Peach Girl

Japanese manga series
the manga series

Peach Girl (ピーチガール) is a Japanese 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 ended with a total of eight volumes, the last of which was released 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 by Kodansha USA, with all 18 volumes under the same title. It was previously 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, currently known as Crunchyroll in North America.

Momo Adachi is a former member of the high school swim 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 (thanks to Sae's lies again) 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 (or Monkey Boy), 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.

After the run of the original series, a sequel titled Peach Girl: Sae's Story (裏 ピーチガール) was published in Japan by Kodansha in Bessatsu Friend from 2004 to 2006 and collected in three tankōbon volumes. It is told from the point of view of Sae, the main antagonist of Peach Girl. It is licensed in North America by Tokyopop.

A live action film of the same name directed by Koji Shintoki was released on 20 May 2017. It stars Mizuki Yamamoto as Momo Adachi and Kei Inoo as Kairi Okayasu. Other cast members are Mackenyu as Toji, Mei Nagano as Sae Kashiwagi, Yuika Motokariya as Misao Aki, Kensei Mikami as Ryo Okayasu, and Daisuke Kikuta as Jigoro. Its main theme song is "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen.

Peach Girl received a 13 episode television drama in Taiwan in November 2002, 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 柴智屏) as producer and was broadcast in Taiwan on free to air Chinese Television System (CTS). The opening theme song is "Love is You" (愛的就是你) by Wang Leehom and the ending song is "I Believe in Your Love" (我依然相信你還愛我) by 劉虹嬅. The insert song "Who Do You Love If Not Me?" (你不愛我愛誰?) by Vanness Wu is also featured in the show.

The manga has sold over 13 million copies. In 1999, Peach Girl won the Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo.