Ichigo Mashimaro 2
Before I get to writing the summary and such, something else ;) The island Miu pointed out on the map is part of Vanuatu. There seems to be some dispute over what the name of the island is -- most maps I've seen show it as Erromango, but some call it Erromanga. There's also a language spoken on the island that's called Eromanga (or Sie). Another famous Eromanga, as everybody who watched Shinobuden knows, is located in Australia. Some more info about that one here.
We start off outside a house, hearing a conversation in what seems to be your average Japanese family. However, the girl that steps out is decidedly not Japanese. She's Ana@Mamiko Noto (5th grade), and she's from England. She's lived in Japan so long she's gotten used to the customs and can speak Japanese fluently, forgetting how to speak English for the most part. But she's had it with being Japanese now, So she's decided to not speak any Japanese at school and do her best to be a good English lady. Chika and Miu run into her as she's walking along. Miu, noting that she's a foreigner, greets her in English and Ana answers in Japanese.. orz.. ;)
At school Ana has the same problem, writing her name first in Japanese as あな then writing it in English. Then instead of saying "nice to meet you" to the class she says "One, please" (^^;;) After the teacher sends Sasazuka out into the hall for no reason (poor kid), Ana takes his seat next to a pretty nervous Matsuri-chan.
Meanwhile, in Miu's class, Miu's trying to do an Ana and pretends that she can't speak Japanese... not doing a very good job of it. The teacher doesn't buy it, of course, so off into the hall for her. Said scene with Miu pointing out Eromanga Island to Chika on a big map right in the middle of the hall follows ;)
Somehow, Ana-chan manages to keep up her act well enough to get through the day at school with everyone seemingly thinking that she can't speak Japanese. However, Ana lets her guard down when she goes to open a door for Matsuri, speaking to her in very good and very polite Japanese... completely blew it (^^;;) Ana ends up walking from school with Matsuri, telling Matsuri to keep the fact that she can speak Japanese a secret from everyone at school. Matsuri's going to meet up with some friends, so Ana agrees to tag along and... yup, Chika and Miu show up.
And things are about to get even worse for Ana as she goes with Chika, Miu, and Matsuri to see Nobue. Nobue's drunk as anything (drank 5 cans already), and when she sees Ana's wavy blonde hair, blue eyes, white skin, and long, slender legs... Nobue hugs Ana and says "SHE'S MINE!!". Nobue turns into a hentai when she's drunk (^^;)
After some conversation about how cute Ana-chan is (I'll agree with that), and about milk tea.. Miu ends up on the floor face down again for suggesting "curry-flavored"... the others start asking about Ana's last name. Ana clearly doesn't want to tell them for some reason... Miu finds Ana's bag under the table and takes it to Nobue for her to read the name.. Ana Coppola. Coppola? Ana's not happy that her secret got out.. Miu got's an idea that'll cheer her up and solve things -- she writes something and shows it to Ana. Ana doesn't look very happy about it.. Miu ends up on the roof, face down. She had written Ana's name in very neat kanji as 穴骨洞 Ana Koppora -- those kanji from left to right mean "hole", "bones", and "cave", respectively (^^;;)
That's Miu for you, always pissing people off. But she's got very good handwriting, doesn't she? ;) The 穴 ana thing came up in a different chapter of the manga where they were trying to figure out what everybody's names meant. In that one Miu kept on reading the definition of 穴 ana over and over again.
As I mentioned last time, Ana's probably my favorite of the characters in Ichigo Mashimaro. Mamiko did a great job of playing her this time (though I do end up kinda hearing her as Nodoka from Negima). btw, Junko Minagawa (Iincho in Negima) played Sasazuka-kun. Poor guy, lol..
Everything -- pacing, animation, mix of manga and some original material -- felt like an improvement over the first episode, and I laughed a lot more this time as well, so if this is an indication of things to come I'll be a very happy camper.
Next time, going back to the first volume of the manga, the Matsuri fans out there are going to be very happy since it'll be time for Neko Mimi Mode Matsuri-chan's debut! Nya~~! ;)
Indeed, "Coppola-chan" stole this episode. I, too, think Mamiko fits the role Ana very well and come on, it's not so very often she does loli roles.
I am enjoying every second of Ichigo Mamikomaro.
Better than episode 1? No. But being just as good makes it one of the two best comedy anime episodes ever. I guess this kind of quiet absurdity just suits my taste. Like when Miu went off and left the map lying on the hall floor. The mood, pacing, character expressions, script and voice acting are all outstanding. I love how good Miu's calligraphy is in both episodes. Not bad for someone willing to tell her teacher that she can't answer the question because she doesn't know Japanese.
Hi, Matthew:
I have watched two subbed episodes of this series so far. I have to point out that the logo characters resembled three separate Chinese characters which can be translated into "throw berries at will". (http://moyism.com/anime/misx/ichigomashimaro-01-006.jpg, the three characters are for "ichigo/berries", "at will/randomly", "throw" respectively). This has caused a lot of amusement in major Chinese anime forums...people here would love to call the anime in that way...gosh... :-)
Your site is terrific; thank you so much for your sharing your information and viewpoints with us.
Greetings from Shanghai, China
spacey
I just watched the first two episodes of Ichigo Mashimaro and completely love it! Miu's such a pain in the butt that of course she became my very best favorite character. Nobue is great too. She's not above abusing Miu when her insanity gets a little too out if hand.