Wayback Series - Wedding Peach

Just in time for the church bells to clang!

WARNING: If you are a boy (or a man) watching this show, then you are doomed, because MARRIAGE IS GAME OVER. (I'm playing this for kicks!)

Ever since last month according to Wikipedia, the first country in the world to approve same-sex marriage and its constitutional protection by referendum is none other than Ireland. I read in several articles in the news back then. Ahh June, the precocious month of weddings, and the start of a new school year. Well, it might be sound jealous of your childhood back then, maybe some couples are arranging the marriage throughout with their relatives in tow. If you are a dream bride (or a bride-to-be), then you're in luck, because you are about to explore the world of Wedding Peach. Don't be a Bridezilla when you're reading this.

Also known for the its title, 'Legend of the Angel of Love: Wedding Peach', it was a shōjo manga written by Nao Yazawa and Sukehiro Tomita does the illustrations, and it was originally serialized in Shogakukan's Ciao magazine that is runned from 1994 to 1996 with a total of six volumes. Another one-volume manga, called 'Wedding Peach Ai Tenshi Tanjou-hen', is published in 1995. In North America, Viz Media translated and of course published all six volumes in its entirety. The anime adaptation is directed by Kunihiko Yuyama, and it was broadcasted by TV Tokyo from April 5th, 1995 to March 27th, 1996 with a total of 51 episodes as well as two omakes. The same year in 1996, a 4-episode OVA sequel called Wedding Peach DX has also added to the resume. In 2004, eight years after the manga ended, a one-shot maga is called Wedding Peach Young Love, a compilation of some stories made for Shogaku Sannensei (aka Elementary School 3rd-Grader), a monthly magazine. The 'Young Love' version of the series featured characters that are younger-looking, simpler dialogue and less complex storylines in order to better fit the target audience of the magazine.

From L to R: Hinagiku, Scarlett, Yuri and Momoko

Once upon a time, there is a ordinary middle school student and a freshman from St. Flower Junior High named Momoko Hanasaki, who lived a normal life like a girl. She and her best friends, Yuri Tanima and Hinagiku Tamano, are members of the school's newspaper club, where they mostly cover their alma mater's soccer team, and believe it or not, all three of them are having a crush on Kazuya Yanagiba, the team's star player, and also they are constantly annoyed by Yousuke Fuuma, the other player of the team, who called Momoko, 'Momopi', much to her dismay. One day on their way home from school, they are encountered and attacked by Pluie, a devil who is a servant to the high ruler of the devil world called Reine Devila. As Momoko's friends are hypnotized into attacking her, Limone (SPOILER ALERT: He's Kazuya), a beautiful (but handsome due to his looks) man descended from the sky that is sent by the god Aphrodite in the Angel World, and he gives her a compact case. While opening the compact case, she is told by Aphrodite, that she is Wedding Peach, one of the legendary warriors called the Love Angels. Momoko then transformed into Wedding Peach and thus manages to snap her friends out of Pluie's hypnotism. Yuri and Hinagiku also found out that they are also Love Angels, and the three must protect the humans from the devils and defeat Reine Devila over the course of the story. They are later joined by the fourth Love Angel named Scarlet, who doesn't get along with the other Love Angels, and thus manages to warm up to them by the end. The partial relationship between Yousuke and Momoko turned to love at the same time, but a terrible secret from Yousuke's past that could really tear them apart.

The main character of the series, petite, cheerful, and turtle-brained (coined by her friends), Momoko Hanasaki is voiced by Kyoko Hikami, who is known for her roles in the Di Gi Charat franchise (as Usada Hikaru/Rabi~en~Rose), Final Fantasy: Unlimited (as Lisa Pacifist), Gunparade Orchestra (as Satomi Kozeki), the Sakura Wars anime adaptation (as Tsubaki Takamura), and Tokyo Majin (as Maiko Takamizawa).

One of Momoko's besties, high-class, generally the group's most well-mannered, and politely speaking at all times, Yuri Tanima (aka Angel Lily) is voiced by Yukana (Yukana Nogami), who is known as the one who voiced Honoka Yukishiro/Cure White in Futari wa Pretty Cure. Other roles that added to her resume, that includes in Digimon Data Squad (as Lalamon), Cross Ange: Rondo of Angel and Dragon (as Emma Bronson and Riza Landog), the Full Metal Panic! franchise (as Teletha "Tessa" Testarossa), Gugure! Kokkuri-san (as the cat god/doll-obsessed freak Tama), the Infinite Stratos series (as Cecilia Alcott), and Soul Eater (as Yumi Azusa).

Green-haired girl, rough-speaking tomboy who is a judo practitioner, and another one of Momoko's besties, Hinagiku Tamano (aka Angel Daisy) is voiced by none other than Yuko Miyamura, who is known for her roles in Brave Police J-Decker (as Regina), Clamp School (as Utako Ohkawa), Detective Conan: 16 Suspects OAV (as Kazuha Toyama), Neon Genesis Evangelion (as the popular Asuka Langley Sohryu), and the Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko series (as Ayano Elizabeth Hakuhoin).

Other voice actors starred in the anime, that includes Yuka Imai (as Scarlett O'Hara/Angel Salvia), Yuji Ueda (as Yousuke/Viento), Shinichiro Miki (as Kazuya/Limone), Kappei Yamaguchi (as the school's smartest Takurou Amano), Mika Doi (as Reine Devila), Kazuki Yao (as Pluie), Tomokazu Seki (as Igneous), the legendary Kotono Mitsuishi (as Hiromi Kawanami/Potamos), Miwa Matsumoto (as Jamma-P, Pluie's small sidekick), Mako Hyodo (as the god Aphrodite), Chiharu Suzuka (as Sakura Hanasaki/Celeste), and Kazuhiro Nakata (as Momoko's dad Shoichiro Hanasaki).

You're just in time for the church bells to ring, because it's time to relive the adventures with the Love Angels, and that you could put the sign 'Just Married' in the rear of your car, for Wedding Peach!!

EXTRA: Maybe I just leave it here, because the boys will...