YMMV / Igano Kabamaru

• Ensemble Dark Horse: Kaoru is well-liked even though she's a Satellite Character to Maejiro. This is mainly because she tries to grow out of her Shrinking Violet personality for her crush, Maejiro, and it's adorable.
• Gateway Series: This anime is often cited as a first for Greek viewers during The '70s.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
  • Or more accurately, Greeks Love Igano Kabamaru. It is one of the most popular, fondly remembered shows of all time in Greek history. The terrible dub barely dented how much of a smash hit it would become there. The Greek soundtrack is sampled by other artists, many other Greek TV shows make references to it, and even Greeks that don't watch anime know about it.
  • In many Arabic countries, Igano Kabamaru has a cult-like status, especially Kuwait. This is despite the large amounts of censorship and changes made to be more kid-friendly.
• Memetic Mutation: In the Greek fandom, Kabamaru being a Big Eater is sensationalized to the nth degree, with fans often portraying him with Tartare-like levels of gluttony. One specific still image from the first episode (Kabamaru stuffing two chicken legs in his mouth) is often passed around and posted to justify this (example). Kabamaru's love for yakisoba is also another common meme in the same fanbase.
• Moe: Kaoru is cute, wide-eyed, a Shrinking Violet who's also very pretty.
• Parody Displacement: The manga is actually a spoof of the 1961 manga Iga no Kagemaru by Mitsuteru Yokoyama. The main character's nickname is a pun on it ("Kagemaru", means "absolute shadow", while "Kabamaru" means "hippo's mouth"). However, Kabamaru would become widely popular because of it's anime adaptation that received Germans Love David Hasselhoff status in Greece and many Middle Eastern countries.
• Retroactive Recognition: The main character is voiced by Ryūsei Nakao, and his child self is voiced by Masako Nozawa. Nakao is the Japanese voice of Frieza and Nozawa is the Japanese voice of Goku; Dragon Ball would be released a year later.
• So Bad, It's Good: Even Wikipedia can't resist knocking on the Greek dub.
  It acquired immense popularity in Greece. One main reason for this was the low quality of English-based dubbing often called "so bad that it's actually good", but it nevertheless impacted the growth of anime in the country.
• Values Dissonance: Geronimo the Native American, who brings an axe to the baseball game and is introduced making a Native American war cry. His appearance is also ridiculously stereotypical, with his donut lips and feather headdress.
• Watch It for the Meme: Some Greek fans check out the series to see why it's so beloved amongst elders.
• The Woobie:
  • Mai. She's often exasperated by Igano's shenanigans because she's the Only Sane Woman of the group, though with time she gets the proper respect she deserves.
  • Kaoru has feelings for Maejiro, but he's so hell-bent on overtaking the rival school he doesn't notice. She'll often bend over backwards for him without getting a sliver of recognition.