Title - "Marmalade Boy"
Alternative title(s) - N/A
Genre(s) - Shjo, comedy, ren'ai and drama

How can I describe "Marmalade Boy"? "Marmalade Boy" is "Kodocha", minus whatever drug that series has. There we go!

Yoshizumi Wataru-sensei brought us the "Marmalade Boy" manga back in 1995 and the anime came out a year later, thanks to Toei. There are 76 episodes, as well as a movie. "MB" is a shjo series with a lot of romance and drama, with a bit of comedy as well.

Koshikawa Miki is your standard high school girl. One day, a new boy, Matsra Y, moves in. Guess what? Their parents have decided to switch partners and now, they all live under one roof.

That's not half of the story. Miki starts to like Y. Then, one of Miki's old friends, Sou Ginta says his confession about his love towards Miki. Oh, and there's also the appearance of Suzuki Arimi, Y's old girlfriend.

Want more? Why not add in some side stories of another one of Miki's friends, Akizuki Meiko? How is that for story?

To sum it up, you have a big fat mess. You have so many different romance triangles. You see more triangles here than in an elementary math book! Okay, that is being a bit too extreme, but you get my point.

Fun - 7

What can I say? The series is worth your time to a pretty good extent. You can actually relate to the students here. You might even bring down a tear or two. Oh and this is one of the few cases in which the anime is better than the manga.

If there is a big fat flaw in the series, it's that the series at times can be a bit over dramatic. Watch the series and you'll know why. Oh and there's a chance you'll lose track on what's going on. This is because the series is a bit too long.

Life - 8

The series has a good amount of value, but there are those question marks to think about.

Story - 9

Watching the series is like watching a normal day of high school in Japan. Nice, but it's not a series out of this world.

Audio - 9

The music is oh so darn good. Both, the opening and ending song, Egao ni Aitai/I Want to Meet a Smiling Face and Suteki na Serenade/Enchanted Serenade respectively are really nice to hear. It's one of the best song duos in anime ever if you want my opinion.

You will recognize some of the seiy. Whether you had Kda Mariko-san as Miki or Okiayu Rytar-san as Y, you had a good group overall. That's for sure.

I heard this series has been brought to North America recently or rather, it will be. So, don't ask me how the dub is now. Okay?

Art - 9

Giving a perfect here would mean that I am not being honest. True, I do like the art. Yeah, it is ironic that Miki looks a lot Sana-chan and Y looks a lot like Hayama. The best way to explain why "MB" doesn't get a perfect here is that with a little improvement, the art would get a perfect score.

Overall - 8

"MB" is a pretty good series to check out if you can get past the flaws it carries. Why not give it a shot? It wouldn't hurt to do so.

+

Great art, great audio, this is one anime you can relate to and it is better than its manga counterpart.

-

The feel just doesn't seem right.

Date of creation - 8/8/03

Last update - 8/10/04

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