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Strawberry Eggs (I My Me) - Make-up Exam (Vol. 1)

Strawberry Eggs (I My Me) - Make-up Exam (Vol. 1)

List Price: $29.98
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A hilarious anime!
Review: "Strawberry Eggs" is a very wonderful and hilarious anime about a young man named Hibiki Amawa, who wishes to get a job teaching at a school. But, the problem is, they only allow females to work as teachers there.
So, with the help of Hibiki's landlady, he dressed up as a woman and he gets a job there.
This is a very, sweet, funny anime that I highly recommend to anyone who likes a good laugh every once in a while!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: *MUCH* better than it might seem
Review: I admit, the entire reason that I watched the first episode of this series was because of the name. I wanted to make sense of this seemingly meaningless combination of English words. After watching all 13 episodes, it doesn't make the slightest bit more sense to me than it did before. ^_^;

The story is basically "Tootsie" meets "In & Out," if you're a fan of 5-second summaries. The basic premise of the show is that Hibiki Amawa is a 23-year-old college graduate with a degree in athletics who desperately wants to be a gym teacher. He has just moved into a new apartment with his dog, only to be immediately assaulted by his new landlady and told to pay his rent or get packing. He has no money, so he assures Oba-chan ("Auntie," his nickname for the landlady) that he is on his way to apply for a job at the junior high school in the town.. the catch, however (and there's always a catch) is that the principal/vice-principal of the school are essentially insane man-haters, and they will only hire female teachers (and are even working to rid of the school of male students), because they feel that men disrupt their teaching philosophy of gentleness and a loving non-competitive atmosphere.

When Hibiki is rejected because of his gender, Oba-chan tells him that because she can't stand the school's principal, she will help him get revenge. Using both makeup and a clever choker that can disguise his voice, she manages to turn Hibiki into a rather attractive woman who sets out to apply for the job once more.

The principals decide to test "her" ability by picking out the clumsiest student in the school, a 2nd year student named Fuuko, and telling Hibiki that if she can get the girl to run without tripping - and especially WITHOUT losing her temper - then she will have proven that she is not too 'manly' and impatient, thus filling the school's philosophy of "Love itself" and winning herself the job.

Fuuko, however, besides being clumsy, has another strike against her: the girls' gym uniforms are ankle-length pleated skirts (to keep the boys from feeling any attraction to them ^_^;), which prevent her from stretching her legs and get twisted as she moves. Hibiki, determined to win, finally manages to get Fuuko to win - by tying her skirt around her waist and thus freeing her legs to run (shocking the administration). Hibiki gets the job, but Fuuko seems a little starry-eyed around her new teacher..

The series progresses through suspicion about Hibiki's true nature from the vice-principal to blossoming romances among Hibiki's homeroom students to learning to accept everyone for who they are. This last bit really surprised me; I wasn't expecting much out this aspect, but the ending of the series really takes a turn for the dramatic and addresses the issues head-on, very reminiscent of the movie 'In & Out' with Kevin Kline (about a gay teacher).

The teacher-student relationship dynamics also make me a little twitchy, but "at least it's not quite as bad as Cardcaptor Sakura" (where it's a FOURTH grader) is a good motto. ^_^;;;;

Overall, it's a great show that deserves to be watched, with good artwork, cute characters, and an unusual story.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the funniest Anime ever!
Review: I am totally serious. I would have to say that each of the four episodes got more laughs from me per minute than either Ranma 1/2 or even Tenchi Muyo! Not that those anime series are not funny, but this series focuses on a male gym teacher who, in order to work in a school which allows only FEMALE teachers, has to cross-dress! The problems he gets into, the conflicts among the students he has to solve and, sometimes, the gender issues he has to deal with, make this DVD nothing but a minefield of laughs and giggles. He even has to deal with the traditions of the school, which, for example, demand that females wear long skirts while in gym class. And don't forget his own male ego!
The extras, such as the art gallery and the student roll call of the males just adds to the great humor. The art work, the lack of magic or silly science, and the perfect voice selection for the characters makes sure that you have no distractions from the story itself.
100 minutes of enjoyment. While rated 13 and up, I can picture younger kids watching it as long as you trusted them to be mature enough to handle it. Sometimes there are serious scenes, dealing with relationships between males and females, as well as between friends, and of course between teacher and students. But these are topics that young people will have to deal with in real life anyway, so why try to shield them? Also, Hibiki Amawa, the teacher, learns a little about himself during this adventure.
Buy it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the funniest Anime ever!
Review: I am totally serious. I would have to say that each of the four episodes got more laughs from me per minute than either Ranma 1/2 or even Tenchi Muyo! Not that those anime series are not funny, but this series focuses on a male gym teacher who, in order to work in a school which allows only FEMALE teachers, has to cross-dress! The problems he gets into, the conflicts among the students he has to solve and, sometimes, the gender issues he has to deal with, make this DVD nothing but a minefield of laughs and giggles. He even has to deal with the traditions of the school, which, for example, demand that females wear long skirts while in gym class. And don't forget his own male ego!
The extras, such as the art gallery and the student roll call of the males just adds to the great humor. The art work, the lack of magic or silly science, and the perfect voice selection for the characters makes sure that you have no distractions from the story itself.
100 minutes of enjoyment. While rated 13 and up, I can picture younger kids watching it as long as you trusted them to be mature enough to handle it. Sometimes there are serious scenes, dealing with relationships between males and females, as well as between friends, and of course between teacher and students. But these are topics that young people will have to deal with in real life anyway, so why try to shield them? Also, Hibiki Amawa, the teacher, learns a little about himself during this adventure.
Buy it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A funny and cute comedy!
Review: I got I My Me! Strawberry Eggs recently and found it was very funny. Especially Ba-chan, but my favorite character is Fuko even though I like Ba-chan a lot! The theme song and ending song were nice, somewhat slow paced, and the art was cute. If you like this anime I recommend Vandread, Love Hina, and His and Her Circumstances!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Disappointing and Mediocre
Review: I have to say that one of the main things that attracted me to this anime was the fact that the fab. Crispin Freeman had done the dub for the male Hibiki and that he had done a lot of work in producing the english version. He, as always, does a great job. However, we rarely hear the male Hibiki's voice. Not only that, we never really even see his personality, neither as a man or a woman. And Crispin's voice isn't enough to save this show's lack of luster.

The characters are very nice eye candy and the voices are great and all...but the story falters big time. It starts out great enough in the first couple of dvd's, but then it turns into a relationships thing instead of being about Hibiki standing up for male teacher's rights and changing the principal's mind. What ticks me off is that the show brings up some very good questions that it NEVER answers. It's like it switches lanes and drives down a different road, avoiding the subject totally and giving us cheap laughs and sappy drama. For instance, is it ok to be a lesbian? Is it ok to love your teacher/student? Is it ok to cross dress? Is is ok to be a peeping tom? These issues are barely addressed. The principal and vice principal's motives are never even explained! You have to watch the boring voice introductions on the 'extras' just to get a hint at their pasts. They could have made the show so much more interesting but it's been crunched into just 14 episodes that do not meet up to expectations. They also gave it a very lame and contrived ending. Strawberry Eggs is too short, too plain, and way too "been there, done that, got the T shirt"

If you want to see a great new anime, steer clear of this because you aren't missing much, and instead check out Chobits or Fruits Basket. Both are brilliant.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Wholesome Strawberry Goodness
Review: I My Me Strawberry Eggs some of the best cross-dressing comedic action yet.

The story starts out with Hibiki Amawa, a recent graduate looking for a job as a gym kyoshi (teacher). Hibiki is living in an apartment near a private school run by an extremely feminist dean. The dean believes women are everything and men are only useful for menial tasks like security guards and janitors, hence, all the teachers are female in the school. When confronted by his landlady for rent, Hibiki is forced to look to the private school for a job. Being turned down by the dean because he is a man doesn't stop Hibiki. With the help of Lulu (aka: Ba-chan), his land lady, Hibiki dresses in women's clothing and reapplies for the position. If this fails to serve as a comedic premises, Hibiki lives with two very perverted neighbors who are always sneaking peeks at the female students. Ba-chan has her ways of keeping these two in line, which ranges from shooting them to dragging them behind her motorcycle.

The many students are wonderfully developed in Strawberry Eggs. From Fujio, the tomboyish protector, to Akira, the leader of the boys, each character is well thought out and has a place in the overall story. The story seems to mainly center around Kuzuha and Hibiki. Hibiki recognizes Kuzuha's soft spirit and takes her under his wing, so to speak. Kuzuha does not realize that her kyoshi is actually a man guised as a woman. Ba-chan has very little development, but she is constantly used as a source of major comic relief. Toufukuji and Morikoji are Hibiki's perverted neighbors. The degree of their perversion is revealed as you progress through the episodes.

I was rather pleased with Strawberry Eggs. The story is not episodic, but rather has continuity through out all four episodes. In the beginning, Kuzuha starts out as a completely clumsy little girl, but over the course of the four DVD episodes, she becomes less and less klutzy as Hibiki works with her. There's even an episode where Kuzuha catches Hibiki (as a man) wearing a bra. In the following episode, Kuzuha refers to Hibiki as the "Bra-man". There are several instances of this in the four episodes alone, but by themselves, each episode could stand alone. I was slightly disappointed that the first episode was not nearly as humorous as the other two through four.

As a DVD, Strawberry Eggs (I My Me): Make-up Exam is lacking. It has a small picture gallery and an audio clip with introductions to all the male students. There is a hidden option where you get to see another audition for the voice of Hibiki. This is amusing, but adds little to the disappointing DVD extras. To access this hidden audition, highly "Begin Class" on the main DVD menu, then hit Right twice, Down six times, Left three times, then Enter.

Overall, I highly recommend Strawberry Eggs. It is one of the best comedic Animes that I have ever seen. With a great cast of characters and a classic, but not clichéd story, Strawberry Eggs is one of the best comedic animes out there.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Warm melodramatic comedy breaks stereotypes in each episode
Review: IMMSE is a 13 episode series with Vol. 1 officially released on August 13 (unless you bought a fansub). My attention was first grabbed by the very odd title, but after watching the first episode, I was hooked by the quality and pacing of the content. In many anime shows, as with this one, the main characters are exhorted to go beyond their self-limitations. In IMMSE, there are no mecha, magic girls, space ships, gory fights, or large amounts of gratuitous slapstick -- just carefully scripted melodramatic moments and long character vignettes taking place over 12 episodes and concluded in episode 13.

In so many things in anime (and in real life), people set limitations for themselves due to their own self-image, their own expectations of themselves, and the limitations and expectations set upon them by others. Each of these topics is carefully addressed by clever and tightly written scripts based upon the adventures of Hibiki Amawa as he interacts with the students and staff of a private junior high school. The director was careful to avoid the talking head syndrome, so even though this is a character-driven show, it keeps moving forward with events and action connecting the character vignettes. The show avoids heavy drama and uses melodrama and humour in a good balance to keep the mood positive.

Okay, because the principal and vice-principal only hire female teachers (because only female teachers are capable of teaching properly), Hibiki Amawa endeavors to become a teacher. He crossdresses. Okay, this may turn off a lot of people, but this is done quite low-key and tastefully as possible. It is certainly nothing like the transgender issue in the well-known Ranma show, nor like how Ranma (and friends) behave.

Hibiki proves himself as an excellent teacher who exemplifies what I feel teachers should be and what so many teachers don't seem to have in full measure (at least from what I hear from parents after PTA).

The opening credits are partially customized for each episode which is something I wish more shows would do. Another plus is that many Japanese signs/images are translated by soft subtitles rather than having digital image overlays. The opening song "Dearest" is also catchy. And finally, though this disc is from Pioneer, there isn't that old tired Pioneer advertisement for their other shows in the Extras Section. A lot of care was done for the disc and you can see the final sendoff by Kuzuha if you watch past the end credits of episode 4.

I will buy the other discs as well. Highly Recommended.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great anime; is it a perfect series? I think so
Review: It is a great series. Well, I 'll just review the following to show my opinion.

Animation- 10/10 Beautiful artwork! Very kawaii. All their expressions are great and realistic.

Sound - 10/10 They kept different japanese words, and all their voices were perfect. They all matched the characters completely. It's also good 'cause the company that was dubbing it, didn't "americanize" it.

Plot - 10/10 Very original, and the characters are also original and great. At the last episode, my friends and I cried. We had big ol' tears running down our faces. Also very funny. I luv Ba-chan!!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Funny, but has some issues worth thinking about
Review: The essence of Strawberry Eggs is quite simple: a recent college graduate becomes a junior high gym teacher by pretending to be a woman--the principal detests men and won't hire them. The situation is not all that fresh, and the jokes revolve around exactly what you would expect them to (and are similar to every other cross-dressing show ever made, I imagine). Nonetheless, it is quite funny. At times, it tries to be heartwarming and whatnot; this largely fails, because it tries too hard and becomes cloying. That's a fairly minor criticism.

There are, however, two significant issues with this show--not problems, per se, but worth considering. One is there is a high degree of "fanservice"--e.g., skirts lifting up in the wind, girls in various states of undress (no nudity though). The particular focus of the fanservice is the main female character Fuko, and it's vaguely disturbing, as Fuko seems too immature to even be in junior high. If the girls were older or there were less fanservice, that disturbing aspect would be gone.

My second criticism applies to the English dub. The acting itself is very good, but the decision-making in the translation is poor. Many Japanese words are left untranslated, so that the English actors use the Japanese words for, among other things, the girls' gym clothes. Some of the jokes are untranslated, such that if you don't know Japanese, you won't understand even if you're watching the dub. Also left in are honorifics--suffixes added to the ends of names to show various relationships (e.g., adding -chan to the end of the name would normally convey affection). Honorifics don't exist in English, and their presence makes the English lines disjointed. It just feels like the translator didn't bother to translate 10% of the script.

On the whole, this first disc of Strawberry Eggs is good, but has significant issues you might want to think about before buying.


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