Peach Girl

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Peach Girl is the kind of story that can make you really hate it, but also still make you want to finish it. The drama is just that ridiculous, absurd, and engaging. This manga has its good points, but also has a lot of bad points, too.

As the plot summary describes, Momo is a girl who seems a bit misunderstood and is constantly targeted by her classmate Sae. All Momo wants is to have a normal high school experience and crush on boys, but jealous Sae is determined to prevent that. Sae is a character that every reader comes to hate, but that is her ... role in this melodramatic manga.

Without Sae, this story wouldn't be what it is. Even though she is infuriating, she was necessary to create the theatric level of drama found in Peach Girl. Truthfully, the drama is what makes this story, as there isn't much character development. As long as you are looking for a dramatic romance and a wild rollercoaster of a plot, you may enjoy Peach Girl.

However, as other reviews have stated, there's a lot of triggering content in this story that is often brushed off (mostly frequent accounts of SA and age gaps). So please be warned before you read.

Besides the drama and crazy events, the romance in this story is actually very sweet. I won't spoil it obviously, but I actually really enjoyed the different romantic moments and how they are portrayed in this story amongst the main characters (not including any age gaps, as I don't enjoy those). Both the suitors in this love triangle are (for the most part) likable in their own way. They each have their own pros and cons to their characters, but in the end their devotion is nice to see.

I also personally love the art style of Peach Girl, but I personally love the style of 90's and 2000's manga, so I could be a bit biased. I think the way their eyes, hair, and mouths are drawn are just so different from how modern manga is now, and I honestly really miss this style. I think it has a special feel to it, and Momo's design definitely stands out from other manga heroines.

To close, I think that readers who enjoy the older manga vibe and art style may like Peach Girl. It definitely has some unlikable elements to it, but the story overall is still pretty entertaining if you enjoy melodrama. It isn't a story I would necessarily recommend to someone who is really new to manga, but it could be a recommendation for readers who may have already seen their share of weird things in manga, haha.

I first saw Peach Girl when I was 13 with one of my cousins and I absolutely loved it. There's a lot of anime/manga I saw/read when I was 13 that I absolutely loved, and after rewatching some of them as an older teen/young adult, I realized how shit some of them are. Given that there's been a bunch of series that I loved as a kid and then reintroduced myself to later in life and hated, I knew the same thing would happen if I ever rewatched the Peach Girl anime. So I didn't rewatch it. I read it. I've been on a nostalgia ... kick recently & I couldn't help myself. And the verdict is: I hated reading it.

Is it the worst thing I've read? No, by no means. Is it exhausting? Very. All the characters are so much more annoying than I remember them being. Especially Momo. I normally really like characters like Momo, and I did at first. But as the manga went on she just became extremely insufferable. As well as Kairi. I remember loving Kairi but jesus christ is he annoying as hell during the last couple volumes. And it's not like it's the last couple chapters no it's the last couple VOLUMES that are so obnoxious and exhausting to read. The story is very much high school drama, but it feels like the mangaka said "hey, let's throw shit on the wall and see what sticks". There's so much bullshit, it's so exhausting.

In case you couldn't tell, I find this manga exhausting

I love cheesy melodrama and I have a huge thing for nostalgia so I can't entirely hate it, but god is it worse than I remember (And I read the sequel manga, it's not any better. If you don't like Peach Girl in itself, you're not gonna like the sequel you can live without reading either.)

TLDR: It's not horrible, but it's not lifechanging

Convenient City of Peach Girl's manga
Extremely small population, anything anyone ever does never goes unnoticed.
Phones constantly run out of batteries and there's never good reception.
People do not know how to talk and they can't explain anything.
Police is basically a modern myth.
Love is RNG and changes with a strong wind.
Rape, pregnancy, alcohol these are normal topics for high schoolers of Peach Girl's city.

The biggest problem is of course the characters, they never explain anything that's going on and ALL of the problems with the manga could be fixed with a few words.

Even though it should be a Shoujo manga, there's nothing ... that makes you feel fluffy or happy inside.