A strange piece of anime1 revolving around Fuko Kuzuka, a naive young school girl, her teacher, Hibiki Amawa, and the other residents of both the Seitow Sannomiya boarding school and Hibiki's residence.

The primary storyline is that Hibiki is actually a man, forced to hide his identity as the principle of the school considers all men unsuitable to teach. With the help of Lulu, his landlady (a master of all 'manly' things - electronics, guns, motorcycles and parasails) he masquerades as a woman.

Life is not bliss, however. Hibiki's fellow tenants, Morikoji and Toufukuji are obsessed with Fuko, making dolls and trying to get pictures of her3. Meanwhile, the Principal and Vice-Principal object to Hibiki's progressive attitudes.

As for Hibiki and Fuko, Fuko is uncertain about her relationship with Hibiki. Fuko falls in what she believes is (sexual) love, but I believe that Hibiki is more a substitute parent for her - her father is away, and her mother passed away some years ago. This confusion is entirely possible with a young girl4.

Whilst Animeg3282 suggests that I My Me! Strawberry Eggs doesn't have a focus (see: Anime insights into the mediocre: I Me My Strawberry Eggs), I disagree. Fuko is a confused girl who is very alone, Hibiki is a good friend and parent to her, looking out for her in many different respects. Fuko is growing up in an unhappy world - effectively an orphan, preyed upon by undesirables, unrespected by her peers. Hibiki has a fight on his hands - against his flatmates, against his identity being revealed5, against the female chauvinist pigs of the establishment of the school.

Perhaps the gratuitous panty scene in the first episode is to get the viewer to have a reaction, which can then be measured against the program. Does the viewer cheer her misfortune? Does he oggle at her knickers? Does the viewer feel pity for Fuko? It's a moral programme in these senses - not the rammed-down-your-throat morality of Thundercats and other western animation in Morality Minute, but more subtle messages. Paedophilia isn't fair on the kids - something that'd never be addressed in Western society through any light-hearted medium. With good friends, almost anything is possible. Do what's right by your friends, even if it hurts them in the short run. These are important messages.

1: If anime isn't strange, it isn't worth watching. Discuss.
2: Japanese names have family names written first.
3: What is it about sexual perversions in anime? Sometimes it seems that most anime contains either paedophilia or an unsatiable sexual appetite.
4: Think about hormones and pheromones.
5: The perverts are an important part of this; if his identity is revealed, he'll be thought to be the pervert.