Ranked #1028

Peach Girl

this review is based on:
25 episodes of the anime seen
Episodes 1-15 of the English dub
& Episodes 15-25 of Japanese w/ English Subtitles
This review contains mild spoilers to refer back to, so be careful!
Please keep in mind this review is meant for people who have seen the anime.

My notes & Opinion on this anime
[This portion is meant for people who don't want to read the whole review.]

If you're into high school comedy romance, Peach Girl should be on your "plan to watch" list. But this anime is one of those love it or hate it anime. You either REALLY love the drama that goes on, the characters, and the conflicts. Or you seriously hate how unrealistic, annoying, and overly dramatic it can be.

This anime was EXTREMELY hard for me to score because there are times when I thought this anime was very poorly written, unrealistic, and had annoying characters. But other times, it completely turns around and I end up loving the anime! There are MANY elements in this anime that make it both strong, and weak. I predicted I'd hate this anime, but I ended up becoming addicted to Peach Girl. This isn't the most amazing anime I've seen, but it caught me and left me in tears. That's why I give this anime an 8

Story

The Good: There are a lot of love triangles going on in this anime. Momo x Touji, Toji x Sae, Momo x Kairi, Kairi x Misao, etc...
When the anime is focusing on Momo and the two guys she's chasing after, Touji and Kairi, this anime is very nicely done. I love how the author was able to illustate Momo and her feelings between these two guys, and how these guys feel for her.

The Bad: Ok... there are a LOT of points where the situations in this anime have been dragged out so much that it starts to become unrealistic. There are too many plot twists, and the anime tends to repeat the same story over and over. The author is trying to create these complicated situations that end up making no sense, and it's just over the top. Momo, the main character, keeps going back and forth between boys, to the point where you can't connect with the characters that well. The word "I love you" is VERY overused in this anime, along with kissing.
This is probably something that'd make watchers drop the anime after the first 10 or so episodes, but if you keep watching, the anime starts to get better. A little.


Art

I just want to say one thing to the animators: Just because it looked good in the manga, does NOT mean it'll look good in the anime. The art style of this anime was kind of hard to look at. Especially their lips, solid shading, etc... I have to admit that the original manga art is a lot nicer to look at. But the anime killed the art. I would have gotten into the anime more if the animation didn't look so choppy. The art in the anime is defiantly one of the weak points, but for me it was bearable.

Sound

The music is very recognizable for one thing. It's not bad but what i sort of hated was how the BGM used the same tracks over and over. i mean, they play the EXACT same song everytime the characters go to school, wake up, or take a walk. And then the SAME song always plays when a break up occurs. It gets quite repetitive.
The opening and ending theme song are nice. I also heard the english version of the OP and ED and thought it was much better than the japanese one. I don't think you can find it anywhere on the internet sadly...

Character

Ok. This is defiantly the author's strongest, and weakest point. There are some characters that I absolutly hate, and some that I absolutly love.
For example, Kashiwagi Sae: Momo's enemy. I'm sorry but, the way she thinks is so overly inhumane and b*tchy to the point where she tears apart the whole anime and makes it unrealistic. She tries to lie to Momo's boyfriend so she can have him all to herself, but her lies are not very well thought out and the other characters are too naive. Every time I see her, I feel like I hate the anime even more and more. I mean, there are characters that interfere with the main character but Sae is just... a female version of Makoto from School Days. But worse.

On the plus side, there's Okayasu Kairi. He's probably one of the most unique and lovable characters I have ever seen in anime. One of those characters you wish you could meet in real life because his personality is just so carefree, lively, and hilarious. He puts a smile on my face and turns the whole anime around! Kairi is defiantly one of those well built characters that makes you love Peach Girl more and more!

There are other characters who seem to be a bit... useless and unnecessary. The ones who are "important", but the anime could still be told with out them. From Jigoro to Morika, I found no real point of having them in the anime.
As for the main character, Momo, i honestly found nothing special about her, but she's not someone to hate. In a way, I don't see what it is about her personality that makes Kairi and Touji go head over heals for her, but the way the author illustrates it makes you able to connect with these characters.

Dub vs Original
If you ask me, I see no difference. The only thing that was kinda weird was transitioning voices. In the english dub, Momo sounds like a strong and loud character, but in Japanese she sounds really soft and shy. It kind of affect her personality and the way I thought about her. I like Kairi's voice in the English version more than the Japanese version.

Ending Statements
I did cry at many points in this anime, but I still thought it was OK. It's one of those anime that are addictive, but not exactly overly amazing. In a way, I feel like the author is sharing part of what happened in their life within this anime. I didn't end up hating this anime, but this should go on my top 30 anime list. Give this anime a try :D read more

Peach Girl is a high school love triangle (square?) story that probably wouldn't surprise most people. It's enjoyable enough if you like the genre anyway, so I'd suggest it to people who like this sort of thing but I wouldn't say you'd have to rush out to get your hands on it.

I kept on being reminded of Bokura Ga Ita as I watched this. They're similar type stories in a way; especially in the main conflict of the heroine and the two men in her life (and also some plot points, frankly). I think the overall quality of Bokura Ga Ita was better than Peach Girl, but I thought that the heroine in Peach Girl, Momo-chan, was a lot more likeable than Nana (she *reallly* annoyed me in the second half of BGI).

Story:
The first thing that comes to mind is that the pacing of the story is a little odd in my opinion. Sometimes it feels like all this time passes by in a blink of an eye and sometimes it's just plain slow. Aside from that, you've got a pretty sweet -- if convoluted -- story about love, indecision, strength and trust. And what it means to be in a relationship with someone else and how and why we choose the people we do. Sometimes things get over the top, but that's more of a character issue (see below).

Art:
The art is generally nice. The two men in Momo's life, Touji and Kairi, made me think of Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge -- I think because of the heavily-lashed eyes. It's also slightly reminiscent of YNSH in the frequent use of SD versions of the characters.

Sound:
Kairi's voiced by Kenichi Suzumura. I LOVE him. All the actors of the main four characters do a good job, but... Suzumura is tops. =) Saeko Chiba also deserves props for doing a good job of making a character who could have been overly mewling and annoying into a likeable person, despite all the tears.

Characters:
I thought they did a nice job of making the conflict here. You can see where Momo comes from and you can see why Touji and Kairi are both so compelling and appealling to her. I was definitely rooting for one over the other, but that's probably more about my own taste. ;) The character I probably had the most problem with was Sae -- I mean, we're not supposed to like her anyway, but it might have been nice to have a better idea why she was the way she was... especially since she was SO over the top and extreme as a character. I didn't like her AT ALL, which made her hard to watch -- if there was something -- anything -- that made me at least sympathize with her, it would have been more interesting, I think. At the same time, a critical viewer could say that all of the characters are somewhat... shallow and under-developed compared to the very best of the romance/slice-of-life type dramas like Honey & Clover. They just are... and there's not much explanation why outside of Momo.

Overall:
I liked it, it was okay. I think the parts I liked made up for the parts that I thought were a little lacking overall. I liked Kairi's character and it kept me interested for the most part. If you're looking for a sweet romance and you've worked your way through the great ones already, this is nice. If you're looking for something really fantastic and haven't seen much, I'd go through Honey & Clover, Nodame Cantabile, Nana, Ouran High School Host Club, and Lovely Complex first, at the very least. read more