What makes a romcom anime good? Is it the show’s ability to present relatable characters, is it the strong character chemistry or maybe is the fantasising love journey that is filled with strong character development, emotion and thematic exploration?
1994’s Toei Animation Marmalade Boy fits the bill. Marmalade Boy is a special and rare breed. It takes all the elements that the genre has established in the past and manages to not only to enhance those elements. It also creates its own elements that would appear in later romcoms anime down the line. Add up this show’s fantastic balance of journey and destination elements of a story and you get yourself a beautifully created romcom series.
The story follows a happy go, lucky schoolgirl, Miki Koishikawa who is living a perfect home life. Then suddenly her life is turned upside down when her parents come back from holiday and announced that they are getting divorced because they have met another Japanese couple and they fell in love with them and decided to switch partners. To make things easier for both families they decided to live together and as a happy family. The Matsuura’s also have a handsome son named Yuu who is the same age as Miki and from there Miki and Yuu must adapt to living with each other as well as dealing with the former relationships that they’ve had and developed from other characters from the series.
To say that Marmalade Boy has a lot of angst is an understatement. Almost a character in the show goes through some angst session about love and friendship. However, despite Marmalade Boy having a lot of angsty it actually synergises with some of the show’s core themes such as running away from your problems, growing up and understanding one another which this show does very well.
The one thing that spreads Marmalade Boy from other romcom anime is that the whole story is told. As a person who prefers the journey over the destination, Marmalade Boy is one of few animes that make question my own values.
Ultimately I still prefer the journey over the destination although I can only accept so until I get fed up of manga/light novel adaptations that don’t even adapt the whole manga/light novel. Marmalade Boy doesn’t suffer from this. Yes, it did give us some anime-original characters as well as having an anime-original arc that featured Yuu going to New York, but the arc actually did more favour to the series rather than hinder it.
Another strong aspect of Marmalade Boy is how it establishes its setting. Watching Marmalade Boy is like going back in time to the early 90s where things were a lot simpler despite the lack of technology. For example, nowadays people would use technology just to do the most basic stuff such as navigating places, applying education on board, planning dates etc. but in the 90s you had to go the extra mile to do all of those things like knowing locations perfectly since the technology of navigation did not exist
The reason why I’m bringing this up is that the show perfectly captures Japan in the 90s. It really makes the world of Marmalade Boy feel so real and alive.
Naturally, this is a long-running romcom series and you expect the romance itself to be epic or at the very least be competent. Fortunately, Marmalade Boy didn’t disappoint in that aspect. This is not the typical rom-com anime that you will see nowadays where the romantic progression goes up to a single kiss and that’s it. Marmalade Boy goes beyond more than just a single kiss. Through the 76 episode run you see characters go out on dates, dealing with romantic obstacles such as love foils, family and education and learning about one other. This is what a romance anime should be and it makes me sad that we don’t see this level of romance nowadays.
When Marmalade Boy is not being a romance series, it’s being a well-written comedy series that never falls flat. Everything from the humour, comedic timing, reactions to the jokes themselves were well executed.
The most important element for any romcom anime is the characters that Marmalade Boy has that covered in that department because Marmalade Boy, for the most part, has a strong cast of characters that they were well written and engaging.
Let’s start with Miki. I wasn’t a big fan of Miki in the beginning mainly because she constantly gets over-dramatic about everything as she often behaves like a weak woman. Thankfully as the series progresses she overcomes her over-dramatic attitude as she quickly becomes a much better character where not only she gets great character development but she changes as a person where she’s able to become a strong dependable girl that I can root for.
Her relationship with Yuu while predictable was well executed. They really play off each other nicely and it makes you feel they are meant for each other. Overall, Miki may start off as a bit rough but she’s starting to grow on you as the series progresses to a point where she became a great character in her own right.
Yuu is an interesting character that grew on me as the series progressed. He’s not your typical perfect Shoujo lead as he’s a detached individual who is not able to express feelings towards others. As the series progresses he starts to open up where he’s able to express his feelings towards others. On top of his great character development, he’s a fun and likeable person that you can relate to.
If I had to rate them as a couple compared to the other couples I honestly had to put them in the bottom. This is not to say that they are a bad couple or anything, in fact, I would say they are better than most romcom that you see nowadays but, the main issue that I had with this couple compared to the other couples in this series is they were most predictable out of the bench. Yes this couple line may have the best thematic exploration as well a fantastically written love foil that is Kei (Which I will mention in a bit) I feel like the love journey was the least engaging out of all out of the bunch thanks to predictability.
It didn’t help that compared to other characters Miki and to a lesser extent Yuu started off rough in the earlier episodes of the series. I did like them as the series progresses especially towards the second half thanks to their outstanding character growth but I was not a fan of how they behaved in the earlier episodes which led me to root for other characters in the earlier episodes of the series like Ginta and Arimi more. Overall I liked Miki and Yuu as characters and a couple but they could have been better written in the earlier episodes.
My favourite female character in Marmalade Boy is Meiko. I absolutely adore this character because not only she is a very well written character but she is also a very likeable and relatable character to watch. She is the only child in a wealthy family who is struggling to cope with her home life thanks to her parents constantly arguing with each other. She falls in love with a tennis coach/English teacher named Namura after realising that he has the maturity that she craves. However, she has to deal with the nasty consequences of a teacher/student relationship where people would be constantly shocked and angry.
While Meiko and Namura were not my favourite couple in the series they were still the most intriguing one of the bunch.
The writers could have gone for the creepy route where Namura would have nosebleeds for young girls but I’m glad that they made Namura a human being with common sense. Speaking of Namura I thought he was a pretty good character. He may not be as engaging as some of the characters but I still found him to be interesting.
If there’s a word to describe Ginta and Arimi as characters it would be awesome. They were a fun, hilarious and interesting duo that I loved from start to finish. I also felt that they were the pair that had the most chemistry out of all the pairings. What makes two so special to the point where they became my favourite pairing was how they were treated and developed in the story. At the beginning of the series, Ginta and Arimi were trying to reach out for their respective pairings Ginta with Miki and Arimi with Yuu but, after their plan failed instead of parting ways, they started to fall in love with each other.
The thing that makes this pair stand out from each other is how they learn from their past mistakes. Sure every other pair do also eventually learn from their past mistakes but I feel like Ginta and Arimi went through that motion the best. On top of all that, I simply prefer Ginta and Arimi more than Miki and Yuu as characters from beginning to end.
While Yuu and Ginta were outstanding characters in their own right, the male character that stole the show for me was Kei. On the surface, he appeared to be another forgetful love rival for Yuu however once the series dives into his sad backstory as well his motivations he became the most sympathetic in the series. Not only that but his relationship with Miki and I actually wanted him to beat Yuu for Miki’s love. This is not to say that Yuu was a bad choice for Miki but Kei was a more interesting and sympathetic character in my eyes and that’s how he became my favourite male character in Marmalade Boy.
The side characters are just as strong as the main cast. Each of them were memorable in their own right, the majority of them help the main characters grow throughout the series and they were overall fun. Special mention goes to Tsutomu and Satoshi for being fantastic and humorous chararters.
Marmalade Boy visuals can be best described as charming. Sure it won’t be winning any awards in the visuals in the 90s, but it has the unique charm that most Shoujo animes from that decade lacked. Toei Animation did a splendid job at bringing Wataru Yoshizumi art style to life. Background scenery while basic has that beautiful early 90s charm.
The animation itself may be limited is acceptable. It has its fair share of recycled animation which can put some newer anime fans off, but I feel that is one of the few cases where the story, character and music overshadow the limited animation and Marmalade Boy did just that perfectly.
The soundtrack in Marmalade Boy is very good as it’s filled with classical, upbeat, piano and focus tracks that help spice up key moments in the series.
The opening theme Egao ni Aitai” by Rie Hamada is a pretty catchy theme that fits the tone of the series. The series has three ending themes, and they are all remarkable songs in their own right.
My favourite ending out of the bunch is the final ending three Yoake no Etude” by Yoko Ichikawa as it’s a lovely song that perfectly closes off the final third of the series.
Marmalade Boy’s dub is outstanding especially back then. If you have seen the dubs for Naruto and Code Geass then you will easily recognise the voice actors. Familiarity aside, the dub is fantastic as every single actor did a phenomenal job with the roles that they were given. Highlights include the late Michael Lindsay as Yuu, Tom Gibis as Tsutomu, Kate Higgins as Meiko, Michelle Ruff as Miki, Carrie Savage as Arimi and Yuri Lowenthal as Ginta.
Marmalade Boy is one of the most satisfying and memorable animes I have seen in a long while. Even if I had a few minor issues with it, I still had a blast with it thanks to its likeable characters, strong romance and outstanding thematic execution.
If you’re looking for a great and charming romcom that has strong characters and nicely executed romance, I strongly recommend Marmalade Boy.
Am glad that I watched and later brought Marmalade Boy. It is a series that will stick with me for a long while.
TakaCode Reviews 