Ichigo Mashimaro - Cute Comedy Fun

Studio: Daume    |    Released: 2005    |    Duration: 12 Episodes    |    Streaming on: HiDive

Ichigo Mashimaro - An Anime Review

Hi Everyone!

Given the year we’ve all had I’m sure we could all use some soul-soothing with a little bit of Cute Comedy Fun. Which is why we couldn’t be more excited to share this treat with you all. Ichigo Mashimaro or as it’s known in the West, Strawberry Marshmallow, is a delightfully sweet and hilarious anime that has filled our hearts with a ton of joy and laughter.


If you’d like to watch our full anime review, feel free to check out the video below:





The story follows a group of four elementary school girls as they go about their everyday lives. Now this being a slice-of-life anime it may be lacking in plot, focusing more on the mundane, but it is definitely not lacking in the art department which is adorable, nor in the comedy department which is genius. Seriously it doesn’t matter how many times we watch this anime, it always has the ability to make us laugh.

The anime Ichigo Mashimaro is an adaptation of the author Barasui’s manga by the same name which came out in 2002 and is technically still classified as on-going. In 2005 the manga was adapted into a TV anime series, and Geneon acquired the license to distribute the English dub. Unfortunately, they closed their anime division shortly after, but thankfully Sentai Filmworks saved the day by stepping in and not only brought the series back but also created a CD, Video Game, and three OVAs to go along with it. Which if you’re interested the series and OVAs are currently available over on HiDive.

Now we watched this anime in its original Japanese, but as we mentioned earlier there is an English Dub, which many people have praised, due to the decision to have a group of younger voice actresses do the main characters’ voices (characters whose ages range from 11-12 yrs old). A decision that makes the characters' interactions with each other all the more adorable. 

In the Japanese version, something we enjoyed was the fact that they had a special guest voice actress, Junko Minagawa, make an appearance as one of the girls’ classmates Sasazuka, who is part of a hilariously reoccurring gag that gets us every time. She’s voiced over 130 characters, including Sailor Uranus (Sailor Moon), Mereoleona Vermillion (Black Clover), and Ryoma Echizen (Prince of Tennis) just to name a few.

The series is made up of 12 episodes, in which a full year takes place. We know this because the anime starts by showing us a calendar indicating that it’s April, and then in the last episode we’re again shown the calendar and it’s March. Over the course of the story, we see the calendar change multiple times to indicate which season is taking place. We also see the season’s change outside with the weather - drifting sakura petals, intense heat waves, fallen dead leaves, snow-covered streets - so we know that the seasons are passing, and that time is moving forward, but without these indicators, it would be very difficult to tell that anything has really changed since the characters are always pretty much up to the same things. Which is why when we noticed this quote up on the blackboard in the final episode we thought the anime creators were trolling us lol. Obviously, nothing stays the same but also nothing really changes either, at least not for our main characters. A fact that only makes the anime that much more soothing and relaxing to watch :)


That’s it for now. Stay safe out there, and


~ Stay Obsessed