So here we have Ichigo 100%, the first in a long series of ecchi and hentai dive on which I'll be making reviews and comments upon. I'd like to note first that I had watched this series some years ago when it came out, but dropped it. After my second time though--- I think I should have left it where it was. However as I am on this wonderful little adventure with my girl-friend; Zabbichu. I thought; "well, why not?"
[ STORY: 4 ] "Pretty much your run of the mill harem."
So, as you would suspect from these genres, we have one guy and
...
a group of lovely young ladies who, for some unknown reason--- fall in love with him, and in this case; pretty much unconditionally. The main character is perhaps a vicarious writer tool to live out his own wishes and desires, however if this was the case I would say that the writer is a bit of a masochist. The story itself really kinda spins its wheels without really going anywhere, or deciding on how it wants to be. It starts out well enough, but after the middle a lot of things just keep repeating and dulls the rest of the series. What I found interesting though, towards the end it appears that in a few conversations the non-essential characters had with the main cast seemed to reflect kinda how things were going in the series itself. It was like it was arguing with its self for some sort of validity. Other than a few elements about the girls, it's pretty much your run of the mill harem, which I have nothing against. I actually quite enjoy the genre; however this series was very lackluster. Even more boring is that it's themes don't even really bring much new to the table.
[ CHARACTERS: 7 ] "Would have been higher if not for the main character."
So I'll get one thing out really quick. The main character? Forgettable, boring and pretty much useless. Most times I felt him using lines I would see if I were playing a dating sim; bland and pretty much all-fit scenario comments. He does well by encouraging the girls in their various talents, or chasing them when they run. But other than that, he felt generic and could have been anyone else. His buddies had more flavor to him. However the reason I've given this section such a high score, which would have been higher if not for the main character; is the love interests. I found them more entertaining to watch grow and act as the series went on. Even though they really don't develop too much, I wasn't expecting much in the short 12 eps. I find it really amusing when the main character doesn't act and they then react like a normal girl would, instead of one of the paper dolls in other anime I've seen.
[ ART: 6 ] "If you're like me, who's a big fan of girls with lip gloss then this series might just have a little something for you to enjoy. "
Ichigo 100% came out in `05; so with that in mind I would have to say that the art was good. It wasn't anything too great. However I was disappointed in the wide gap between the key animation ( the parts where the better animators do the important scenes ), and the other frames. I understand they might have not had quite a big enough budget to have everything look really great, but some more effort in a few scenes would have been better. The background was professional, but they were bland settings. It did shine in whenever it came to an ecchi scene though, with good detailing on the panties, plenty of not just the same old white school girl ones. It also did well whenever the camera focused on the cleavage, which seemed to gleam with every close-up. But most of all I really liked the close-ups on the lips. If you're like me, who's a big fan of girls with lip gloss then this series might just have a little something for you to enjoy. The character art was again, good for the time. But just that--- good. The girls were quite enjoyable to look at and the supporting cast didn't just fall into the background, so it did well enough.
[ SOUND: 6 ] "The ending was great."
The opening was alright. However the ending was great, it was fun to hear them use the "Vengaboys - We like to Party!" (The Six-flags theme these days) sample for the ED theme, they did a good job of using it for their song without making it feel like it was a copy of the same song. The background music throughout the anime was again, good enough. It didn't really catch my attention, and I probably won't recognize any of the tracks ever. But sometimes that's good in an anime like this, since you wouldn't want to take away from the dialog. But I felt that the music changed at the right parts to add to what was happening on screen. The SFX blended well, but didn't really fill out the rest of the atmosphere around the cast, pretty much just simple focus on what was happening. The voice cast did okay, but there were a few points when characters were off screen and they were talking to the protagonist that I didn't know one from the other. These are key points in a anime like this, where you fall in-love with a character so much that you can point them out without even seeing their faces. However all the girls pretty much fell into two characters; soft spoken sweethearts. Or precocious loudmouths. Which disappointed me quite a bit.
[ ENJOYMENT: 3 ] "if you got your hopes high for something really hot and fun... turn away now."
I was at first really excited to see where it was going to take us, hoping that the fan-service would escalate as it went on and the relationships grew. However I will spoil something right here and now, it doesn't. So if you got your hopes high for something really hot and fun... turn away now. I really was hoping as the first series on my little perverted adventure with my girlfriend would be a lot more entertaining. However I found myself waiting for something to happen, but was left waiting even after the series ended. Which now, I'm glad it's over.
[ OVERALL: 5 ] "There's much better out there."
At this point I cannot recommend this series, unless you're really hardcore and looking for a rerun of something you already seen. My views might change after I am finished watching through the various OVAs, but as of right now I can't really say that anyone should go out of their way to watch it; there's much better out there which share the same themes. So in closing I would like to thank you for reading this first review of mine and I'd like to encourage you to read my girl-friend's review as well; Zabbichu, and look forward to the rest of our stuff as we continue our adventures together!
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May 15, 2011
Ichigo 100%
(Anime)
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So here we have Ichigo 100%, the first in a long series of ecchi and hentai dive on which I'll be making reviews and comments upon. I'd like to note first that I had watched this series some years ago when it came out, but dropped it. After my second time though--- I think I should have left it where it was. However as I am on this wonderful little adventure with my girl-friend; Zabbichu. I thought; "well, why not?"
[ STORY: 4 ] "Pretty much your run of the mill harem." So, as you would suspect from these genres, we have one guy and ... |
