Anime# 18- Marmalade Boy

Introduction[Contains Spoilers!]

First off, I'll tell you the reason this anime is called "Marmalade Boy". One of the main charcters, Yuu, is referred to as a Marmalade Boy by another main character, Miki. The reason Miki calls Yuu "Marmalade Boy" is because she believes that people don't see him for his bitterness, they only see him for his sweetness (bishounen), just like marmalade xD!

Ok. On we go with the summary. Miki's ordinary life is turned upside-down when her parents suddenly announce that they're getting divorced in order to swap partners with a couple they met in Hawaii :\. They seek her approval of the change, telling her that they have arranged a dinner to meet the other couple, as well as their son, who is about Miki's age.

At dinner, the adults share their plans of living all together in one big house. Miki reluctantly gives them permission. The other couple's son, Yuu, turns out to be fun and attractive, and Miki finds herself falling for him. Of course, it doesn't help matters when Yuu kisses Miki while she is pretending to be asleep in the nurse's room at school. Little by little, Miki accepts her new family arrangement.

At school, a long time classmate, and former crush of Miki's, Ginta, becomes jealous of Miki's new 'friend' and decides to try and gain her affections. He kisses Miki unexpectedly, for which he gets slapped. When Ginta later admits to Miki that he has loved her for years, and that his earlier rejection of her was a misunderstanding, Miki struggles between which of the two she wants to be with. Ginta tries to force Miki to choose between himself and Yuu. After a bit of indecision, Miki chooses Yuu. Yuu shares that he was the child of his mother, and some man other than his father. Miki sympathizes with him, and the two become boyfriend and girlfriend.

As the series progresses, Miki becomes very attached to Yuu...So much, that she is jealous whenever she sees another girl with him. It makes matters worse when his old girlfriend, Arimi, will do anything to get Yuu back. However, Miki has no reason to be jealous because Yuu is totally devoted to her.

Meanwhile, Miki's best friend, Meiko, is dealing with her own problems. She is seeing one of the teachers, who is affectionately referred to by the students as "Na-chan". She loves him very much, but dating a teacher is taboo. They get caught, and when they do, Na-chan resigns his position and leaves for Hiroshima. Meiko is depressed, but is encouraged by one of the seniors at school who wants her to write a story, and she does. Turns out she ends up as an acclaimed author. After much hardship, her and Na-chan end up together again ^^.

Miki later gets a part time job in order to help fund a trip with Yuu. As she does this, one of her co-workers, Kei-kun, falls for her, and tries to win her affections. At the same time, a cute model, Suzu, is trying to steal Yuu away from Miki. Yuu and Miki fight briefly, however, the two overcome all obstacles to stay together. As a result, their love for one another grows stronger.

Unexpectedly, Miki discovers that a transfer student from America, Michael, will be living with them for a while. He is attractive, and all the girls chase after him, however, he seems attached to Miki. Yuu suddenly decides to go to America to study architecture as an exchange student. Miki misses him terribly, and on top of that, she is pursued by both Kei-kin, and Michael. Due to a misunderstanding, Miki is led to believe that Yuu is cheating on her. She flies to New York, and the situation only gets worse. She decides that she is too lonely, and has turned into an awful person while having to wait for Yuu, so she breaks up with him.

Back in Japan, Kei-kun and Michael force Miki to choose between them, and she reluctantly starts dating Kei-kun. He treats her well, and she is happy, but she still can't forget Yuu, and feels lonely somehow. Yuu comes back to Japan for summer vacation, and Miki is even more troubled. She cries when Kei-kun is about to kiss her, then tells him she is sorry. She runs off, and makes up with Yuu.

Back together again, their happiness is cut short when Yuu finds evidence that leads him to belive Miki is actually his sister. He breaks up with her, and goes back to New York. Sad, and unable to forget Yuu, Miki goes to New York to confront Yuu, and he tells her that she is his sister, and they can't be together. Upset, Miki runs off and gets lost in Manhattan. She is bullied by a gang, but Yuu shows up and saves her just in time. The two decide that their love is too strong, and that even if they are siblings, they want to be together.

At the airport, the rest of the family shows up because they were worried about Miki. Miki and Yuu confront their parents for not telling them they were siblings in the first place. The adults burst out laughing as they tell the couple that they have mistaken the situation, and that they are not siblings after all. Yuu is really his father's son, not another man's. The two are relieved and happy. Meiko marries Na-chan. They all live happily ever after...

Characters[Contains Spoilers!]

Miki is one of the main characters in Marmalade Boy. She is cheerful, silly, and very energetic. She is also an incredibly loyal friend, and loved by all who meet her (unless they are after Yuu^^). She in turn, also loves everyone, causing problems in her romances. She was the only one who was opposed to the marriage swap in the beginning, but that all changed when she found out who she'd be living with ;). Miki's best friend is Meiko, they share a diary to tell eachother things, when they would not be able to talk otherwise. Another one of Miki's friend is Suou Ginta, and when Miki was in Junior High, she had feeling for Ginta that were more serious than friendship. But, later Miki realizes that Yuu is the only one for her.

When Yuu and Miki first met, he was pretty rude to her, but soon they fell in love. Before the whole remarriage fiasco, Yuu lived with his mother and father. He went to Sakaki Academy along with Arimi and Tsutomu. This is where he met Arimi, and agreed to her plan to go out for three months, and then break up if he /still/ didn't have feelings for her, which he didn't. Unfortunately, she had feelings for him. When he transfered to Touryou Highschool, he didn't join any clubs. Instead, he spent all of his time in the school library, or at his part-time job at Junk Jungle. We later find out the reason Yuu spent so much time in the library. He had discovered that the man he had thought was his father, was not. The man who he thought might be his father, was an architect who had several books published. This man was Satoshi's father. Satoshi saw Yuu reading the book, and started hitting on him (or so we think). This of course, freaked Yuu out. Yuu was also the first one to find out about Meiko's and Namura's (Na-chan) relationship. He saw them in the library together, yet he didn't tell a soul.

Meiko is a kind, serious girl who has been Miki's best friend since Junior High. Although Miki tells Meiko everything, Meiko doesn't confide in Miki completely. Meiko's family is very rich, but her parents have a very bad relationship, and are always fighting. Meiko's unhappy home life is only one of the secrets she keeps from Miki. Meiko is very beautiful, but never goes out with boys her age. Meiko wonders if that's because she has seen her own parents' unhappy life, but she denies that that's the case.

Ginta is very serious at times, and is very hot tempered, but that's what makes him such a good character. He's passionate about everything, including Miki - his love interest since junior high. When Ginta got a letter from Miki saying she loved him, he was really happy, because he really did love her, too. Unfortunately, Miki had put the letter inside a magazine, and that magazine actually belonged to a friend of his. Earlier on, all of the boys in school had made a deal, that since they all liked Miki, none of them would be the first to go out with her. Ginta sadly was not aggresive enough to go against that. Miki didn't know this until Ginta told her only after she had already fallen for Yuu(>.<). When he met Arimi, she came up with a plan. She said she would make Miki jealous and want Ginta more, by going out with each other. Surprisingly, her plan worked, and Miki started to get jealous, seeing as she still had feelings for Ginta. Unfortunately for him, Miki liked Yuu more. When Ginta finally accepted that he couldn't have Miki, he fell in love with Arimi. Tsutomu and Ginta are cousins, and don't get along too well. Tsutomu loves Arimi, yet Ginta gets her :\.

Arimi is a cute, and outgoing girl, who has her own fanclub. She loves to flirt, but isn't picky about a guy's looks, which is why she's so popular. The only boy whom she just can not stand, is Tsutomu (>.<). Arimi fell in love with Yuu when they went to the same Junior High. She later told Miki that she would not give up on him. She is a schemer, and even persuaded Yuu to go out with her once. Obsessed, much?

Miwa Satoshi is the student president of his school. He's in love with Meiko, and will do anything and everything to have her. In the beginning, Yuu believes to be his brother, and thinks that Miwa's father was his father as well. Immediately, a strong and deep friendship is born between the two of these guys. Fortunately, this friendship remains when they both find out that there is no blood connection between the two of them.

Tsutomu is a guy with a very jealous nature (surprise?). He claims to be in love with Arimi ever since he was a young boy. Unfortunately for him, Arimi despises him. He has a very competitive relationship going on with his cousin, Ginta. The fact that Ginta is dating Arimi doesn't help the situation =P. Since Yuu also dated Arimi once, Tsutomu has a grudge against him, too. He has the habit to challenge people, choosing absurd punishments for the loser. He challenged Yuu and Ginta at a time, and claimed that the loser would have to shave all his hair off. Ironic to say that Tsutomu finds himself getting a haircut ...

Not much info on him, but Namura, or Na-chan, is a teacher at Touryou High School. He has a love connection with Meiko, and loves her dearly. Nevertheless, their connection will be, and was obstructed as a result of the age difference between them, and Meiko's parents' reactions. Meiko loves him too much, and escapes the house, simply to live with him, and marry him later on in the series.

Kei-kun is - yet another - guy who falls for Miki. He met her in an ice cream shop, where the both of them worked. Even though he doesn't seem to be much of a problem, he causes quite a lot of ambiguous problems. Yuu sees them, while they embrace eachother, and Suzu believes that Miki is cheating on Yuu. Kei-kun is a capable pianist, but decided to leave his talents. Thanks to the help of Miki, he later goes back to the school, and starts playing again.

Suzu is a very well-known model, and is soon finding herself falling hard for Yuu (*gasp*?). She tries many attempts to get him to notice her, but in the end, it's no use. Her attempts of flirting while he helped her in math, just didn't work. She loves attractive things, and immortalizes it all with a photographic memory. She seeked, and still seeks to seperate Miki and Yuu at any cost.

Anju is the childhood friend of Yuu's. She is a very soft spoken person, and has been in love with him since the 6th grade. A little later in the series, she ends up meeting Miki, and respects her relationship with Yuu. She doesn't want to come between them, and only wants to see Yuu when Miki isn't busy with him. In fact, she tells Miki that she's in love with Yuu, and wants to be second to Miki. Miki is confused by all this, but she really likes Anju, so she gives in to her. Anju has a serious heart condition, and leaves for America to have a life threatening surgery. The surgery is a success, and later on in the series, she bumps into Yuu and Bill. Anju starts to develop a crush on Bill, and they seem like a great couple ^^!

Michael is an American who becomes a transfer student to Touryou High School. He learned to speak fluent Japanese by watching ninja and samurai movies as he grew up. As the series progresses, Michael falls big time for Miki. He is completely oblivious to Miki and Yuu's relationship, until he catches them kissing. All this time, he thought they had the typical step-sibling thing going on (there is no such thing as step-siblings in Japan). Michael becomes really pushy when he gets a call from Brian, his brother, saying that Yuu got a new girlfriend as soon as he went to America. This isn't true, but Brian really believes that it is. Michael is so mad at Yuu for betraying Miki, that he barges into her room and kisses her very soundly on the lips. He apologizes, and tells her why he did it. He also asks her to see him as a man, and not a brother.

Jinny is a girl at Yuu's school in America. It appears she falls in love with him almost instantly. Michael's brother, Brian is in love with Jinny, and is jealous of Yuu immediately. Jinny has told him time and time again that she doesn't want to date him, and that she barely considers him a friend (xO). Jinny is almost like Arimi, in the sense that she's going after Yuu, and won't stop until she gets him. Jinny is a lot more aggressive and forward, more than Arimi ever was. At one point in the series, she breaks Miki's heart, and Yuu isn't there to pick up the pieces. When Bill finds out about this, he gets so mad that he slaps her xO! Eventually, Jinny encourages Yuu to go back to Japan and get Miki back. When Miki comes to Japan for the second time, Jinny is a real friend to her. Jinny ends up dating a very unlikely guy.

Brian Grant is Michael's older brother. He lives in New York, and goes to the same school as Yuu did in New York. Brian has a quick temper, especially when Jinny is concerned. He is in love with Jinny, but the fact that she keeps pushing him away makes him angry. Brian sees Jinny kiss Yuu, and immediately thinks that Yuu is her new boyfriend. He tells Michael, and that causes problems in Japan. When Brian realizes that Yuu is going to remain faithful to Miki, his soft side emerges. He gets along with Yuu and they become pretty good friends. Brian continues to go after Jinny for most of the rest of the season until his eyes are opened to a young lady that he falls in love with.

Bill is Yuu's roomate in New York. If you're wondering, yes, he's a boy. When they first met, Jinny hints that Bill likes guys, and not girls (not true!). This makes Yuu uncomfortable, but he seems genuinely like Bill, so he doesn't let that come between them. Bill is very quiet and sensitive, and him and Yuu become really good friends. Bill is there for Yuu when he goes through problems with Miki, and is even upset that Yuu doesn't confide in him anymore. Bill actually has a secret love for Jinny, and only let her think that he was gay so that he could be close to her. At one point in the series, it looks like he might try a relationship with Anju. They get along great and have similar personalities. They become very good friends.