Ichigo Mashimaro OVA

[outcast_within]

These girls are two damn cute. Especially the good cop bad cop and the chief. (did i watch too many action 80's movies?

I meant the serious girl, the wacky girl and their older sister. They're just radiating cuteness and loveableness

[Vexx]

<sigh> probably should have nailed the raws -- it may be months before I get to see #2 or #3....

[Vexx]

WOOT ... I.M. OVA #2 is out in the torrents. Drop everything .... praise HGM.

[Daniel E.]

Ouch!, this release caught me on a curve.

It may be a while before I can watch this. >_< !!!

[Vexx]

Hmmmm, nicely done (the animation and art was very pleasing). Attention to detail is superb (watch the aquarium in the hallway, for example). The skits were a bit more random than usual (just a collection of daily bits with some focus on toughening Matsuri up for real life).
Very, very nice eyecatch of Nobue in the commercial break.

The cosplay had some insane levels of moe, of course (especially Ana).

No huge plot curves but just a nicely spent 30 minutes ... the old guy is still a bit wierd \O.o/

[Sorrow-K]

OVA 2.

Yep, that was quite hilarious. Probably one of the funniest eps we've seen from this franchise, and certainly a lot funnier than the first OVA. Not that they did anything majorly different from the past... the jokes were just funnier in this ep, I guess.

Good stuff. Hopefully the rest of the OVAs will be more like this.

[bdunderscore]

Originally Posted by Sorrow-K

Good stuff. Hopefully the rest of the OVAs will be more like this.

Alas, for there is but one more. ;_;

[Joojoobees]

I really enjoyed this installment, but had to wonder if it would make even the slightest bit of sense to people who weren't already hooked on the show.

Truly this is one of the best realizations of the 'slice of life' genre in existence. I really liked the scene where Nobue cleans her bike.

[Ashlotte]

Absolutely wonderful...Its kindof sad that this will be the last OVA. *hopes for more*

Theres just something about the characters that makes this an incredibly enjoyable show. I guess its alittle of ana/matsuri's cuteness or Miu/chi's idiot/straight man dynamic(Chi's opening her arms to miu to purposely make her go off balance was easily my favorite part of the episode ) just makes me keep smiling lol.

[Sorrow-K]

Originally Posted by Joojoobees

Truly this is one of the best realizations of the 'slice of life' genre in existence. I really liked the scene where Nobue cleans her bike.

Umm... no. In anime alone, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, ARIA, Honey and Clover, Hidamari Sketch, BECK in its first half, Kanon before it reaches its modular stage, Genshiken (arguably, but that's more sitcom than slice-of-life), just to name a few. All of these capture the essence of slice-of-life far better than Ichigo Mashimaro, IMO. I'll never understand why people see IM as among the top tier of either the slice-of-life or comedy genres. Yes, it's funny, no question about that. But it's not brilliant at anything it does... not in my eyes, anyway.

[ZODDGUTS]

Man this show is so damn good just love it. Makes Lucky Star seem even more 2nd rate then it already is. Yeah, I went there.

Now for the 2nd OVA episode. Died of laughter when Miu came in with her Tiger cosplay and Tiger slap Matsuri and Ana. And the scene when Chika had "Faith" that Miu wouldn't steal her pudding and said again with more conviction I couldn't help but laugh.

God I hope there more OVA this series is just to good to end. Well there's still the manga which is great as well.

[Vexx]

Apparently, our dear subbers were unhappy with release 1.0 .... there's a v2 version out.

@Sorrow-K: all the ones you list that I've seen (subtract ARIA and BECK) are wonderful items, I certainly wouldn't want to "line them up"... but "better"? ... most of them don't really cover the same sort of situation (college, high school,etc).... different slices of life.

[Joojoobees]

Originally Posted by Sorrow-K

Umm... no. In anime alone, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, ARIA, Honey and Clover, Hidamari Sketch, BECK in its first half, Kanon before it reaches its modular stage, Genshiken (arguably, but that's more sitcom than slice-of-life), just to name a few. All of these capture the essence of slice-of-life far better than Ichigo Mashimaro, IMO.

Okay, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou was better, but the rest, no. BTW, H&C was more romantic drama than slice-of-life.

I think Ichigo Mashimaru is one of the best in the genre because of its careful study of context and character. The scene I mentioned was a perfect example.

Spoiler for OVA 2, washing the bike:

This scene captures the patient observation that made me love YKK. There is nothing special in the activity (washing a bike, siblings fighting, a dog gets sprayed with a hose), but the careful observation explains something about the siblings relationship, the humor is suitably understated because it isn't a comedy show, it is a slice-of-life show with comedic tendencies. Washing the bike was a perfect subject for animating in a slice-of-life show. It is exceedingly mundane, and yet they caught curious details such as the kind of brush, and the way she was brushing between the wheel and the fender.

[Jiji]

Joojoobees' point is well-made and points out something that I've felt about slice-o-life anime for a long time: that slice-o-life anime puts the pressure heavily on the art and animation (I mean as opposed to story or dialogue). I have yet to take a moment to watch this ep, but from Joojoo's explanation, it sounds as if it's well-drawn and well-animated in order to make that "moment" work the way it does.

[Varion]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Apparently, our dear subbers were unhappy with release 1.0 .... there's a v2 version out.

Yeah, only thing changed in the v2 was the font, so for most people it'll probably be easier just to go to their site and get the font. Basically, it should look like this:

[Ziv]

I just watched the second OVA and I'm wondering if I missed a joke or if it was just chat. When Miu assumes her "comforting pose" Nobue says that Miu can't become a bride anymore. Is that a Japanese culture reference or something else?

[Joojoobees]

Originally Posted by Ziv

When Miu assumes her "comforting pose" Nobue says that Miu can't become a bride anymore. Is that a Japanese culture reference or something else?

I don't know the exact reference, but in many anime they say something similar, like "You have ruined me for marriage." I take it that this is referring to the loss of virginity. For example, in Hayate no Gotoku recently Hayate was carrying a woman and she says something like , "I told you not to touch me. What would you do if I could no longer be married?" (I'm paraphrasing from memory).

BTW, I have never seen it except in a joking reference, for example Mikiru to Kyon, "If I am ruined for marriage..." after the initial bunny suit incident. From that I take it that this is a reference to a somewhat archaic notion.

[Jiji]

Heh...it *is* an archaic reference, for sure. The notion used to be that no male would see a girl naked (outside of her immediate family of course) until her wedding night. It got to the point where the feeling was that if a girl *was* seen that way, the male that saw her was "destined" to be her groom, sometimes he was forced to. The obvious parallel with a loss of virginity has made this notion into rich comedy fodder, and it's been used in all kinds of flexible ways.

Example: Omishi Magical Theatre Risky/Safety -- Yuya and his parents completely freak out Moe's Father when they propose that Yuya "do the right thing" and "take responsibility" for what he did. Moe's Dad is wondering just what exactly Yuya did to his little girl, but we, the audience know that it was just him accidentally seeing Moe's panties when she fell into the bushes one day. LOL

Most of you are probably thinking the same thing right about now: "not seen naked by non-family males? WTF? What about the public baths in Old Japan that were mostly co-ed?" Yeah, I have no idea how that plays into the whole notion. It seems like it's an "area of exception" to the whole thing. Beats me. Anyone more knowledgeable have any more on this? Please?

[Vexx]

Mostly its just as insane as any taboo in any society. It has exceptions, is abused by both sides, and apparently strikes the japanese funny bone

[Ziv]

The opening was sung by the seiyus right? If so, Nobue's seiyu has a surprisingly good singing voice.