There's nothing like a good Love Dodecahedron to while away the time. At least that's what I thought when I had the sudden urge to buy the first three volumes of Mizuki Kawashita's teen romance Strawberry 100%. The plot is as simple as it is unlikely: Male student Junpei Manaka develops a bizarre obsession with strawberry-patterned panties after crashing into a girl wearing them while on the school roof (the narrative's first meet cute), which leads him to becoming acquainted with an assortment of gorgeous females all way above his league, but nonetheless all inexplicably attracted to him. As always happens in these stories, the male protagonist is too indecisive (and too immature) to make up his mind on who he really likes. Will it be the school's most popular girl Tsukasa Nishino? Brainy wallflower Aya Tojo (the most likely to have bumped into Manaka)? Or outspoken and athletic Satsuki Kitaoji? Like any successful series (it went on for three years in Japan) it's a sure bet it will drag-out its basic premise just long enough for every heroine's inevitable fan-following to grow to violently hate the competition.
The fan service is relatively tame: There's a lot of ogling at uplifted skirts and unbuttoned shirts, but nothing that approaches the level of Ken Akamatsu's more well-known manga. While appropriately attractive, Kawashita's style is not particularly kinetic. This isn't a daring or unconventional take on the genre. But if you like your romantic comedies more laid-back, then Strawberry 100% is a suitably pleasant diversion.
