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Anime Review: Peach Girl Box Set
- By Gretchen Lee
- Published 03/23/2008
- Anime and Manga
- Unrated
Gretchen Lee
Gretchen is an anime junkie who spends far too much time reading manga and searching for that elusive new favorite series. She lives with her cat, and raises tomato trees.
View all articles by Gretchen Lee
Brimming with pink bucketloads of teen angst, Peach Girl is a soap opera in the best sense. It's fun, there's angst and drama, confusion, crossed wires, at least two prospective boyfriends, a very nasty friend, and maybe even a bit of true love.
Peach Girl is like a delicious summer novel read on the beach in the sunshine with the smell of salt in the air. None of it takes a great deal of thought, but the characters are engaging and the story sucks you in.
There are few individuals more cruel and conniving than a jealous teenage girl. Momo Adachi, the new girl in school, has enough going on without having to deal with Sae Kashiwagi's machinations. With bleached hair and tan from long hours in the sun due to her place on the swim team, Momo is not only new, but many assume the worst from her appearance. Momo is outgoing and friendly, a genuinely nice person. The negative connotations associated with her image would be easily dispelled if it weren't for Sae. Saddled with low self-esteem and terrible insecurity, Sae is the first person to extend friendship to Momo. Unfortunately, while she is kind to Momo on the surface, Sae spends most of her time quietly and thoroughly trashing Momo's reputation. Sae wants everything Momo has, from her friendly nature to something as simple as a hair barrette.
Now, buying that cute bag Momo had been eying at the mall is one thing, but it becomes an entirely different matter when Sae learns that Momo has a crush on a certain boy...
Since middle school, Momo has had a crush on shy, honorable Toji. When Sae learns about Momo's affections, she immediately begins plotting to make Toji her boyfriend. Sae is a master manipulator, and manages to convince their entire class Momo is a slut. Left with few options, and a truly hellish freshman experience, Momo develops a friendship with a boy in another class, the sweet but girl-crazy Kairi. Momo still has feelings for Toji, but is drawn to Kairi's kindness and fun-loving nature. When she realizes that she and Kairi have the potential to be more than friends, she is faced with the difficult decision of choosing between them.
I dreaded watching Peach Girl. The packaging alone, with its combination of pink and lavender lettering and cute boys on the front was enough to send me packing in the other direction.
Girly stuff has never been of much interest to me, and this box set had 'girly' written all over it. And it is indeed girly. But in a good way. Kind of like those juicy, pulpy, over-the-top films from the golden age of movies, such as Peyton Place and Valley of the Dolls, this story drew me in with its engaging, likable characters and their tangled lives.
At times it gets a bit frustrating watching the crossed messages and confused emotions. Most of these misunderstandings and the confusion are caused by Sae, whose talent at manipulation is truly impressive. Sae thrives on confusion and chaos, and her motivation for wreaking havoc is unsurprising, but interesting nonetheless. Kairi, who possesses a keen insight into human nature, is one of the few characters that can see Sae for what she is. In many ways, he's her true rival, using his own deviousness to foil her plans. Watching him play with her is very entertaining. Her successes and failures reveal a great deal about her character and why she does the things she does. Even though she always plays second to our heroine, Momo, Sae can be counted on to throw a wrinkle into the story and keep us waiting to see how the new development will be resolved.
In keeping with the girliness, Peach Girl is pretty. Soft colors and attractive character designs make this series very easy on the eyes. Renderings of the sky are particularly lovely, whether it's a depiction of a sunset or angry clouds before a storm.
I was pleasantly surprised by this series. Sure, it's a total soap opera, but its depiction of the trials of high school life and the uncertainties of a first love feel real enough to give the series a considerable amount of credence. The power of rumors in particular, is spot-on. How often has a person's reputation been hurt by untrue stories? Anyone who's been through high school has either had it happen to them, or has seen it happen to someone else. The results aren't pretty, and the series does well capturing the pain and confusion caused by a well-placed rumor. There's plenty of melodrama, and being the non-girly person that I am, some of the angst cracked me up. Drama piled upon drama, and a healthy dose of humor make this series the perfect fix for a pink soap opera craving.
Details: Runtime 600 minutes, contains 25 episodes on 6 dvds. Extras include actor and director commentaries, interviews with the Japanese voice actors, original manga ads, textless songs, and trailers.
Peach Girl is like a delicious summer novel read on the beach in the sunshine with the smell of salt in the air. None of it takes a great deal of thought, but the characters are engaging and the story sucks you in.
There are few individuals more cruel and conniving than a jealous teenage girl. Momo Adachi, the new girl in school, has enough going on without having to deal with Sae Kashiwagi's machinations. With bleached hair and tan from long hours in the sun due to her place on the swim team, Momo is not only new, but many assume the worst from her appearance. Momo is outgoing and friendly, a genuinely nice person. The negative connotations associated with her image would be easily dispelled if it weren't for Sae. Saddled with low self-esteem and terrible insecurity, Sae is the first person to extend friendship to Momo. Unfortunately, while she is kind to Momo on the surface, Sae spends most of her time quietly and thoroughly trashing Momo's reputation. Sae wants everything Momo has, from her friendly nature to something as simple as a hair barrette.
Now, buying that cute bag Momo had been eying at the mall is one thing, but it becomes an entirely different matter when Sae learns that Momo has a crush on a certain boy...
Since middle school, Momo has had a crush on shy, honorable Toji. When Sae learns about Momo's affections, she immediately begins plotting to make Toji her boyfriend. Sae is a master manipulator, and manages to convince their entire class Momo is a slut. Left with few options, and a truly hellish freshman experience, Momo develops a friendship with a boy in another class, the sweet but girl-crazy Kairi. Momo still has feelings for Toji, but is drawn to Kairi's kindness and fun-loving nature. When she realizes that she and Kairi have the potential to be more than friends, she is faced with the difficult decision of choosing between them.
I dreaded watching Peach Girl. The packaging alone, with its combination of pink and lavender lettering and cute boys on the front was enough to send me packing in the other direction.
At times it gets a bit frustrating watching the crossed messages and confused emotions. Most of these misunderstandings and the confusion are caused by Sae, whose talent at manipulation is truly impressive. Sae thrives on confusion and chaos, and her motivation for wreaking havoc is unsurprising, but interesting nonetheless. Kairi, who possesses a keen insight into human nature, is one of the few characters that can see Sae for what she is. In many ways, he's her true rival, using his own deviousness to foil her plans. Watching him play with her is very entertaining. Her successes and failures reveal a great deal about her character and why she does the things she does. Even though she always plays second to our heroine, Momo, Sae can be counted on to throw a wrinkle into the story and keep us waiting to see how the new development will be resolved.
In keeping with the girliness, Peach Girl is pretty. Soft colors and attractive character designs make this series very easy on the eyes. Renderings of the sky are particularly lovely, whether it's a depiction of a sunset or angry clouds before a storm.
I was pleasantly surprised by this series. Sure, it's a total soap opera, but its depiction of the trials of high school life and the uncertainties of a first love feel real enough to give the series a considerable amount of credence. The power of rumors in particular, is spot-on. How often has a person's reputation been hurt by untrue stories? Anyone who's been through high school has either had it happen to them, or has seen it happen to someone else. The results aren't pretty, and the series does well capturing the pain and confusion caused by a well-placed rumor. There's plenty of melodrama, and being the non-girly person that I am, some of the angst cracked me up. Drama piled upon drama, and a healthy dose of humor make this series the perfect fix for a pink soap opera craving.
Details: Runtime 600 minutes, contains 25 episodes on 6 dvds. Extras include actor and director commentaries, interviews with the Japanese voice actors, original manga ads, textless songs, and trailers.