Strawberry Marshmallow - Cute Is as Cute Does (Vol. 1)

This and Haibane Renmei (for different reasons of course) have been far and away my favourite anime series for quite some time now. And though I don't really watch anime anymore, I'll always come back to this one when I need cheering up or am just in the mood to laugh. And I do laugh, a lot, while watching Strawberry Marshmallow. It's one of the funniest series I've ever seen, anime or otherwise. It's clever, it's layered; it's dry and esoteric at times. It's definitely not what you'd expect from an anime. And to top it off, it does a good job of bringing you back to your childhood when you were just being goofy with your friends (although, we definitely never had anyone as goofy as Miu around). Highly recommended.

Most of the anime seen in the US is created for the male Japanese market and in turn focussed to the American male market. There is little that comes to the US market of the 'shoujo' or girls' anime. Strawberry Marshmallow is one of those wonderful girls' anime that hits the mark. It's all about relationships and doing stuff together. The characterizations are crisp and the animation is excellent. Music is good, too. (I also recommend the sound track.) There are no worlds to save or monsters to conquer, just kids trying to deal with what life brings their way. A wonderful example is Ana Coppola, a blond, blue eyed, British girl who has been in Japan for most of her life. She struggles with her identity as being instantly recognized as a foreigner, but one who is completely immersed in the Japanese culture and fluent in the language to the point of being unsure of her native tongue. This is a light hearted romp through the lives of some mostly ordinary elementary school girls. One that I found extremely entertaining. (This review is based on viewing the original Japanese release. I am not sure yet how Ana's language differences will be handled by the US release.)

This series (all 3 volumes) is adorable. It's a silly cutesy slice-of-life with cutesy silly girls and their reluctant chaperon, one of the girl's older sister. The English dub is amazing. I believe the English voice actresses fit the characters better than the Japanese ones. It sounds like they use actual age-realistic actresses for 3 of the 4 girls and the 4th is still good. The voice of Miu is exceptionally gifted in bringing that character to life which is crucial because she's the energetic mischievous one. I highly recommend this to any anime collector of this type of genre.

Anime news network summed it up pretty well , " Cute girls do cute things in cute ways." Its a good show, not great , but at such a cheap price its worth checking out.

Totally cute!

I love it so much... How sweet how touching how wonderful to behold! Also the character are adorable and cute as a button.

How interesting could the lives of four cute grade school girls be and why would anyone make an anime about them? WHO CARES!? Strawberry Marshmallow is one of the funniest anime I have ever seen and radiates a warmth and innocence that an American production couldn't even come close to. As the show begins we see a young girl named Nobue who says she's a 16-year old high school student, but when she pulls out a cigarette, we learn the truth, that she's actually 20 years old and it becomes readily apparent that she's a chain smoking borderline alcoholic, but I use those terms in the most positive way. She's not very equipped to handle the adult world. Nobue even has to constantly ask her younger sister Chika for money, which she uses as a lever to castigate her in a weird role reversal. Chika's next door neighbor, Miu, is an annoying, but energetic and hilarious ball of kineticism who instead of using the front door, leaps over from her roof to Chika's and through her window (where she occasionally falls flat on her face). Speaking of, when she says something that Nobue doesn't like, the next scene generally shows Miu lying facedown after Nobue takes her out! Matsuri is the girl's other friend, and is a shy demure intelligence who constantly has a deer-in-headlights look of fear on her face when someone addresses her. The group is rounded out by a new transfer student who happens to be a foreigner named Ana Coppola. Her parents are English but she's lived in Japan so long that she fears that she is losing her cultural identity. She even thinks in Japanese now. In an effort to stem this absorption she plans to act like she can't speak Japanese and act like an ignorant gai-jin. Of course, her plans go awry when Chika, Miu, and Matsuri overhear her talking to herself in perfectly fluent Japanese! Their secret will bind Ana to their circle, even if they all make fun of her strange last name. I loved everything about this first volume of Strawberry Marshmallow. First of all, it is hilarious. The director handled the show in such a way that the humor is always controlled without moving too fast and getting too wacky, such as in a show like Kodocha. Marshmallow is much more quieter than that and achieves much of its punchlines in stillness and reaction shots. But don't get me wrong, there's plenty of slapstick, such as when the girls are hitting each other over the head with Osaka fans to keep each other awake to make Nobue an ashtray for her birthday. The character designs are cute, simple, and beautiful and the animation makes them flow well. The Japanese voice acting is strong. The problem you can run into with shows like this is the ever-present danger of annoying little girl voice actresses. Thankfully, there is no problem with that here as all the girl's voices sound natural and pleasant to the ear. You can tell lots of effort went into designing the look and feel of these girls. The dvd also features a short 5-minute Episode #0 in which the girls and Nobue are on a spaceship trying to land on Earth with cigarette supplies running low! I feel as though this will become one of my favorite all-time anime and is an instant classic! I would also recommend Azumanga Daioh, Bottle Fairy, Nanaka 6/17, and Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat.

THis series is just cute period. At times it may get a little slow, but it is enjoyable to watch. There's something about it that makes you want to see more. I enjoy the bursts of comedy in circumstances within the series.