Marmalade Boy

"Marmalade Boy" is one of the sweet shoujo anime in the world, maybe even the sweetest. It is one of my favorite anime, and I can watch it over and over again and not get bored. I can even cry in sone scenes every time... T___T The story was written by Wataru Yushizumi (Ultra Maniac belongs to her too). The art is very nice, but the animation is actually not that good (an anime from 1995, what do you expect?) but you can live with that. The OST of the anime is very good. In some ways it is very childish (the opening theme, for an example), butmature too (some songs). Most of the melodies in the series are actually kind of karaoke of the songs. The voice actress of Miki, the main female character, sang many songs in the series. The love story in the anime is very original and displayed to us, the watchers, by a point of view that makes us cry with the characters, laugh with them and even be angry and more. The events are very realistic, the characters and the relationships between them too. The only bad thing in the series is that in some episodes the events are... not make sense. I won't say what they are, but I am not the one who thought so... With the series there is a 25 minutes movie, which is a a point of view of somebody else, that made you understand the things better. [though it is not existed in the manga XD] Why did I love the anime? Because of the childish atmosphere, the point of view and the plot itself. Well, I could say 1000 good things about it, but I will shut up. Go watch!

MY OVERVIEW: Miki Koshikawa is a high-school girl looking for a change of pace in her life. Little did she know that as soon as she had entertained this thought her parents were downstairs conspiring to reveal something that she would not have expected in her wildest dreams. They had met another couple and are going to switch partners with them. Yes, you heard me, switch partners. Miki is entirely against this and will not stand for it. Hearing that they have a son of their own a new hope emerges. She will have someone to assist her who disagrees with this situation entirely. Boy, was she wrong.Not only does Yuu not mind what is happening but he is completely cruel to Miki, playing jokes and making fun of her at every chance he gets. Or at least that's what she initially thinks until she realizes that the Yuu is really like.. Marmalade on burnt toast???!? Now they all live in the same house together but they will go through a lot of trials and tribulations in relationships, both family and personal, as they go through daily school life together with other characters such as Ginta, Arimi, Satoshi, Satomu, Meiko, Natchan, Kei, Suzu and later in the series The American Crew. Who will end up with who, that is the question? There is way too much that goes on within the series to describe it in words. PERSONAL OPINION: Once you watch this anime you will never look at another Shoujo/Romance/Drama the same way again. It may have been a couple of years since I completed the series but ever since that day I have not been as entertained by many romance based anime simply because the standards Marmalade Boy has set are too high. I'm completely serious, if you are a fan of this genre and you haven't seen this it is the most entertaining experience you will have. Whilst there are lots of different things happening at any given time it never becomes overly confusing and the story is generally entertaining with something that happens at the end of an episode that makes you want to tune in the for the next one. Kind of like a Soap Opera setup. 'Tis good stuff. It's not too difficult to follow but at the same time isn't mind numbing. Some say the Soundtrack has got a 80's or 70's feel to it (after-all it is an anime made in the 90's), I say its pure bliss. The tracks are astounding. They suit the mood perfectly and I looked forward to every time my favorite tune played in the background. The opening theme, "Egao Ni Aitai" is upbeat and sets you up for a great time. The slow variations of this opening theme song throughout the anime are a great touch. I'm not going to say there aren't a few lackluster compositions but trust me, you will know what I mean by the amazing soundtrack once you watch it. Miki is my favorite female character in any anime. She had childish traits yet she comes across to be a genuine, nice and sweet young lady. Yuu is my favourite male character in any anime. He is a nice guy and likes to make fun of Miki but at the same time letting her know that he cares for her. Ginta and Arimi are also both REALLY strong characters by the end of the series. Enough said? Might I also say that the character designs are REALLY good. All the females look exactly like the character they are made to portray. Satoshi is kind of another version of Yuu but with a mullet :P He does have his differences but I won't go through them here. Miki and Arimi are simply cute and Meiko has a pretty but mature look going for her, closely reflecting their personality traits. Whilst I personally love the animation it is a little outdated because of the age of the anime. Although it takes a little getting used to I personally LOVE the style, especially how the characters look. Don't let the animation quality deter you from the series solely on that though as you will come to appreciate it and even if you don't, the story and just the plain ROMANCE is worth the price of admission in itself. I think the style is really unique with nice colours and it's ultimately nice on the eyes to sit back and watch. If you take a look at various pictures from the art books you will see that they are still vibrant and appealing to look at even by today's standards. Some of the characters that may or may not have been in the manga can be annoying and a distraction from the main plot. This was the case for me when they were first introduced but it was something that I was willing to look over. This series is amazingly well dubbed and includes the talents of some of my favorite English voice actors (If not before, they are now). The sub also holds up strong.

Highs: Fantastic Cast of Characters; has good humor; fascinating Relationships Lows: Overused Themes; very predictable; unlikable lead character; a season too long This one was quite the adventure. It took me a significant amount of time to complete this anime and for the most part I was fairly pleased. Spanning 76 Episodes, Marmalade Boy is your standard high school romance, with a twist. Our two main characters have two parents who switch spouses that force them to live together. This alone was an interesting concept. There are many other strengths in this anime. For one is the wonderful cast in Marmalade Boy. Almost each and every one of the charactersis memorable and have marvelous, fleshed out personalities. The cast is truly what makes Marmalade Boy special. Of course, with great characters, come the intricate relationships. Sprinkle the great character interaction, with an icing of great characters and a dash of humor; you’ve got yourself the recipe for success. Although, as the series progressed the story seemed to run out of fuel, as Marmalade Boy is clearly a season too long, as the same themes keep bring revived…only with different characters. The “I love you, you have a lover” theme is played out so much, it’s almost ridiculous. This sort of repetitiveness also leads to another flaw, Marmalade Boy’s occasional predictability. If you pay enough attention, you can basically build the conclusion for yourself and find that you were mostly correct, if not completely correct, which I must stress, not a good thing. The last season could’ve easily been written out and still have left a strong anime behind. Nevertheless, Marmalade Boy is a good entry in the Romantic Humor category. With it’s exceptional cast of characters, it’ll be sure to catch your attention, just don’t be surprised if you figure out the ending before you even watch it. Wriiten by AlterGenesis-X August 8th, 2005

For a lot of people when they think “shoujo” they think of Full Moon wo Sagashite, Boys Over Flowers, Fruits Basket and of course, Marmalade Boy. That's why I picked the title.....Buuuuuuuuut while I DO love shoujo but I could barely tolerate Marmalade Boy mainly there is too much unnecessary angst and most of the drama is self-inflicted. This show did not touch me neither on an emotional nor intellectual level. It has a very dated look, very 80's with flat coloring as well as stiff unnatural movements that's predictably associated with anime from that era. Out of the whole series I the song I loved mostwas MOMENT, even though it's completely overused in the series. I dunno, something about the xylophone and that 80's base beat really worked for me. I include it on every anime playlist I make for my iPOD. The SAYONARA song was a little too melodramatic for me, sorry. The whole series is melodramatic, with all the terrible music and dramatic lighting, exaggerated posings, let's not forget the constant crying and running down endless flights of stairs....EGAD! For me this show is too much like a daytime soap opera they could call it “As Miki Turns” seriously someone give that girl some Klonopin or Lexapro because she is just too anxious it's kind of annoying. The story has no real plot just people falling in love with each other, over and over again and thenmore people show up to form love triangles, love squares and love polygons...after a while it all becomes a bit tedious. The only really interesting story would be Mako and Nao-Chan, the student-teacher relationship. The character design is terrible, the faces are OK but body-wise they're a hot mess....A HOT MESS!!! It's like they took silhouettes intended for high fashion design and tried to make it work for anime. Um, can we say FAIL boys and girls? Everyone's hips were too narrow and combined with those matchstick-like legs that moved awkwardly a lot of the time they walked and posed like their thighs were fused together. The girls' torsos seemed fine and acceptable by anime standards but the boys' shoulders and torsos on the other hand were very broad [sometimes the width of about 3 heads] and yet there is no muscle mass or even any kind of definition they are just abnormally larger “skeletally” than the girls. Things get worse when you look at an actual adult male in the series, they look even more freakishly larger and disproportionate in relation to the school kids. I own it but I can't re-watch it. Miki brings too much unnecessary anxiety upon herself, every minute the guy is gone she thinks he's cheating on her or forgotten about her or dead....it's annoying. She's the kind of person that could potentially become a stalker. Personally, I would recommend Boys over Flowers or Full Moon wo Sagashite over Marmalade Boy any day.

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