Peach Girl is like the mother of all shoujos. It runs the gamut with just about every popular shoujo device – from catfights to love triangles, from petty school bullying to the typical relationship melodrama – Peach Girl has it all. For those looking for an unconventional shoujo, I advise you look elsewhere because in Peach Girl, Miwa Ueda takes us through the relationship woes of our bronze, misunderstood beauty with the flare and drama typical of your regular shoujo. However routine Peach Girl may seem on the surface, I still found it to be an enthralling read (especially the drama).

I see a lot of complaints about the wishy-washy nature of the main character, Momo, but I think fans need to look at it with some perspective. Love triangles are tricky animals. There are usually two variations of love triangles - the ones thrown into the story for the sake of creating drama, and then there are the serious ones that run through the entirety of the manga. Not a fan of the former (does anyone think that perhaps all the hate for the love triangle probably stems from its blatant overuse in shoujo?), but a big fan of the latter.

A lot of the complaints about Momo's indecisiveness are overblown. Whatever guy Momo happened to be dating at the time, she was devoutly loyal to him during their relationship. She may have had a few bouts of regret or what if moments, but she never strays. It’s not until we get into the final story arc in the last 3 or 4 volumes that we see a lot of Momo’s insecurities with both guys come to a head.

I think it’s naïve to believe that it’s impossible for an individual to care for more than one person in their life, and if Peach Girl did anything else, it was to showcase this possibility. Momo’s indecisiveness was realistic; she cared for both guys, and both loved her. Nothing in life is so straightforward as shoujos would have you believe - especially when it comes to love - and Peach Girl does a good job showing us that.

With all that being said, I was sad to see the end of Peach Girl. At 18 volumes long, it’s probably one of the longer shoujos I’ve read, but I enjoyed each and every chapter. I look forward to reading Miwa Ueda’s other works!

ETA: I also wanted to add that I'm glad Momo picked who she did at the end. Life is also about moving on, and in doing so, Momo was able to really find her best love.

... Last updated on March 19th, 2009, 6:35pm

urrgh -.-.... I just finished reading this manga and all in all I can't say that it was bad because it had me pretty hooked and I finished reading this story in 2 days...but there are just some points that I just don't like...

- the first half of the story is pretty much always the same

after the third repetition of this I couldn't take it anymore but I kept reading
well after some events the "evil" person changed to someone else and the same drama again...

the art is not bad and some of the characters are likable...
my conclusion is that this is a typical shoujo manga with a 100% shoujo heroine and a 100% predictable ending...and for the next few weeks I'm cured from this genre XD

The manga was just okay to me. As far as the story goes it was a very typical story line of jelousy, hate and lies which is nothing new. Most of the characters were annoying and I didn't feel like I could grasp the situations in which they were put in.

The art was good enough for me to keep reading throughout the 18 volumes.

When I first started out reading this series, I really loved it. But now I hate it. Why? Because of the frustration I had when I watched each situation unfolds. No, it wasn't Sae's fault. Sae played the perfect manipulative villain. 2 thumbs up for Sae. She's the total star of this series.

What frustrated me was Momo. She's supposed to be the heroine of the story. More of the victim of the story instead. Momo pisses the hell out of me and she's so....how do I say it? Weak? Indecisive? Stupid? Or all of the above? And she didn't even end up with her first crush. I guess good guys in this series are doom to be girlfriend-less. Sure, the shoujo-cliche of having the boy saving the girl isn't uncommon, but to have her not able to stand up on her and tackle the problem by herself? Come on, I want to see some girl power here! No damsel in distress!

What started out with a good potential story ended up be the worst story you want to read. Avoid it at all cost.

I'll admit the first arc was tiring to read because of everyone doubting each other, due to Sae's neverending schemes. But the second arc blew my mind. It was drama from start to finish, and I mean major emotional DRAMA, so you better be prepared to have your brain rocked back and forth.

A lot of people are saying that it's cliche, irritating, even labeling Momo as a slut. I rated this a 5 when I first started reading this, but now I give it a 9. Why? It's a good story, it's realistic in its way. Relationships are complicated, life is complicated, and sometimes you can't see through yourself no matter how hard to you try. But you learn from your mistakes and only become stronger than you were before. A lot of the execution was flawed and had me smh too many times to count, but I think it came together well in the end. The characters are amazing, they really are. Everyone is solid, and I genuinely cared for the main leads. Momo is one of my favorite Shojo heroines to date, and although she has trouble making up her mind, she's strong. She's not perfect, but she's as gutsy as Makino from Hana Yori Dango. Momo had good reason for her doubts because both guys in her life are great. Because of all the previous drama it was even difficult for me to choose which guy I liked more. Toji or Kiley? Kiley or Toji? The ending caught me off guard because it wasn't what I predicted, but it left me satisfied.
My only peeve about this is that Momo seemed unrealistically lucky, always having one guy or the other by her side right when things go bad for her or when she'd had a riff with either one of the dudes. If only real life were like this for us girls... but then again, it's a manga!

PS: They seriously need to get cell phones that WORK. I can't imagine the number of times everything could have gone well if only their damn cells weren't constantly out of battery or service. -_-; seemed like lazy writing sometimes.

... Last updated on September 2nd, 2012, 2:45am

So, when I began this manga and the main character was with the main guy and everything, I was like "How sweet~"
But then there came Sae and thus she began to create mischief for the protagnists and I was at the edge of my chair, waiting for the mains to learn the truth. It continued liked this and by the next trap/misunderstanding Sae made, I was pretty much annoyed and I began to wonder, are her plans actually genius? My conclusion was no, and I decided the main characters were pretty darn stupid for:
1.Giving Sae chances despite knowing her evil-ness
2.Falling for those frikin tricks over and over.

And I have to say, I really like Momo if not for her naivety. I mean, seriously.
As for the main guy, he's REALLY naive or even just stupid.

So for me, these series were pretty...annoying.

I read this manga a few years ago and i liked it. After reading the comments on this site i had to reread it because i was shocked by the number of unsatisfied people. I think the plot was very good. The situations may be a little over exaggerated but they can also be believable. I don think Momo was a bitch. She's a teenage girl. Pretty or not it believable that a teenage girl cant decide what she wants and has a tough time making real friends. When one guy dumps u, move to the next. Sae was a good character too. Females can be that malicious. The manga really did have many cliche parts but so does life. I think people are being to critical. It's a romance story thats meant to be based on struggles with love. What were you expecting?

I for one enjoyed the series. It bought back memories of reading a simple good manga.

Give it a break. Thats what u call DRAMA. Unnnahhh, i'll admit if her phone didn't run out of battery constantly she wouldn't be in the mess she was in. Its called the slippery slope effect. Fine she indecisiveness but thats what you'd expect. If she picked Toji over Kiley then END. Thats the end of the manga. No fun. This is a Shoujo manga. Read it in the genre column honey and also take note of the word DRAMA.

Nevertheless your typical romantic dramatic school life comedy and it still maintains its sense and I also gotta say that Sai is one freekin funny little brat.

Someone mentioned that this manga and Parfait Tic were kind of the same. I think the characterization here is worse though, especially Ichi vs Toji comparison. Even though Ichi was wishy washy with his ex, it was still understandable. The guy Toji in here though could not even talk to his own girlfriend face to face as a man but talked through her friend instead. He should be out of the picture before the love triangle even starts.