Cherry no Manma

“Cherry no Manma” is a short OVA based on the manga of the same name, and along with the similar title “Ano Ko ni 1000%,” it was included as a bonus on a VHS/Laserdisc volume of “Umi no Yami, Tsuki no Kage.”

The story follows a girl named Kanoko whose favorite pair of underwear has gone missing, and she accuses one of her housemates, Yuki, of stealing it. He insists he’s innocent, but the other guy she’s living with, Yuzuru, also takes her side, and Yuki runs away. Will Kanoko and Yuzuru be able to reconcile with Yuki, and will Kanoko ever find her panties?

This OVA ... does not work as a standalone piece, and likely was not intended to — it’s a bonus for fans of the manga, as well as a “trailer” of sorts to get people who bought the main OVA interested in the manga. Thus, we aren’t given any background on these characters (there are only 3), or how they came to live together. This makes the whole thing rather confusing. You’re left spending most of the time trying to figure out what these characters’ relationships with each other are and how/why they’re in their present living situation.

After watching this, I read some of the manga and figured out the synopsis of the story, and it’s a bit less innocent than it looks. Kanoko is the 15-year-old daughter of a yakuza boss, and her father is going to force her to get married when she turns 16. Before then, she wants to get a boyfriend and experience becoming intimate with him; that’s her driving motivation for the series. As for her housemates, one of the boys is her brother-in-law and was assigned to be her bodyguard, and the other is a boy she has a crush on and whom she came to live with due to various circumstances. Also, she has the “special ability” to cause people to blank out when she yells at them from a close range. The title, “Cherry no Manma,” is likely a double entendre, referring to both her cherry-patterned underwear and her virginity. It loosely translates to “She’s still got her cherry.”

Anyway, going back to the OVA itself, there is little character development, but at least the plot, as simple as it is, moves forward and has a satisfying conclusion. The animation is fair. The character designs are nice; the character designer would later work on “Fushigi Yuugi,” which is probably why one of the characters looks like a proto-Tamahome. The voice acting is not that great; in particular, I felt that Kanoko’s voice is a bit grating on the ears. The music is all instrumental and is pleasant enough, but forgettable.

As for objectionable content, there is plenty in the manga itself, but not so much in this OVA. A pair of girl’s underwear is the focal point of the entire piece, and one character accusing another of being a panty thief is what drives the plot forward. In that sense, it could be considered by some to be objectionable, but it’s not explicit; there is no nudity or anything like that.

Overall, I would not recommend watching this unless 1) you’re a fan of the “Cherry no Manma” manga; or 2) you don’t care for character development too much and just want to watch something simple with a “cute” ‘80s aesthetic.