Wedding Peach

Publisher
Viz
Writer
Nao Yazawa
Artist
Nao Yazawa
Country of origin
Japan
Year
1994

Manga Fans Unite! Wedding Peach GN 1 & 2

By David Rasmussen
8th Sep 04

Studio - VIZ
Age - Teen (13+)
Story and Art by Nao Yazawa
Created by Sukehiro Tomita
VIZ credits
Translation & English Adaptation - Naoko Amemiya
Touch-up and Lettering - Walden Wong
Editor - Eric Searleman

Graphic Novel 1
Ah, the beauty of love and ... marriage?
Apparently the forces of darkness have their "black sheep" like every other major organization, and this just so happens to be one of them. Instead of plotting to overthrow reality, remake the world, bring back Bruce Campbell for another round of undead killing as Ash, or something useful this dark power that be is out to destroy all the love from the world... geez, talk about an entity in serious need of prozac... or viagra... or both. Whatever.

Still, with a work "ethic" like the following you can kind of sense the "hate".
The name kind of hints at the disgruntled status as well. Queen Raindevilla... no relation to Dalmatian hating Cruella Deville.

Oh, that work ethic?
"If you meet someone who loves another, then you must kill them.
If you meet someone in love, then you must kill them.
And if you meet a couple who are to be married, then you must kill them.
Hate the love in this world... as long as there is love in this world, then the hateful heart cannot recover."

I sense the need for a major time out here, don't you?

But that's when we met the three that will protect love and so forth.
Momoko Hanasaki, who is daydreaming while watching the video of her parent's wedding and wearing her mom's wedding dress (along with the ring she was given as a memento of her mom who died... or did she) when her friends barge in on her.

(In the Anime her father barges in first and kind of zones out thinking she's Sakura, that'd be Momoko's missing mom, but later on you'll find out there's abit more to this "mom" thing as soon will be revealed).
Of course it seems Momoko and her friends (Yuri and Hinagiku) are members of the school newspaper who cover the school's sports beat -- or maybe they just chase cute guy and team captain Yanagiba around because they only seem to go to soccer games and nothing else... geez!

But if we can get away from the infatuation for the stud of the series we find that there's a dark agent out to grab Momoko's ring, which may be part of a mystical foursome of items known as "Saint Something Four" (called "Sacred Something Four" in the manga).

During her confrontation with this evil, the awkwardly named "Pluie", Momoko meets the pretty boy known as Limone (whose entrance in the Anime is far worse than his entrance in the Manga), Aphrodite, and becomes Wedding Peach. Oh, and her friends are possessed by Jama-P so Momoko meets that too.

It isn't long before Yuri and Hinagiku join Momoko as two new Angels named Lily and Daisy.
Guess only Momoko gets to be called "Wedding" something -- in this case Wedding Peach.

Before this is over they'll have a rumble with Pluie and Jama-P at a wedding ceremony for a former member of the school soccer team, Momoko may end up becoming attached to an annoying guy named Yosuke... did I mention Jama-P takes over Yosuke and tries to kill Momoko as the book comes to a close?

That and there's also a bonus story at the end.

Graphic Novel 2
Last we saw Momoko was getting strangled by Yosuke (who is in turn possessed by Jama-P).
Obviously since we're only in Graphic Novel 2 there won't be any terminations yet.
But how about a conversion? Looks like Jama-P is about to swap sides in the aftermath of this confrontation! But what next?

More information is given on the "Sacred Something Four", and what they are.
If you're planning a wedding, getting married, or are married you might have an idea already what the "Sacred Something Four" is. If not don't worry, this Graphic Novel will spell that out for you.

Pluie succeeds in taking Momoko's ring, but that's only one of four treasures.
Which means there's still a chance to nab the other three before it's too late.
But in exchange for losing the ring it seems new information about Momoko's mom is about to come to the surface. Information that might, in fact, point to her being quite alive and well despite the fact she's supposed to be dead. Guess reports of her death have been greatly doctored.

But there's no time for that since it seems Yosuke has been taken by the forces of darkness and the search for him might get Momoko killed.
Is it really worth it considering you keep telling everyone you hate him? Really!

Another bonus story and we're done.

Wedding Peach Breakdown the 1st and 2nd
What's Hot?
Now mind you it's one of your classic series essentials, but it'd be a lot better if you could get ahold of BOTH Wedding Peach the manga (VIZ) and Anime (if it's available, from ADVFilms)
Somehow they both compliment each other and that makes it that much better.
Of course if you can't get the Anime that doesn't mean you shouldn't get the manga, which you should.
It's a nice shoujo series and something worth checking out.
Still if you are NOT getting the Anime then you should go and demand it post haste.

What's Not?
As evils go it's not a terribly impressive one, but still that doesn't mean it's not a good series.
As far as it's genre goes it's a good read, and I liked it. So I guess there isn't much not to like about it.

Moments to Remember?
As always it's the interactions that work the best. This time out it's the close bond between Momoko, Yuri and Hinagiku that work the best. Of course the battles are nice too, but it's those cute, touching and sometimes intense interactions that work the best in my book.

What to Ignore?
Ah. The problems with Limone. He's not Tuxedo Kamen of course, but he's got his flaws.
While the ignore level is not as high in the manga as it is in the Anime I still don't like him very much.

Why? Well it all starts with my nickname for him.
I sort of call him the "Dorklander"... why? His first appearance in the Anime involves him descending from the heavens on a "Stairway From Heaven" with sword drawn, which leads to a sword fight between him and Pluie... I'm mostly just glad they didn't start screaming "There can be ONLY ONE" and stuff like that.

I don't like him. No, I do not.

Overall?
I like the writing which is both cute and interesting. I like the artwork. I like the way it all comes together. As one of the classic essentials along with Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Oh My Goddess and so forth this is something you fans of shoujo manga should be checking out.

-- David Rasmussen 8th Sep 04