One day, after class ends, Manaka Junpei goes out on the roof of his school to watch the sunset, but is unexpectedly bumped into by a beautiful girl who, falling down, awkwardly reveals her underwear with a pattern of strawberries, then embarrassedly runs away. Junpei tries unsuccessfully to discover her identity, but quickly comes to the conclusion that he has never seen someone so beautiful at his school before. The boy plans to become a filmmaker in the future, and the situation he just experienced would, in his mind, be the perfect scene in one of his films. Junpei doesn’t give up and decides to find the beauty he met on the roof the next day.

Ichigo 100% – Audiovisual Design

The studio responsible for the animation of Ichigo 100% is Madhouse, which I always approach very cautiously, as I have mentioned many times before. The animation itself may not be high-budget, and in many places you can see minor shortcomings and cost-cutting, but the artwork and, above all, the character designs look phenomenal. Boy, I miss this style these days so much (yes, I mention this every time I review a series from ~2002~2009, and that’s not likely to change).

Right at the beginning I have to mention the songs from OP/ED and characters songs. Great job, you can feel again the oldschool atmosphere and greater freedom here. I recommend getting acquainted with all the music material for this series. Seyuu did a great job as usual.

Ichigo 100% – Plot and Characters

At first glance, Ichigo 100% is nothing revelatory, but as I’ve found many times before, a plot doesn’t have to be revelatory at all to be enjoyable. This is exactly the case here – the atmosphere, the characters and the general atmosphere strongly invite you out to watch. I personally was affected by one more episode syndrome, which ultimately resulted in the fact that I finished this anime in two viewing sessions.

Despite the fact that, on the surface, everything revolves around panties with a strawberry pattern (which is even suggested by the title, 苺/ichigo means strawberry), in my opinion, it’s just a background and a touchstone. The main character experiences many new feelings and learns how to deal with them, discovers what he wants in life and slowly realizes who he really cares about. Of course, you will find a lot of scenes here, familiar form other romantic comedies, but is it that important?

It is also worth mentioning the source material, which in the case of Ichigo 100% is the manga. The events depicted in the anime deviate from the original in many places. The manga does not contain large amounts of fanservice, the anime – you will find some of it there. Despite the differences, the key events are presented quite well, although some scenes were omitted to facilitate a better understanding of the situations in question (but this is rather understandable due to the available airtime). If anyone would like to learn more about the fate of the characters of Ichigo 100%, they can confidently start reading the manga from chapter 66.

Ichigo 100% – Evaluation and Summary

If you are in the mood for an atmospheric, rather loose romance with a bit of drama and comedy – there is nothing to consider (well, unless someone is extremely bothered by fanservice). Despite the noticeable flaws, I will very fondly remember the time spent watching this series. Meanwhile, I’m setting out to read the manga.

Finalny werdykt

Final evaluation

Which translation do I recommend to watch Ichigo 100%

• Yesy Fansubs (It is also included in the Tsundere release) – I have basically nothing to complain about. I would have used different words in places, but overall it’s really good.

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