The series is speckled with numerous small, music-related
allusion Allusion, or alluding, is a figure of speech that makes a reference to someone or something by name (a person, object, location, etc.) without explaining how it relates to the given context, so that the audience must realize the connection in the ...
s, such as Ana's dog Frusciante being named after
John Frusciante John Anthony Frusciante ( ; born March 5, 1970) is an American musician and the guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, having been with the band across three iterations. He has released 11 solo albums and 7 EPs, ranging in style from acoustic gu ...
of the
Red Hot Chili Peppers The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1982, consisting of Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Flea (musician), Flea (bass), John Frusciante (guitar), and Chad Smith (drums). Their music incorporates elements of a ...
, while episode eight of the anime sees two goldfish called Richard and James (with Aphex Twin appearing in other comics by Barasui as well). Other referenced musicians include
Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...
,
Sigur Rós Sigur Rós () is an Icelandic post-rock band that formed in 1994 in Reykjavík. It comprises lead vocalist and guitarist Jónsi, Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm, and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal soun ...
, the
Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in ...
,
Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentMoby Richard Melville Hall (September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, disc jockey, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "amo ...
,
Outkast Outkast (sometimes written as OutKast) was an American hip-hop duo formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1992, consisting of Big Boi (Antwan Patton) and André 3000 (André Benjamin, formerly known as Dré). Widely regarded as one of the greatest an ...
,
The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. Within a few months of their first gig, the line-up settled as Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar, primary songwriter), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussi ...
,
Arctic Monkeys Arctic Monkeys are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. They comprise lead singer Alex Turner, drummer Matt Helders, guitarist Jamie Cook and bassist Nick O'Malley. The co-founder and original bassist Andy Nicholson ...
,
The Black Eyed Peas The Black Eyed Peas are an American musical group formed in Los Angeles in 1995, composed of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo (rapper), Taboo. Fergie (singer), Fergie was a member during the height of their popularity in the 2000s, and ...
, and Squarepusher. The title itself was inspired by "Mashimaro", a single by Japanese rock artist Tamio Okuda.


Characters

; : :Nobue is the eldest main character. She is Chika's older sister and usually has final authority on all matters. She often tries to "borrow" money from Chika to buy
cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into Rolling paper, thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhale ...
s. Nobue is perpetually searching for a part-time job to earn money for more cigarettes to calm her nicotine addiction. She has been described as a
kogal In Culture of Japan, Japanese culture, refers to the members of the Gyaru subculture who are still in high school and who incorporate their School uniforms in Japan, school uniforms into their dress style. These high school girls are characte ...
. :The story suggests that Nobue derives some kind of sensual pleasure from watching the girls do cute things. In this respect, Nobue appears to appreciate the '' moe''
aesthetic Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,'' , acces ...
. It is seen during the anime that Nobue prefers Matsuri and Ana over Chika and Miu. :The Nobue character changed from the manga to the anime. In the manga, she is a sixteen-year-old high school freshman, while in the anime she is a twenty-year-old junior-college student. Her age is presumably changed because of her smoking and drinking habit, both becoming legal in Japan at age twenty. In the first episode of the anime, she initially introduces herself as a sixteen-year-old, intended to be a joke as she quickly states that she is really twenty. She tends to act somewhat less mature in her manga incarnation, doing things such as tricking Matsuri into thinking that Miu is dead. Her appearance changes radically in the early stages of the manga, especially her hair, which goes from blonde to dark brown (and is black in the anime). ; : :Chika is one of two twelve-year-olds in the story. She is the same age as Miu, and attends the same class as her neighbor Miu. Chika is a cheerful girl who shows more common sense than the other girls. Her main role in the series is that of an average, twelve-year-old girl, which is emphasized in the first manga volume, where her older sister Nobue describes Chika as specializing in "being totally generic." Her special skill is cooking, especially baking cookies. Her nickname is "Chi-chan" or just "Chi". ; : :Miu is another twelve-year-old girl who is depicted in the story as having a problem child personality. A childhood friend of Chika, she lives next door to the Itoh house and attends the same class as Chika. Miu likes to say random things out of the blue and often plays pranks on Matsuri and Ana, but is most of the time interrupted by Nobue (and sometimes by Chika), ending up lying face-down on the floor. She has the least common sense or manners of the girls, and is rarely taken seriously because of her weird ideas and comments. She seems to harbor some sort of jealousy of Ana and Matsuri due to the fact that Nobue finds them cuter. She tends to have no delicacy and often does things that bother people around her. Her nickname is ''Micchan''. Miu has been described as "
Yotsuba Koiwai , also known as just , is a fictional character and the main protagonist in the comedy manga series ''Yotsuba&!'', as well as the one-shot manga "Try! Try! Try!", both by Kiyohiko Azuma. As the title character of both the series itself and alm ...
with fangs". :While she is often causing trouble for the other girls, an interview with the cast that was published in volume 4 of the manga series reveals that Miu is extremely fond of Chika, whom she dubs as her "one and only." The interview also states that Miu derives satisfaction from amusing Chika, and that she will never go to bed before making sure that Chika's room light is turned off. Light yuri themes between Miu and Chika occasionally appear in the manga. ; : :Matsuri, nicknamed "Mats" in the manga, is an eleven-year-old glasses-wearing girl with a pet
ferret The ferret (''Mustela furo'') is a small, domesticated species belonging to the family Mustelidae. The ferret is most likely a domesticated form of the wild European polecat (''Mustela putorius''), as evidenced by the ferret's ability to inter ...
named John. She is depicted as having a very timid personality, and is often the subject of Miu's teasing, which often results in her crying and hiding behind Nobue. She is one grade below Chika and Miu, and in the same class as Ana, with whom she quickly becomes friends. Matsuri discovers that Ana can speak Japanese fluently and helps her hide both her Japanese language skills and her lack of English language skills from the rest of their class. While she has gray hair in the anime, her hair is white in the manga. ; : :Ana is an eleven-year-old girl who originally came from
Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
five years before the series, but seems to have forgotten how to speak English. She at first pretends that she speaks only English, but it is not long before she is discovered by Matsuri while speaking very polite Japanese. Matsuri tries to help her re-learn English. Ana is often teased by Miu because of her last name, which in Japanese sounds like a typical psychomime (a form of onomatopoeic sound). As such, Ana dislikes her last name and becomes angry when Miu calls "Coppola-chan". Miu also often spells her name in
kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...
to mean . Ana's "proper Japanese" personality is reflected by her very traditionally-feminine and polite speaking style, and her impressive knowledge of Japanese words, customs, and traditions makes her seem more "Japanese" than most native Japanese people (which she also tries to hide). Later in the series, her ability to speak Japanese is discovered by the other students in her class. Ana owns a pet dog named Frusciante.


Media


Manga

The ''Ichigo Mashimaro''
manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
, written and illustrated by Barasui, began serialization in
ASCII Media Works , formerly , is a Japanese Publishing, publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing headquartered in Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. It originally formed on April 1, 2008, as a result of a Mergers and acquisitions, merger bet ...
's '' Dengeki Daioh'' magazine on February 15, 2002. The first ''
tankōbon A is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as ''shinsho'' (17x11 cm paperback books) and ''bunkobon''. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that w ...
'' was released on January 27, 2003, and nine volumes have been released as of February 2023. The French company Kurokawa has an ongoing license of the manga under the title ''Les petites fraises'', while Siam Inter Comics publishes the series in Thai.
Tokyopop Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licens ...
previously licensed the series for publication in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
(in English, as ''Strawberry Marshmallow'') and in
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
(in German, as ''Erdbeeren & Marshmallows''), but the series was canceled in 2008 after five English volumes and four German ones due to low sales, and is now out of print. Early chapters of the manga break the
fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance dramatic convention, convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. ...
, especially in the first volume, where Chika often turns to face the readers when describing her plight. The manga currently publishes on an irregular basis with an inconsistent number of pages per issue.


Volume list


Anime

A 12-episode ''Strawberry Marshmallow''
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
series produced by
Daume was a Japanese animation studio that was founded in 1986 by Haruo Nakayama and his wife, Tomiko Yamamoto, with Nakayama taking the role of president of the studio. In 1993, Takeshi Anzai became co-president with Nakayama; however, sometime in the ...
and directed by Takuya Satō aired in Japan between July 14 and October 13, 2005 on the TBS Japanese television network. A 4-minute special was also broadcast prior to the start of the series. The anime series was licensed for
English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
distribution by
Geneon (abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise that is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, owned by American telecommunications/media company Comcast headquartered in Akasaka, Tokyo ...
. Three
original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the ...
(OVA) episodes were later released between February 23 and April 25, 2007. A two-episode OVA series titled Ichigo Mashimaro ''Encore'' was released between January 23 and March 25, 2009. After going out of print due to the shutdown of Geneon's anime division, the series (including both OVAs) was later re-licensed by Sentai Filmworks.


Audio CDs

Five ''Ichigo Mashimaro'' drama CDs were released between July 22, 2005 and August 25, 2006 on the Frontier Works record label. They use the same voice actresses as the anime. There have also been four character song singles (one for each girl except Nobue), two soundtrack albums for the original anime, multiple "Toy CDs," and two soundtrack albums for the OVA.


Visual novel

The
visual novel A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...
, under the original title of ''Ichigo Mashimaro'', was developed by
ASCII Media Works , formerly , is a Japanese Publishing, publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing headquartered in Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. It originally formed on April 1, 2008, as a result of a Mergers and acquisitions, merger bet ...
for the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
based on the series under an all-ages CERO rating. The game was first released on August 11, 2005 and was re-released on March 8, 2007 at a lower price. Players take on the role of a college student, a childhood friend of Nobue who has come to visit. Over the course of a month, he gradually gets to know one of the girls and begins to go on dates with them.


Differences between media

There are several, large differences between the manga and anime versions of the series such as the much earlier introduction of Ana in the anime than the manga. In the manga, Ana does not appear until the second volume, while she makes her debut in the second episode of the anime. Events that take place in the manga never appeared in the anime, and chapters that were adapted were mixed together or were altered. For example, episode seven of the anime, "Going to the Sea", mixes elements of volume 1 manga "episodes" (chapters) nine, "Critical Investigation", and ten, "Beach Challenge". While Ana is present in the anime episode, she was not in the manga versions at all. Character designs were extremely inconsistent in the early stages of the manga, before Barasui knew that ''Strawberry Marshmallow'' would become a series, a fact referenced at the end of the first volume. Character designs are even more inconsistent with the visual novel, which uses a mix between the manga and anime's styles along with its own unique changes. For example, Matsuri has blonde hair in the visual novel, while she has white or gray hair in other mediums. Early chapters of the manga also had Miu drawn almost identical to Chika, with their hair length being the only visible difference between them. In addition, some of the girls' personalities are slightly different in each media: Matsuri is shown to be a little more defensive in the manga than her anime counterpart, which was demonstrated by her slapping or shoving Miu away when the latter got overboard with her pranks, while she never (deliberately) laid a finger on Miu in the anime. There are also subtle differences in Miu and Chika's personalities between the manga and the anime, e.g. Miu is more random and unpredictable in the manga compared to her anime counterpart. Chika is also targeted by Miu more often in the manga as compared to the anime (but not as much as Matsuri is), resulting in more outbursts of anger from her in the manga.


Reception

''Strawberry Marshmallow'' has received positive reviews in English. Carlo Santos from
Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ot ...
has described ''Strawberry Marshmallow'' as "a clever little comedy that delivers laughs via its straight-faced approach" and has mentioned that "There is something uniquely appealing about ''Marshmallows deadpan delivery". Dirk Deppey from ''
The Comics Journal ''The Comics Journal'', often abbreviated ''TCJ'', is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing r ...
'' stated that "Barasui sets up his comic situations with little if any extraneous padding and plays out the resulting gags with the skill and grace of a master craftsman". The phrase "cute girls doing cute things", a subgenre of the
slice of life Slice of life is a depiction of mundane experiences in art and entertainment. In theater, slice of life refers to Naturalism (theatre), naturalism, while in literary parlance it is a narrative technique in which a seemingly arbitrary sequence ...
genre, was used by fans to describe the series as early as 2004. Erica Friedman of
Yuricon Yuricon was an anime convention geared toward fans of yuri anime and manga. The first Yuricon event was held in 2003 in Newark, New Jersey with about 200 attending, although Yuricon has existed as an online entity since 2000. The event was or ...
has called the series "too-cute-to-hate", but criticized the now out-of-print English language publication of the manga for not providing any translations for sound effects, and for not providing explanations for some puns. Jason Thompson, writing about '' The Last Uniform'' for the appendix to '' Manga: The Complete Guide'', contrasts the two series and calls ''Strawberry Marshmallow'' "purely juvenile gaze-into-the-girls-world stuff".


References


External links


''Strawberry Marshmallow''
at '' Dengeki Daioh''
''Strawberry Marshmallow''
at TBS * {{Daume 2005 anime television series debuts 2005 video games 2007 anime OVAs 2009 anime OVAs ASCII Media Works manga Bishōjo games Comedy anime and manga Dengeki Comics Dengeki Daioh Geneon USA Japan-exclusive video games MediaWorks games NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan PlayStation 2 games PlayStation 2-only games Sentai Filmworks Shōnen manga Slice of life anime and manga TBS Television (Japan) original programming Tokyopop titles Visual novels Video games developed in Japan