Ichigo Mashimaro

Strawberry Marshmallow (Ichigo Mashimaro) is a Japanese manga series by Barasui about the adventures of four elementary school girls and their older sister-figure. It began serialization in ASCII Media Works’ manga magazine Dengeki Daioh in 2002. In 2005, the series was adapted into an anime series and a PlayStation 2 video game. Three original video animation (OVA) episodes were later released from February to April 2007. Another two-episode OVA project titled Strawberry Marshmallow Encore was released in 2009. There is an unrelated manga titled Ichigo Mashumaro.

According to the manga, Strawberry Marshmallow is set in Hamamatsu, Japan. Seasons play an important role throughout Strawberry Marshmallow as the characters are involved in many normal seasonal activities. The series is speckled with many small, music-related allusions, such as Ana’s dog Frusciante being named after John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, while episode eight of the anime sees two goldfish called Richard and James. The title itself was inspired from “Mashimaro”, a single by Japanese rock artist Tamio Okuda.

The visual novel, under the original title of Ichigo Mashimaro, was developed by ASCII Media Works for the PlayStation 2 based on the series under an all-ages CERO rating. The game was first released on August 11, 2005, and was re-released on March 8, 2007 under a ‘The Best’ budget price.

Based on the Japanese comic, you play as a childhood friend of Nobue Itou, one of the comic’s five heroines. It’s summer vacation, and the girls have come to your home town, giving you a chance to get to know them better. Outside of Itou, you’ll also meet Miu Matsuoka, Chjika Itou, Matsuri Sakuragi and Anna Coppola — all college students. The game takes place over a one month period. Every day, you can perform two actions, including shopping, meeting with a girl, and even going out on dates. Prior to going to bed, you can exchange e-mails with the girls in order to better your relationship. As you play, the game displays a map of your home town, showing where the girls are at any given time.