Strawberry 100% Vol. #2
|
September 07, 2007
by: Adam Beck
The strawberry panties are off once again to provide you romantic-comedy... minus the comedy.
Manga Description:EXT. ROOFTOP OF A SCHOOL BUILDING – SUNSET
The hero (me, Junpei Manaka!) sneaks up to the roof to see the sunset. When he opens the door, he startles a mysterious beauty. She panics and runs away, but not before Jenpei has caught sight of her adorable strawberry print panties... in EXTREME close-up. With that vision forever burned into his memory, Junpei embarks on a quest to find the girl and the panties, of his dreams!
FADE OUT
Junpei ends up alone with his girlfriend Tsukasa… in her bedroom!
Manga Review:
Content: (This section may contain spoilers).
It’s back. The very obscure Strawberry 100% is back once again only to confuse more readers with its overly sexual plotline. What doesn’t compel someone to pick this up is beyond me. As if you don’t already know, Strawberry 100% is about a guy named Junpei Manaka who secretly wants to be a great movie director. He runs into the girl of his dreams and, as the description goes, he goes on a quest to find her because of her… Strawberry panties. This is by far one of the most bizarre concepts for a story I’ve ever read, but it does tie down some very comical adventures. The second volume in the series is definitely not as enjoyable as the first, but it definitely does a good job establishing a stronger relationship between each of the characters.
Continuing after Junpei’s friend Okusa has told him that it’s obvious Aya has feelings for him, we arrive later on in the day, if not another day altogether, where Junpei continues to think through all the confusion and distorted signals. Testing out Okusa’s theory, it only arouses more questions and mysteries that the reader will have already found out based on the speculation presented in the first volume. The biggest event that runs into this, and the next chapter, is Junpei’s visit to his girlfriend’s house (Tsukasa) on which he finds himself smack dab on her bed. Junpei is far from my favorite character. While he presents lots of humor, his jokes in general don’t come off as anything funny, but rather more of look the other way in embarrassment. The way Junpei acts just doesn’t bond well with what I expected and it feels like the creator is pushing him on us as a stronger person than he already is. Sure he is the main character, but his personality all together throughout the second volume is a very annoying character to read about. Moving on, while the adventure at Tsukasa’s house felt like it ended too soon, it was passed forward under a bit of a miscommunication, thereby causing Aya to avoid Junpei till the end of the novel. This little conflict felt like a bit of refreshment as there was never much friction between the hero and one of the heroines of the story. A slight statement from Okusa causes some interest in his character and his connection with Tsukasa, and any reader could see how obvious it is, but of course, our main character is not too bright in that department.
The rest of the story of the second volume mainly focuses around the entrance exam for Izumizaka School, the academy with the film department Junpei wishes to get into. The exam itself was fairly interesting; it feels like it was taken right out of Love Hina , with Junpei realizing that he has been day dreaming through 90% of the exam and then just guesses on everything. That is pretty much the gist of what occurs in the 14th chapter of the series, and I personally didn’t like this. I felt it was a bit unoriginal and not at all comical, as I’ve seen it done many times before in a more stylized manner. The addition of Aya showing up was a nice little push, but in the end it left me disappointed. After the struggle to pass the exam, Junpei finally goes on a date with his beautiful girlfriend Tsukasa. The two goes from Movies to Karaoke to being stuck in an elevator (which was quite funny). While I’ve been blasting the last little bit for being unsuccessful in being humorous, the one scene when Junpei “accidentally” sees Tsukasa’s panties and trying to cover it up was very comical, but sadly this was probably the only part I found that entertaining, as a couple scenes in that exact chapter just made me shake my head in disappointment.
Anyways, to finish the rest of volume, we find out how well Junpei and his buffoon-like friend Komiyama did on the exam and we also are treated to a sad scene with Tsukasa confessing how much she loves her boyfriend but at the same time shows off that the competition with Aya is about the heat up. Also, there is a poorly placed character at the end. Out of no where, a young female student around Junpei’s age appears. She appears for exactly 2 pages and ends… either of which is a tease which will obviously expand into another future main character, or Author Mizuki Kawashita didn’t feel it was necessary to explain her situation at all and ends with us wanting more - both in a good and yet disappointing way.
Strawberry 100% was originally getting into a high-school in the first volume, but already in the second volume they have taken the test and hopefully found their way in. It is going to be interesting to see what the future holds for the series as it’s the only beginning - there are still 17 volumes to go.
Art: The artwork in Strawberry 100% is fairly detailed; there are the odd scenes where things look just a bit out of place, but for the most part, this is a solid presentation that should please fans. The series is definitely not clean, nor is it dirty, but it is a wee bit rough around the edges. Some characters such as Komiyama have a different style altogether, design-wise and really do feel out of place. This is also a mature series as there are a lot of mature sexual scenes, though nothing with nudity – ‘cause these are suppose to be 15 year olds! – but the way they were designed it's as if they’re going into a university rather than high-school, as Aya and Tsukasa always have panty shots or some sort of sexual ideas around each page. Breaks between each chapter also express this idea with some well-designed character models in appealing positions.
Translation: The English-translation is done very well. It’s hard to judge if Viz has missed any sound effects, as they have done what they do with a majority of their novels: completely erased any sign of the orignal Japanese sound effects and replace it with English ones. As for typos/errors, the series looks to be fairly clean and without any throughout the volume.
There are mainly two extras in the second volume of Strawberry 100%: there is a small note from the creator, Mizuki Kawashita, on how much she enjoys to cook, and three short comic strips that are relatively funny. These extras are nice, but Viz doesn't go the extra mile as with Dark Horse or Del Rey does with their titles.
The Bottom Line: I didn’t enjoy the second volume of Strawberry 100% as much as I did the first. While it has a couple good parts, the jokes from Junpei really disappoint and lack any expression and humor. It is almost embarrassing to read what he has to spew out next. Visuals are fairly jolted, and, again, there are some very dumb jokes that won’t make you laugh, but still, this is a fairly entertaining series for its romantic ventures.
|
|
|
|
Content |
There are some very bad jokes that won't make you laugh, but for the most part, the second volume puts up for a good read in its genre. |
7.0 |
|
|
Art |
There is definitely an obvious roughness to the style, but for the most part, it is fairly detailed and goes into some pretty sexual scenes. |
8.0 |
|
|
Translation |
A solid translation with a couple extras to go along with it. |
9.0 |
|
|
Verdict
This was a bit of a disappointment, as I was looking forward to this volume, but the comedy really took a back seat and it really shows how much I grew to hate the main character Junpei. Still, with all its faults, Strawberry 100% Vol. #2 is still an entertaining manga.
|
|
7.1
[not an average]
+ Story is progressing nicely.
+ Strong English-translation.
+ Great love-triangle storyline.
- Jokes aren’t funny at all.
- Some forgettable scenes.
- Visuals are a bit rough.
|
|
|
Title Media 
Return to Homepage
Discuss this in the Forums
|
