life line by line

Ichigo 100% the animated TV series is finally out!

… unfortunately it falls slightly short of its manga roots.

Before I begin my synopsis of the first episode of Ichigo 100%, I should make clear a few things. For those that have watched the OAV from the Jump Festa 2004 special(s), good news is that all the main seiyuus are still in the TV series! Thus far this includes Kenichi Suzumura (Manaka Junpei), Mamiko Noto (Toujo Aya), and Megumi Toyoguchi (Nishino Tsukasa). Also, our favorite villian pirate from One Piece Buggy’s seiyuu Wataru Takagi joins the cast as Komiyama. The general feel and storyline of Ichigo 100% also seem to be mostly intact so far but already, there are hints of it being rushed compared to the manga. More on that later. Finally, the art while not comparable to the OAV still holds decent to the manga favor so no worries of the Negima Horror(TM). For more on my thoughts of Ichigo 100%, scroll pass the synopsis below

Junpei is your typical 3rd year Junior High school student. He has his own interests, a good small group of friends, and has the typical teenager’s problems. Junpei whole world changes after he goes to the roof of his school to see the beautiful sunset only to have a girl fall out of the sky! Shocked more than anything else, Junpei has little time to react other than noticing how cute the girl is and that she’s showing her strawberry panties. Said girl gets up from her fall and noticing Junpei, panics and screams off running away. Junpei tries to stop her but she’s too far away… he notices she left her notebook where she fell. “Class 3-4 Toujo Aya eh?”

The following day Junpei is walking to school with his close friends Komiyama and Okusa talking about the strawberry panties girl that fell from the sky. The viewer quickly learns Junpei is a movie manic of sorts as he starts to daydream of the perfect scene that would have involved yesterday’s events. Okusa and Komiyama can only mentally roll their eyes and let Junpei be, when they ask who was the girl.. didn’t she drop her notebook? Junpei mentions it’s Toujo Aya’s who is also in their class but none of the boys have heard of her.

Junpei finds Aya… and no way is she the girl from yesterday! She’s so plain looking! Aya’s slightly surprised someone found her notebook, dropping the pile of papers she was holding. Junpei helps her pick up the mess as Aya ask for the notebook back… oops, Junpei forgot it. Aya freaks which Junpei doesn’t understand since they don’t have that subject today (it was math). Aya makes Junpei promise under no circumstance to look in the notebook, which Junpei can only dumbly agree too since he can’t figure why she’s so freaked about it. Komiyama comes out from the blue, saying to Junpei that the girl he saw probably had to be Nishino Tsukasa. Aya leaves as the guys discuss whether it could be Tsukasa or not.

Okusa and Junpei think Komiyama thinks it’s Tsukasa since he has a major crush on her, which Komiyama can’t deny but yea… there’s only so many cute girls in their school, so it has to be Tsukasa! Okusa and Komiyama go on to mention Junpei strawberry panties obsession which he tries to defend by saying he just wants to film that scene again! Much hilarious agruing continues as others can hear the guys throughout the hall. In comes the girl herself, Nishino Tsukasa telling the guys can’t they think of a better way to confess to her rather than yelling it around the hallways?! Tsukasa examines Komiyama and totally shoots him down since she won’t date guys with ugly/weird faces. Then she gives Junpei a piece of her mind saying yes she’s wearing strawberry panties today (I think?) but don’t go thinking weird perverted thoughts about her and them! Junpei is shocked at Tsukasa’s up-frontedness…

The three guys are walking home, Komiyama dejected beyond belief. He tells Junpei he should confess to Tsukasa too so he’ll also feel the pain he’s going through right now. Junpei actually readily agrees, saying even though her hair was different, the strawberry panties girl is probably Tsukasa. That night Junpei is thinking about how he’s going to confess to Tsukasa as he notes his thoughts keep switching; first on the strawberry panties girl and now onto Tsukasa. Junpei then notices Aya’s notebook and has a peak, wondering why she didn’t want him to look at it…

Next day Junpei is standing in front of the school entrance, with a determined face. He quickly finds Aya and takes her to the school roof. Junpei spill the beans about reading her notebook and that he was really impressed with her writing! He wants to know what will happen next while Aya shyly notes that the writing was just her daydream scribblings and it’s really nothing. Junpei wants her to continue but Aya doesn’t… he goes on to say well it’s the same as if she’s making fun of his dream if she doesn’t continue hers (writing). Junpe tells her how he wants to create movies and reading Aya’s work, really got him motivated. Aya is moved and one can tell they’re becoming fast friends. Anyway, they switch topics as Junpei ask Aya of a good way to confess to a girl?! Aya is surprised with the sudden question when Junpei explains he’s going to confess to Tsukasa… oh. Aya is somewhat visually sad but off-handily gives the idea of confessing while doing something atlethic. She quickly tries to joke it off but Junpei takes it seriously thanking her for the great idea and prepares for his confession… also asking Aya to show him more of her writing if she ever continues.

End of the school day, Tsukasa is waiting at the pullup bars while Komiyama and Okusa are hiding behind a nearby tree/bush since Junpei told them to watch. A cloud of dust comes running towards the group as we see it’s Junpei going at full speed as he jumps to grab the bar! He works up the courage and physical strength to do ONE pullup as he confesses to Tsukasa! Total silence as Tsukasa takes in what just has happened… and starts to laugh like crazy as she gets inbetween breaths, “sure, since it’s you Junpei.” Junpei is a tad shock at Tsukasa as her reaction wasn’t exactly how he pictured it. Oh well, Tsukasa is now his girlfriend!

Tsukasa and Junpei are now walking home together as Junpei can still not believe that Tsukasa is his girlfriend! Is it really possible for him to have such a cutie?! Some perverted thoughts aside, Tsukasa yells Junpei out of his daze slightly surprising him. A bit more of teenage awkwardness plus Junpei’s continual “I can’t believe Tsukasa is my girlfriend! And damn, she’s one fine honey!” The two eventually stop by a park as Tsukasa opens up the conversation (this is still while Junpei is lost in his perverted thoughts). Since they’re going to go out and don’t really know each other well… (oh no, Junpei thinks it must have been a fluke and that Tsukasa wants to breakup) they should take the same high school entrance exams together! Safe! Junpei laughs it off saying it’s a good idea since they’ll be able to create many more memories going to the same school and whatnot. Tsukasa is happy too, so they’ll be testing for name-of-school-I-forgot. Junpei then goes “what?!” as Tsukasa lists the reasons for the school: easy to get into, really close to her house, and the uniforms are cute. Junpei say he can’t.. he only has had eyes for Izumizaka (spelling is SO off but I’ll fix it later). Tsukasa wants to know why, while Junpei mentally says it’s the only school that has an movies club where he can further his dream. Instead, Junpei says it’ll be more fun at Izumizaka… they’ll have a lot more interesting and fun experiences just like Junpei’s confession. Tsukasa is sold and off-handily mentions that if she worked on her grades a bit, even her teachers mentioned that she could get in.

That night, Junpei is studying his arse off so he can work towards getting into Izumizaka… the following day the rumormill is going off like crazy as everyone already knows about Tsukasa and Junpei and his pullup-bar confession. Okusa and Komiyama look on the man himself, who suddenly turned bookworm. “What a one-track minded guy,” Komiyama laments while Okusa replies “you too” as he points out Komiyama bruised hand; he was practicing pulls up all night!

Junpei is now trying to study in the library but the material is just way too beyond his abilities. In comes Aya as he ask for her help, praising her on how simple she made the material to be. Junpei thanks Aya for the confession idea since it worked and how he’s studying to go to Izumizaka. He asks Aya which school she’s planning to go to, where Aya says probably Oumi since her parents want her to. “Oumi huh, the all girls private school” Junpei comments back, off-handily saying he wish Aya would go to the same high school as him so he could continue reading her writings and make movies of them. Aya is surprised as Junpei tries to lighten the mood… Junpei goes all introspective as he realizes what he’ll need to do for the future and wants to thank Aya for helping him a bit for doing so. Aya thanks Junpei back for praising her writings and being able to talk about various things since she rarely ever takes to a guy. Junpei then has an idea and ask Aya if she could help tutor him for the upcoming high school exams, only if she wouldn’t mind. Aya shyly agrees to it as she says… oops, she fell as she tried to lean against the shelf. Junpei gets an eyeful including her strawberry panties! Realization hits but Junpei denies it as there’s no way the strawberry panties girl could have been Aya right? Aya has taken off her glasses (her back is towards Junpei) as she wonders if she should have told Junpei or something as we get a view of her face

Next episode… they’re already testing for high school exams?!?!

Okay, overall the episode was okay and I personally felt still kept to the core feelings of what makes Ichigo 100% the fun harem comedy it is. However, saying that I think the staff is rushing through the manga too fast in hopes of getting to the high school years when Yui and Satsuki appear. I really think the staff should have had two-four more episodes before doing the testing when Aya appears as the strawberry panties girl, as the study sessions between Aya, Junpei, Tsukasa, Okusa, and Komiyama really helped to define and flesh out their characters. It’ll be sad that some chapters from the manga will and already be skipped; the first episode alone skipped over Okusa’s introduction and Aya spying on Junpei’s confession. While Okusa’s introduction was just funny I felt that Aya watching Junpei’s confess was important enough to keep since it made him realize that Tsukasa was not the strawberry panties girl. Dunno.. I think it would have made the circumstances all the more enjoyable to watch.

Anyway, I have to say I’m somewhat disappointed in the anime. Mostly for the reason I mentioned above as I have a feeling the staff and writers will be changing around chapter storylines to fit their needs better. Only time will tell if the changes will be good or bad. I also had problems with the background music… it all just felt too cheesy for words. Like the music made the scene a lot less serious than it could have been… or added sound-effects that were a cheap laugh but not necessary. And the ending song… what the. I never expected a techno-ish song to be the end for Ichigo 100%. I did, however, think the opening song fit the bill nicely as it had a poppish beat and would fit any harem style anime.

I guess when it comes down to it, Ichigo 100% the animated series was a joy to watch but expectations left me feeling empty for reasons unknown. I think the average harem loving viewer will still enjoy the series but for hardcore manga fans, might be slightly turned off from the changes. As for myself, I’ll continue watching (and blogging) as the animation is decent and thankfully with an veteran seiyuu cast at hand can still make Ichigo 100% into a very good series to savour.