Customer Reviews

Marmalade Boy: Ultimate Scrapbook, Vol. 3

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I decided to write a review for this item because I read a terrible review for it that was bashing every part of it. Everyone has different tastes and opinions and the fact that this "girl" was saying being 19 had something to do with her all of a sudden hating marmalade boy, really ticked me off. I'm 19 and I still Love Marmalade Boy to death, maybe it has something to do with staying young at heart and holding onto childhood dreams. Anyways, I haven't actually seen the third installment in the series but I have read the manga and seen the first two volumes of marmalade boy. As a Lover of all anime and manga, especially shoujo, I have to say that marmalade boy is one of my favorites. I guess this series IS for girls, probably young girls, but I think any girl should be able to identify with the main character. Miki's character is beautifully developed, the creator really gets inside a young girls head and portrays everything a girl worries about when facing issues of new love, conflicts with friends, and family issues. I love watching marmalade boy, most likely because I'm very much like Miki myself ^-^ ... But the main point of me writing this review is to tell YOU, the consumer, not to follow a review's opinion on an item, you have to experience something to be able to formulate a proper opinion of it. Haven't you ever had someone say your fave band sucks... or maybe they hate some of your fave foods... well anime is the same as everything else... you may end up loving something that no one else does, you just have to see for yourself. Being different is great... and I LOVE MARMALADE BOY WITH A PASSION!!!

I was 17 when I first saw a few episodes of Marmalade Boy. At the time, I was turned off by a couple of things, namely the seemingly exaggerated romance and character design (I, like some reviewers before me, thought the characters were elongated). Also, I found the protagonist Miki to be annoying back then... And Yuu? Well, I didn't exactly find him to be special. To be frank, I didn't like this show at all when I was 17. I saw some random episodes and refused to watch any more of it. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd say I pretty much detested the show back then. I didn't understand why anyone would waste his/her time watching Marmalade Boy.

BUT, perhaps, I didn't know better when I was 17. I essentially judged Marmalade Boy on superficial factors and failed to notice what makes it truly appealing. In fact, when I saw this show in its entirety at 22, I finally came to appreciate it.

Where did the difference lie? Well, for me, it was clearly personal experience that changed my feelings toward Marmalade Boy. When I was 17, I didn't know what love was. I didn't understand how anyone could get so emotional over someone they like and things of the sort. However, at 22, I had experienced all the ups and downs of loving someone, and on seeing the show, I realized that I could relate exactly to what most of the characters were going through. In fact, I think Marmalade Boy's strongest point is the well-designed (and easy-to-relate to) characters. I know that some people have labeled Yuu as a "pansy" and so on just because he prefers to keep things to himself. However, I know a lot of guys in real life who do the same thing, and watching this show actually helped me understand how they feel (generally speaking, most guys of this personality type are really sweet and sentimental). Actually, I'd say that Marmalade Boy's characters are fairly realistic in terms of personality and emotions. Yuu's and Miki's parents are probably the only characters that are somewhat out of sync with reality, but hey, they excel at providing comic relief. ^^

All in all, Marmalade Boy was an emotional ride for me, and I loved every minute of its simplicity and sweetness. And no, I'm not a little girl, and last time I checked, my brain was full of things other than cherry blossom petals (in fact, it's overloaded with marketing concepts as that's my field of study). Anyway, I highly recommend this series to shoujo fans. However, for those of you who place heavy weight on animation quality and character design as I did when I was 17 (or are looking for a series with an intricate storyline), then this show probably isn't for you.

This is a great anime. If you like teen romance anime this is for you. I've personally watched it 3 times already just started to watch it the 4th time this weekend. 04-06-09

on the product details for volumes 1 and 2 it says
"language;english,japanese"
and on thisit says
the language is just japanese

?????????????

i really wnat to buy this volume but it needs to be in english

This is a response to the 1 negative review writing by a 19 year old who has probably forgotten what 1994 animation was actually like because she was too young to apriciate it.

Now, our parents didn't move in together and I found that a little odd when I first watched the anime and I didn't have a best friend who was in love with a teacher and I didn't first watch Marmalade Boy until last year. I actually related a little to what the main characters, Miki, and Yuu, were going through. I too met my husband as a child and began going steady at a real young age. We experienced all the same up's and downs as the characters in the story (except he never thought we were related).

When you are 8 years old you experience things more differently then you would at 19. For example, most kids hate broccoli at 8 but learn to like it by 19 see what I mean? Some thing that you loved as a child you wont nesesarily like as an adult.
Marmalade Boy is by no means an anime for a child neither. As a child you had no idea what it meant when a teacher and a student kissed, you had no idea what real love is and how hard it is to maintain a long distance relationship.

The mangaka did a good job of making characters who are not only fictional but at the same time they are real. I have seen this anime at least 6 times in the past year and each time I see some thing different in the characters, I'm still not bored with it.

Fact is, cartoons and comics are made for kids, Anime and manga are made for the mid teenage/adult mind.

just when you thought it might finaly end you have another season to go lol

Okay here i go, buckle up.
I started watching marmalade boy when I was eight years old. I adored it. Completely hooked is an understatement. I taped every episode and even made addicts out of a couple of friends. I got all the manga (yes, it was published and aired in Spain a long time ago) and bought the soundtracks.

The reason for all of this?

An eight year old doesn't know any better.
Many years later i broke out the dusty video tapes and tried to enjoy the anime of my childhood.
You want a real review of marmalade boy, here it is:
Lets start off with the title shall we? Marmalade boy sounds quite appetizing does it not? Well the feeling ends after the credits have stopped rolling. Exchanging partners is the most normal thing in the world. If they can exchange with another married couple with a cute son included thats a bonus I guess. This anime should have been called `six people get it on'. Your mother gets it on with my farther, my mother gets it on with your farther. And us, since we love each other so much, should get it on as well. That's the animes premise. Well lets start on the characters, miki koishikawa (typical shoujo protagonist) and yuu matsura (another calcium kid). The sun and the moon. She speaks off the top of her head, he doesn't know how to open his mouth. She's kind, him...well, a bit of a pansy. She is quite courageous and tries to get things sorted, and he (a lot of poor me syndrome) prefers to suffer in silence...and kisses miki while she is sleeping (so she doesn't find out he like her, bla!). In a nutshell, they are complete opposites of each other. Come on, with a guy like this your libido goes to hell.

The plot?

Miki: should I stay with yuu? Or ginta? With keikun?...ohhhh I've got such problems!
We also have ginta suou, a hot head who always speaks his mind. And lets not forget the fountain of tears and mikis best friend, meiko akizuki. She's intelligent, comprehensive, is loaded and reminds you of a thoroughbred horse, as miwa satoshi would say. Ahh satoshi, promiscuous...err, no, not in the end. But I haven't finished with meiko yet. Quite a perfect girl...what is she doing having a secret relationship with her teacher? (Not that I find anything wrong with that) She could have the whole football team but no, she prefers a teacher. (There is no reason why a mature and intelligent girl prefers a cultured gentleman then a band of stupid boys whose only interests are video games and sports). This series deals with relationships between a teacher and a student 12 years his junior, guys that don't know if they are gay, incestuous relationships (miki and yuu still decide to be together even after they find out that they are brother and sister), parents the are more immature then there own children...

Whose fault is this?

Well its wataru yoshizumis', the creator of this pile of crap. But by the way that's not her real name, it's her pen name. Yes the poor girl would be accosted by rabid fans and angry mobs if she gave her real name away. Or perhaps she is just too ashamed to admit that she is the creator of this so-called masterpiece. This woman also has a passion for tennis. The problem is she sucks at it so she decided to become a mangaka(no comment), and so now she always finds ways to insert tennis games into her mangas. At least one of the main characters has to play tennis. This woman has some fierce resentment. She also seems to resent the character of satoshi miwa, who is the only one the end up with no partner. He probably ended up with some guy. We all know that he's a closet gay right? This woman is cruel.

So, can we blame wataru yoshizumi for this failure of this anime? Perhaps we should blame the viewers. Those hysterical pre pubescent girls that love yuu (my god they have bad taste).

The animation quality?

Walking sticks that talk and fall in love. It doesn't give a very good impression to the maturing youth of today, who believe that anorexia is the sign of beauty. To put it bluntly the animation quality is terrible, however it seems to improve in the last season.

Marmalade boy isn't a good anime (is it a good anything?). The drama plays out like a bad Latin-American soap opera. This...thing that I am reviewing shouldn't be branded with the title of an excellent shoujo and has no point in its favour.

The creator should...dissapear somewhere and do the world a favour of never coming back and creating any more crap.
The series is...suitable for little girls, whose brains are full of cherry blossom petals.