Customer Reviews

Peach Girl, Book 4

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
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I'll admit I didn't like Peach Girl at first. The art style annoyed me as well as the characters when it was being featured in Smile. After my cousin bought a few graphic novels the series grew on me. Peach Girl isn't the manga for everyone. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who's new to Japanese comics. But if you know all about manga and are looking for another new series give this one a try.

Momo has won the swim meet and with the revelation of Sae's true nature everyone has seemed to rush to her side. Now Sae is left on the outskirts with all the classmates picking on her because of her repetitive lying. But Momo doesn't have everything she wants, not by a long shot. She can't quite bring herself to forgive Toji for believing Sae in the first place, and this distrust leads her to tell him no when he asked her out again. Meanwhile, Kiley is still being very friendly with Momo, so much so that Momo begins to develop knew feelings towards him that she can't quite explain.

Suddenly, Toji comes to school with a new buzz cut and this shocks everyone, especially Momo. When she asks him about it is obvious he is hung up on her, and this makes her agree to try again. They spend summer vacation together and when they return to school everything is changed. Momo is Miss popular, Sae is being mistreated like Momo used to be, Kiley is his old self, but now Momo realizes just how much she misses him, and Toji and her are still trying to warm back up to one another. When Momo takes pity on Sae and helps her out in gym class Sae becomes a puppy dog, and this leads to a bizarre occurrence at a modeling shoot where Sae attracts the attention of a gorgeous young man who believes that she is the "wounded deer" she used to be so good at portraying and that Momo is the "lion"... Sae soon begins to slip back into her old routine, and this causes quite a stir around the school.

I love this series... love it love it love it... *gush*... ok, that being said I am glad that we are getting some personality back from Sae, even if it is her devilish side... it just doesn't seem right when Sae is begging and scraping up after Momo.. She should be scheming and plotting. The relationship with Toji is heading right where I thought it would, but I wonder if Momo is going to end up with Kiley, seeing as how she keeps fixating on him and Toji is such a pushover...he has the personality of lukewarm soup, while Kiley gushes character at every opportunity.. I'm just amazed that Momo liked Toji for as long as she did because, from where I am sitting at least, Toji is not all that. He's good looking, but the substance is not strong, or at least is not exerting real personality just yet... I guess I am still a tad annoyed at him for mistreating Momo so badly because of Sae's word of mouth. Given the two choices, she should choose Kiley, at least he's not a wet blanket.

Read this series. It's oh so good.

The story revolves around a girl named Momo, who has a problem with getting tanned skin, and a love triangle between the guy she has a crush on and the cutest guy in school. It sounds simple but sometimes simplicity is key. I personally think the animation is beautiful and original and all the characters have their own unique personality.

Just a note to parents out there - these books are not as innocent as they might appear from the cover. They are about at a level with modern American soap operas - pretty bad. No actual drawings of sexual organs but lots of pictures suggesting sexual activity; boys talking about taking a girl's virginity; intended rapes - including gang rapes - that are prevented at the last minute by the entrance of the hero; girls trying to win boys over by offering them sex; misunderstandings galore in which the boy has sex with the wrong girl or the girl wakes up in a strange bed. Even if you don't object to your daughter reading something with so much sex in it, you'll probably object to the antifeminist portrayal of girls obsessed with catching the right boy and using sex to do it. The heroine and hero do try to stay above all this and true to each other, but they still involve themselves in vengeful plots to teach the bad girls lessons. It's only natural that preteen girls should be curious about dating, etc., but these books give a really false and bad impression of what sex, love, and life are all about. People might say that this type of book is just for fun, but there's a lot of fun stuff out there that also makes you think and grow as a person: books and movies that deal with social-sexual issues in a more moral and responsible way and lead to an appetite for better and better literature. Sex is, after all, a major theme in literature. But the "Peach Girl" series would only develop a taste for more of the same, or worse.