Japanese Title: Peach Girl

 

Similar: We Were There

Nana

Boys Over Flowers

Marmalade Boy

Vampire Knight

 

Watched in: Japanese & English

Genre: High School Romance Drama

Length: 25 episodes

 

Positives:

• Drama so bad it’s hilarious.

Negatives:

• Relationship conflict repeats unto eternity.
• Poor art.
• Stupidest characters imaginable.
• I literally can’t even. (I’m sorry)

(Request an anime for review here.)

When I received the request to review Peach Girl, it sounded familiar, as if I had already seen it. Then I searched to add it to my list and it was already on there! But I can’t remember seeing it! What is this sorcery!? I remember everything I have ever watched, needing a minor prompt at most. This was driving me mad! I think I had confused it with another anime I hadn’t actually seen and swapped the titles (perhaps Boys Over Flowers). Right, enough about my insanity – on with the review.

Peach Girl is one of the worst drama anime I have ever seen (twice, apparently) and therefore, also one of the best. Well, best is a stretch – enjoyable sounds right. The high school melodrama is so vapid, so spastic it enters the realm of ‘so bad it’s good.’

We follow high school girl Momo and her bimbo love for handsome Toji. She’s heard he only likes pale girls, yet she’s as tanned as leather with hair bleached orange from her time on the swim team. I’m looking at Asian Olympian swimmers – still black-haired and pale, but let’s go with it. Everyone thinks she’s a beach slut because of her looks. As she works to become Toji’s ideal girl, her best “friend” Sae goes behind her back, as she always does, to sabotage and steal him away. On top of this, another boy, Kairi, is in love with Momo.

The ridiculousness starts early thanks to Sae. She’s an absolute bully with no morals or boundaries in her conniving. It makes no sense that Momo would be friends with her. Momo believes every lie Sae tells about Toji that I was yelling at the screen about how stupid she is. Then again, he’s just as stupid believing everything that comes out of Sae’s mouth, so I guess they deserve each other. Threatening to jump out the window in the name of love makes everything better in the world of Peach Girl.

None of the teen melodrama is realistic. Yes, teens can be mean, especially girls fighting over the same guy, but Peach Girl is ridiculous. Rumour spreads around school that Momo kissed a guy (Kairi) and now everyone ostracises her. What high school is this? One from Victorian times? This creates a pattern: Sae lies, Momo is in trouble, everyone hates her, she recovers a little, Sae lies again, and repeat. I want to punch every character – but Sae in particular.

Kairi is the only non-idiotic character sniffing out Sae’s schemes, despite his role as master of goofs and gaffs. He’s the clingy type for comedic effect.

After the first arc of Momo likes Toji, Kairi likes Momo, Sae wants Toji, and stupidity all around, Momo and Toji end up together. Spoiler? Fear not, for Peach Girl resets everything through a contrived plot involving blackmail, a male supermodel called Jigoro (subtle), and self-sabotage that puts The Bold & the Beautiful to shame. Characters change on a pen drop into new people when convenient. It does this after each arc like a soap opera to keep the drama going. Just when things start working out, they must break it again.

Due to this, the first six episodes are enough to get the picture. Peach Girl feels like a soap opera written by a tween guessing what all the popular kids get up to in high school. Attempted murder? No big deal. Teen pregnancy? Yeah, whatever. Peach Girl is teen melodrama at its finest.

Art – Low

Minimal animation and detail. The art style makes everyone look as if they have a fat lip from certain angles.

Sound – Medium

By the anime gods, these actors try their best with these nonsense scenarios. Dubbing the OP and ED to English with the same lyrics was not a good idea. The Japanese songs are still bad, but the English is something else.

Story – Very Low

An overly tan girl crushes for a guy, but little does she know another guy crushes on her, but little do they know another girl plots to steal the crush away. Repetitive, stupid to a fault characters, and ridiculous drama are all the ingredients for the best teen drama to laugh at.

Overall Quality – Very Low

Recommendation: So bad it’s a must watch, at least for six episodes. Get some friends together and make an afternoon of laughing at the atrocious drama of Peach Girl. Stay for more arcs if you want to see the same melodrama all over again.

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Awards: (hover over each award to see descriptions; click award for more recipients)

Positive: None

Negative: