Ichigo Anime Soon!
So I think I’m going to try to drive this blog in more of a direction that might appeal to a bigger audience then just me bitching about my day. What direction you say? Why none other then anime!
Since that article in the local newspaper a month ago, I guess my name’s been making it’s way around the media. The Star-Legder (the largest new paper in Jersey) recently contacted my school about doing a huge feature on anime, so the school gave them all my contact information. I haven’t heard from them yet, so maybe they found someone else more important to interview. But still, having myself being considered an “anime expert” did make me feel pretty good.
So I’m going to use this blog to get a little more recognition and put out my input on what’s going on in the anime industry right now. Hopefully I can make it entertaining and get a nice audience too. So here we go with the first post!
Ichigo 100% has got to be the most popular manga that no one knows about. Its follow the tradition of Chobits, Pita Ten, and anything by Rumiko Takahashi that shows that the best (as well as the naughtiest) shounen romances are made by women. It has a unique style that’s still cute while being fairly realistic (minus, of course, the bust sizes). It has a Shoujo-ish soap opera storyline, but it’s filled with so many ecchi moments to make any guy pity and envy the protagonist. And it’s thrown right smack dab in the middle of the early adolescences testosterone fest known as Weekly Shounen Jump.
See more pictures in my earlier post
Now because of the art style and ecchi images, this series sure caught my eye when I was looking through an issue of Jump about two years ago. I’ve been trying to find out more about the series since then, but it was so hidden behind the One Pieces and Narutos out there that no one could really say anything about it. And for the most part, the same is true today. The only people that know of this series in the US would be the tight community that reads the scanlations. I recently read an article in the US Shounen Jump that talked about a Jump convention in Japan, and I could clearly see Ichigo displays all over the place in the photos. Yet the article made no mention of the series at all. Well get ready for a change.
The manga has been out for many years now, and has already reached its 14th volume in Japan. But now the cult classic has gained enough popularity to spread across other markets. Earlier this month a PS2 dating sim game was released in Japan. While the manga hasn’t been licensed in the US, the un-translated versions can be found at most Borders and Waldenbooks stores. And trust me, they know you can’t read it, but they make sure everyone can see the ecchi covers! And now starting 2 weeks from tonight comes the Ichigo 100% anime!
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There’s no doubt about it, the unique art style is completely lost with the digital animation. But I really don’t know ANYTHING about this show! Until a couple of days ago it was all just a rumor that there was going to be a show, and now it’s premiering in two weeks. But I’m still hopeful that it will be very good. Either way, the Ichigo bandwagon is getting larger by the second. And I’ll bet that you’ll be seeing licensing and merchandise coming into the US very soon. ^_^
