Strawberry Marshmallow Prologue

Retro8bit★ 8

Ichigo Mashimaro Episode 0 is basically a 5 minute short about the girls in outer space. It’s funny because this title was made after the series (Ichigo Mashimaro) aired, yet they are together with a girl named Ana, and they didn’t end up meeting her until episode 2 of the series. Anyway, the story is sweet and to the point, (yet nothing really too spectacular) the girls house has been made into a space craft, and they are trying to make it home before their oxygen runs out. You can really tell that this short was only made as a side dish for the fans,since nothing is really explained about how the girls got to space in the first place. Because the series didn't have a space theme, and was simply a slice of life anime. (For those who aren’t familiar with it) The background music is sparse, in fact a good portion of the time there really is no BG whatsoever. The only real notable track is that space symphony theme that plays in many other shows, I am sure you have all heard it before. (Dun dun...dun dun) And while I do feel it enhances some of the moods in the short, it would have been nice to actually have had at least some other tracks to go with it! Still, what they do have there is good! The Japanese voice cast are the same ones from the series, every girl was matched perfectly with the appropriate voice over. Whether it be Ana’s soft sweet voice or Nobue’s more layed back personality. The characters are very likable, while they don’t have the most deep or versatile personalities (like a girl named Miu has), but they at least never come off as annoying. In fact all the personalities that have been given to each girl is pulled off sweet and charming. They really know how to interact with each other well! Sadly the only people you’ll see in this short are the main cast themselves. Though it’s only 5 minutes so it should be that big of a deal, especially if you have never seen the series before. The art is soft and cuteness at its best. Nothing is ever "overly" detailed that it comes off as too much for the eyes to take. Color and art are focused on the characters themselves, while the backgrounds look more along the lines of soft water color paintings. It does have a nice appeal to it, but certainly isn’t the most well detailed series out there. As the clothing and backgrounds have a much more plain look to them, still it is nice to look at. Being that it's so short it just wasn't able to capture the charm of the series, yet the humor was still pretty good. If you don’t like big helpings of cute, then I doubt this one will make you change your mind, but if you have never seen the series before, and love all things kawaii...then I recommend trying this out to see if you like it. Since its a good taste of what the series has to offer. (Minus the space theme of course) A cute little adventure indeed!

Yukariki★ 4

As my avatar says it all, I enjoy Ichigo Mashimaro; Nobue Ito made smoking cool again and Ana Coppola made me believe in moe again (the fact that she has the same surname as the Coppola directors make her even cooler). However, Episode 0 is a waste of time and almost made me run away from the show. To talk about Ichigo Mashimaro Episode 0, one must understand how its parent story worked. Ichigo Mashimaro is a series that relies on slice-of-life humor and a whole ton of moe. The cute and hyper visuals lend a lot into the humor and characterization, thus that's why Claim aLoli Club has Ichigo Mashimaro as an anime relation. Episode 0 goes into science-fiction territory, referencing to Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, and I believe we all know where this is going: nowhere. I love science-fiction a lot, but Ichigo Mashimaro Episode 0 is no sci-fi work. The humor feels bland and unfunny; the characters feel out-of-place because, well, they are slice-of-life characters in the first place. I beg people starting Ichigo Mashimaro to start episode 1 instead of 0. Indeed, episode 0 is short, but watch it later if you must. Episode 1 introduces the characters and sets the humor and setting unlike episode 0. Episode 0 is a terrible extra that confuses newcomers and more. Now, if you excuse me, I must put Miu-chan at bay.