Strawberry Marshmallow/WMG

Ichigo Mashimaro is a genderswapped, alternate universe of South Park.

Think about it. While whatever town IM takes place in isn't as crazy as South Park, the interactions between the characters are similar. Just ignore the fact that they're all girls and are different ages.

Miu = Cartman
- Both are rude and obnoxious assholes.
- Both think highly of themselves.
- Both are horrible to the other characters.

Chika = Stan
- Both are the "generic" one.
- Both are considered the "main" character.
- Both have the most common sense out of the main cast.

Matsuri = Butters
- Both are innocent.
- Both are shy and insecure.
- Both are the "cute" one.

Nobue = Kenny
- Both are poor.
- Kenny will probably end up smoking.
- Uh.

Ana = Kyle
- Both are the "odd one out" (Brit/Jew).
- Both are constantly picked on by Miu/Cartman.
- Both are shown to have strict mothers (well, somewhat in Ana's case as we only see her once).
In the manga, Miu says that her favorite movie is South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut.

Ana and her family are victims of brainwashing.

How else would you explain that they act so stereotypically Japanese even when there are no others present? Alternatively, they are Japanese people that were subjected to nefarious genetic tampering to make them resemble gaijin. Whoever did it did not do proper research, therefore they look stereotypically blonde and blue-eyed, and are brainwashed into believing they are British people with un-British names who have adopted Japanese customs.

This tropes is pretty sure her name is "Annah/Anna" and her parents switched to "Ana" after moving to Japan to make it easier for her (and it was a pretty bad choice of a name). Then again, it seems like Barasui just chose nationality at random and he liked Coppola's movies.
"Ana" is a perfectly normal name. Just look at the number of people listed on Wikipedia with that name.

Nobue takes money from dirty old men with schoolgirl fetishes.

In the anime, the official story is that she is twenty but looks sixteen. Yet we see her wearing a typical sailor suit school uniform in eyecatches. Since she is no longer in school, the most likely reason for doing this is to cater to someone's fetish. She does not have a boyfriend to please, and given that she is constantly hard up for money, it is likely she would dress up in order to earn money by "playing schoolgirl". For that matter, maybe her smoking habit is actually an euphemism for abuse of harder stuff, which would explain her money needs.

In the manga, she is 16. Anime put her as 20 because teenagers smoking would be quite heavy for broadcasting.
Though that does not make it impossible - she almost borders on delinquency when she is home so it is possible that she does something like this, although rather unlikely considering her constant shortage of spending money.

Miu's parents are never home

We're not talking outright neglect here, but they both work full time and they've just fallen into the trap of working longer hours to ensure they can look after their daughter only to become distant through lack of time spent together. Miu is at Chika's house so often because she and Nobu are more like family than her parents to her, this also explains why she acts out, the classic negative attention is more desirable than no attention at all. We can also explain Miu's improbably large costume wardrobe in this way, an attempt by her parents to ensure she is happy while they can't be there for her.

Actually, this is quite common in Japanese middle-high class, so, no great deal here.
In the manga, her mother is "heard" calling her down for the morning's miso soup, and later telling her to stop filming it and eat it. So maybe breakfast is the only time they have together?

Ichigo Mashimaro would be the Show Within a Show of Neon Genesis Evangelion, according to the respective page's theory

If their favorite animes are about real life, and everybody's lives are screwed anough, they might find something with that Lolicon appeal at least endearing and Nobue is the nearest from the identificative character to themselves, thus, making Ichigo Mashimaro their favorite series of they all. Let's hope Barasui doesn't read it.

Sometime before Ch. 45, the Duke of Nuts rampaged through Hamamatsu.

This caused a severe regionwide pudding shortage, and since Chika too suffers from a pudding deficiency, pudding quickly became Serious Business.

I'm thinking it has more to do with money than anything. In chapter 47, Miu remarks that the pudding is expensive, and Chika is torn for a while before finally deciding to buy it. That particular pudding cost 340 yen (US$4.37), and I doubt the other flavors of pudding are very much cheaper. Besides, there's Nobue's smoking habit to consider. Considering how much Nobue smokes, her habit should cost quite a hefty sum, and remember that she does "extort" money from Chika to feed her smoking habit when she doesn't have enough money left.

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