A Succession of Filler Chapters

You know those filler chapters that writers put in the middle of serious sections of an anime just to add some sense of lightness to heavy stories? Think of those, back to back to back. That's basically Marmalade Boy. It's light and bright, not to mention sappy, from beginning to end.

The story revolves around Koishikawa Miki, a typical 2nd year high school student just like all other heroines in animedom, and the changes that happen in her life due to her parents' sudden decision to get a divorce and remarry The Matsuuras. Matsuura Yuu, the couple's only son, is the main complication in Miki's life, because the moment she first lays eyes on him, she thinks, "He's gorgeous!" and eventually, she falls for him, even dating him after a while. Because Yuu is a handsome guy with a pleasing personality, and Miki's pretty charming herself, they encounter a lot of "obstacles" to their relationship, That's basically it.

During the first ten episodes of the series, I found myself incapable of ungluing myself from my laptop; seriously, the slapstick-type humor was that addictive. Also, because the show was made in 1994, the art and the music are very different from romcom anime that exist today: the makers exploit the shadow effect, and they often insert 'the twinkling sound', which I'm sure you're familiar with. Also, it has only 1 main theme, and I think 3 ending themes, which is not something you see often today because most new series shift Endings and Openings every few episodes.

The downside of Marmalade Boy is that it's VERY long. 76 episodes, all in all. I know it's not much compared to other anime - Gundam SEED and Destiny have a total of 100 eps - but given that the episodes of Marmalade Boy are just repeats of previous ones, there's really not much to look forward to. It's always the same pattern of introducing a new character (either a boy or a girl) to create a love triangle, and Miki and Yuu overcoming the difficulty and falling deeper in love with each other at the end of every episode. Even though there's hardly any variety in the series, however, a lot of important things happen in each show, so I can't really say the story doesn't progress.

What makes this anime different from others is that it's got two bests for me: Best Love Affair and Best Confession. Best Love Affair goes to Namura Shinichi and Akizuki Meiko, who are a high school teacher and his student, respectively. Although their relationship is a bit sappy, and can drive some people to the brink of irritation *Joyce, ehem, Joyce*, I still think it's a really cool interpretation of the traditional older man - younger woman template. For Best Confession, I vote Yuu's confession of love to Miki as the most 'kilig' one ever. I've always thought that confessions were serious and mushy and melodramatic, but this one was anything but, and still it was effective. Not to mention, it happened by the seashore, and Yuu was pretty nonchalant about it, so plus points!

Overall, Marmalade Boy is a must-see for fans of good old anime romcom. You have to know, however, that it's REALLY long (yes, the added emphasis is necessary) and really barf-inducing at times - but not on a Twilight Saga level. In my personal opinion, and I believe this strongly, it's more of an anime classic that Hana Yori Dango is. At least, I enjoyed watching it much more than I enjoyed watching 3 versions of the HYD story.