Strawberry Dragon Project
The Strawberry Dragon Project is a Review Blog and Troper Work created by IchigoRyu, also known as Spy Hunter 29. It can be read here. On the 4th of March 2012, a companion Video Review Show was launched on YouTube. It can be watched here.
Tropes used by the blog
- Acceptable Targets: His list includes Shrek, Soulja Boy, Pitbull, the city of New York, and The Irate Gamer.
- Not acceptable targets: The Twilight Saga, Justin Bieber, Nickelback, and Avril Lavigne are not acceptable targets for Kevin/Ichigo, mainly because he feels the jokes are played out. Neither are The Phantom Menace and Sonic the Hedgehog 4, as he holds at least some respect for them.
- Adaptation Decay: Discussed Trope In-Universe, citing handheld games inspired by but not direct ports of console games, for example Super Mario Land and the Game Gear version of Sonic the Hedgehog.
- Alternate Character Interpretation: Ichigo sees the subject of "Drops of Jupiter" as a girl who recently returned to her boyfriend after a long vacation but had an affair or two while she was away. However, he did acknowledge the song's intended inspiration, namely singer Pat Monahan's dead mother.
- Appeal to Obscurity: In his review of "Empire State of Mind". Can you name any famous players from the New Jersey Nets, the team Jay Z happens to own? ...Exactly.
- When this was fixed to refer to the New Jersey Nets instead of the New York Knicks, Ichigo expressed his relief that the joke was still valid, as the Knicks had since picked up Jeremy Lin, who had gone on to some stardom.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Described the villain of Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water's acting in the English dub as "equal parts human, menacing, and Jeff Goldblum".
- Some reviews even end in a segment called "Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking", where Ichigo discusses the least offensive yet still notable thing in a work that was awful on the whole.
- Atomic F-Bomb: After describing the end of Sailor Moon Abridged The Movie, only to cut it short.
- Bad Export for You: Ichigo decried the fact that the American release of Demon Sword on the NES had half the content missing from its Japanese counterpart.
- Bait and Switch: The review for Rebecca Black's "Friday" started off by introducing a different song of the same name by Daniel Bedingfield. Bear in mind that this review was posted on April Fools' Day 2011.
- Blofeld Ploy: Praised its use in Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water as an Exploited Trope.
- Brick Joke: One that kills two birds with one brick: In his feature on Back To The Future: Part II, Ichigo makes a reference to the Florida Marlins beating the New York Yankees in the 2003 World Series. Then, at the very end of the feature, he blurts out, "Wait a minute, the Marlins did what!? :)", linking to his review of "Empire State of Mind".
- In the video series, Kevin reads a list of fake newspaper headlines. The first two are "Joseph Kony arrested, sent to International Criminal Court" and "President Bashar al-Assad arrested, sent to International Criminal Court". Then, the second-to-last headline is "Soulja Boy Tell'Em arrested, sent to International Criminal Court".
- Broke the Rating Scale:
- Type 1: Both the long and short form scales can go down to 0% / 0 out of 5, but this is reserved for works that are truly broken and unredeemable. The first work to get 0/5 on the short form scale is the song "Friday" by Rebecca Black. [1] The first work to get 0% on the long-form scale was the PC game Ethnic Cleansing.
- Type 2: The short form assigns 0 to 5 random items out of five. For example, 1 million repetitions of the word "Baby" out of 5 million for "Baby", and 2 planets out of 5 for "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)".
- Catch Phrase:
- "[X] says hi." Often used as a Shout-Out or Take That.
- "[X], I said in sacrasm/sincerity mode."
- After describing something So Cool Its Awesome: "Have fun".
- After describing how something got worse: "Yeah, I just broke you."
- At the end of a review, after having said something profound: "This is IchigoRyu. You are the resistance." Also used in the video series.
- Cerebus Syndrome: In May 2011, Ichigo did two "current events" entries, one on the death of Osama bin Laden, and one on the 21 May rapture prediction. He Lampshaded and apologized for the shift on Twitter.
- Critical Backlash: Ichigo has expressed this In-Universe regarding the Twilight Saga, Justin Bieber, Sonic the Hedgehog 4, and Star Wars Episode I. Technically he genuinely likes Sonic 4 and The Phantom Menace, but the other two... not so much. He's mostly Complaining About Complaining.
- Cue the Flying Pigs: Joked about when discussing Nintendo Entertainment System / Sega Genesis combo consoles.
"Mario and Sonic on one console... In other news, pigs have been spotted flying outside."
- Cultural Translation: Ichigo dicsussed this subject, and ultimately disagreed with it, in the review of Demon Sword.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Ichigo has labeled the pick-up line "Yabba-dabba-doo, [I can] make your bed rock" or any variation thereof, as this, in an example Played for Laughs. It's not forbidden because it might pose danger to the user, but because it's an Incredibly Lame Pun.
- Designated Heroine: Called out Rachel Buchanan from Spy Goddess as one.
- Dethroning Moment of Suck: Treated the ending of Sailor Moon Abridged The Movie as one. The Crowning Music of Awesome getting swapped out for the theme song from Power Rangers Turbo was enough to catapult Ichigo into an Atomic F-Bomb (cut short).
- Did Not Do the Research: Eight months after its original posting, an edit to the review of "Empire State of Mind" corrected the fact that Jay Z co-owns the New Jersey Nets, not the New York Knicks.
- Dragons Up the Yin-Yang: There's a 'dragon' in the title, and the logo is a yin-yang symbol, but other than that, it's a Subverted Trope here.
- Dude, Not Funny: Invoked Trope in response to rappers joking about Hurricane Katrina.
- Eagleland Osmosis: Inverted Trope. Ichigo lives in America, but specifically refers to US dollars as such, and lists dates in the British order (e.g. "1 January" rather than "January 1st"), as well as international English spelling (e.g. "colour" rather than "color").
- Even Evil Has Standards: Despite having numerous less-than-masculine interests, Ichigo still thinks that watching, much less reviewing, Princess Tutu would be too much for him.
- Subverted Trope: He's still a fan of Sailor Moon and has seen at least one episode of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic.
- Follow the Leader: Ichigo admits he was inspired by the That Guy With The Glasses crew.
- Four Point Scale: Averted Trope. The long form scale goes from 0 to 100 percent (in increments of 5%), and to date has gone from 0% (Ethnic Cleansing) to 100% (Calling All Stations). In the review for the latter, Ichigo even discussed the topic before giving it his highest honors.
- He also introduced a short-form scale for smaller works like individual songs. This goes from 0 to 5 random items out of 5.
- Gratuitous Spanish: In the review of "Back In Time", he does this as a Take That against Pitbull, who does this frequently. Specifically, he says, "Pit, su escritura es perezoso", which translates to "Pit, your writing is lazy".
- Gosh Darn It to Heck: Even swears in cited passages are censored. However...
- Got Me Doing It: There were apparently so many "seed" jokes in Sailor Moon Abridged The Movie that he ended up making one himself.
"But the flower monsters make one last stand and the other Scouts, sensing the danger, push Moon out of the way before getting swallowed up by the seed... beasts. I apologize."
- Growing the Beard: Ichigo says this happened to Dance Dance Revolution at 3rdMIX.
- Also inverted literally. A joke from the Spy Goddess manga review refers to a character's beard shrinking as the story goes on.
"I never thought I'd see Growing the Beard in reverse."
- Isn't It Ironic?: Ichigo's biggest problem with Sailor Moon Abridged, and The Movie in particular. Discussing this was a big part of the review, and he even specifically referred to its trope page.
- Lampshade Hanging: All the time. Plus one to This Very Wiki, no less. After bringing up My Friends and Zoidberg while describing Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water ("It's just like Das Boot, but with hot chicks... and Jean."), Ichigo said he would look for any excuse to throw in extra tropes.
- Mad Lib Anime Title: It's got "strawberry" and "dragon" in the title for no particular reason other than Rule of Cool.
- Milestone Celebration: On the 1-year anniversary of the SDP's founding, Ichigo reviewed a song by Train, since he had done another one of their songs for his first review (something he is still not proud of).
- He has also done month- or year-long celebrations of other anniversaries, such as a Nintendo Entertainment System month in October 2010, a Sonic the Hedgehog month in June 2011, and a year-long coverage of James Bond in 2012.
- Misblamed: Ichigo made a point to avoid this regarding "Friday", laying most of his criticism not on Rebecca Black but the song's co-writer/producer, Patrice "Pato" Wilson.
- My Friends and Zoidberg: Described Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water as "just like Das Boot, but with hot chicks... and Jean".
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Invoked when referring to the "Healing space vodka Crystal Prison" from Sailor Moon Abridged. Also said, "Stacking adjectives makes it awesome".
- Note to Self:: Done in the review of "Back In Time", so he could finish the review after having been mind-wiped by the music video.
- Oh My Gods: Ichigo has made references to the Gym Leader Sabrina in this manner.
- Old Shame: Ichigo repeatedly puts down the first review he posted, for "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train. Among the reasons for that was Todd in the Shadows' far better and more comprehensive review, coincidentally posted only a few days later.
- Porting Disaster: Examples include Doom for the Super NES, and 1942 for the NES.
- Precision F-Strike: At the end of the "Decoding the Twilight Saga" editorial, topping off a "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
- Another one in the review for Sailor Moon Abridged The Movie - and a very big one, too - except this one was interrupted partway.
- And another one in the review for Kaleido Star, where Ichigo calls out the main character for her Heroic BSOD moment in season 2. It's a tamer profanity, but it's also Punctuated! For! Emphasis!.
- Running Gag:
- Shout-Out: Whenever Ichigo does one of these, he makes it into a Wikipedia link to drive the point home.
- At one point during the Second Opinion: Star Wars Episode 1 discussion, he "shouted out" "OBJECTION!" in big red text, followed by yet another Lampshade Hanging:
...Sorry, I was imagining this review as an Ace Attorney-style debate.
- Look down. Look up. Where are you? You're in Philly. The town your town could smell like!
- Spiritual Successor: His miniseries "Sticking Points" was announced to be this to "Until We Win", the video series made and discontinued by Lord Kat.
- Take That: To Shinji Ikari, while discussing a song from Calling All Stations.
"[T]here's an interesting dichotomy between the chorus and the verses. In the former, he paints these troubadourian devotions of love, but in the verses, we learn that he's too scared and shy to say them outright. Hm, sounds like the kind of song Shinji would write."
- This example is done differently in the video series, where Ichigo makes the comparison to Scott Pilgrim instead. It is followed up by a clip from the movie where Scott says, "I'm in lesbians with you".
- Two for the price of one: Ichigo lambasts Abridged!Mars for calling a fire attack with "Mars Spinning Bird Kicku!", when the attack looks nothing like the real Spinning Bird Kick, even the one "from that awful movie".
- "Mark Sanford says hi."
- He described the plot of Blast Corps as straight out of a disaster movie, "and not in that phoney-baloney Seltzerberg kind of way"
- Hilarious in Hindsight when you consider the fact that he reviewed that same movie later.
- His review on "Back In Time" contains a number of these directed at Pitbull, each of them Lampshaded by a devil smiley ( >:-) ). This Running Gag was in itself lampshaded.
- Very Special Episode: In May 2011, Ichigo did two "current events" entries, one on the death of Osama bin Laden, and one on the 21 May rapture prediction. He Lampshaded and apologized for the shift on Twitter.
- Waxing Lyrical:
- In the review for Disaster Movie, he quotes "Nuthin' But A G-Thang" by Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg.
"That's right, [actor Gary Johnson's] name ain't nothing but a "G-Thang" baby, with two doped-out writers going crazy."
- In the review for Kaleido Star, he quotes "Lola" by The Kinks.
"Now I'm not the world's most masculine guy, but even I have my limits."
- In the review for "Empire State Of Mind", this is a Subverted Trope:
"I forgot my lines. ... 'That's it, I'm taking this review into maximum overdrive'? I'm not writing that!"
- Word Salad Title: Ichigo claimed it was inspired by Shojo and Shonen manga titles.
Tropes used by the video series
- Acting for Two: Kevin plays himself and the voice of Ichigo.
- Anvil on Head: In Episode 7, Kevin uses a remote clicker to drop an arcade cabinet onto a copy of Mortal Kombat.
- Artistic Licence - Geography: The post-climax scene of The Master of Disguise, covered in Episode 11, is set in Costa Rica, but a flag of the Bahamas can be spotted in one scene. This is pointed out in the review.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Kevin and Ichigo do this in the title card to Episode 6, with baseball bats drawn like swords, and staring down a mob of faceless New York Yankees fans.
- Big "Shut Up!": Kevin does this in Episode 11 to cut off Pistachio Disguisey's repeated chanting of "I'm going to be a master of disguise!".
- Brand X: The flashback in Episode 12 is set in "A Video Store", which is overstocked with copies of "Generic Nintendo 64 Game", and young Kevin's choice of rental was inspired by reading "A Nintendo Magazine".
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick:
- A list of changes Justin Bieber has gone through since turning eighteen:
Kevin: He's cut his hair, his voice has dropped...
Ichigo: ...and he's old enough to purchase Hentai.
- In Episode 7, a montage comparing moves from the Sailor Moon S Fighting Game to others from Street Fighter II ends with an example from Mortal Kombat instead. Lampshade Hanging:
Kevin: ...The heck? I thought this was a Street Fighter montage! [looks at Mortal Kombat Super NES cartridge] Get outta here! [clicks remote control, dropping an arcade cabinet on the game]
- Brick Joke: Episode 10 uses a clip from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (the one where Scott says to Ramona, "I'm in lesbians with you"). The follow-up to that line ("I said 'lesbians'") is then used as The Stinger.
- Button Mashing: Episode 5 features a montage of Kevin playing the Super NES port of Doom in this manner, using various controllers not compatible with the Super NES, including a toy gun that's not even a controller. As this episode was a Parody of The Irate Gamer, this was intentional.
- By "No" I Mean "Yes":
- Episode 7: "Even if I had to hide it from my friends. And by friends I mean parents."
- Episode 14: "Trust me, I know from experience. And by experience I mean I've listened to 'Bedrock'."
- Call Back: Since it was uploaded on April Fools' Day, in Episode 5 Kevin made a reference to the review of "Friday", which he wrote on his blog the same time a year ago.
- Caption Humour: Used occasionally, such as in Episodes 3 and 4.
- Catch Phrase: Each episode opens with "Hi, welcome to the SDP" and ends with "This is Kevin, with Ichigo, and you are the resistance".
- Chekhov's Gun: The Naruto headband Kevin puts on in Episode 12 protects him from a shuriken being thrown at his head in Episode 13.
- Comically Missing the Point: In episode 12, Kevin witnesses a power-up move and wonders where he's seen it before. Ichigo offers to help by playing a Super Saiyan transformation scene from Dragonball Z, only for Kevin to blurt out, "Super Sonic, that's it!" Lampshaded with a Face Palm from Ichigo.
- Content Warnings: Episode 5 starts with one of these, since it contains footage of the M-rated Doom.
- Cosplay: Ichigo has done some generic cosplays in some of the title cards, such as a Vocaloid and a Sailor Scout.
- Crazy Prepared: At the start of Episode 12, Kevin puts on a Leaf Village headband as protection from ninjas. It pays off in the next episode.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Kevin sentences and executes Pitbull for the crime of... lyrical atrocities.
- Don't Explain the Joke: In Episode 6, Kevin starts to explain the line "If Jeezy's paying LeBron, I'm paying Dwayne Wade" from "Empire State of Mind", only to trail off and Lampshade this trope.
- DVD Commentary: Some of the episodes on YouTube use annotations for commentary.
- Faceless Goons: Kevin and Ichigo stare down a mob of faceless New York Yankees fans in the title card for Episode 6.
- Genius Bonus:
- In Episode 5, there is a shot of Kevin plugging a Super NES Game Pak into a Retro Duo console, and turning on the power. Look closely - he flips the power switch in the wrong direction, to run a Nintendo Entertainment System game instead. As this episode was a Parody of The Irate Gamer, this was intentional.
- In Episode 9, the title card shows Ichigo casting a spell, with a Nintendo 64 button sequence appearing in a speech bubble. In Quest 64, the subject of the review, this code is used for the Avalanche spell, one of the best offensive spells in the game.
- Hypocritical Humour: Two examples in the Parody of The Irate Gamer in Episode 5.
- In one scene he comments on how the Super NES port of Doom was sold in a red-coloured cartridge and says how that's never been done before. Behind him are other multi-coloured games, including multiple The Legend of Zelda and Pokémon titles.
- In another scene, he criticises the game for not having a save function and adds "games without save functions suck hard". Behind him are some well-received games which lack these features, including Super Mario Bros., Tetris, and Star Fox.
- I Do Not Own: The end credits list all outside media with the disclaimer: "The following works are used under fair use guidelines for critical purposes (and free advertising!). Please support the official release."
- In a World: Kevin does a plot summary of Milon's Secret Castle in this style early on in Episode 4.
- Indecisive Parody: In the commentary for Episode 5, Kevin admits that his parody of The Irate Gamer was this, according to his beliefs.
- In the Style Of: Episode 5 is done in the style of The Irate Gamer, as it was uploaded on April Fools' Day.
- It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY": In Episode 4, Kevin briefly gets distracted figuring out how to pronounce "Milon" from Milon's Secret Castle.
Kevin: His name... was Milon. Am I saying that right? My-lon? Me-lon? Milan? Mulan?
Ichigo: Well, in Japanese, it's Mi-lo-n.
- Even Heroes Have Heroes: Kevin. The horrible sad truth is... he freakin' loves Phil Collins!
- Large Ham / Motor Mouth: Kevin slips into both of these tropes combined sometimes.
- Literal-Minded: Kevin
- In Episode 10, while discussing the line "send me to the Congo", he wonders if it could be talking about either the Republic of Congo or Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- In Episode 11, he says the euphemism "playing the trumpet with [one's] bowels", then decides to use a literal trumpet blast as a Sound Effect Bleep. Hilarity Ensues.
- Lost Episode: A cancelled Pilot, discussing the cancellation of Megaman Legends 3, was filmed in October 2011 and uploaded as a lost episode on 29 April 2012.
- Male Gaze: The Cold Open of Episode 3 has a slow pan-up Fan Service shot of Nadia, the star of the episode's subject. Parodied when Ichigo, being a Invisible to Gaydar, asks if he can pretend it's a guy - and then he says to himself, "Oh great, now he's a transvestite".
- Match Cut: A lyrical example appears in the annyoing hook montage in Episode 2. If you listen carefully, the lyrics to all four of the samples lead into one another.
- Milking the Giant Cow: Kevin has a tendency to do this when he goes into Large Ham mode.
- Mistaken for Racist: Ichigo mistakes Kevin for "gay-cist" in Episode 8, whilst discussing a That One Boss from Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
Ichigo: So, if I touch balls, I die?
Kevin: Well, yeah.
Ichigo: [[[Beat]]] Gay hater.
Kevin: What? No, were you even listening!?
- Most Annoying Sound:
- Noodle Incident:
- The time when Kevin allegedly drunk-dialed the Goddess Technical Help Line and forgot to hang up, thus bringing Ichigo into existance.
- Ichigo's demo tape.
- The Peeping Tom: Kevin, in the title card from Episode 3, sneaks a peek at Nadia tugging at her top in a hot room, echoing a scene from the series.
- Perma-Stubble: Kevin, both in real life and in the title cards, to distinguish himself from the clean-shaven Ichigo.
- Phrase Catcher: In Episode 11, Kevin starts using the Catch Phrase "Because... funny?". The third time around, Ichigo says it instead. Lampshaded by a clip from the movie.
- Rated "G" for Gangsta / So My Kids Can Watch: These tropes were discussed in Episode 2. While Kevin saw Ludacris's teaming up with Justin Bieber as an embarrassing decision, he's not opposed to the concept in principle.
Kevin: But who says [Ludacris] can't do kid-friendly work if he wants to? I mean, I never had a problem with George Carlin on Thomas the Tank Engine!
Ichigo: That's because you never heard of George Carlin before Thomas the Tank Engine.
Kevin: [[[Face Palm]]] I need to check out more things.
- Record Needle Scratch: Used in the trailer and in Episode 7.
- Shout-Out:
- The name of his production company, Strawberry Dragon Project Productions (typo), is a reference to a gag from The Simpsons.
- In the trailer, Ichigo came into being when Kevin drunk-dialed the Goddess Technical Help Line and forgot to hang up.
- In the title card for the review of "Baby", Ichigo is shown singing in a Vocaloid-inspired costume.
- Twice in the episode, Naruto's "Believe it!" Catch Phrase is used in response to lines from the song.
- This clip makes a return appearance in Episode 13.
- In response to a bit of female Fan Service in Episode 3, Ichigo asks, "Can I pretend it's a guy?".
- Two of the subtitles from Episode 3:
- In Episode 4, he mis-pronounces Milon's name as Mulan.
- Kevin's rant from the lost episode is adapted from the "dirty fork" sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus.
- Another one from the lost episode, from Megaman Legends 2: "We may be protesters, but we're not barbarians. [Capcom] can keep the toilet paper." Lampshaded by a follow-up caption: "(You'd get that joke if you played Legends 2)".
- At the start of Episode 12, Kevin puts on a Leaf Village headband as protection from ninjas.
- The Nintendo magazine from the flashback references a Memetic Mutation gag with a cover story about an interview with Xzibit, and the tagline "Yo dawg, I heard you like flashbacks...".
- Sound Effect Bleep: The video series uses the ring pickup sound from Sonic the Hedgehog.
- Invoked in Episode 11. Kevin suggests using trumpet notes to cover up the sound of flatulence, and does so.
- Special Effect Failure: In Episode 5, the Super NES cartridge of Doom is destroyed by the BFG... as in a poorly-cut out image of the gun from the game firing a lazily-animated energy ball. In addition, you can see a string taped to the game, which was pulled to create the effect, and in the shot beforehand, Kevin shows a gun which is not the BFG[2]. As this episode was a Parody of The Irate Gamer, this was intentional.
- Invisible to Gaydar: Ichigo in the video series. He was created to be exactly like Kevin, except for three traits: Japanese, homosexual, and animated.
- The Stinger:
- Episode 10 uses one as the punchline for a Brick Joke.
- Episode 14, due to Pitbull's Unexplained Recovery.
- Stock Scream: Episode 13 uses the Wilhelm Scream, when Kevin cuts up an offscreen ninja.
- Suspiciously Similar Song: Invoked in Episode 12, where Kevin points out how one of the tracks from Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon sounds like "Electric Eye" by Judas Priest. Which makes it Crowning Music of Awesome in his book.
- Take That: A fake headline from Episode 5: "Soulja Boy Tell'Em arrested, sent to International Criminal Court".
- Tempting Fate: In the video for "Baby", Kevin gave four hypothetical situations involving Snoop Dogg... and three of them already happened.
- 1) Snoop Dogg leading an army of gummi bears in a Katy Perry video. "California Gurls"
- 2) Snoop Dogg doing a collab with a boy band from a kids' TV show. "Boyfriend" by Big Time Rush
- 3) Snoop Dogg doing a collab with a South Korean girls' group. "The Boys" by Girls' Generation
- 4) Snoop Dogg doing a collab with Phil Collins. Has not happened... yet.
- That's What She Said: Used in Episode 4, on a quote[3] by the shopkeeper from Milon's Secret Castle
- This Is Unforgivable!: How Ichigo reacts to the hypothetical line "Blowing up like Fukushima".
- Time for Plan B: Said verbatim in The Stinger for Episode 14.
- Unexplained Recovery: In The Stinger for Episode 14, Pitbull apparently survived the fire pit, leading Kevin to go with plan B and drown him with Voli vodka.
- Vanity Plate: Features the letters "SDPPP", an acronym for "Strawberry Dragon Projcet Productions (typo)", appearing in a circle, accompanied by four dings and a duck's quack.
- Weapon of Choice: Kevin's is a toy AK-47.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Ichigo, crossplaying as a Sailor Scout in the title card of Episode 7.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Ichigo, crossplaying as a Sailor Scout in the title card of Episode 7.
This is Kevin, with Ichigo, and you are the resistance.