Ichigo Mashimaro 12 (END)
It's Christmas time, and appropriately, there's plenty of snow on the ground so the girls make a snowman and such outside. Matsuri's pretty excited about Santa coming.. the other girls have to stop Miu before she tells Matsuri that there is no Santa, so she ends up face down on the ground as usual. That's Miu (^^;;) Inside, the girls play a bit of house, with Miu once again almost saying Santa's not real.. she says that at six years old she beat Santa. Huh? When she was 3, she wanted a traffic light, at 4 she wanted an onsen and at 5 she wanted a sumo wrestler, and at 6 she wanted a big mountain. Santa gave up after that (^^;;)
That night, Nobue, Ana, Chika, and Miu head over to Matsuri's house dressed up as Santa (Miu) and his reindeer to give her what she wanted for Christmas. Along the way they run into a couple that Nobue makes quick work of (^^;;) When they arrive what Matsuri asked Santa for is already in her bed -- not a Harry Potter book, a Hale Potey book. After Nobue talks a bit too loudly, Matsuri wakes up. However, she thinks Nobue is Santa, and Nobue plays along... The next day, Nobue wakes up to find snowmen of her and the girls out in her driveway :)
The season changes to spring and things are as they usually are, with Miu jumping across roofs to get into Chika's room, and Chika having to rush to get ready for school. However, in class something different than normal does happen. When the teacher asks Sasazuka to stand in the hall Sasazuka says heck no. The teacher ends up in the hall... Nobue was supposedly going to school, but as expected she goes off to the park, and we end with a shot of her by the lake..
Plenty of cute stuff to wrap up Ichigo Mashimaro this time. Little Miu was cute (though weird as usual), and so was Chika, and sleeping Matsuri as well. Just pretend I said the usual phrase about all of them ;) And way to go, Sasazuka! About time he stood up to that teacher ;)
Nothing much more to say about Ichigo Mashimaro other than that I enjoyed it for the most part. Some parts didn't come together quite as well as the manga (if you liked the show you should definitely check out the manga), but the parts that did were hilarious. And they somehow managed to make Miu even crazier than she is in the manga (^^;;) Of course, there was plenty of cute to go around every time. Sad to see it end, especially since it's a show that seems like it could just go on forever, but it was fun while it lasted. anime. Since Geneon Entertainment USA was involved in the production perhaps we can hope to see a quick release over here :)
Ultimate chou omega kawaii sleeping Matsuri face, I'd say ^^
The Ichigo Mashimaro adaptation that ended up airing is truly much too short. It could have been another 12 episodes longer, easily, given that there are a number of chapters more that would have made hilarious episodes. Still, I liked the 12 episodes that we ended up getting. It was an amusing show for what it was.