Day 12: Lerxst’s Anime Secret Santa — Ichigo Mashimaro

First off, Merry Christmas  to all of you. And if you’re Jewish, I hope you had a Happy Hanukkah. I’m killing two birds with one post on this one, doing a 12 Days post and my Secret Santa all in one. I’m not breaking any rules here. In fact, this show was one of my favorite things I watched this year, so it’s totally acceptable to do. Yes, I participated in Secret Santa this year. It’s the first time I’ve ever done this so I wasn’t exactly sure what I was getting myself into. But it didn’t turn out too bad. I ended up getting to watch this show. It was either this or Ikkitousen or Himitsu: Top Secret. The shoujo/psychological tags for Himitsu piqued my interest at first, but I think it was the first line of the MAL description that tipped the scale for me. It is, and I’m quoting here, “Cute girls doing cute things in cute ways”. Plus it’s one of kevo’s favorite anime shows ever. It just felt right to pick Ichigo Mashimaro over the other two.

If you were to ask me what show represents the slice of life genre the most, I would tell you Ichigo Mashimaro with no hesitation. This show is the epitome of slice of life.; it’s the story of these five girls, their lives, and interactions with each other. And that’s pretty much it. Nothing more, nothing less. Don’t strain yourself and try and read more into this show. What you see is what you get.

This character right her. Miu. She is the glue that holds this show together. Without her, this would probably be one of the most boring shows in existence. While most of her actions would qualify her as, and yes I will use this word to describe a character in a moeblob, a bitch, her light-heartedness and actions in general are what kept this show from falling apart. The rest of the girls in the show are fairly shallow and boring. Nobue and Chika are the next most interesting characters, while Ana and Matsuri are at the bottom of the pile and probably some of the least interesting characters ever. Ana and Matsuri are about as appealing as characters as Speedwagon from Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure. If it wasn’t for Miu doing something to piss Nobue off, which results in Miu face down on the ground, I’m not sure if I could have enjoyed this show as much as I did.

The comedy pushes this show along. It’s the main reason I liked Ichigo Mashimaro as much as I did. They repeat a couple of jokes over and over again, like seeing Miu face down from being smacked for doing something stupid, and Sasazuka being sent out into the hallway for literally just existing, but they never lose their humor. The delivery of every joke never feels out of place. There were times in the show where I felt “Miu should do something stupid right about now, and then proceed to be face down on the ground” and boom, there she is doing something really dumb, followed with her face down on the floor. I think Miu spent most of the show looking at the ground.

But when it really comes down to it, the one thing I liked most were the last two episodes. I can now see why my Secret Santa gave me this show. Recently I’ve never gotten too much into the Christmas spirit now that I’m getting older. But the last two episodes definitely put me in the mood for Christmas. It was very heartwarming when everyone dressed up as reindeer and Miu dressed up as Santa just to bring Matsuri a Christmas present and prolong her belief in Santa (THAT’S RIGHT KIDS, SANTA ISN’T REAL!!!!). But to know that they cared enough for their friend to do something like that was just the thing to get me in the Christmas spirit.

All in all, I really did enjoy this show. It slid right into that moeblob facet in my anime viewing that I love so much. Plus it was far funnier that I ever anticipated it would be. So whoever my Secret Santa is, I appreciate the recommendation. I enjoyed it.