Description: Goooood morning homestuck characters, and welcome to the most confusing yet amusing time of your lives! You have been brought to this dream bubble to get away from all the sadness from your current existing points in time.
Comments: No wigs required, your headcanons are always welcome! We also don’t require canon outfits. The blog is very laid back!
Anime Name: あぃまぃみぃ!ストロベリー・エッグ || (Ai Mai Mi! Sutoroberī Eggu) || I My Me! Strawberry Eggs!
Rating: ★★★★☆
Dub or Sub: Either!
Does it have a Manga: (yes || no)
Aired: Summer 2001
Target Demographic: Shounen
My Recommendation Demographic: Everyone 13+
Genre: Romance || Comedy || Drama || Slice of Life || Genderbend
Synopsis: Hibiki Amawa, who’s dream is to be a professional teacher, needs to find a way to pay rent. And he’s desperate. But the only job that he can find that he’s qualified for is at a private school. However, despite how qualified he is, he is denied the job because he is a man (and he’s turned down rather rudely, might I add). How offensive, am I right? Talk about misandry. The sexism is real. He and his landlady concoct a plan for him to get the job anyway under the guise as a woman, and low and behold he gets the job. He just has to keep it secret from everyone.
On the flipside, Fuko Kuzaha is a young girl who attends Seito Sannomiya Private School. She’s awkward, clumsy, and she feels a little bit out of place. Once Ms. Amawa comes into the picture, everything changes. First it’s simple admiration. But then those feelings blossom into something more romantic. But it’s inappropriate to fall in love for your teacher. And a female one at that! Oh, whatever is a girl to do?
Details:
The anime focuses itself on our two protagonists: Fuko and Hibiki and their life struggles. Everyone else is basically just a side character. But don’t go thinking that they’re going to fall in love. Because they’re not. And aside from that it would be completely inappropriate for that to happen considering
a) Hibiki is more than likely twice Fuko’s age
b) He is her teacher
Though I can see the appeal. Because while they are love interests, this anime is more about discovering yourself, proving yourself, and knowing your potential.
You get to experience both Hibiki’s and Fuko’s lives in a parallel fashion. Which is really nice.
The Characters:
Hibiki Amawa: College graduated, looking to get hired as a teacher because it’s his dream job. After basically getting turned down and insulted because of the employers’ reasons, he makes it his mission to prove himself, even if he has to crossdress. It’s more a personal mission for himself.
Fuko Kazuha: Our young student who may swing a certain way towards their teacher Ms. Amawa. She’s clumsy as all hell. She’s shy and soft spoken. She’s bad at athletics. She’s basically me, if I was in an anime. Nonetheless, she’s loveable, and a good character that grows and develops as the anime progresses through its 13 episodes.
The Good:
What I liked about I My Me! Strawberry Eggs was that it was like a fresh of breath air. It was romantic. The art is beautiful, and it was a unique story.
Hibiki has to deal with a misandrist staff, and he shows them that men aren’t as bad as they believe. Of course, this totally sounds like a “not all men” situation, but it’s not the case, I promise you. You watch him prove himself to be competent as a teacher, despite the sexist principal saying that men are useless, don’t amount to anything even with education, and they don’t love nearly as much as women do. (Isn’t that sort of ironic? Or maybe Satirical, considering that the opposite is what’s really believed in our real lives.)
Basically, the idea here is that Hibiki is breaking the general conception of females being better at teaching and that men and women can be equal in a female dominated setting.
Fuko, on the other hand, is a relatable character. I watched this anime when I was probably around twelve years old or so, and I completely felt like, somehow, I was in her shoes. The struggles she went through--questioning her identity and being in some sort of love triangle--it was something nice and emotionally satisfying for some reason.
The Bad:
The lack of minor character development leaves something to be desired. Remember when I said that everyone else is basically just a side character? Well, while they do matter quite a bit as minor characters and contribute to the story, they aren’t the main focus at all. Which isn’t at all a bad thing, but you can see some slight insight into some characters and then theres nothing more. There’s nothing deeper than that. And granted that it’s a 13 episode anime, I don’t really care too much and can understand why it’s sort of skin deep.
Minor fanservice? Of course, this is debatable. As a 12 year old, I saw panty shots and I was completely unphased. But then again, I was innocent and stupid as hell. But, you know, given the fact that the wiki page says that the target demographic is “shounen” and that the number of panty shots is minimal at best, and nothing is too explicit, then I guess I can say that the anime can get away with it.
Conclusion:
While Strawberry Eggs may be a little old, or somewhat dated, I think it’s a classic in the sense that it’s a good anime for people who are either new to anime or veterans to anime. It’s a refreshing slice of life, which I think everyone can appreciate every now and again. It provides you with laughs, and you should totally give it a try.
