My recommedation: Ichigo 100%

My recommendation; Ichigo 100%

         I am going to take this opportunity to try to appeal to manga and anime lovers out there about a title I just finished reading. Its called Ichigo 100%, for those of you who already know of it, you are very fortunate individuals and I would love some feedback. But for those who haven't I will give you a basic abstract of the story without ruining the ending. Ichigo means strawberry, and its quite a feat that the author was able to stretch a story about strawberry panties into 19 volumes!
         Ichigo 100% is a manga by Mizuki Kawashita. Its a teen romance manga that chronicles the life of Junpei Manaka. I began reading this manga by accident, and realized it was an ecchi type of manga. Ecchi is a type of manga that has its root word coming from Hentai. But unlike hentai which is very pornographic and explicit in details ecchi only goes so far as to be perverted and humorous in nature.
         The main character, Junpei Manaka is the stereotypical Japanese teenager in that he fantasizes about something other than school or his own future. He is average in almost every way possible with but one exception, his deep respect for women. The manga series follows him through his middle school years until his graduation from high school. Junpei is also very fortunate in that he has four women who fall in love with him. The main conflict is Junpei never clearly makes a choice of which of the four women he chooses. To all of you out there who don't like romantic suffering Ichigo 100% would really make you mad. At some points in this title I clearly wanted to pull my laptop from my desk and throw it across the room because Junpei made me so mad. His inaction proves just how emotionally inept he is at romance.
         Okay, going back to what I like most about this title. The women of his life are really inspiring. Each of the women of his life are complicated, mature individuals and they all grow up so much during their time with him. Its just amazing that Junpei never really grows up until the end. Each women has a kanji symbol indicating the direction on a compass. And Manaka's name in Japanese literally means 'center'. So, there is that symbology that explains Manaka Junpei's indecisiveness.
         The first of Manaka's love interest is Aya Toujo. Her directional kanji is east. She is literally an angel that falls from heaven upon Manaka as he is going to to the rooftop to get some fresh air. He sees her strawberry panties and falls into a boyhood crush. The only problem is he doesn't recognize Aya and he literally goes on a wild goose chase in order to find her. Aya is shy and very quiet. She is a talented writer but doesn't have the courage to share her works with anyone, apparently they don't have Writing.com in Japan! Junpei discovers her math notebook which contains her written works. He reads it without her permission and praises her for her creativity. Aya is also the first girl to fall for Junpei, but she never has the courage to tell him her feelings. She displays her affections to him in different ways, such as tutoring him and going to the same high school as him to be closer to him. I will repeat myself, Junpei never clearly understood why Aya did the things she did!
         The second girl of Manaka's interest is the most popular girl in school. In a simple case of mistaken identity Junpei believes that Tsukasa Nishino to be the girl with the strawberry panties. Junpei quickly reveals his feelings for her. To the surprise of everyone, Tsukasa agrees to be his girlfriend. Of the four girls Nishino is the most mature. Her directional kanji is that of west, which is very fitting because Tsukasa is very independent and decisive about her future. She makes her decisions to attend a different school from Junpei, even though she has strong sentiments for him. Tsukasa also pursues her dreams before childishly chasing after Junpei.
         By the end of his middle school year, Junpei runs into Satsuki Kitaoji. Her directional kanji is north. In the manga it was black and white, but I always presumed her hair color to be red. She has a fiery temper and quite stubborn. At first she thinks of Junpei as being a pervert and absolutely resents him at ever turn. But she soon finds out that he is a caring, considerate guy and she falls for him as well. Satsuki is the most beautiful and luscious of the girls and she isn't shy about using her feminine charms to woo Junpei. This would work with any guy, except Junpei. The more she pushes him the more he runs away screaming. Despite all Junpei's objections, Satsuki simply won't take no for an answer. She changes the least throughout the series. She also provides the most fan service in the series.
         The last girl is more of a sister to Manaka. Her name is Yui Minamito and although she is only a year younger than the other characters, she looks like she is in grade school. Yui has the most innocent relationship with Manaka due to her close friendship with him since childhood. With Yui, Manaka is protective like a big brother. She also serves as an ambassador for Junpei to reestablish his ties with Nishino after Nishino attends a private girl's school.
         Wow! That was a lot and I only covered the main characters so far.
         Here's the meat and potatoes of the series. To put it simply, it's romance. Junpei behaves a different way with each of the important women of his life. He treats them with respect and admiration and he longs to have a strong relationship with all of them without losing any of them. In some ways, you can say that he is greedy and selfish in not making a decision. But would you blame a guy who enjoys having four beautiful women adore him? And lastly Junpei is afraid of picking the wrong girl. There were moments in the series where Junpei was certain about which girl he would choose, but then the girl in question backs away from him or makes an excuse not to be with him. This reaction causes a lot of uncertainty with Junpei.
         I loved reading this series because I knew from the start which girl I wanted to see with Manaka Junpei. I kept reading to find out the ending, and to see if my hunch was right. There were moments of trepidation but those moments made me keenly aware of how much I had invested in this series. Sometimes I had stay awake at long hours into the night just to finish an issue. I promised myself this issue would be the last but I kept on clicking for the next issue and the next one after that.
         I kept on reading because I found the situations to be so humorous. I also empathize with each character and the challenges that they faced. Ecchi manga is very funny, and they take full advantage of scenery and locations around Japan that the average American would never get to see. While reading the mange, please pay close attention to the Japanese version of Valentine's day and the return celebration called White Day that occurs one month after Valentine's day.
         Japan is a very different country compared to the United States. The overall emphasis of the country is academics. So its not surprising to me to see the teens go through so much studying in order to make the grade. While reading this manga, I felt the societal norms of Japan slowly crushing me from all directions. As an outsider I could hardly imagine being a teenager and having to face the urgency of growing up so soon after graduating from middle school.
         Lastly I would like to finish with this one note. Try not to judge the characters of this series too harshly. The writer,  Mizuki Kawashita, did a great job trying to make the characters as unique and realistic as possible. I almost forgot, if you do have an interest in reading this manga title be sure to check it out at; onemanga.com. It is a great site filled with hundreds of other titles. I haven't read them all but given enough free time, I think I just might some day.