What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and everything nice, that’s what little girls are made of.
Fifty episodes. Ichigo remains sweet and kind through fifty episodes of crepe-making, dough-kneading, chocolate-tempering mayhem. She is partnered with the Sweets Princes, three boys each uniquely gifted in his own area of sweets-making. Each human is paired with a miniature Sweets Fairy in training. That makes eight members, and eight is the perfect number for a team: Team Ichigo, Happy Happy Macaroon, Happiness Made Go!
The problem is that Ichigo is all thumbs, with a proclivity to trip over her own feet, down the stairs and onto her face. But with the help of her Sweets Princes and her Sweets Fairy, Ichigo works hard to build the skills needed to showcase her genius sense of taste and preternatural ability to read people’s hearts (not only is she able to taste FIRST LOVE in a pastry, but she specializes in sweets that make others smile). Faster than you can make Friendship Maccha Gateau Chocolat, Team Ichigo is ready to enter the Cake Grand Prix.
To quote Hannibal Lecter paraphrasing Marcus Aurelius, “Of each particular thing ask: what is it in itself? What is its nature?” Yumeiro Patisserie in itself is a pastry. It is the nature of a pastry to be enjoyed. Even Chekhov, who didn’t approve of artists as pastry chefs, might have reconsidered had he met Ichigo. Irascible Kashino is tempered by her warmth. Perfect Tennouji is baffled by her affability. In the end, Ichigo stands atop the baking world with a dream strawberry tart that would make her grandmother proud, and only a real curmudgeon wouldn’t be happy about that.
Three obligatory remarks:
First, the animation is straight-forward, the backgrounds drawn without much depth, and most frames are suffused with light. The character designs are shiny and flat. Ichigo actually seems to grow taller and less childish by the end of the series.
Second, the music. The theme with the whimsical flute playing off the clarinet was fitting, reminiscent of the Dance of the Mirlitons.
Third, voice characterizations. Caramel’s voice was adorable. The rest fell somewhere within the spectrum of nasal and high-pitched, with Miya the heiress’s laugh as the tonal equivalent of fingernails on the chalkboard.
Grade: C+ but only because Miya’s voice provoked me.
