Peach Girl is a Japanese shōjo manga series by Miwa Ueda. A high school drama centered on character Momo Adachi, her love life, friendships and rivalries, it was published in Japan by Kodansha in Bessatsu Friend from 1998 to 2003 and collected in 18 volumes. The series was adapted as a Taiwanese drama in 2002 and a Japanese animated television series in 2005. A manga sequel set 10 years after the original manga, titled Peach Girl Next, began its serialization on Be Love on August 12, 2016. It will end with a total of 8 volumes in January 2020. On mid-March 2016, the live-action film adaptation was announced. The film was released in Japan on May 20, 2017. The North American version of the manga is published in two parts by Tokyopop: Peach Girl, covering the first eight volumes of the Japanese release; and Peach Girl: Change of Heart, comprising the final ten books. The animated TV series is distributed by Funimation Entertainment in North America.
Plot
Momo Adachi is a former member of the high schoolswim team. She tans easily and her hair is bleached out; unfortunately, she is stereotyped by her ignorant classmates and is forced to endure rumors about being an "easy girl" who has had many sexual relationships. Her only friend is Sae, who is actually responsible for spreading the nasty gossip due to her jealousy of Momo. Momo is in love with Toji, a taciturn baseball player, but the scheming Sae also has her sights set on the boy. Momo's life is further complicated with the introduction of Kairi Okayasu, a wise-cracking playboy who is determined to make her his. He reveals to Momo that she had saved him from drowning the summer before high school started. Things become even more complicated when Sae, in an attempt to make Momo miserable, spreads rumors about Momo and Kairi making out. The rumor about the kiss between the two is true, but it was Kairi who initiated it while Momo remained stunned by the interaction. When Toji is hospitalized, Sae convinces Toji to break up with Momo. Thanks to Kairi, he finds out about all the lies and rumors Sae has made up. Toji saves Momo from being bullied and tells the truth about him and Momo, resulting in the students apologizing to Momo and hating Sae. Toji and Momo get back together, but Sae later tries to complicate their relationship again by threatening to discredit Momo with her newly acquired access to the mass media. Though Toji is initially defiant, he reluctantly breaks up with Momo to protect her. Momo is heartbroken at first, particularly due to not knowing that it is part of Sae's schemes. However, she eventually begins dating Kairi, whom she had previously considered annoying, and soon begins to fall in love with him. When it is revealed to Momo why Toji broke up with her, Momo is left to choose between Toji and Kairi. More problems arise and the love triangle intensifies. In "Sae's Story", Sae is left back a year, for she was always skipping classes. She is too stubborn so she goes to Momo's and Kairi's university every day. Toji goes to a good university by himself. Sae then meets one of her childhood sweethearts, Kanji, who left for Malaysia when they were young, and promised to marry Sae when he was back. In love with Sae, Kanji follows her around, trying to win her over. He takes care of Sae's dog, Sora, when her parents would no longer let her keep it. The dog walks with a little limp; one day when Sora tried to follow Sae, she threw a rock at its paw and injured it. Sae starts modeling and pretends she goes to college with Momo, when she is really still in high school. She meets Honda and works for CC as a model. She meets a guy named Takuma, and he later turns her down. Sae meets another guy named Shinji but realizes he never really liked her. All these ups and downs make Sae realize that Momo, Kairi, and Kanji are the only people who care for her.
Characters
The English-language manga uses the non standard romanization "Kiley Okayasu". Other groups, such as FUNimation, Kodansha, and non-English language publishers, use "Kairi". A boy who has been Momo's crush since junior high school although she never then confessed to him due to a friend saying he "doesn't like girls with tan skin". He overhears Momo confess her love for him to Kairi and then eventually dates Momo but Sae wants him for herself. He has a good heart, but tends to be hard headed and oblivious to what is in front of him, believing what Sae says over what Momo says, much to the frustration of Momo. Sae later blackmails Toji into dating her using pictures of Momo and Jigoro in a hotel bed together. He then breaks up with Momo. After this Momo starts dating Kairi. The Tokyopop manga renders his family name as "Toujikamori". The school nurse and a big sister figure for Momo. Misao was once Kairi's tutor and crush, and an old flame of Ryo's. Although she dated and broke up with him, she still loves him.
Media
Manga
Anime
''Peach Girl: Sae's Story''
Peach Girl: Sae's Story is a sequel to Peach Girl, told from the point of view of Sae, the main antagonist of Peach Girl. It was published in Japan by Kodansha in Bessatsu Friend from 2004 to 2006 and collected in three tankōbon volumes. It is licensed in North America by Tokyopop.
TV drama
In November 2002, a 13-episode Taiwanese drama of Peach Girl was adapted titled, starring Annie Wu, Vanness Wu of F4 and Kenji Wu. The setting was changed from high school to college. It was produced by Comic Ritz International Production and Chai Zhi Ping as producer and was broadcast in Taiwan on free-to-air Chinese Television System . The events of the drama stay true to the original story up until the forced break up between Xia Tao and Dong Si after which many events differ possibly due to the limited number of episodes. ; Cast
