Strawberry Marshmallow OVA Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Strawberry Marshmallow OVA Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson November 5, 2016

Strawberry Marshmallow (Ichigo Mashimaro) originated as a Barasui-created manga series that follows the adventures of four elementary school girls and their college-aged big sister in Hamamatsu, Japan. In 2005, it became an anime series and was also adapted into a PlayStation 2 video game. Three original video animation (OVA) episodes were released two years later by the Daume studio between February and April, 2007. This was followed by a two-episode OVA series titled Strawberry Marshmallow Encore, which was released between late January and March, 2009. Sentai Filmworks has collected the latter five episodes and released them on a single BD-25 as part of "The Complete OVA Series." Each episode runs twenty-five minutes on average and contains the internal eyecatches (or ad bumpers) that aired between commercial breaks on the TBS Japanese television network. Each episode can be played through Sentai's main menu. (I could not find a "play all" option.)

1. "Scenery" ("Keshiki" [けしき]): Nobue Ito, the twenty-year-old college student, goes on a job hunt but has her application tampered with by Miu Matsuoka, who is prone to playing pranks on the girls. The three girls have a long day at school.

2. "Always" (aka "The Usual"; "Itsumo" [いつも]): This is probably my favorite episode of the bunch. The girls play hide-and-seek, dress up in different costumes, and are up to their usual tricks. Everyone is concerned about how Matsuri Sakuragi, who is one of the youngest, will be able to grapple with life's challenges as she matures.

3. "Everyday" ("Mainichi" [まいにち]): The gang goes on a holiday trek where they visit the public bath, tell ghost stories, and go for an evening stroll in the moonlight.

4. "Hello" (aka "Good Afternoon"; "Haisai" [ハイサイ]): In one of the series' few action scenes, Miu bangs her head and ascends to heaven. She stirs a lot of commotion there before regaining consciousness. The girls go on a school trip where they paint in a park.

5. "See You Tomorrow" ("Mata Ashita" [またあした]): Miu stimulates the girls into thinking about what their friendships mean. Mui also acts as prognosticator for how her friends will do in junior high. The episode culminates with Nobue escorting them to the beach.

The episodes, particularly the first three, begin with a catchy ballad that depicts the girls active and playing outdoors. Strawberry Marshmallow typically consists of a series of vignettes or skits involving the girls and their day-to-day activities. The series is geared toward the female adolescent demographic and while it contains adult characters such as teachers and a wise old blind man, it is best enjoyed by pre-teens. While the verdant colors are often stunning to behold, the animation is not on the same level as bigger-budgeted animated features released in commercial cinemas. A lot of the backgrounds have a very flat, two-dimensional look to them and lack much detail. Sky, trees, and other objects in the periphery often remain static. It is a creative decision on the animators' part to choose stasis over movement (or vice versa) but narratively speaking, I thought that there should have been more going on in the frame during the wide shots.

Strawberry Marshmallow OVA Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

All five episodes appear in the aspect ratio of 1:78:1, which is presumably how they were presented during their original air dates. The source print is very clean with few defects to spot. The image is frequently overly bright, which makes me wonder if there may have been some contrast boosting. Color delineation is good, although not all colors appear to be completely "filled in." Some hues have better definition than others. All in all, a more than acceptable transfer without any issues.

Strawberry Marshmallow OVA Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sentai has provided Strawberry Marshmallow's sound track with two audio options: an original Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and an English dubbed DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. I listened to the original track for this review. Dialogue and sound effects are directed largely through the center and front channels. The track sounds solid without any technicalities. The surrounds get some action when pop songs are played. Sentai has supplied optional yellow English subtitles for the Japanese dialogue. It also translates essentially any Japanese text that is in the frame. The captions are thorough and you will probably need to pause the disc to read them in full.

Strawberry Marshmallow OVA Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Sentai has included two very minor extras.

• Clean Opening Animations (3:23, 1080p) - the opening without any titles, credits, or subtitles for the song's lyrics.

• Clean Closing Animations (4:59, 1080p) - the finale sans scrolling end credits or subtitles.

• Sentai Trailers - trailers for four of Sentai's catalog titles.

Strawberry Marshmallow OVA Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Admittedly, I am not part of the target audience that the producers of Strawberry Marshmallow sought to reach and while the series moves fast, I had difficulty sustaining interest in the characters and their dilemmas. Sentai offers above average video and serviceable audio but doesn't deliver hardly anything in the way of bonus features. If you're a big fan of this series and also want to own all twelve episodes of the original 2005 episodes, Sentai has also put out a two-disc Strawberry Marshmallow: Complete TV Series Blu-ray.