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Marmalade Boy (ママレード・ボーイ) is a manga created by Wataru Yoshizumi and serialized in Ribon magazine. It has later been edited under 8 volumes. A 76 episode anime was aired in the mid-1990s on Japanese television. There was also a short animated movie (only slightly longer than a normal episode) in 1995, which was a sort of prequel to the series. The manga is published in English by TOKYOPOP which has now begun releasing the anime as well.

The storyline revolves around Miki Koishikawa (小石川光希 Koishikawa Miki), a high-school girl whose parents go on vacation, meet another couple, and decide to swap partners. As Miki does not want to be separated from either parent, the two newly-formed couples decide to live together in the same house, despite Miki's objections to the new plan. The situation becomes even more complicated with the addition of her new (double) step-brother Yuu Matsuura (松浦遊 Matsuura Yū). She is initially attracted to him, but is put off by his indifferent and somewhat cold attitude to the developing situation. Nevertheless, a love triangle develops between Miki, Yuu, and her old flame and childhood friend Ginta Suou (須王銀太 Suō Ginta). It becomes a love rectangle with the inclusion of Arimi Suzuki (鈴木亜梨実 Suzuki Arimi), Yuu's ex-girlfriend. Arimi devises a plan to pose as Ginta's new girlfriend to make the new couple jealous, but they eventually develop real feelings for each other. Even after Yuu and Miki exclusively begin dating (which itself is a situation wrought with complications), new obstacles pop up, in the form of Yuu studying architecture in New York City and stumbling onto the possibility that he and Miki are, in fact, biological siblings.

Meanwhile, Miki's best friend Meiko Akuzuki (秋月茗子 Akizuki Meiko) has a romantic relationship with Shinichi Namura (名村慎一 Namura Shin'ichi), the homeroom teacher for Miki, Yuu, Meiko, and Ginta's class, who is affectionately referred to as "Na-chan" by his students. A similar love rectangle is set up involving Miwa (Yuu's friend, who pursues Meiko) and Ryouko Momoi (桃井亮子 Momoi Ryōko) (another teacher with a crush on Namura.) Relationships get more complicated as other characters (Tsutomu Rokutanda (六反田務 Rokutanda Tsutomu), Suzu Sakuma (佐久間すず Sakuma Suzu), Kei Tsuchiya (土屋蛍 Tsuchiya Kei), Anju Kitahara (北原杏樹 Kitahara Anju), Yayoi Takese(高瀨彌生Takese Yayoi), Michael (マイケル), and subsequently Jinny (ジニー), Bill, Doris (ドリス), and Brian (ブライアン)) are introduced, resulting in what anime fans call "the love dodecahedron" because of its ridiculous complexity. The manga is slightly less complex, since Anju, Ryouko, Yayoi and the American characters are introduced only in the anime.

Wataru Yoshizumi has herself joked about how many relationships there were in the anime compared to the manga. Another thing she disliked was how most of the characters were coupled up in the anime whereas in the manga not everyone had a happy ending and some characters were left single which she has stated is more realistic.

Because of the female lead, the emphasis on the multitude of relationships, and the sometimes soap opera-like levels of melodrama, Marmalade Boy is sometimes offered as a defining example of shōjo. Some viewers feel that Miki is an unsympathetic character, and label her indecisive or a "whiner," while others are attracted to the complexity of the emotions portrayed.

The title refers to a simile Miki uses early in the series to describe Yuu: she calls him a "marmalade boy" because he has both a bitter side and a sweet side, but his appearance fools people into overlooking that. Yuu retaliates by describing Miki as a "mustard girl," who is "very hot and spicy." The lyrics of the opening theme song play off Miki's simile, equating love with the bittersweet taste of marmalade on burnt toast.

A Super Famicom game based on the anime was released in Japan in 1995. In the game you play the role of Miki trying to win the heart of one of the three major male characters in the series (Yuu, Ginta and Kei). This game has been highly criticised has being a poor imitation copy of the famous Tokimeki Memorial series by Konami.

External links

• Online Marmalade Boy Encyclopedia — information on the anime, manga, CDs, and related material
• Heart's Melody — information about Miki and Yuu's relationship

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