Talk:Strawberry Marshmallow

Voice actors
In the paragraph about the TV anime, a list of voice actors is mentioned with Japanese names, so I presume that these are the Japanese voices. Does that mean that the US DVD release is subbed? Otherwise, the English voice actors should be added too. Anyway, I think it would be a good idea to add that the mentioned voice actors are the Japanese voices, especially since Japanese voice actors are often called seiyu instead. Fyrius 19:38, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes, these are the voice actors for the Japanese version. I replaced "seiyu" with "voice actors" as not everybody might know what a seiyu is (state the obvious, right?), but you're right, it should mention that these are the voice actors for the Japanese original. --Fritz S. (Talk) 19:51, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Sorry I didn't reply to this talk before changing the article (This talk was added to the top of the page for some reason) but I have changed it back to seiyu again. If you think it should be changed then there's plenty of space to change it to Japanese voice actors or Seiyu (Voice actors) or however you want to state it. I prefer using seiyu because (1) it is used in many anime articles, (2) it is not gender specific whereas actor and actress are and (3) Education through use, wikilinking the word seiyu is informing the reader what it means. --Squilibob 13:43, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Haly Potey
From the section about Matsuri: "She is fond of the book "Haly Potey" (a parody of Harry Potter)." In the translation of the manga I read, the book she asked for christmas was just called Harry Potter. I though maybe 'Haly Potey' was just a bad translation, rather than a parody. Fyrius 18:17, 13 April 2006 (UTC)
 * That's what I thought, too. I added a little note for now. --Fritz S. (Talk) 10:48, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
 * This could be usage of devices common in anime which is to slightly alter trademarked names for legal reasons rather than bad translation. Examples from other anime include Somy (Sony), Starbooks (Starbucks), Lindows (Windows), Windoors (Windows), Ponda (Honda), Kanon (Canon), etc. minglong 15:09, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
 * In the German version of the manga by Tokyopop it's "Harry Potter". --Fritz S. (Talk) 15:15, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Tokyopop may have gotten permission to use the name "Harry Potter" instead of the alternative. The title "Haly Potey" is seen in the anime in romanized format (at least in the Japan airing) . minglong 15:57, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

So why don't we just say something like, "She likes the book Haley Potey (it is unclear wether this is a bad translation of Harry Potter, or a slight alteration of said name to avoid copyright violation problems)"? Fyrius 21:01, 11 May 2006 (UTC)
 * And that's what I did, though I left the 'dubious' note just in case.
 * Desire Campbell 24.222.232.225 21:42, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Perhaps someone should find a Japanese version and check it. B.t.w. semi-unrelated: Lindows. Shinobu 22:35, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

I went ahead and removed it. It's such a trivial piece of information anyways.--SeizureDog 16:28, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Edit about Miu
I edited some parts of the article that stressed that Miu is just being annoying all the time. I kind of enjoy her randomness, because it always causes funny situations. And I know I'm not the only one. So I adapted it to better fit Wikipedia's NPOV policy.
 * Right on, Miu's the best! --Ned Scott 13:51, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

I added a poll that proves Miu's popularity among English-speaking fans. Personally, I agree with y'all. Miu sticks it to The Man, so you don't have to. It would be interesting if there were a poll showing who the most popular character is among Japanese fans.--Zaorish 18:39, 7 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Miu's popularity isn't the subject of this discussion. Even if more people would hate her, Wikipedia is supposed to have a neutral point of view, so it's wrong anyway to write about her as an obnoxious little pest.

I'm not sure about the encyclopediality of linking to in a character popularity poll, so I'll leave that alone until other people weigh in...but I really don't see what's POV about noting that Ana uses a polite, old-fashioned Japanese speaking style. I feel it's legitimate to put in here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zaorish (talk • contribs)
 * that was my bad, I think I cut and pasted part of the description instead of going over what was already there. It's corrected now -- Ned Scott 07:11, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Title of the anime
I would like to add some information about the title of the anime along the lines of Ichigo Mashimaro can be translated into english as "Strawberry Marshmellow". Ichigo is japanese for strawberry and Mashimaro is a loanword from english but I'm not sure about the loanword part. - Squilibob 14:33, 8 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, the loanword part does make a lot of sense if you're a bit familiar with Katakana and the Japanese way of adapting loanwords to fit their syllabary. I've also seen covers of the manga saying 'Ichigo *Marshmallow*' instead of Mashimaro (and it would make sense if they'd write a Japanese word in English spelling, but not if they'd just use a completely different foreign word), so I'd be pretty sure about it.

Plot generalisation
The first paragraph now says: "The plot in each story tends to follow two paths. Either it is completely nonexistent, with the action centering only on everyday events and conversation, or it revolves around some prank instigated by Miu and the other characters' participation in or attempts to thwart said prank." For the animated series, this is definitely not true; for as far as I know, there isn't a single episode mainly about Miu's pranks and reactions of the others to it. The animated episodes usually contain two or more plots from the manga, and it never occurs that both are about Miu's pranks. Often one of them is, but they mainly serve as a lesser part for comedy value, if you ask me. It does seem to be right for the manga, though. -Unsigned
 * It's very POV in my opinion, but I'll just add "in the manga" to it for now - Squilibob 11:17, 11 March 2006 (UTC)
 * For example, anime episode 7. The whole trip to the beach was started to get Miu to stop doing her jiyu kenkyuu. Or, episode 5 that was all about Miu being jealous of Ana and the solution to that problem. And there was another episode 4 where it was all about how Miu was ruining Nobue's part time job at a restaurant. --Zaorish 00:18, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Article name
Shouldn't this article be moved to Strawberry Marshmallow, now that it has an English title and is going to be published by Tokyopop? --Fritz S. (Talk) 12:22, 13 April 2006 (UTC) I now moved it, since nobody objected. --Fritz S. (Talk) 17:27, 15 April 2006 (UTC)
 * I noticed the article got moved back to Ichigo, so I moved it back to Strawberry Marshmallow. Personally, I prefer Ichigo Mashimaro, but with both the manga and the anime being called Strawberry Marshmallow for their English releases, this is the name the article should have per WP:MOS-JA. -- Ned Scott 20:14, 13 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Could you cite the exact part of this WP:MOS-JA guideline that supports naming the article Strawberry Marshmallow? Fyrius 11:20, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I can't find any wording that says we must use the English name. Articles like Cardcaptor Sakura use the original Japanese name because they have a reason. I think the name of the article should remain Ichigo Mashimaro simply because Strawberry Marshmallow needs disambiguation from Strawberries, Marshmallows and Strawberry Marshmallows. --Squilibob 11:30, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Cardcaptor Sakura actually is using English names, because there have been two English releases. The first is CardCaptors, the edited version.  Much later on, an unedited version was released on DVD. -- Ned Scott 19:33, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Why would it need disambiguation from Strawberries and Marshmallows? --Fritz S. (Talk) 11:47, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
 * As far as guidelines go, Naming_conventions says the English name should be used (unless the native form is more commonly used in English, but as both the English version of the manga and of the anime series use "Strawberry Marshmallow", I think the article should use the English title as well). --Fritz S. (Talk)
 * In all reality, only those who can also speak Japanese or were watching the fansubs are going to be tiffed by the name. Now that the manga and anime are released in English we'll be seeing a new group of fans who will be looking for this info under the name "Strawberry Marshmallow". The name in English will likely become the more known version in the coming years. -- Ned Scott 19:33, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Ok it doesn't need disambiguation from Strawberries and Marshmallows that was a stupid justification. At least they used a literal translation instead of making a name up. I did like using the original name because of the engrish though. --Squilibob 06:42, 15 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Rename it to Ichigo Mashimaro, Wikipedia isnt a advertisement for american publishers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.122.41.13 (talk) 15:37, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia caters to the universally accepted title of things. In this case, this series was licensed and released in English as Strawberry Marshmallow, so it's not going to change.--  十  八  20:27, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Cleanup
I removed some sentences from the article, because the were unreferenced, original research, POV, contained weasel words, etc. If someone can find sources for these, they can go back in:
 * "The character designs seem to be highly focused on the kawaii and moé aesthetic. This has led to some labelling the series lolicon. While the series contains no explicit sexuality, Barasui has a history as a lolicon author, so the label is not denied."


 * "In the manga, the plot in each story tends to follow two paths. Either it centers on everyday events and conversation, or it revolves around some prank instigated by Miu and the other characters' participation in or attempts to thwart said prank."


 * "The animated episodes usually contain two or more plots from the manga, often from both categories mentioned above."

Fritz S. (Talk) 10:48, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Considering these can all be "referenced" by reading the manga and watching the anime, I'm not sure what other sources are needed. -- Ned Scott 11:12, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
 * "The character designs seem to be" is speculation (and possibly original research), and "This has led to some labelling" contains weasel words and is unsourced (and I doubt this can be verified by reading the manga). Problems with the two story categories have already been mentioned above, and seem to be original research, too. --Fritz S. (Talk) 11:18, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
 * If there was a Barasui article then this sentence wouldn't be needed at all. I do believe that there is a misconception that Ichigo Mashimaro is lolicon because Barasui is known for authoring lolicon material and think this should be mentioned, however, since there is no Barasui article. --Squilibob 12:21, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
 * I think even if there were an article about Barasui this should be explained here. How about adding something along the lines of "Unlike many of Barasui's other works, Strawberry Marshmallow contains no explicit sexuality." ? --Fritz S. (Talk) 13:15, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
 * No explicit sexuality? You're joking, right?  How many puddles of drool does Nobue have to drip? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.18.131.154 (talk • contribs).
 * I wouldn't call that "explicit sexuality". Anyway, it was just a suggestion. --Fritz S. (Talk) 07:25, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
 * It's a pretty good suggestion. Better than what was there beforehand. --Squilibob 06:42, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

Nobue's age
There seems to be some confusion as to why Nobue says she is 16, then quickly changes her mind and says 20. In Japan, you have to be 20 to smoke and drink. The law is note widely enforced though, in fact you can buy cigarettes from vending machines which obviously do not check your age. Actually, IIRC that's what Nobue does...

As for the law regarding DVDs and TV broadcasts, my understanding is that it is OK as long as underage smoking/drinking is not "glorified" or promoted as being good in any way. Other anime series have featured underage drinking, for example I think Dragonball did. As for the "hentai" aspect, well they make jokes about the size of Ana's breasts so I don't buy that. In fact, to use Dragonball again, Bulma appeared topless in that when she was supposed to be about 16. That isn't illegal in Japan (or the UK for that matter, the cut-off age is 16 here).

As such, it is my belief that she is just making a little joke. Clearly, she can't be 20 if she is still at school herself (in Japan most people go to school until 18, but no later). It would never satisfy any kind of legal requirement. Having visited Japan several times and speaking some of the language (GCSE level), IMHO it is just a joke. Mojo-chan 12:29, 25 June 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm sure there are quite a few Japanese college students who would disagree with your statement about not going to school after the age of 18, including one fictional Nobue Ito, a junior-college student. I agree that her age is made into a joke, but still it would seem that she "really" is 20 in the anime. Otherwise her driver's license would have to be a fake, since it includes cars. It does that based on the smudge on the third cell of the grid at the bottom of the license, a smudge that doesn't appear in the manga version of the license. That smudge is actually the word 普通 or "ordinary", i.e. regular cars. 81.197.160.252 04:46, 21 November 2006 (UTC)
 * She said she was 16 because she looks young but in actuality she is 20(because of her young appearance) In the first scene of the first episode after she says "As you can see, I'm your average 16 year old" she says, "I lied" "Though I may not look it, I a 20 year old junior college student" This isn't from a fansub, I'm a Japanese native speaker. So she's 20, the little tidbit about being 16 was a joke, at least, in the anime. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.83.249.157 (talk) 02:51, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Anyone notice that when she says she's 20, she's wearing what is clearly a high-school uniform in a state of dishevelment? -Unsigned
 * Most college 20-somethings were previously high school students, and may hold on to their sailor fukus for sentimental reasons, especially if it still fits them. Considering Nobue's attachment to youth and younger girls, it's not at all surprising if she changed clothes to rewind time a bit, it's part of what's endearing about her character. Tyciol (talk) 20:53, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * However, in the weight-gain episode, she was alarmed by a magazine article about 20-somethings. Kind of odd for the writers to do that when they seem to have intended the age disclaimer to be a joke. 71.225.97.173 (talk) 20:10, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

DVD releases
Regarding the region 1 DVDs: Noticed today that some websites are listing two versions of the volume 3 DVD. One site, deepdiscounddvd.com called one LE with another "normal" one. Amazon.com also lists two different DVDs, one as WS (widescreen?) and this one. They both have the same release dates, and not much more info, but they do have different product IDs.

As far as I know, volumes 1 and 2 only have one version of the DVD. I'm guessing that this is either a mistake or simply the DVD bundled with some extra, as many anime DVDs are (such as a t-shirt or pin). But it might be worth keeping an eye on incase it's something significant. -- Ned Scott 19:23, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

There are 2 versions like the first post pointed out. A quick check on VideoUniverse I found the differences LE is the Limited Edition list of versions LE comes with a limited edition Box and a mini pencil board. NOTE: No idea why Amazon put Ws on the Limited Edition version all of the DVDs are 16:9 so it should not mean widescreen though it is possible. I was never personally impressed with their labeling, Anime or otherwise, but still good prices so I keep coming back.

Manga/anime plot difference
I put one under "Plot", the only one I noticed. If you can think of any additions/modifications, go ahead. --Zaorish 19:15, 19 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Sorry to butt in but isn't Ana introduced much earlier in the Anime than the Manga? For example in the anime when the girls organise a sleepover, it is Ana and Miu that are fighting, but in the Manga it is Matsuri and Miu and the girls haven't even met Ana yet. -- BuckoA51 23:27, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
 * I don't think it's worth noting the differences between the anime and manga. They are rather plentiful. Just from the first couple chapters, you could write paragraphs of how different they are. Matsuri wasn't there to make Nobue's ashtray, they were inside when they realized Nobue's birthday (actually, Chika already knew), prior to Nobue's birthday Nobue and Miu have different hair colors (and Nobue's hair was longer), Matsuri and Miu didn't get along because Miu would call her "white-hair," Miu's the one who owns and gives Matsuri the cat hat and tail to wear for when they go into town to buy her a real hat (and Miu tells her to try and become a real neko, and Nobue then says by adding "nya" to the end of her sentences), it's told (and shown) that Miu is extremely ticklish and doesn't mind if people see her panties (to which Nobue freaks out), they don't go to the beach because of Miu's report but because Matsuri basically says she can't swim (and pretty much no one's there; also, when they put Miu in the sand, they don't play that watermelon game with her, Nobue just drools on her), when they go outside to play sports several different things happen (Matsuri gets hit in the head by a baseball, Miu doesn't throw the baseball at Nobue but instead kicks her really hard twice, Nobue tries doing a soccer trick twice and both times the ball ends up hitting her in the head and knocking herself down, and after soccer they play kendo), they show them playing video games a few times in the manga, Miu's school report is about her friends not just the Itou's (and it only lasted 2 days; the fake report won a silver medal, saying Nobue went to England, Matsuri hunted for old men, and Chika began wearing a turban), Nobue tries quitting smoking for a week (that's when she finds out she put on weight), Miu drugs Matsuri's juice so she passes out and her and Nobue play with her hair, Nobue is less responsible in the manga (she's the one who bothers Chika while she's studying because she wants to play, not Miu; she throws Chika in a trash can for laughing at her; she plays with Matsuri's hair while she's passed out; she forces Miu and Matsuri to skip school with her; etc.) Not to mention, a lot more events happen in the manga (and everything I've said happens before they meet Ana).
 * Some more notable differences could be mentioned, I guess. I originally wrote them here, but because it looked massive and cluttery, I just put them on my crappy Angelfire site. If someone feels the differences are important and want to include them in some way, you can find the ones I've typed up... Here. Malumultimus 14:38, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Episode list
I added one just now, hope you won't mind. It, however, still requires episode summaries and pictures. Rexas 07:58, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Nice :) -- Ned Scott 08:10, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

Reviews
Reputable reviews that should be worked into a Critical responce section. --SeizureDog 23:31, 29 November 2006 (UTC)
 * The Comics Journal Manga 1-2 - manga review from the website of a published journal
 * Anime News Network - DVD 1DVD 3 - for the anime, ANN is also published, and thus reputable
 * Also, ANN has reviewed volume 5 of the manga. —Quasirandom (talk) 17:40, 10 October 2008 (UTC)

5 Volumes?
The info box at the upper right of the article says that 5 volumes were published, however, only 4 volumes are listed under Media. Does this have something to do with Ichigo Memento or Ichigo Prototype? I wouldn't necessarily know because I don't know when/how those were released, but I'm just trying to avoid confusion. Malumultimus 14:38, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

穴骨洞=bonehead?
This may be valuable information worthy of adding to Ana's profile information, but I don't know how true it is. Comments on this blog entry suggest that the kanji characters Miu writes Ana's name with logically approximates the English insult word "bonehead". --65.167.146.130 13:49, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
 * That's entirely not true. Those three kanji, while can mean (as the article states) hole, bones, and cave individually, the middle kanji is translated wrong. Yes, that kanji does mean bone, but when it does, it's read as "hone", not "kotsu" which means a "skill" of some kind (Miu ended up figuring that a hard "tsu" wasn't so bad, when it in fact would make Ana's full name "Ana Kotsupora" instead of "Ana Koppora" which is what she was shooting for if it had been a soft "tsu" sound). So anyway, there's no way to get "head" out of hole, and cave, and that middle kanji isn't even meant to be read as "bone" in the first place, as I have explained. I'm changing it in the article now.--  十  八  14:00, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
 * The middle kanji doesn't mean skill but bone. It's similar to reading as "kotsu". the kanji doesn't have the meaning as skill. (I'm sorry if my sentence is improper. I'm not good at English.) --219.108.50.119 10:40, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
 * I don't think they were implying that it literally meant "bonehead", but that it's a aproximation of how horrible her name sounds in Japanese. 71.225.97.173 (talk) 20:14, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Encore
I think it's important to list this separately from the first 3 OVAs since it has been separately titled. Tyciol (talk) 09:00, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

Lolicon?
I have removed the sentence at the end of the "themes" section that says "some have classified it as 'lolicon'." I think that may be misleading as the series is very rarely provocative/racy and certainly does not focus on sexuality. It's like calling Rugrats toddlercon. We shouldn't get in the habit of labeling every anime with a focus on young girls as "lolicon" when that term should be reserved for media with strong sexual overtones throughout as well as a focus on young girls. Not only that, but the reference the author provided never actually classified the anime as "lolicon", as the author implied. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.162.248.239 (talk) 21:08, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

The Ninth Volume
Minutes ago I discovered that Strawberry Marshmallow will be release with the ninth volume and in it I've found out that this manga was the inspiration for my personal favorite utaite; __ (Underbar). Here's the link: https://twitter.com/hybshybs/status/1630147728985702402?t=B7BpaM_pJGs8EiLeow-BGg&s=19 94-kun (talk) 13:12, 27 February 2023 (UTC)