Lolicon taxi riders and Ichigo Marshmallow fans are sure to be delighted (or at least mildly bemused) by the announcement that ita-taxi (“Moetaku”) bearing the likenesses of Miu and company are finally gracing the streets of Hamamatsu.

The taxis can be specially reserved or simply hailed down, and riders receive commemorative Barasui-illustrated cards.

For those wondering, the original manga is set in Hamamatsu, explaining the reasoning behind the taxis.

It is apparently hoped the taxis will stimulate tourism in the area, not that there is much to see for anime fans in Hamamatsu.

The selection of a niche title (to put it politely) and the relatively obscure location do not seem to offer much guarantee of popularity, although there are only 3 cabs with the special livery.

On the other hand, plastering Akiba taxis with K-ON! characters seems almost sure bet – presumably now only a matter of time.

Some sympathy has been expressed for the chain-smoking middle-aged men who will be expected to drive them…

MADs, nude filters and now a gununu quartet; K-On is rapidly shaping up to be an Internet sensation.

Those of you with no clue as to what a “gununu” is will want to check the gallery for an explanation, or the Channel for many of them.

The latest in the anime adaptation of lolicon mangaka Barasui’s loli moe epic Ichigo Marshmallow (or Ichigo Marshmaro) is finally here; Ichigo Marshmallow Encore 1 is the first of the new (second) OVA series, and it offers mild panchira service (take a look below), a new visual style courtesy of a new production staff, and nopan Matsuri.

The good source.

The radical difference in character designs is striking… Ichigo Marshmallow Okawari? However, fans do not raise significant issues with the content itself.

I can’t help thinking it has strayed far from Barasui’s excellent original designs.

Ichigo Marshmallow Encore 1 is available now.

Volume 2 should be interesting to behold.

I had the good fortune to have a friend show me this video. It is the opening for the upcoming Ichigo Mashimaro Encore OVA.

Like past series it looks innocent enough, save for the last few seconds which display the character Matsuri without panties:

Player 1

Nico

A bit of fanservice, or just the work of some animator with an ecchi sense of humor? It looks a little consistent for an error, though that too is a possibility.

One for the pantsers?

For those curious, the song is entitled Ichigo Splash.

The OVA’s first release is scheduled for January 23th and the second for March 25th. The standard and limited editons for both volumes retail at ￥5,760 with pre-orders currently available at Play-Asia.

A gununu illustration featuring the cast of occasionally maligned anime Hyakko. If you’re familiar with Hyakko, you’ll probably soon realise more effort than usual has gone in to preserving the unique traits of each character than we often see with gununu images, whilst still preserving the essential moe elements of the gununu meme…

If you don’t have a clue about gununu, then to the gallery with you.

We have been furnished with a release date for the first volume of the upcoming new Ichigo Marshmallow 2nd OVA we heard of previously, “Ichigo Marshmallow encore”; it will go on sale on the 23rd of January, 2009.

It’s not clear how many volumes are planned in total, although more than two or three seems unlikely.

Also of note is the impending release of a DVD box set edition of the original TV series, due on the 21st for some ¥12,000. It includes a variety of extras, such as a hopefully saucy illustration disc.

Web and mobile distribution are also planned, both for the new OVA and all the previous titles.

Via Mediaworks.

A comprehensive gallery of ぐぬぬ / Gununu images has fallen into my hands. For those who quite understandably don’t have a clue about this, it is an amusing visual meme which spread from 2ch, with the originating Ana Coppola (of Ichigo Marshmallow) screen above spawning many hundreds of variations with different characters illustrated in the same style and with the same compelling expression (of what exactly I couldn’t say).

I find these inexplicably entertaining, so you’ll have to forgive me for providing such a large gallery. Several hundred are visible below, but with so many it would be remiss of me not to provide a zip of the images as well.

Just about every conceivable character has been gununued, so you can probably find the one you’re after, as well as tax your ability to recognise them.

Nico.

Congratulations on making it this far.

(Requesting an Etna gununu. Even Beako is present, but no Etna?) Update: A kind Anon provided the Etna gununu; it is at the top (not in the zip though). Anymore Disgaea gununu gratefully received…

Also, if you have any details on the meme, or for that matter questions, don’t hesitate to leave a comment… There’s not much information on this around in either English or Japanese that I’m aware of; plenty of Vippers were scratching their heads over it too.

With the recent announcement of a new 苺ましまろ / Ichigo Marshmallow OVA (or Strawberry Marshmallow), now is perhaps as timely a moment as ever to post some fine images of Miu and her playthings. Most of these look to be adaptations of Barasui originals, and most appealing they are too.

Announced at Rondo Robe 2008 are new Ichigo Marshmallow and Ef: A Tale of Memories titles; the all important Ichigo Marshmallow title is set to be an OVA series of indeterminate length (excruciatingly short would be my guess), with no release details as yet, and Ef will be getting a new season, due to start in the autumn (actually leaked yesterday).

I’m afraid this information is so fresh there isn’t even any groundless 2ch speculation with which to pad things out, so I’ll leave it at that. From the site of some no-name magazine, via Moonphase.