Peach Girl [TV]
Peach Girl: Because True Love is skin deep
What makes you attracted to a person? Is it because of her pretty face? Her sexy curves? Her personality? Or is it her SKIN? A lot of women, especially Asians, including myself prefer having porcelain-white skin. The whiter you are, the more attractive you become. In our world full of superficial and judgmental people, beauty is power and your skin is your ultimate armor.
Peach girl or Peach Girl: Super Pop Love Hurricane is a story of a tough and beautiful girl named Momo Adachi, a dark-skinned high schooler from Yokohama High. Just like any other girl, She deals a lot of teenage issues including her academics, friendships, and matters of the heart. The 25-episode anime started as a manga series written by Miwa Ueda. It’s opening theme song is called Baby Low Tension by Meg Rock ( Hinata Megumi ) and Asunaro Ginga by Sonim as its Ending theme. Peach girl’s first episode premiered on the 8th day of January 2005 and ended on June 25th of the same year.
In 2002, Peach girl had a Taiwanese adaptation called, “Mì táo nuhái” starring Annie Wu, Vanness Wu of F4 and Kenji Wu. It had 13 episodes and was produced by Comic Ritz International Production..
Peach Girl: Sae’s story – Also known as Reverse Peach girl is a sequel to the series. This time, The spotlight is focused on Sae. The former antagonist failed her last year of high school and was forced to take a repeat. In this sequel, it also tackles her relationship with 2 male models and her reunion with an old flame.
The series also has a live action movie starring Kei Inoo, Mackenyu, Mei Nagano and Mizuki Yamamoto as Momo Adachi. The release date is on May 20, 2017 Directed by Koji Shintoku.
The story behind the Title
- The explanation is pretty simple. In Japanese, Momo means “Peach” which also happens to be the given name of the Protagonist, Momo Adachi. And just an additional Trivia, in episode 12, Kairi told Momo the meaning behind Peach Blossoms. It means, “I’m your captive”.
Characters:
Momo Adachi- A not-so-typical high school student from Yokohama High. She has darker skin color compared to the usual Japanese beauty for she used to be a member of a swimming Team. Her hair also seems bleached due to the same reason. Because of these, she was unfairly judged by many people especially by her schoolmates, that’s why she constantly applies sun block on her skin and skip swimming classes so she won’t get darker than her present skin-tone. In Japan, if a girl has a dark skin, she is considered not just a beach lover but also a sexually liberated woman, but in reality she’s a kind-hearted girl who just wants to fall in love. Her dream of being Toji’s girlfriend became a reality by episode 2, after Kairi’s clinginess and provocation, but because of this, it also gave Momo more bashers being the center of a love triangle involving the 2 mentioned guys. Momo has a girly-girl personality who has a flare for style and fashion.
Sae Kashiwagi: The villain of the series. Appearance-wise, she’s the opposite of Momo. She’s popular to boys because she’s petite, has fair complexion and short black hair. A self-centered girl who likes being the most popular one in school. According to Momo, In terms of style, Sae likes to copy everything that’s trendy and although she hates to admit it, those fashionable must-haves look good on her. Despite being popular, She’s jealous and insecure over Momo. She did a lot of terrible things to the former just to get what she wants, like spreading rumors, blackmailing and manipulating others. It’s like she feels genuine happiness when she succeeds in bad-mouthing other people. She got hit by Karma when she truly fell in love to a guy named, Ryo who happens to be Kairi’s brother ( Momo’s second love interest ). She even had an imaginary baby in her tummy she gave herself to the older Okayasu.
Kazuya Toujigamori – Also known as “Toji”, He’s Momo’s long time crush and first boyfriend in the series. A handsome and responsible student who’s also good at sports. He was Momo’s classmate in Middle school for 2 years. According to rumors, He doesn’t like women with dark skin that’s why Momo didn’t confess her feelings for him, which is actually not true. After overhearing Momo and Kairi’s conversation, He revealed his true feelings for the tan-skinned girl. During their revelation of feelings to each other, Toji clarified that he doesn’t mind dating a girl who doesn’t have a fair skin color. But he’s not into girls who go to tanning salons and bleach their hair on purpose, which is not the case with Momo’s present appearance. He’s a quiet and serious type. He’s not very vocal when it comes to his feelings but his actions speak louder than his words. He and Momo became an official couple by episode 2 but broke up in episode 10. Due to Sae’s blackmailing schemes, She and Toji became a couple but it was only short-lived.
Okayasu Kairi- A freshman at Yokohama high. He has the face of a model and very popular to girls which gives him a playboy image. According to Kairi, It wasn’t the first time that the two of them met. He reminded Momo that they shared a kiss 2 years prior to their stay at Yokohama high. The young Kairi got drowned and was saved by the brave heroine. In his version of the story, Momo gave her artificial respiration, but the sad truth according to Momo is that a long- haired life guard was actually the one who performed the procedure instead of her, So technically, he locked lips with a guy. He got himself involved with Momo by having a kissing scandal with her in order to stop the the rumors about them kissing. He was first approached by Sae but the latter got dumped because according to him, Sae is not considerate and doesn’t look healthy (you’re the man, Kairi!). At the beginning, he played the role of the bad guy but in truth, he actually cares for Momo and her happiness. Their friendship blossomed into love in episode 12.
Okayasu Ryo – Kairi’s overachiever older brother. He works in a video game company and the man who Sae fell in love with. BIG TIME. Just like Sae, he’s manipulative, over confident and likes to get everything he wants. He and Nurse Misao used to date when they were in college. In Nurse Misao’s words, Ryo was wonderful and had an amazing spirit. Another thing about Ryo is whenever he’s being attached to a girl, he has this habit of giving them a necklace with a cross pendant. Due to his rotten behavior, he almost got killed by one of his ex-girlfriend’s hired bandits. By the end of the series, it was hinted that maybe he wanted to be more serious when it comes to having relationships and considers having his own family. And believe it or not, it was all because of Sae. To whom, it was a big question mark.
*Good thing they didn’t end up together. ‘coz if they did, The son of Satan is already roaming around in the land of the living.
Misao Aki – Kairi’s former tutor, his brother’s ex-girlfriend, and currently Yokohama High’s school nurse. Kairi used to have feelings for her as well when they were younger. She broke up with Ryo after realizing his true personality. Despite getting a little older and fatter, Kairi couldn’t get over her. Something that made Momo feel insecure again and decided to date Toji for the second time.
Goro Oji – aka Jigoro/Gigolo is a blonde-haired male model who got mesmerized by Sae’s charm. He gave her gifts and spoiled her to her hearts content as if he was under a witch’s spell but Sae only used him to her advantage, not knowing what her real intentions are. He was last seen in episode 10, promoting his upcoming movie in a press-con.
- I really wished he had his revenge against Sae. I mean, with his fame and influence, he can do anything to Sae in just a snap of a finger.
Kairi’s groupies – In every shojo anime, if there’s a handsome heart throb, then expect to have a group of 3 girls bullying the female protagonist. Whether they’re minions of a female antagonist or die-hard fans of one of the leading men. A series definitely won’t be complete without them.
Personal Note:
I watched the anime in 2006. My initial reaction was, “Oh! Looks like Beyonce’s high school life is being aired as an anime series. This is cool!” Anyway, It has some heart-crushing scenes and it made me teary-eyed ( I’m such a softee ). It showed the audience how young love feels like. As I re-watch some of the episodes, It made me laugh because, just like the characters from the series, the young ones before and today are kind of the same when it comes to having relationships. In High school, we think that we’ve already found the love of our lives. We think about our boyfriends or girlfriends every single minute of the day and the things that we may do whenever our hearts get broken. However, what I noticed is that the flow of story involves a lot of lies and manipulative characters. If he didn’t do this or If she didn’t say that, the story could have had a different ending. The good thing is, Momo was able to finally realize who really loves.
Comment about the characters:
Momo: Girl, you’re so vulnerable. Don’t be fooled easily. Get it together! Oh and by the way, good job on slapping Sae in episode 5.
Kairi : Stop being selfish! You like Momo, but you can’t get over Ms. Misao? You made Momo feel like a Mistress!
Toji: I hate that you’re so narrow-minded. And now you’re coming back to Momo? Kairi is right. You blew your chance, man!
Sae: Okay, I have a lot to say about this human CAT-astrophe. First of all, you’re not that pretty! Second, I’m gonna sew your big mouth since everything that comes out from it is crap! Even though you’ve changed in the latter part, what you’ve done is unforgivable. You deserve to be eaten by piranhas. I’m glad you don’t exist in real life because if you do, I swear I’m going to burn you alive just like what the public does to a witch during the old days!
Lessons Learned:
- Trust and open communication are the 2 most important factors in sustaining a long lasting relationship.
- Never listen to hoaxes.
- I can’t believe I’m saying this but everyone has a chance to change for the better. It’s possible even for Sae and Ryo.
- Be comfortable and confident in your own skin.
It’s already the season of sun, sea, and sand here in the Philippines, and this anime is perfect for a summer marathon. Who knows, this may inspire you to go to the beach and find your perfect match. just don’t get drowned or you won’t find him/her.
