Strawberry Panic!
Encyclopedia
is a series of Japanese fictional illustrated short stories written by Sakurako Kimino
, which focus on a group of teenage girls
attending three affiliated all-girl schools on Astraea Hill. A common theme throughout the stories is the intimate lesbian
relationships between the characters. The original artist was Chitose Maki
, who was succeeded by Namuchi Takumi
when production of the manga
and light novel
s began.
Following Strawberry Panic!s first run in Dengeki G's Magazine
it was six months before results began to indicate that the series was a success, and that its fans were growing in number; the manga and light novels which followed were a reflection of its popularity. The series became sufficiently popular for Los Angeles-based company Seven Seas Entertainment
to license the manga series and light novels for English language distribution. Strawberry Panic! is one of the debut titles on the company's Light Novel and Strawberry (for yuri manga) production lines. An anime
series was produced in 2006 by Madhouse and is licensed by Media Blasters
. A visual novel
was produced in 2006 by MediaWorks
for the PlayStation 2
.
There is a slight difference in the title of the series between media and national affiliation. The original short stories, manga, light novels, and video game used the exclamation mark
in the title; the anime excluded it. When the manga and light novel series were licensed for English language distribution, Seven Seas Entertainment did not use the exclamation mark in the title. The appearance of the logo for Strawberry Panic! has changed four times. The subtitle "Girls' School in Fullbloom" was added during the short stories stage, and later appeared on the Japanese covers of the light novels, manga, and video game version, but was excluded from the anime adaptation and the English covers of the light novels and manga.
of grade numbering. Students are ranged from grades one through six, the equivalent of the three years of junior-high and high school in Japan, and seventh through twelfth grade in North America.
The hill is known as a sacred area which no men are allowed to enter. A prominent feature is a very large Catholic
church in the center of the hill near a small lake; the church can be seen from a long distance away. There is a horse ranch at Spica. The students may go and study for their classes at a library on the lake's shore. Although only implied in the anime, the manga explains that the library building has another name, "The Secret Garden". It is well-known on campus as a rendezvous
for secret lovers.
Students living on campus occupy a dormitory
referred to as the , although its correct name is Astraea Dormitory, named after Astraea Hill. The building is a triangular shape, allowing for the segregation of students from the three schools; each section is about the same size. It was built about 100 years before the story begins, around the same time that Miator was established, for students whose homes are far away. Each student is assigned a roommate in their year until graduation. If there is an odd number of students enrolled in a given year, one of the new students must live alone until a student in their year transfers into their school.
The building's name is based on its similarity to the cross-section of a strawberry viewed from above. When Strawberry Panic! was initially created, the three schools were arranged in a triangle, with the Strawberry Dorms in the center, and the dormitory was not a single building but three separate dormitories also arranged in a triangle around a central courtyard.
who attend one of three affiliated all-girl schools which share a campus and dormitories. The schools are: St. Miator's Girls' Academy, St. Spica's Girls' Institute, and St. Lulim's Girls' School. The story's main character is Nagisa Aoi, a young girl entering her fourth year at St. Miator after being transferred from another school. On first entering the campus grounds she is overcome with joy by the overall appearance of the surrounding area, but her joy is soon turned to sorrow as she accidentally stumbles down a hill, causing her to be lost and disoriented. While walking around the grounds trying to work out where she is, Nagisa comes across an older student named Shizuma Hanazono, who happens to be Astraea Hill's Etoile, a very important person who acts as a representative between the different schools and has specific duties that she must fulfill. Nagisa is instantly overcome by Shizuma's beauty, and after Shizuma kisses her on the forehead, Nagisa loses consciousness and awakens in the school's infirmary. In an adjacent chair is another girl of the same age, Tamao Suzumi, who informs her that they are to be roommates in the dormitory.
In the ensuing story Nagisa is introduced to other students from each of the three schools; some she admires, some she is intimidated by, and some are merely friends encountered while attending St. Miator. The series encompasses the relationships
the characters build with each other, climaxing whenever two of the characters start dating. The central focus of Strawberry Panic! is the lesbian
aspect to the relationships between the girls from the three schools. Depending on the media type, the depiction of the relationships between the girls is variously presented, with more explicit fan service
– appealing visuals of the girls in provocative situations – in the anime adaptation than in the manga or light novels. A hint of astronomical
star
imagery is seen throughout the series, as well as minor Catholic
religious undertones including a St. Mary
statue on campus and a large Catholic church in the center of Astraea Hill.
St. Miator's Girls' Academy
St. Spica's Girls' Institute
St. Lulim's Girls' School
. The Etoile system of Astraea Hill is employed as the internal politics between the schools and governs school operations. Little is shown as to the influence the teachers and sisters have on the inter-school politics. The system is designed for two Etoiles to be instated at the same time in order to work as a team. In the anime, Shizuma Hanazono is the sole Etoile, (the other Etoile having died), which is explained in the latter part of the story. The two Etoiles are seen as figurehead
s for Astraea Hill. Although Astraea has three schools, both Etoiles must come from the same school. They have certain specific duties, such as greeting new students arriving at Astraea Hill, participating in important school events, and serving as mediator between disputes in student council meetings of the three schools, among others. They are given a private greenhouse in which to grow flowers for use during school events.
The Etoiles are elected after going through what is known as , which consists of three competitions in the light novels and the manga versions. The higher scoring pairs from the first two competitions carry on to the third competition, and the pair that wins the third competition becomes the Etoile Couple. Once the winners have been named, a special ceremony marks the end of the election, at which the president of the student council from the school that won the election presents two necklaces for the winners to wear during their tenure as Etoiles. They are both identical except for the colors of the pendant
s: one is red, the other is blue. The older student receives the blue pendant and the younger of the two is given the red pendant.
Since the first issue of ASCII Media Works
' Dengeki G's Magazine
was published, the editors of the magazine have hosted reader participation games whose outcome is directly influenced by the people who read the magazine. Strawberry Panic!s origin was in the October 2003 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine where it was announced after the ending of Sakurako Kimino
's previous work Sister Princess
that a new reader participation project would start the following month. In the November 2003 issue, the first batch of characters from St. Miator were introduced (Nagisa, Shizuma, Tamao, and Chiyo) and it was revealed how readers could participate in the project. The initial system had the three main girls of Nagisa, Hikari, and Kizuna (given without surnames) who were sisters and at the same time younger sisters of the readers of the magazine, effectively putting the reader in the position of the elder brother. Each girl entered her respective school and became the main character of that school. It was explained that the coupling of the main characters could be to an upperclassman, a classmate, or an underclassman, but had to stay within the school they attended. For example, Nagisa, who attended Miator could not be coupled with another character from either Spica or Lulim at first. Playing the role of the elder brother, the reader gave advice to the younger sisters who were bewildered by their new lives at each of the schools. Thus, the readers had the ability to influence the coupling formations which would later be written by Kimino as short stories serialized in Dengeki G's Magazine.
In December 2003, the characters from Spica (Hikari, Amane, Yaya, and Tsubomi) and Lulim (Kizuna, Chikaru, Remon, and Kagome) were introduced and in the January 2004 issue the first illustrations of the three schools and the Strawberry Dorms were published, drawn by Chitose Maki
; the reader participation game began in this issue. Polls were posted in the January 2004 issue where the readers could vote on how the story would start and progress in the following months. Before the votes were counted, the first three short stories were written and published in the February 2004 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine. Each story featured an illustration of the two girls who were the couple paired in each respective story.
When the results of the polls were printed in the March 2004 issue, the rules of the game had been changed from the original concept, showing that readers wanted to focus on the relationships between the girls, and in this respect, the readers could vote on who they wanted to be coupled together. The number of votes for this first round were less than 2000. Noting this, the editorial staff lifted the restriction on only coupling within the same school, along with the restriction of only allowing the three main girls of Nagisa, Hikari, and Kizuna to couple. This resulted in a total of 66 different possibilities between the twelve characters in the series. In this issue, it was explained that four events were planned for the stories that followed: Easter, Athletic Carnival, Cultural Festival, and Christmas Bazaar. The "Etoile" title was born in this issue, which was initially used to crown the best couple voted first by the readers in each of the four events to follow. These events were going to be carried out by the three schools in cooperation. It became such that the planning of the schools resulted in them in a triangle position, having the dormitories at the center. The reader's position as the elder brother was canceled in this issue, and the game became a simple popularity vote for coupling. Due to this new system, Nagisa, Hikari, and Kizuna ceased to be sisters; surnames were later added to clarify this. After the first story arc
of the short stories concluded, it was shown that the number of votes had increased sharply due to the new voting mechanisms. The Etoile voting was announced in the July 2004 issue to take place every month as opposed to every two months which had been the case beforehand. The deadline for voting was shifted to the middle of every month, and online voting was introduced. In September 2004, the voting for the next Etoile was shifted to be online-only; the voting for the Dormitory Panic arc became mail voting only.
The reader participation game ended after ten rounds of voting in the February 2005 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine where it was announced that the series would be continued in other forms, such as the light novels and manga that followed. The original short stories and the poll results of the reader participation game were used as a basis for subsequent releases of Strawberry Panic!.
. The stories were written by Sakurako Kimino
and illustrated by Chitose Maki
. Over the following months, the stories continued, producing the first story arc
named the containing eighteen stories which ran between March and July 2004. Due to the concerns that there was not enough time between the Athletic Festival (an early summer event) and the Cultural Festival (an autumn event), the second, and last, story arc named the containing seven stories began the next month, running between August 2004 and January 2005. The second arc's stories, which were longer than the earlier pieces, involved taking one of the three main characters, performing coupling for them with one of the other eleven girls and presenting them in various situations. None of the original stories were ever published again in bound volumes
. The stories themselves were more or less vignettes
, in which each gave a brief glimpse into what was referred to as a "yuri coupling".
Between May and September 2005, a revised series of the short stories was produced; once per month, five more supplementary short stories were published during this time period, each of which was longer than any of the previous pieces. Although each individual story had its own title, the stories were under the collective title of "The Girls, who art in heaven
". After the ending of this short compilation in September 2005, it was decided that the original illustrator, Chitose Maki, would be replaced by Namuchi Takumi
for future Strawberry Panic! projects.
hosted a radio show entitled . The show was hosted by Mai Nakahara
, who voiced Nagisa Aoi in the anime edition, and Ai Shimizu
, who voiced both Tamao Suzumi and Kizuna Hyūga in the anime. The show contained sixty-one episodes, which were divided between three CDs; the first went on sale on March 8, 2006. The other two releases came out on July 5, 2006 and January 11, 2007 in Japan. The radio show included nine guests who had played other voice acting
roles in the anime version, and Rino
, singer of the opening theme "Sweetest" in the PlayStation 2 game version.
and illustrated by Namuchi Takumi
, was serialized in Dengeki G's Magazine
between September 30, 2005 and February 28, 2007 with a new chapter released once a month. Two bound volumes
have been published in Japan under MediaWorks
' Dengeki Comics
label. The first went on sale on March 27, 2006 featuring Nagisa and Shizuma on the cover, and the second volume came out on October 27, 2006 featuring Nagisa and Tamao on the cover. While the manga's story is unfinished, Strawberry Panic! has not made an appearance in Dengeki G's Magazine since the publication of the April 2007 issue on February 28, 2007. Major differences between the anime and manga center around the plot and character interaction. Characters have vastly different character designs, such as Shion Tōmori and Kaname Kenjō. The manga introduces the Etoile election early on while the anime waits until the latter part of the series for dramatic effect. The first volume was released in English on December 23, 2007, the second in March 2008, and the omnibus with two additional chapters in October 2010, published by Seven Seas Entertainment
.
series was to be written based on the original short stories appeared in the April 2005 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine. Work on writing and illustrating the novels began in May 2005, by the same two people who worked on the manga. The announcement that the writing was finished appeared in the September 2005 issue of the same magazine, although the first novel was published by MediaWorks
on their Dengeki Bunko
publishing label, on March 10, 2006. The first volume had Shizuma and Nagisa on the cover and the second volume, released on August 9, 2006, had Amane and Hikari on the cover. The third and last volume, released on December 10, 2006, had Chikaru and Kizuna on the cover.
Seven Seas Entertainment
announced on September 13, 2006 that they had licensed the right to release the English translations of the Strawberry Panic! light novels and the manga series. After several delays, the English version of the first light novel was released in March 2008, and the second volume light novel was released on July 8, 2008. An omnibus volume containing the three light novels was released in June 2011.
series, entitled Strawberry Panic (without the exclamation mark
), was produced by the Japanese animation studio Madhouse and directed by Masayuki Sakoi
. The series was composed by Tatsuhiko Urahata, and featured two other screenwriters Hideo Takayashiki and Kazuyuki Fudeyasu. The character design was done by Kyūta Sakai, working from the original designs by Chitose Maki
and later Namuchi Takumi
. The twenty-six episode anime aired in Japan between April 3 and September 25, 2006, and has a central yuri theme. The anime series is mainly based on the short stories and manga which preceded it. The anime focuses on Nagisa Aoi and Hikari Konohana and the three love interests they each have who are vying for their affections. Fan service
, or giving appealing visuals of the girls nude or in provocative situations, is seen in the anime, but only briefly. In Japan, eight DVD
compilations, in regular and special editions, were released containing three episodes each, between June 23, 2006, and January 25, 2007. The regular and special editions are similar in content, but the special editions are packaged in jacket sleeve, and contain an original booklet which includes additional merchandise such as portable plates and straps. The special edition includes different versions of the opening and closing themes, and deleted scenes. Media Blasters
released five English-subtitled
DVDs of Strawberry Panic between March 4, 2007 and November 11, 2008. The English-subtitled DVDs contain five episodes, except for its first release, which contains six.
. On September 21, 2006, the soundtrack for the video game was released by the same company. The two opening themes for the anime, "Shōjo Meiro de Tsukamaete" and "Kuchibiru Daydream" were sung by Aki Misato
. The "Shōjo Meiro de Tsukamaete" single was released on April 26, 2006, and reached an Oricon
chart position of thirty-eight; "Kuchibiru Daydream" was released on August 9, 2006, and achieved forty-seven in the charts. The two main closing themes for the anime, "Himitsu Dolls" (released on May 24, 2006) and "Ichigo Tsumi Monogatari" (released on August 23, 2006), were sung by Mai Nakahara
and Ai Shimizu
as a duet
. The final closing theme in the last episode was a slower remix version of "Shōjo Meiro de Tsukamaete", sung by Aki Misato.
There have been three drama CDs
released based on the anime adaptation. The first, entitled Strawberry Panic Lyric 1 "Miator volume" was released in Japan on July 26, 2006. It featured the same voice actresses
from the anime, and featured thirteen characters. It came with a CD containing twelve tracks of small scenes involving the characters in various situations. The second drama CD, Strawberry Panic Lyric 2 "Spica volume" was released on October 25, 2006 and a third was released on December 6, 2006 titled Strawberry Panic Lyric 3 "Lulim volume".
named Strawberry Panic! Girls' School in Fullbloom was released on the PlayStation 2
on August 24, 2006 in Japan by MediaWorks
. Two versions of the game were released, a regular edition and a limited edition which included a drama CD; there is a different cover for each of the versions. The drama CD contained three tracks, one for students of each school.
There are three playable characters, one from each of the schools: Nagisa, Hikari, and Kizuna. They have no family names in the game, as when the series of short stories were first published. While Ai Shimizu
maintained her role for Kizuna in the game, Miyuki Sawashiro
performed the voice for Tamao Suzumi. The game features a "boy mode" and a "girl mode". Choosing the male version means that the story is told via emails from the player's younger sister; choosing the female version means that the story is told in the player's own diary. The player is given the chance to pair their chosen character with one of the other nine available girls, not including the other possible playable characters. There are twenty-seven different combinations depending on which girl the player chooses at the start of the game.
The game is played over the course of a school semester; the first day of school is on April 1. In "boy mode", each day concludes with a super deformed
image of the heroine the player chose at the onset of the game slumped over her computer in her room; an email message from a girl that she interacted with during the day in on the monitor
. As the heroine sleeps, the object of her affection appears in a thought bubble above her head. In "girl mode", she is seen writing in her diary instead. The first day in the game requires no interaction from the player. The player gets through the first day by reading the text and getting acquainted with the girls. The game uses an angel and devil system where miniature angel and devil versions of each girl float beside her when critical decisions have to be made; this is not restricted to the three playable characters. It also features a "Strawberry chance" system, where the outcome of some scenes changes if the player presses one of the analog sticks fast enough after the message is displayed in the upper right screen corner.
, voting polls were first posted in the January 2004 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine, which were to determine who would be the subjects in the couplings between the characters of each respective school. The results were printed in the March 2004 issue, after about 1,979 votes had been cast. The three couples with the highest number of votes were Nagisa/Tamao at 481 votes, Hikari/Amane at 343 votes, and Kizuna/Chikaru at 260 votes. The results from the second round of voting were published in the May 2004 issue of the magazine which included the figures for the sixty-four different combinations between the twelve girls. The three couples with the highest number of votes this time were Nagisa/Tamao again at 150 votes, Nagisa/Amane at 114 votes, and Hikari/Amane for a second time at 102 votes. In the third round of voting in the July 2004 issue, the number of votes increased dramatically; the number one voted couple for the third time in a row was Nagisa/Tamao at 1,215 votes.
The Strawberry Panic! short stories were initially panned by Erica Friedman as being "distinctly derivative of Maria-sama ga Miteru
". Friedman is the president of Yuricon
, an anime convention
geared towards fans of yuri anime and manga, and ALC Publishing, a publishing house dedicated to yuri. Friedman described the stories as, "candy apples without the apples - all sugary, and gooey and sweet, with not much of anything else to support it". After initially having this stance for the entire series, including an early opinion on the anime version, Friedman later changed her opinion slightly, writing that "[the anime] turned out pretty good". She went on to say, "There's no denying that Strawberry Panic! wasn't brilliant, but considering that it was meant to be trashy, it pulled out a few moments of dignity and elegance out of the trash heap." Jason Thompson
regarded the Stawberry Panic! manga as "a nearly plotless cascade [where] everything seems rushed, and it is difficult to keep track of the characters and plot."
The five subtitled DVDs released by Media Blasters
were reviewed by Anime News Network
(ANN). The first DVD was declared rental-worthy by ANN, citing the characters as being "a lot of fun" and the series as being a "very laid-back show" that would work well as a relaxing watch over a weekend. The content, however, was described as getting the series off to a "slow start", with limitations of the first six episodes being the lack in fan service
, humor, and that it "struggles to find any other reason to be compelling". The second DVD, containing episodes seven through eleven, was reviewed as failing to "materialize much real plot" and content of the episodes was described as existing "only to appeal to otaku
who can get excited about moe content". The third DVD, compiling episodes twelve through sixteen, shows "signs of an actual plot" and contains a "sudden explosion of fan service", which are noted as "noteworthy developments" in the review. In the fourth DVD, containing episodes seventeen through twenty-one, "the series' romantic side does finally pay off with a romantic arc that actually engages". In the fifth and final DVD containing the last five episodes, the Hikari and Amane relationship is described as lacking chemistry, although the Nagisa and Shizuma pairing is regarded as satisfying.
Strawberry Panic! was one of the premier titles in the Light Novel and Strawberry (for yuri manga) production lines when it was licensed for English language
distribution by Seven Seas Entertainment
. In an interview with Seven Seas Entertainment founder Jason DeAngelis, he was posed the question, "How do you attract a fan base for a novel before its release in English?" His response was, "We try to choose titles that are already well-known, like Pita-Ten, Shinigami no Ballad or Strawberry Panic!....In terms of attracting a fan base, though, in the end it's all about word-of-mouth. If the material is great, it will stand out on its own and find its audience. The small format that we're publishing these books in is frankly stunning, and it will definitely attract fans who may not have heard of the property otherwise."
Strawberry Panic! Girls' School in Fullbloom received a total review score of 26/40 (out of the four individual review scores of 6, 7, 7, and 6) from the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu
. The game is listed by MediaWorks
as one of their most-popular game titles.
Sakurako Kimino
is a female Japanese novelist. She is notable for the creation of Sister Princess and Strawberry Panic!, two very successful bishōjo series where almost all the characters in both series are young girls. She has had her work serialized in the Japanese bishōjo magazine Dengeki G's Magazine,...
, which focus on a group of teenage girls
Adolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
attending three affiliated all-girl schools on Astraea Hill. A common theme throughout the stories is the intimate lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
relationships between the characters. The original artist was Chitose Maki
Chitose Maki
is a female Japanese manga artist from Chiba, Japan. She is noteworthy as the original illustrator to the Strawberry Panic! series before Namuchi Takumi succeeded her. She worked on the series all up until September 2005 when she unexpectedly quit; the reason why she left was never...
, who was succeeded by Namuchi Takumi
Namuchi Takumi
is a pen name of a female Japanese illustrator who has worked on light novel and manga projects. She is noteworthy for her work on the Strawberry Panic! light novel and manga editions, which were published by MediaWorks.-External links:*...
when production of the manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
and light novel
Light novel
A is a style of Japanese novel primarily targeting junior high and high school students . The term "light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called or for short...
s began.
Following Strawberry Panic!s first run in Dengeki G's Magazine
Dengeki G's Magazine
is a Japanese magazine published by ASCII Media Works and sold monthly on the thirtieth that primarily contains information on bishōjo games, but also includes an entire section on anime based on bishōjo games, and serializes manga and light novels based on such games. The "G's" in the title...
it was six months before results began to indicate that the series was a success, and that its fans were growing in number; the manga and light novels which followed were a reflection of its popularity. The series became sufficiently popular for Los Angeles-based company Seven Seas Entertainment
Seven Seas Entertainment
Seven Seas Entertainment is a publishing company located in Los Angeles, California. It was originally dedicated to the publication of original manga, but now publishes licensed manga and novels, as well as select webcomics...
to license the manga series and light novels for English language distribution. Strawberry Panic! is one of the debut titles on the company's Light Novel and Strawberry (for yuri manga) production lines. An anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series was produced in 2006 by Madhouse and is licensed by Media Blasters
Media Blasters
Media Blasters is an entertainment corporation founded by John Sirabella and Sam Liebowitz, based in New York City. They are in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American market manga compilations and anime and live-action movies and television series to home-video...
. A visual novel
Visual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
was produced in 2006 by MediaWorks
MediaWorks (publisher)
was a Japanese publishing company in the Kadokawa Group known for their brand magazines and book labels. These included such well-known magazines as Dengeki Daioh, and Dengeki G's Magazine, along with MediaWorks' main light novel publishing imprint Dengeki Bunko. The company was merged with ASCII...
for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
.
There is a slight difference in the title of the series between media and national affiliation. The original short stories, manga, light novels, and video game used the exclamation mark
Exclamation mark
The exclamation mark, exclamation point, or bang, or "dembanger" is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high volume , and often marks the end of a sentence. Example: “Watch out!” The character is encoded in Unicode at...
in the title; the anime excluded it. When the manga and light novel series were licensed for English language distribution, Seven Seas Entertainment did not use the exclamation mark in the title. The appearance of the logo for Strawberry Panic! has changed four times. The subtitle "Girls' School in Fullbloom" was added during the short stories stage, and later appeared on the Japanese covers of the light novels, manga, and video game version, but was excluded from the anime adaptation and the English covers of the light novels and manga.
Plot
Setting
The setting for Strawberry Panic! is , a very large hilltop where the three affiliated schools of Miator, Spica and Lulim, are located. Each school has its own student council, which governs the matters of each respective school. Periodically the three student councils, along with the Etoiles, meet in the Astraea Joint Student Council. The Astraea Hill school system employs the Scottish systemEducation in Scotland
Scotland has a long history of universal provision of public education, and the Scottish education system is distinctly different from the other countries of the United Kingdom...
of grade numbering. Students are ranged from grades one through six, the equivalent of the three years of junior-high and high school in Japan, and seventh through twelfth grade in North America.
The hill is known as a sacred area which no men are allowed to enter. A prominent feature is a very large Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
church in the center of the hill near a small lake; the church can be seen from a long distance away. There is a horse ranch at Spica. The students may go and study for their classes at a library on the lake's shore. Although only implied in the anime, the manga explains that the library building has another name, "The Secret Garden". It is well-known on campus as a rendezvous
Meeting
In a meeting, two or more people come together to discuss one or more topics, often in a formal setting.- Definitions :An act or process of coming together as an assembly for a common purpose....
for secret lovers.
Students living on campus occupy a dormitory
Dormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
referred to as the , although its correct name is Astraea Dormitory, named after Astraea Hill. The building is a triangular shape, allowing for the segregation of students from the three schools; each section is about the same size. It was built about 100 years before the story begins, around the same time that Miator was established, for students whose homes are far away. Each student is assigned a roommate in their year until graduation. If there is an odd number of students enrolled in a given year, one of the new students must live alone until a student in their year transfers into their school.
The building's name is based on its similarity to the cross-section of a strawberry viewed from above. When Strawberry Panic! was initially created, the three schools were arranged in a triangle, with the Strawberry Dorms in the center, and the dormitory was not a single building but three separate dormitories also arranged in a triangle around a central courtyard.
Story
The plot of Strawberry Panic! revolves around the lives of the adolescentsAdolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
who attend one of three affiliated all-girl schools which share a campus and dormitories. The schools are: St. Miator's Girls' Academy, St. Spica's Girls' Institute, and St. Lulim's Girls' School. The story's main character is Nagisa Aoi, a young girl entering her fourth year at St. Miator after being transferred from another school. On first entering the campus grounds she is overcome with joy by the overall appearance of the surrounding area, but her joy is soon turned to sorrow as she accidentally stumbles down a hill, causing her to be lost and disoriented. While walking around the grounds trying to work out where she is, Nagisa comes across an older student named Shizuma Hanazono, who happens to be Astraea Hill's Etoile, a very important person who acts as a representative between the different schools and has specific duties that she must fulfill. Nagisa is instantly overcome by Shizuma's beauty, and after Shizuma kisses her on the forehead, Nagisa loses consciousness and awakens in the school's infirmary. In an adjacent chair is another girl of the same age, Tamao Suzumi, who informs her that they are to be roommates in the dormitory.
In the ensuing story Nagisa is introduced to other students from each of the three schools; some she admires, some she is intimidated by, and some are merely friends encountered while attending St. Miator. The series encompasses the relationships
Intimate relationship
An intimate relationship is a particularly close interpersonal relationship that involves physical or emotional intimacy. Physical intimacy is characterized by romantic or passionate love and attachment, or sexual activity. The term is also sometimes used euphemistically for a sexual...
the characters build with each other, climaxing whenever two of the characters start dating. The central focus of Strawberry Panic! is the lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
aspect to the relationships between the girls from the three schools. Depending on the media type, the depiction of the relationships between the girls is variously presented, with more explicit fan service
Fan service
, fanservice, or , is a term originating from anime and manga fandom for material in a series which is intentionally added to please the audience. It is about "servicing" the fan - giving the fans "exactly what they want"...
– appealing visuals of the girls in provocative situations – in the anime adaptation than in the manga or light novels. A hint of astronomical
Astronomical object
Astronomical objects or celestial objects are naturally occurring physical entities, associations or structures that current science has demonstrated to exist in the observable universe. The term astronomical object is sometimes used interchangeably with astronomical body...
star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
imagery is seen throughout the series, as well as minor Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
religious undertones including a St. Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
statue on campus and a large Catholic church in the center of Astraea Hill.
Main characters and schools
At each of the three schools, there are four main characters, who comprise the original twelve characters created for the short stories when the series began. Only those twelve appear in the subsequently adapted visual novel version. Other characters were introduced in the manga and light novel versions to create plotlines and conflict, and these additional characters are also featured in the anime adaptation.St. Miator's Girls' Academy
- , the oldest of the three schools, is known for upholding old traditions. It was founded on a monastery and is seen as the school for "brides", reinforced by the existence of extracurricular classes including tea ceremonyJapanese tea ceremonyThe Japanese tea ceremony, also called the Way of Tea, is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of matcha, powdered green tea. In Japanese, it is called . The manner in which it is performed, or the art of its performance, is called...
, flower arrangementIkebanais the Japanese art of flower arrangement, also known as .-Etymology:"Ikebana" is from the Japanese and . Possible translations include "giving life to flowers" and "arranging flowers".- Approach :...
, and Japanese dancing. It is not unusual for students to be engaged before graduation. The school uniform is a long black dress, designed in the Gothic Lolita fashion. At Miator, the classClass (education)A class in education has a variety of related meanings.It can be the group of students which attends a specific course or lesson at a university, school or other educational institution, see Form ....
names are associated with objects from nature, such as , and . In the Strawberry Dorms, there is a concept called the room temp system for students from Miator. Every underclassman entering the dormitories, if they are chosen to serve the upperclassman as room temps, perform maid duties, which include cleaning the room of the students they are assigned to serve.
- Nagisa Aoi is the main character of the story and the main love interest for the other three main characters attending Miator, each of whom is attracted to her. She is a cheerful girl who finds pleasure in making new friends, which she finds easy to do because of her open personality and sociable attitude. The first person she meets at Miator is Shizuma Hanazono, a mysterious upperclassman and one of the Etoile as the story begins, which gives Miator significant influence. Nagisa at first finds that she is strangely affected when in the presence of Shizuma. The next girl she meets is Tamao Suzumi, who becomes her close friend and roommate. Tamao is well regarded among her fellow Miator students; among the first-years, she is seen as a viable Etoile candidate. The last main character from Miator is Chiyo Tsukidate, a timid first year student who is employed as the room tempMaidA maidservant or in current usage housemaid or maid is a female employed in domestic service.-Description:Once part of an elaborate hierarchy in great houses, today a single maid may be the only domestic worker that upper and even middle-income households can afford, as was historically the case...
for Nagisa and Tamao.
St. Spica's Girls' Institute
- has the white colored buildings and uniforms, and was built after Miator. The school prizes itself in advancing the independence of women who play a role in improving society. It is well known for its culture and the accomplishments of its sports program compared to the other two schools. Spica has what is known as the St. Spica Choir, or the "Saintly Chorus", which consists of students from Spica who perform at special events and even concerts for students at Astraea Hill. At Spica, the class names are numbers in French, such as un (one), deux (two), and trois (three). Spica and Miator compete with each other quite aggressively, which often ends in dispute when students from these two schools get together.
- Hikari Konohana, a shy and quiet girl, is the main focus among the main characters who attend Spica. Much like Nagisa at Miator, she too has three girls wanting to get close to her. The first is Yaya Nanto, a rebellious girl who is Hikari's best friend and roommate in the dormitory. Both she and Hikari are members of the St. Spica Choir. Hikari meets an older girl named Amane Ohtori early on in the story who is seen much like a prince from a fairy tale by other Spica students due to often riding a white horse named Star Bright. Amane is admired by many of the students from Spica as well as students from the other two schools, although she does not enjoy the attention. The final girl from Spica is Tsubomi Okuwaka, a young first year student who acts maturely for her age and gets on Yaya's nerves. She too is in the St. Spica Choir although Hikari was her main motivation for joining. Tsubomi once remarked that Yaya was more skilled than Hikari at singing in the choir.
St. Lulim's Girls' School
- (originally Le Lim) is the newest of the three schools, and has pink colored buildings and uniforms. Its uniform is modeled after a traditional Japanese school uniformJapanese school uniformJapan introduced school uniforms in the late 19th century. Today, school uniforms are common in many of the Japanese public and private school systems. The Japanese word for this type of uniform is .-Usage:...
style. At Lulim, the class names are the letters from the Latin alphabetLatin alphabetThe Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
: A, B, C, etc. Students at St. Lulim's are traditionally free and relaxed, and are rarely seen fighting. The students enjoy a lot of freedom in terms of activities, or the clubs they are allowed to form. In effect, there are a wide range of clubs at St. Lulim's ranging from dancing, to cooking, to anything else a group of at least three people can think up.
- Of the three schools, St. Lulim has the least emphasis on romance between characters, although the Lulim characters are typically found together. The leader of their friendly group is Chikaru Minamoto, the student council president of Lulim, and a born leader. She has a friendly and supportive personality which she often uses to offer advice or simply a shoulder to cry on. The other three girls include Kizuna Hyūga, a very outgoing and excitable girl who enjoys following Chikaru's decisions, finding fun in doing so. She is very expressive in her actions and words, not wasting a chance to introduce herself to anyone new. Her close friend is Remon Natsume, who is much like Kizuna in personality, but is not as accident-prone as her. Of the pair, Kizuna is the more talkative; Remon often agrees with her companion and will offer up an opinion when need be. Lastly, there is Kagome Byakudan, the youngest of the group, who is typically accompanied by her stuffed bear which she often talks to as if it were alive. Although she does not talk or express her emotions much, she has a heightened perception of others' emotions and can tell when those around her are distraught or in emotional pain.
Etoile system
is a French word meaning starStar
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
. The Etoile system of Astraea Hill is employed as the internal politics between the schools and governs school operations. Little is shown as to the influence the teachers and sisters have on the inter-school politics. The system is designed for two Etoiles to be instated at the same time in order to work as a team. In the anime, Shizuma Hanazono is the sole Etoile, (the other Etoile having died), which is explained in the latter part of the story. The two Etoiles are seen as figurehead
Figurehead (metaphor)
In politics, a figurehead is a person who holds de jure an important title or office yet de facto executes little actual power, most commonly limited by convention rather than law. The metaphor derives from the carved figurehead at the prow of a sailing ship...
s for Astraea Hill. Although Astraea has three schools, both Etoiles must come from the same school. They have certain specific duties, such as greeting new students arriving at Astraea Hill, participating in important school events, and serving as mediator between disputes in student council meetings of the three schools, among others. They are given a private greenhouse in which to grow flowers for use during school events.
The Etoiles are elected after going through what is known as , which consists of three competitions in the light novels and the manga versions. The higher scoring pairs from the first two competitions carry on to the third competition, and the pair that wins the third competition becomes the Etoile Couple. Once the winners have been named, a special ceremony marks the end of the election, at which the president of the student council from the school that won the election presents two necklaces for the winners to wear during their tenure as Etoiles. They are both identical except for the colors of the pendant
Pendant
A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, when the ensemble may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. In modern French "pendant" is the gerund form of “hanging”...
s: one is red, the other is blue. The older student receives the blue pendant and the younger of the two is given the red pendant.
Production
ASCII Media Works
is a Japanese publishing company in the Kadokawa Group which formed on April 1, 2008 as a result of a merger between ASCII and MediaWorks where MediaWorks legally absorbed ASCII. Despite this, the former president of ASCII, Kiyoshi Takano, became the president of ASCII Media Works. The company...
' Dengeki G's Magazine
Dengeki G's Magazine
is a Japanese magazine published by ASCII Media Works and sold monthly on the thirtieth that primarily contains information on bishōjo games, but also includes an entire section on anime based on bishōjo games, and serializes manga and light novels based on such games. The "G's" in the title...
was published, the editors of the magazine have hosted reader participation games whose outcome is directly influenced by the people who read the magazine. Strawberry Panic!s origin was in the October 2003 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine where it was announced after the ending of Sakurako Kimino
Sakurako Kimino
is a female Japanese novelist. She is notable for the creation of Sister Princess and Strawberry Panic!, two very successful bishōjo series where almost all the characters in both series are young girls. She has had her work serialized in the Japanese bishōjo magazine Dengeki G's Magazine,...
's previous work Sister Princess
Sister Princess
is a popular Japanese seinen series written by Sakurako Kimino and illustrated by Naoto Tenhiro. It began as a serialized light novel series in 1999. In 2001, a manga series and a bishōjo game for the Sony PlayStation were released. Sequels to the game were released for the PlayStation and Game Boy...
that a new reader participation project would start the following month. In the November 2003 issue, the first batch of characters from St. Miator were introduced (Nagisa, Shizuma, Tamao, and Chiyo) and it was revealed how readers could participate in the project. The initial system had the three main girls of Nagisa, Hikari, and Kizuna (given without surnames) who were sisters and at the same time younger sisters of the readers of the magazine, effectively putting the reader in the position of the elder brother. Each girl entered her respective school and became the main character of that school. It was explained that the coupling of the main characters could be to an upperclassman, a classmate, or an underclassman, but had to stay within the school they attended. For example, Nagisa, who attended Miator could not be coupled with another character from either Spica or Lulim at first. Playing the role of the elder brother, the reader gave advice to the younger sisters who were bewildered by their new lives at each of the schools. Thus, the readers had the ability to influence the coupling formations which would later be written by Kimino as short stories serialized in Dengeki G's Magazine.
In December 2003, the characters from Spica (Hikari, Amane, Yaya, and Tsubomi) and Lulim (Kizuna, Chikaru, Remon, and Kagome) were introduced and in the January 2004 issue the first illustrations of the three schools and the Strawberry Dorms were published, drawn by Chitose Maki
Chitose Maki
is a female Japanese manga artist from Chiba, Japan. She is noteworthy as the original illustrator to the Strawberry Panic! series before Namuchi Takumi succeeded her. She worked on the series all up until September 2005 when she unexpectedly quit; the reason why she left was never...
; the reader participation game began in this issue. Polls were posted in the January 2004 issue where the readers could vote on how the story would start and progress in the following months. Before the votes were counted, the first three short stories were written and published in the February 2004 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine. Each story featured an illustration of the two girls who were the couple paired in each respective story.
When the results of the polls were printed in the March 2004 issue, the rules of the game had been changed from the original concept, showing that readers wanted to focus on the relationships between the girls, and in this respect, the readers could vote on who they wanted to be coupled together. The number of votes for this first round were less than 2000. Noting this, the editorial staff lifted the restriction on only coupling within the same school, along with the restriction of only allowing the three main girls of Nagisa, Hikari, and Kizuna to couple. This resulted in a total of 66 different possibilities between the twelve characters in the series. In this issue, it was explained that four events were planned for the stories that followed: Easter, Athletic Carnival, Cultural Festival, and Christmas Bazaar. The "Etoile" title was born in this issue, which was initially used to crown the best couple voted first by the readers in each of the four events to follow. These events were going to be carried out by the three schools in cooperation. It became such that the planning of the schools resulted in them in a triangle position, having the dormitories at the center. The reader's position as the elder brother was canceled in this issue, and the game became a simple popularity vote for coupling. Due to this new system, Nagisa, Hikari, and Kizuna ceased to be sisters; surnames were later added to clarify this. After the first story arc
Story arc
A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and in some cases, films. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. In television, the use of the story...
of the short stories concluded, it was shown that the number of votes had increased sharply due to the new voting mechanisms. The Etoile voting was announced in the July 2004 issue to take place every month as opposed to every two months which had been the case beforehand. The deadline for voting was shifted to the middle of every month, and online voting was introduced. In September 2004, the voting for the next Etoile was shifted to be online-only; the voting for the Dormitory Panic arc became mail voting only.
The reader participation game ended after ten rounds of voting in the February 2005 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine where it was announced that the series would be continued in other forms, such as the light novels and manga that followed. The original short stories and the poll results of the reader participation game were used as a basis for subsequent releases of Strawberry Panic!.
Short stories
The first results of the polls from the reader participation project appeared in the form of the first three short stories which resulted from direct fan involvement in the March 2004 issue of Dengeki G's MagazineDengeki G's Magazine
is a Japanese magazine published by ASCII Media Works and sold monthly on the thirtieth that primarily contains information on bishōjo games, but also includes an entire section on anime based on bishōjo games, and serializes manga and light novels based on such games. The "G's" in the title...
. The stories were written by Sakurako Kimino
Sakurako Kimino
is a female Japanese novelist. She is notable for the creation of Sister Princess and Strawberry Panic!, two very successful bishōjo series where almost all the characters in both series are young girls. She has had her work serialized in the Japanese bishōjo magazine Dengeki G's Magazine,...
and illustrated by Chitose Maki
Chitose Maki
is a female Japanese manga artist from Chiba, Japan. She is noteworthy as the original illustrator to the Strawberry Panic! series before Namuchi Takumi succeeded her. She worked on the series all up until September 2005 when she unexpectedly quit; the reason why she left was never...
. Over the following months, the stories continued, producing the first story arc
Story arc
A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and in some cases, films. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. In television, the use of the story...
named the containing eighteen stories which ran between March and July 2004. Due to the concerns that there was not enough time between the Athletic Festival (an early summer event) and the Cultural Festival (an autumn event), the second, and last, story arc named the containing seven stories began the next month, running between August 2004 and January 2005. The second arc's stories, which were longer than the earlier pieces, involved taking one of the three main characters, performing coupling for them with one of the other eleven girls and presenting them in various situations. None of the original stories were ever published again in bound volumes
Tankobon
, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...
. The stories themselves were more or less vignettes
Vignette (literature)
In theatrical script writing, sketch stories, and poetry, a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting and sometimes an object...
, in which each gave a brief glimpse into what was referred to as a "yuri coupling".
Between May and September 2005, a revised series of the short stories was produced; once per month, five more supplementary short stories were published during this time period, each of which was longer than any of the previous pieces. Although each individual story had its own title, the stories were under the collective title of "The Girls, who art in heaven
Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke, which records Jesus being approached by "one of his...
". After the ending of this short compilation in September 2005, it was decided that the original illustrator, Chitose Maki, would be replaced by Namuchi Takumi
Namuchi Takumi
is a pen name of a female Japanese illustrator who has worked on light novel and manga projects. She is noteworthy for her work on the Strawberry Panic! light novel and manga editions, which were published by MediaWorks.-External links:*...
for future Strawberry Panic! projects.
Internet radio show
Between November 2005 and December 2006, Lantis Web RadioLantis (company)
is a Japanese company that specializes as a music publisher label for Japanese musicians, anime soundtracks and video game soundtracks. It was established on November 26, 1999, and in May 2006, it was bought by, and became a subsidiary of, Bandai Visual...
hosted a radio show entitled . The show was hosted by Mai Nakahara
Mai Nakahara
is a voice actress. She is employed by I'm Enterprise. Some of her hobbies include cooking and watching movies, and she is skilled at kendo. She worked with voice actor Ai Shimizu in eight anime where most of the characters they voiced in together had close connections: DearS, Kage Kara Mamoru!,...
, who voiced Nagisa Aoi in the anime edition, and Ai Shimizu
Ai Shimizu
is a Japanese voice actress who is employed by Haikyou. She also has a career as a singer an signed to Lantis. She has released 14 singles and four albums. She covered Yumi Matsutoya's "Toki o Kakeru Shōjo" as the B-side of her first single "Angel Fish" in 2003...
, who voiced both Tamao Suzumi and Kizuna Hyūga in the anime. The show contained sixty-one episodes, which were divided between three CDs; the first went on sale on March 8, 2006. The other two releases came out on July 5, 2006 and January 11, 2007 in Japan. The radio show included nine guests who had played other voice acting
Seiyu
Voice acting in Japan has far greater prominence than in most other countries. Japan's large animation industry produces 60% of the animated series in the world; as a result, Japanese voice actors, or , are able to achieve fame on a national and international level.Besides acting as narrators and...
roles in the anime version, and Rino
CooRie
CooRie is a self-produced Japanese music unit by singer-songwriter Rino that performs songs for anime and games. CooRie used to be a two-persons unit when it debuted in 2003, with Rino doing the lyrics and vocals and doing the music compositions and arrangements...
, singer of the opening theme "Sweetest" in the PlayStation 2 game version.
Manga
The Strawberry Panic! manga, written by Sakurako KiminoSakurako Kimino
is a female Japanese novelist. She is notable for the creation of Sister Princess and Strawberry Panic!, two very successful bishōjo series where almost all the characters in both series are young girls. She has had her work serialized in the Japanese bishōjo magazine Dengeki G's Magazine,...
and illustrated by Namuchi Takumi
Namuchi Takumi
is a pen name of a female Japanese illustrator who has worked on light novel and manga projects. She is noteworthy for her work on the Strawberry Panic! light novel and manga editions, which were published by MediaWorks.-External links:*...
, was serialized in Dengeki G's Magazine
Dengeki G's Magazine
is a Japanese magazine published by ASCII Media Works and sold monthly on the thirtieth that primarily contains information on bishōjo games, but also includes an entire section on anime based on bishōjo games, and serializes manga and light novels based on such games. The "G's" in the title...
between September 30, 2005 and February 28, 2007 with a new chapter released once a month. Two bound volumes
Tankobon
, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...
have been published in Japan under MediaWorks
MediaWorks (publisher)
was a Japanese publishing company in the Kadokawa Group known for their brand magazines and book labels. These included such well-known magazines as Dengeki Daioh, and Dengeki G's Magazine, along with MediaWorks' main light novel publishing imprint Dengeki Bunko. The company was merged with ASCII...
' Dengeki Comics
Dengeki Comics
is a manga publishing label affiliated with the Japanese publishing company ASCII Media Works and is aimed at a male audience. Aside from the main Dengeki Comics label, there is the related Dengeki Comics EX label which publishes a lesser number of manga volumes...
label. The first went on sale on March 27, 2006 featuring Nagisa and Shizuma on the cover, and the second volume came out on October 27, 2006 featuring Nagisa and Tamao on the cover. While the manga's story is unfinished, Strawberry Panic! has not made an appearance in Dengeki G's Magazine since the publication of the April 2007 issue on February 28, 2007. Major differences between the anime and manga center around the plot and character interaction. Characters have vastly different character designs, such as Shion Tōmori and Kaname Kenjō. The manga introduces the Etoile election early on while the anime waits until the latter part of the series for dramatic effect. The first volume was released in English on December 23, 2007, the second in March 2008, and the omnibus with two additional chapters in October 2010, published by Seven Seas Entertainment
Seven Seas Entertainment
Seven Seas Entertainment is a publishing company located in Los Angeles, California. It was originally dedicated to the publication of original manga, but now publishes licensed manga and novels, as well as select webcomics...
.
Light novels
The announcement that a Strawberry Panic! light novelLight novel
A is a style of Japanese novel primarily targeting junior high and high school students . The term "light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called or for short...
series was to be written based on the original short stories appeared in the April 2005 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine. Work on writing and illustrating the novels began in May 2005, by the same two people who worked on the manga. The announcement that the writing was finished appeared in the September 2005 issue of the same magazine, although the first novel was published by MediaWorks
MediaWorks (publisher)
was a Japanese publishing company in the Kadokawa Group known for their brand magazines and book labels. These included such well-known magazines as Dengeki Daioh, and Dengeki G's Magazine, along with MediaWorks' main light novel publishing imprint Dengeki Bunko. The company was merged with ASCII...
on their Dengeki Bunko
Dengeki Bunko
is a publishing imprint affiliated with the Japanese publishing company ASCII Media Works . It was established in June 1993 with the publication of Hyōryū Densetsu Crystania volume one, and is a light novel imprint aimed at a male audience...
publishing label, on March 10, 2006. The first volume had Shizuma and Nagisa on the cover and the second volume, released on August 9, 2006, had Amane and Hikari on the cover. The third and last volume, released on December 10, 2006, had Chikaru and Kizuna on the cover.
Seven Seas Entertainment
Seven Seas Entertainment
Seven Seas Entertainment is a publishing company located in Los Angeles, California. It was originally dedicated to the publication of original manga, but now publishes licensed manga and novels, as well as select webcomics...
announced on September 13, 2006 that they had licensed the right to release the English translations of the Strawberry Panic! light novels and the manga series. After several delays, the English version of the first light novel was released in March 2008, and the second volume light novel was released on July 8, 2008. An omnibus volume containing the three light novels was released in June 2011.
Anime
The animeAnime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series, entitled Strawberry Panic (without the exclamation mark
Exclamation mark
The exclamation mark, exclamation point, or bang, or "dembanger" is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high volume , and often marks the end of a sentence. Example: “Watch out!” The character is encoded in Unicode at...
), was produced by the Japanese animation studio Madhouse and directed by Masayuki Sakoi
Masayuki Sakoi
is a Japanese animation director from Kagoshima, Japan.-Anime staffed in:*Hand Maid May: In-Between Animation *Kurau: Phantom Memory: Technical director *Princess Resurrection: Director...
. The series was composed by Tatsuhiko Urahata, and featured two other screenwriters Hideo Takayashiki and Kazuyuki Fudeyasu. The character design was done by Kyūta Sakai, working from the original designs by Chitose Maki
Chitose Maki
is a female Japanese manga artist from Chiba, Japan. She is noteworthy as the original illustrator to the Strawberry Panic! series before Namuchi Takumi succeeded her. She worked on the series all up until September 2005 when she unexpectedly quit; the reason why she left was never...
and later Namuchi Takumi
Namuchi Takumi
is a pen name of a female Japanese illustrator who has worked on light novel and manga projects. She is noteworthy for her work on the Strawberry Panic! light novel and manga editions, which were published by MediaWorks.-External links:*...
. The twenty-six episode anime aired in Japan between April 3 and September 25, 2006, and has a central yuri theme. The anime series is mainly based on the short stories and manga which preceded it. The anime focuses on Nagisa Aoi and Hikari Konohana and the three love interests they each have who are vying for their affections. Fan service
Fan service
, fanservice, or , is a term originating from anime and manga fandom for material in a series which is intentionally added to please the audience. It is about "servicing" the fan - giving the fans "exactly what they want"...
, or giving appealing visuals of the girls nude or in provocative situations, is seen in the anime, but only briefly. In Japan, eight DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
compilations, in regular and special editions, were released containing three episodes each, between June 23, 2006, and January 25, 2007. The regular and special editions are similar in content, but the special editions are packaged in jacket sleeve, and contain an original booklet which includes additional merchandise such as portable plates and straps. The special edition includes different versions of the opening and closing themes, and deleted scenes. Media Blasters
Media Blasters
Media Blasters is an entertainment corporation founded by John Sirabella and Sam Liebowitz, based in New York City. They are in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American market manga compilations and anime and live-action movies and television series to home-video...
released five English-subtitled
Subtitle (captioning)
Subtitles are textual versions of the dialog in films and television programs, usually displayed at the bottom of the screen. They can either be a form of written translation of a dialog in a foreign language, or a written rendering of the dialog in the same language, with or without added...
DVDs of Strawberry Panic between March 4, 2007 and November 11, 2008. The English-subtitled DVDs contain five episodes, except for its first release, which contains six.
Audio CDs
The original soundtrack for the anime adaptation was first released on September 6, 2006 by LantisLantis (company)
is a Japanese company that specializes as a music publisher label for Japanese musicians, anime soundtracks and video game soundtracks. It was established on November 26, 1999, and in May 2006, it was bought by, and became a subsidiary of, Bandai Visual...
. On September 21, 2006, the soundtrack for the video game was released by the same company. The two opening themes for the anime, "Shōjo Meiro de Tsukamaete" and "Kuchibiru Daydream" were sung by Aki Misato
Aki Misato
is a female Japanese J-pop singer from Saitama, Japan. Most of her songs are theme songs for anime and video games. She made her debut in 2004 with her first single Kimi ga Sora Datta , which was featured as the ending theme of the anime Mai-HiME...
. The "Shōjo Meiro de Tsukamaete" single was released on April 26, 2006, and reached an Oricon
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...
chart position of thirty-eight; "Kuchibiru Daydream" was released on August 9, 2006, and achieved forty-seven in the charts. The two main closing themes for the anime, "Himitsu Dolls" (released on May 24, 2006) and "Ichigo Tsumi Monogatari" (released on August 23, 2006), were sung by Mai Nakahara
Mai Nakahara
is a voice actress. She is employed by I'm Enterprise. Some of her hobbies include cooking and watching movies, and she is skilled at kendo. She worked with voice actor Ai Shimizu in eight anime where most of the characters they voiced in together had close connections: DearS, Kage Kara Mamoru!,...
and Ai Shimizu
Ai Shimizu
is a Japanese voice actress who is employed by Haikyou. She also has a career as a singer an signed to Lantis. She has released 14 singles and four albums. She covered Yumi Matsutoya's "Toki o Kakeru Shōjo" as the B-side of her first single "Angel Fish" in 2003...
as a duet
Duet (music)
A duet is a musical composition for two performers. In classical music, the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to as...
. The final closing theme in the last episode was a slower remix version of "Shōjo Meiro de Tsukamaete", sung by Aki Misato.
There have been three drama CDs
Radio drama in Japan
Radio drama in Japan has a history as long as that of radio broadcasting in that country, which began in 1925. Some consider the first Japanese radio drama to have been "" which was a radio broadcast of a stage play. Others consider the Japanese translation of Richard Hughes's "Danger" or to be...
released based on the anime adaptation. The first, entitled Strawberry Panic Lyric 1 "Miator volume" was released in Japan on July 26, 2006. It featured the same voice actresses
Seiyu
Voice acting in Japan has far greater prominence than in most other countries. Japan's large animation industry produces 60% of the animated series in the world; as a result, Japanese voice actors, or , are able to achieve fame on a national and international level.Besides acting as narrators and...
from the anime, and featured thirteen characters. It came with a CD containing twelve tracks of small scenes involving the characters in various situations. The second drama CD, Strawberry Panic Lyric 2 "Spica volume" was released on October 25, 2006 and a third was released on December 6, 2006 titled Strawberry Panic Lyric 3 "Lulim volume".
Visual novel
A visual novelVisual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
named Strawberry Panic! Girls' School in Fullbloom was released on the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
on August 24, 2006 in Japan by MediaWorks
MediaWorks (publisher)
was a Japanese publishing company in the Kadokawa Group known for their brand magazines and book labels. These included such well-known magazines as Dengeki Daioh, and Dengeki G's Magazine, along with MediaWorks' main light novel publishing imprint Dengeki Bunko. The company was merged with ASCII...
. Two versions of the game were released, a regular edition and a limited edition which included a drama CD; there is a different cover for each of the versions. The drama CD contained three tracks, one for students of each school.
There are three playable characters, one from each of the schools: Nagisa, Hikari, and Kizuna. They have no family names in the game, as when the series of short stories were first published. While Ai Shimizu
Ai Shimizu
is a Japanese voice actress who is employed by Haikyou. She also has a career as a singer an signed to Lantis. She has released 14 singles and four albums. She covered Yumi Matsutoya's "Toki o Kakeru Shōjo" as the B-side of her first single "Angel Fish" in 2003...
maintained her role for Kizuna in the game, Miyuki Sawashiro
Miyuki Sawashiro
is a female Japanese voice actress and singer who works for Mausu Promotion.She voiced Puchiko in the English dubbed releases of Di Gi Charat the Movie and Leave it to Piyoko, making her one of the few Japanese voice actors to have reprised a role in English in addition to the original Japanese...
performed the voice for Tamao Suzumi. The game features a "boy mode" and a "girl mode". Choosing the male version means that the story is told via emails from the player's younger sister; choosing the female version means that the story is told in the player's own diary. The player is given the chance to pair their chosen character with one of the other nine available girls, not including the other possible playable characters. There are twenty-seven different combinations depending on which girl the player chooses at the start of the game.
The game is played over the course of a school semester; the first day of school is on April 1. In "boy mode", each day concludes with a super deformed
Super deformed
Super deformed or SD is a specific style of Japanese caricature where characters are drawn in an exaggerated way, typically small and chubby, with stubby limbs and oversized heads, to make them resemble small children...
image of the heroine the player chose at the onset of the game slumped over her computer in her room; an email message from a girl that she interacted with during the day in on the monitor
Computer display
A monitor or display is an electronic visual display for computers. The monitor comprises the display device, circuitry, and an enclosure...
. As the heroine sleeps, the object of her affection appears in a thought bubble above her head. In "girl mode", she is seen writing in her diary instead. The first day in the game requires no interaction from the player. The player gets through the first day by reading the text and getting acquainted with the girls. The game uses an angel and devil system where miniature angel and devil versions of each girl float beside her when critical decisions have to be made; this is not restricted to the three playable characters. It also features a "Strawberry chance" system, where the outcome of some scenes changes if the player presses one of the analog sticks fast enough after the message is displayed in the upper right screen corner.
Reception
During the reader participation game running in Dengeki G's MagazineDengeki G's Magazine
is a Japanese magazine published by ASCII Media Works and sold monthly on the thirtieth that primarily contains information on bishōjo games, but also includes an entire section on anime based on bishōjo games, and serializes manga and light novels based on such games. The "G's" in the title...
, voting polls were first posted in the January 2004 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine, which were to determine who would be the subjects in the couplings between the characters of each respective school. The results were printed in the March 2004 issue, after about 1,979 votes had been cast. The three couples with the highest number of votes were Nagisa/Tamao at 481 votes, Hikari/Amane at 343 votes, and Kizuna/Chikaru at 260 votes. The results from the second round of voting were published in the May 2004 issue of the magazine which included the figures for the sixty-four different combinations between the twelve girls. The three couples with the highest number of votes this time were Nagisa/Tamao again at 150 votes, Nagisa/Amane at 114 votes, and Hikari/Amane for a second time at 102 votes. In the third round of voting in the July 2004 issue, the number of votes increased dramatically; the number one voted couple for the third time in a row was Nagisa/Tamao at 1,215 votes.
The Strawberry Panic! short stories were initially panned by Erica Friedman as being "distinctly derivative of Maria-sama ga Miteru
Maria-sama ga Miteru
, often shortened to , is a series of Japanese light novels written by Oyuki Konno and illustrated by Reine Hibiki. The series focuses on a group of teenage girls attending Lillian Catholic school for girls in Tokyo, Japan. Its storyline largely revolves around the lives and close relationships of...
". Friedman is the president of Yuricon
Yuricon
Yuricon is an anime convention geared toward fans of yuri anime and manga. The first Yuricon event was held in 2003 in Newark, New Jersey with about 200 attending, although Yuricon has existed as an online entity since 2000. The event was organized by Yuricon, LLC., which continues to run...
, an anime convention
Anime convention
An anime convention is an event or gathering with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Commonly, anime conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activities and panels...
geared towards fans of yuri anime and manga, and ALC Publishing, a publishing house dedicated to yuri. Friedman described the stories as, "candy apples without the apples - all sugary, and gooey and sweet, with not much of anything else to support it". After initially having this stance for the entire series, including an early opinion on the anime version, Friedman later changed her opinion slightly, writing that "[the anime] turned out pretty good". She went on to say, "There's no denying that Strawberry Panic! wasn't brilliant, but considering that it was meant to be trashy, it pulled out a few moments of dignity and elegance out of the trash heap." Jason Thompson
Jason Thompson (writer)
Jason Thompson is a manga critic, journalist, writer and comics artist.-Life and career:...
regarded the Stawberry Panic! manga as "a nearly plotless cascade [where] everything seems rushed, and it is difficult to keep track of the characters and plot."
The five subtitled DVDs released by Media Blasters
Media Blasters
Media Blasters is an entertainment corporation founded by John Sirabella and Sam Liebowitz, based in New York City. They are in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American market manga compilations and anime and live-action movies and television series to home-video...
were reviewed by Anime News Network
Anime News Network
Anime News Network is an anime industry news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, Japanese popular music and other otaku-related culture within North America, Australia and Japan. Additionally, it sometimes features similar happenings throughout the Anglosphere and elsewhere in the...
(ANN). The first DVD was declared rental-worthy by ANN, citing the characters as being "a lot of fun" and the series as being a "very laid-back show" that would work well as a relaxing watch over a weekend. The content, however, was described as getting the series off to a "slow start", with limitations of the first six episodes being the lack in fan service
Fan service
, fanservice, or , is a term originating from anime and manga fandom for material in a series which is intentionally added to please the audience. It is about "servicing" the fan - giving the fans "exactly what they want"...
, humor, and that it "struggles to find any other reason to be compelling". The second DVD, containing episodes seven through eleven, was reviewed as failing to "materialize much real plot" and content of the episodes was described as existing "only to appeal to otaku
Otaku
is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga or video games.- Etymology :Otaku is derived from a Japanese term for another's house or family , which is also used as an honorific second-person pronoun...
who can get excited about moe content". The third DVD, compiling episodes twelve through sixteen, shows "signs of an actual plot" and contains a "sudden explosion of fan service", which are noted as "noteworthy developments" in the review. In the fourth DVD, containing episodes seventeen through twenty-one, "the series' romantic side does finally pay off with a romantic arc that actually engages". In the fifth and final DVD containing the last five episodes, the Hikari and Amane relationship is described as lacking chemistry, although the Nagisa and Shizuma pairing is regarded as satisfying.
Strawberry Panic! was one of the premier titles in the Light Novel and Strawberry (for yuri manga) production lines when it was licensed for English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
distribution by Seven Seas Entertainment
Seven Seas Entertainment
Seven Seas Entertainment is a publishing company located in Los Angeles, California. It was originally dedicated to the publication of original manga, but now publishes licensed manga and novels, as well as select webcomics...
. In an interview with Seven Seas Entertainment founder Jason DeAngelis, he was posed the question, "How do you attract a fan base for a novel before its release in English?" His response was, "We try to choose titles that are already well-known, like Pita-Ten, Shinigami no Ballad or Strawberry Panic!....In terms of attracting a fan base, though, in the end it's all about word-of-mouth. If the material is great, it will stand out on its own and find its audience. The small format that we're publishing these books in is frankly stunning, and it will definitely attract fans who may not have heard of the property otherwise."
Strawberry Panic! Girls' School in Fullbloom received a total review score of 26/40 (out of the four individual review scores of 6, 7, 7, and 6) from the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu
Famitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
. The game is listed by MediaWorks
MediaWorks (publisher)
was a Japanese publishing company in the Kadokawa Group known for their brand magazines and book labels. These included such well-known magazines as Dengeki Daioh, and Dengeki G's Magazine, along with MediaWorks' main light novel publishing imprint Dengeki Bunko. The company was merged with ASCII...
as one of their most-popular game titles.
External links
- Strawberry Panic! at MediaWorksMediaWorks (publisher)was a Japanese publishing company in the Kadokawa Group known for their brand magazines and book labels. These included such well-known magazines as Dengeki Daioh, and Dengeki G's Magazine, along with MediaWorks' main light novel publishing imprint Dengeki Bunko. The company was merged with ASCII...
- Visual novel official website
- Strawberry Panic! at Seven Seas EntertainmentSeven Seas EntertainmentSeven Seas Entertainment is a publishing company located in Los Angeles, California. It was originally dedicated to the publication of original manga, but now publishes licensed manga and novels, as well as select webcomics...