Pioneer Entertainment presents

I My Me! Strawberry Eggs #2: Pop Quiz (2002)

Hibiki: I became so so thrilled in the lingerie shop, the next thing I knew, I was paying at the register.
Ba-chan: That's okay.
Hibiki: It's not okay. I'm a man.- Yuji Kishi, Kujira

Stars: Yuki Masuda, Yuji Kishi, Akeno Watanabe, Sally Dana, Crispin Freeman, Carrie Savage
Other Stars: Kujira, Yuji Ueda, Omi Minami, Mikako Takahashi, Fumiko Orikasa, Katashi Ishizuka, Rika Taniguchi, Eriko Kawasaki, U-ko Tachibana, Takayuki Yamaguchi, Mae Yoshikawa, J.E. Jaress, Ted Sroka, Suzy Harbulak, Jennifer Sekiguchi, Sienna Canyon, T. Axelrod, William Knight, Noel DePaula, Erica Schaffer, Jaime Gallardo, Josh Phillips
Director: Yuji Yamaguchi

MPAA Rating: Not Rated for (13+ for mature content)
Run Time: 01h:09m:00s
Release Date: 2002-10-22
Genre: anime

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
A-	A-	A-	A-	C+

 

DVD Review

With the second quarter of I My Me! Strawberry Eggs, the charm of this gender-bending series blossoms. The story of Hibiki Amawa (Yuki Masuda/Yuji Kishi), a man who has to dress a as a woman in order to keep his teaching job, the show relies on similar situations to other cross-dressing comedies for its humor—the fear of being exposed is the ultimate humiliation. Like its predecessor, Hand Maid May, Strawberry Eggs blends absurd situations, ecchi comedy, light romance, and strong, likeable personalities into an extremely enjoyable show.

In the first of three installments, it is time to bare all when the school's annual physical examination rolls around. For the girls, this is a time of horror, as the male population had managed the previous year to accumulate data on each girl's physical attributes, and published the results of their Miss Seitow Nice Body Contest. This year is no different, with the boys scheming to collect info on their now more developed classmates, but the school administration is putting measures in effect to thwart the activity. Nonetheless, the young ladies are each trying to measure up in whatever way they can—which means a healthy supply of tissue to enhance their statistics.

Unfortunately for Hibiki, vice-principle Kyoto, suspecting their new female teacher is actually a man, also insists that Hibiki take the physical this year. This isn't Hibiki's only challenge though, as his increased presence as a woman and love of shopping for lingerie has him questioning his own sexuality.

The final two episodes set up more awkward situations for the cross-dressing teacher, as he first has to deal with major disruptions in the class behavior, keep his cool in a bathing suit, then figure out a way to get out of an arranged marriage—to a man! Miai, omiai. There are plenty of extremely funny moments throughout as Hibiki is caught between the sexes, trying to maintain his cover, all while helping his students as best he can. The results are both touching and hilarious.

Each episode is fairly self-contained, but although there is little in the way of overall story progression, these vignettes provide ample opportunity to build some great characters and present very amusing stories. The animation quality continues to be very good, and the design work and scripting work together well. Whatever reservations I had for the show earlier have vanished with this disc, and while it still may not be an absolute essential, I My Me! Strawberry Eggs is a first-class series with lots of replay value—what more could you ask for?

Rating for Style: A-
Rating for Substance: A-

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.33:1 - Full Frame
Original Aspect Ratio	yes
Anamorphic	no

Image Transfer Review: The image quality here is excellent, with a clean transfer doing justice to the artwork with nicely vibrant colors, and solid blacks. There are minimal amounts of aliasing, and no cross coloration. This looks great.

Image Transfer Grade: A-
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
DS 2.0	Japanese, English	yes

Audio Transfer Review: Both original Japanese and dubbed English stereo audio are available. The soundtracks are good, with an even tonal balance. Directionality is sparse, but appropriate. There are no technical issues to speak of.

Audio Transfer Grade: A- 

Disc Extras

Full Motion menu with music
Scene Access with 15 cues and remote access
Subtitles/Captions in English with remote access
3 Other Trailer(s) featuring Gatekeepers, Vandread: Second Stage, Fushigi Yugi: Eikoden
Packaging: Amaray
Picture Disc
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extra Extras:

1. Student roll call video
2. "Presented by" audio clips
3. Art gallery
4. Clean closing animation

Extras Review: Extras are similar to the first disc, with a talking (English) menu, and classroom-themed layout. Chapter selections are available through the "class schedule." There are subtitle options for dialogue or sign translations.

Seven more images are available in the art gallery, and the clean closing credit sequence is available this time.

A two-minute featurette with the Japanese cast voicing the "presented by..." intros for the show's sponsors is included, along with another bilingual introduction section (11m:35s), this time for the female students, each of whom can be selected from a submenu, or seen in sequence. Like the last disc, the Japanese version requires lightning fast reading skills to catch all the text presented.

A trailer reel contains Gatekeepers, Vandread: Second Stage and Fushigi Yugi: Eikoden

The insert folds out to a mini poster, and its back has more cultural references used in the show.

Extras Grade: C+
 

Final Comments

"Am I becoming addicted to cross-dressing?" - Hibiki

I My Me! Strawberry Eggs continues to be a blast. The series is progressing nicely, with a winning combination of hilarious situations and sentimental moments, driven by the great cast of characters in this cross-dressing comedy. The extras are useful and entertaining. I'm looking forward to more. Recommended!

Jeff Ulmer 2003-01-30