Ichigo Mashimaro Vol.1

Unknowingly, I have fallen to the dark side. I bought Ichigo Mashimaro Vol.1 today out of boredom. And it’s good. Too damn sugary good. The cuteness! It hurts my teeth! Azumanga Daioh has nothing on Ichigo‘s sugar level. 甘すぎ～

The story uhhh… book (at least the first volume) is about Nobue Itoh, a 16-year-old chain-smoking highschool girl, her 12-year-old sister Chika Itoh, their neighbour and Chika’s childhood friend Miu Matsuoka and 11-year-old Matsuri Sakuragi. A fifth girl, Ana Coppola, is yet to be introduced. And that’s about it. Just like Azumanga, this thing has no plot whatsoever and revolves 100% around the interactions between the girls in various daily situations.

The art is very cute, though the characters all look too young for their age. Nobue looks like she’s twelve (that is, if 12-year-olds drive and smoke) while the rest look like they are seven… This makes me feel incredibly guilty when I read the book and start chuckling in front of others. ＿|ï¿£|O But despite the lolilicious cover, the book actually contains absolutely no ermmm… incriminating material. Just don’t expect the people around you to know that. Hey, at least it’s better than the time I read Kannadzuki no Miko Vol.2 (which, I admit, is basically softcore yuri porn) in fullview at McCafe.

My favourite character is Nobue of course. She reminds me of Mamimi from FLCL in a way. Probably the smoking part.

I’m getting Vol.2 as soon as I can.