First off an introduction, Ichigo 100% is a manga categorized as comedy, ecchi (sensual, showing of panties, bras and oversized boobs, intentional/unintentional touching of sensitive parts, i can go on but i know you get it), romance, high school life and anime. Author is Mizuki Kawashita. The anime consists of 13 episodes named Strawberry 100% (Strawberry = Ichigo. get it?) but I don't want to see it since I know it is nowhere near the manga's story. Now for the review. I will only tackle three, Art, Plot and Character Development. Warning: the title already says subjective. Don't give me shit about being biased. I am. Another thing, I will not give to you the summary of the story since it is too troublesome.
Art
- The art is very good. It is way much better than Elfen Lied. But not as detailed as Change 123. The free online reading only gives black and white yet the drawing is good. It is shounen, so one expects curvy and busty women, yet the artist did not detach too much to the size of real life women. Meaning, it's not very thin and too curvacious and she (yeah the author is a woman) adds some characters that are really not sexy yet they exude charms none the less. Since it is ecchi, expect a lot of panties , bras and half naked bodies. And the artist excel in these area's too. Specially the panty. Maybe because she's a woman too. The only bad side is that there are some frames that are rushed so the drawing are not good. But overall, the art really meets the category of ecchi-ness.
Plot
- This is where the manga excels the most. To think that it is ecchi, one would think the story would be simple and just show those damn underwear. But it is not, well the story is not dark like Elfen Lied, but surely it has some good points. One one of those is the twist. It is so good that I hated the author for it. Yeah I hate you Mizuki for not making Aya and Junpei together. But it was so good that I praise you for it too. And the story of the main character is common (except those women falling in love with him.) that all those who experienced high school can actually relate to him. Not all high school boys are handsome, intelligent, well built and has charms, but still has good points that women can actually like. This is what Junpei represents. And like I said, the only impossible thing that he has is that four beautiful women in their on right actually fall for him. And I actually believe what Amachi (one of his rivals) said to him. "It is purely luck." And without those girls having to fall in love with the main character, many will even relate to the main character's situation. An indicisive person contented to be a friend to the person he loves and not confessing. And that's high school life to many right? We cling to what is really safe. Not all but many would accept the "friend zone" (watch Just Friends ) situation so that you will not be separated with the one you like or love. One thing too, the plot did not burden the main character too much in carrying the story. In fact, it is the supporting cast's actions that will push the main character in what is he going to do. Nice indeed. Oh and the only saving grace for this poor main character is that he conquered his fear and indecisiveness to actually decide who he wants to be with. And become cool in the end. After 5 years though. And that's after high school. Ha! pathethic Junpei. Just like me. I guess I said too much. That's it.
Character Development
- Well not so much on this because all of the characters except Yui actually have good character development. The author give them all turning points to mature and actually to have a clear goal in the end. I say it's average.
That's all folks. My very first review. If you are interested in reading the manga, go to www.onemanga.com and search it there.
