Ichigo 100% (Strawberry 100%) Manga Review

Ichigo 100% (Strawberry 100%)

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Harem, Shounen

Synopsis

One day, Manaka Junpei walks to the roof of his school and encounters a beautiful girl falling down from above him and accidentally exposing her strawberry panties. The embarrassed girl runs away before Junpei can find out whom she is. He wishes to become a filmmaker, and this whole experienced seemed like it would make the perfect scene in a movie. And so he goes on a search for the girl with the strawberry panties in order to reenact it all on film. But he will soon discover that finding that one girl will not be that easy... (Source: ANN)

Preface

There's something special about a manga when you're constantly internally screaming because you're insanely frustrated at the main character. 

Very rarely do I ever read romance mangas because I prefer stories with great depth or great comedy. Ichigo 100% is a romance harem manga that surprisingly contains both, despite the negative reputation that harem mangas carry. Most shounen harem mangas are criticized for always being generic, shallow, and having fan service over content. The 2 most prominent shounen harem mangas of all time are Love Hina and Ichigo 100%, but I stopped reading Love Hina halfway through because I got bored of it (people will probably bash me for this). Unlike Love Hina, Ichigo 100% had me fully immersed in it. As a matter of fact, it's my favorite romance manga of all time because I've read the entire manga 4 times already. Sadly, this is Mizuki Kawashita's only successful manga, and it's a shame because she really knows how to create a male's perspective on romance, despite being female, and deliver great laughs throughout a manga. Another thing to mention is, even though I've used the anime's picture, don't watch the anime because it cuts out some important story details in order to fit the anime. It feels like an unfinished anime because it abruptly stops in the middle of a manga arc, and less than a third of the manga is shown in the anime.
And again, do not watch the anime and judge Ichigo 100% because it is an extremely poor representation of this manga.

Characters

Manaka Junpei and his strawberry obsession

Manaka Junpei dreams of becoming a great filmmaker and has a fetish for strawberry panties after experiencing a brief encounter with a beautiful girl that fell down underwear first in front of him. For an average guy who's always day dreaming and barely passing his classes, he seems to be the luckiest guy ever when he somehow ends up in many enviable situations. Every guy hates him for having the attention of the most beautiful girls in the school. Chances are that you're going to hate his guts for his indecisiveness in picking a girl. I mean, how many guys actually have a choice in picking which girl they want to be in a romantic relationship with? This guy is also like a complete saint for not taking advantage of all the enviable situations that he's somehow always in due to his conscience.

Note: Even though Ichigo 100% is known for its 4 heroines, I'm only going to mention the ones that the main character is romantically involved with.

Toujo Aya without her glasses

Toujo Aya is a shy, awkward, and clumsy girl who is usually at the top of her class. Aya sincerely wants to help Manaka make his dreams come true (that aren't ecchi ones) with her novelist caliber writing abilities.When she has her glasses on and does her hair in a geeky way, she's ignored, but when she takes her glasses off and lets her hair down, she becomes the hot girl of men's dreams. A nerdy awkward girl who isn't noticed with her glasses on and suddenly becomes beautiful when she takes them off? Sounds like a common manga heroine archetype right? That may be true, but mangas rarely develop those kinds of characters (and I'm not talking about her "well-developed" D-cups). She surprisingly becomes one of the most developed characters in the story, especially for a heroine in a romance manga.

Nishino Tsukasa

Nishino Tsukasa is another heroine who is pretty much the foil to Aya's character. She has a bold personality along with a desire to follow her own dreams. She's very independent and always takes the initiative in what she wants. *cough cough* Pay attention ladies. She also has significantly smaller breasts than Aya. Tsukasa is a very likable character and is surprisingly very mature for her age.

Kitaoji Satsuki is a very brash tomboyish girl who loves to flaunt her well-developed and athletic body. She's very straightfoward and doesn't really think about her actions and words before she does anything. A bro's kind of girl to hang out with, Satsuki is easy to talk to and is knowledgeable with television shows and other trivial things.

Review

You might think that you can predict who Manaka is going to be with at the end, but trust me, you will have the most difficult time predicting who it is. You will be pissed off at Manaka for his inability to decide who he likes the most. One moment you think that he'll be with Aya, in the next chapter you think that he'll be with Tsukasa, then in the next chapter you'll think that he'll be with Satsuki. This manga will keep you guessing throughout the entire manga. If you like unpredictability in a plot, here it is. Ichigo 100% is one of the most unpredictable romance manga that I've ever read, and that is why this manga stands out to me over most romance mangas.

Chapter 1

The art work is very well done and it really adds to the emotions that are conveyed in many of the emotional scenes. Out of all the mangas I've read,  Mizuki Kawashita really knows how to illustrate sad emotions on a person's face without the need of tears.

There is plenty of fan service that are really well-drawn throughout this manga. Some people hate on fan service in general, but the fan service really adds to the comedy and sometimes emotions of certain scenes like I said earlier. For some hilarious reason, Manaka always ends up in a situation like this:

Manaka in the Sea of Breasts

The comedy is gold in this manga and it never fails to make me laugh; I first read this back in my early years high school, fast forward to my mid college years and this manga is still hilarious. Every straight male reading this will always curse Manaka for possessing the devil's luck. 

Character development is the absolute shining star of this manga and pretty much the story. Because the entire story focuses on character development and the relationships of Manaka and the heroines, this manga literally has the best character development in all of the romance mangas that I've read. Because this manga is chronologically going through Manaka's school years, you will notice how Manaka and the heroines develop significantly as they grow older and more mature.

Ichigo 100% isn't without its problems though; the manga added an unnecessary character.

Kozue Mukai the unnecessary character

In the last third of the story Kozue Mukai practically dragged the plot a little bit, ultimately adding no value to the plot. The other problem is that the male characters other than Manaka have no character development because the story is female-centric and Manaka. To sum it up, all male characters other than Manaka are pretty much just extras.

I mean look at how plain these characters are compared to the females.

These problems are very minor despite how it sounds like because the character development, humor, and art completely overshadows them. The story is very enjoyable; me reading the entire 167 chapters of Ichigo 100% 4 times is pretty much proof.

Conclusion

This is a very well done romantic comedy harem manga is the prime example of how a romance this genre should be. The excellent character development is the focal point of this manga and the plot is extremely unpredictable. The characters are very likable.The artwork is great and really conveys the mood of scenes. Despite the constant fan service, it actually adds to the humor and story and that is very impressive coming from a harem manga because harem mangas never do this. I guarantee you that there will be laughs coming from reading this manga.

Rating

9/10