Manga Spotlight: Ichigo 100%

Well, it's been too long since the last post, so I've decided to do yet another review, this time on a different manga. The only similarity between this and the previous work is the ecchi, though this would be the main genre of this series. Never mind that, on we go!

Title: Ichigo 100% (Strawberry 100%)

Author: Kawashita Mizuki

Magazine: Weekly Shonen Jump

Chapters: 167

Status: Finished

Synopsis: Manaka Junpei is a middle schooler whose aspiration is to be a film maker (and he has talent for it). One day, on a roof, he sees a beautiful with strawberry panties. Similarly, he finds a nerdy girl later, Tojo Aya, after finding her notebook with a written story, it being her passion. He soon becomes friends with her, whilst trying to find out who is the girl with strawberry panties, who is rumoured to be the cutest girl in school, Nishino Tsukasa. Later in high school, he has to balance his aspirations to be a movie maker, whilst dealing witht he two girls, Nishino, his girlfriend, and Tojo, his close friend and the strawberry girl. Things get more compicated when Minamito Yui, his childhood friend, and Kitaōji Satsuki, a new girl and his new close friend, get introduced in the story, bringing up many ecchi and romantic stories.

Review: Wow. Ecchi. Well, not my favourite genre by far, but I'll ignore that. Well, looking at the artwork, I found it to be good and bad. Well, the girls certainly look cute, and for ecchi manga, that is certainly important. But, somehow, it ends up being rather generic in the end, and guess it really is whether you like that particular style or not. Generally good artwork, but then again, the girls don't really look quite their age...(Just my opinion, not like mangas are very realistic anyway). So, that's one side.

Generally, when I look at an ecchi or romantic story, I tend to look at two things; the characters, and the plot. Looking at characters-wise, the main cast is generally quite strong. In particular, Tojo, Nishino and Kitaoji form a very interesting and highly contrasting cast with only one thing in common; their love for... (obvious who it is). Their personality contrasts and the way they tackle their relationships are all pretty different, and that gives the story some diversity. Manaka, the main protagonist, is okay in my opinion. He's not useless, yes, but then again, he keep thinking random thoughts, and why I hate this will be covered later. But generally a pretty okay main guy. Looks okay so far.

Now, here comes the problem; the plot. Yes, I would say that the first ten plus chapters and the last ten or so chapters are very well done in terms of plot, in particular how the ending is vastly different from most romantic stories (Big surprises in store for you). Okay, up to the start of high school, it look fine. Then it happens. The plot stagnates. Yes. That means there is little plot movement at all; half of a chapter tends to be Manaka's random ecchi thoughts and worrying over every little thing that happens or what he says and does, and then something completely different happens. If not just that, the secondary characters introduced are just more ways of adding ecchi to the story; a girl who takes off her clothes when she sleeps, a shy girl who has random erotic fantasies mid-chapter; come on, be more creative! In fact, many times I felt like dying reading the series, with only the ending keeping me alive. Suffice to say, the original idea was quite interesting, and the ending was great, but that can't save everything in between. I would have preferred less chapters and more plot instead of the stagnation. But, I guess you gotta satisfy the readers. Mhmm.

Summary: Overall, what fails for me in this manga is the plot. There are two kinds of mangas out there: episodic, or arc/plot based. For ecchi/romance series or the like, they often switch between a really small arc (like three chapters or so) and episodic chapters (Like to-Love-ru), or go for a continuos plot (Like Suzuka). In Ichigo 100%, it feels like one stay over is an entire small arc, and the plot keeps stagnating when the plot is supposed to be continuous. On top of that, so many characters and their traits just seem to be there for the sake of being able to provide some fan service. Some good characters, nice plot at some points and above-average drawings can't save that. If you like ecchi, by all means read it. If not, just read the first twenty or so, and the last ten.