The show was notable for it's similarity to the Sailor Moon concept in that a trio of young gals, Momoko, Hinagiku, and Yuri, donned costumes and fought evil beings intent on stamping out love and caring. Momoko would use a magic ring and become Wedding Peach, a girl in a bridal outfit, complete with a bouquet that shot powerful energy blasts, and her two friend would become Angel Lily and Angel Daisy, both in bridesmaids outfits with their own unique abilities. Apparently, they, like the Sailor Moon crew, were reborn heroines that were destines to fight battles for Aphrodite (the Goddess of Love) against her arch nemesis, Raindevila, leader of a dark dimension. Aphrodite's second in command was a longhaired blonde guy, Limone, and Raindevila's choice agent was Lord Pluie. Pluie would often send little demons like Jama-P to take over the bodies of unsuspecting citizens and turn them against the heroines, who usually felt obligated to change them back without hurting them.

In any case, the episodes took a page from the formula of the Sailor Moon series and followed a strict protocol where the girls would get into some form of domestic problem, then have to fight Pluie and company before fixing their more mundane issue at hand. That ADV rated this one as 13+ for their age classification system is telling since I'd have guessed it was directed more towards the younger crowd. I'm kind of surprised this one came over to the States since it was so blatantly pro-marriage, with the girls always espousing their major goal in life to find the right guy and settle down. If that isn't cultural programming at its most obvious (telling girls that they should spend nearly every waking moment dreaming about "The Big Day"), I don't know what is. I've heard that Japanese culture treats females as second-class citizens but this took that argument a couple order of magnitudes higher. In any case, if you get past the conceptual problems, the show really was kind of cute and I could see college students watching this as they drank too much, laughing at all the not-so-subtle attempts at brainwashing. Here's a list of the six full episodes on the DVD:

1) Celebration! Birth Of The Love Angel:
2) Splendid! Bridal Dress Change:
3) The Targeted Bride:
4) Angel Lily Is Born:
5) The Third Love Angel:
6) Jama-P's Counterattack:

The DVD essentially set up the premise of the show and the formula for how the episodes would evolve. It was pretty basic in that sense with no surprises. If you get this for a young girl, make sure to watch it with her and point out the silliness going on in terms of the characters life goals but otherwise, it was cute. As such a one trick pony, I think the DVD definitely earned a rating of Rent It but the appeal to a younger, more impressionable audience should not be understated. Again, older audiences will laugh their heads off at some of the unintentional humor but some social lubricants may be needed in order to fully appreciate these aspects of the show.

Picture: The picture was presented in the usual 1.33:1 ratio full frame color, the anime standard. It was super colorful but there were some print scratches and grain, making it look somewhat older than its nine years once in a while. Most of the time though, it looked like ADV cleaned it up a bit (I doubt this one was aired enough to wear out the copies used for the print transfer). The anime style itself used much of the static cell approach, a cost cutting method employed to limit the amount of drawing needed to complete an episode. This is common on niche releases but I felt obligated to point it out.

Sound: The audio registered as 2.0 Dolby Digital on my receiver, with a choice of the original Japanese language track (with English subtitles) or an English language dub, the usual choices, but I didn't notice any separation between the channels or very much dynamic range on either of the tracks. That said, it was not a major factor in terms of the material since the concept was obviously aimed at a younger female audience (younger audiences aren't typically picky about this aspect of anime).

Extras: The extras were limited here but since the DVD included six complete episodes, I find it difficult to complain too much. They were a clean opening and closing and some previews as well as a double-sided DVD cover.

Final Thoughts: The show wasn't a bad one, just conceptually limited on many levels. If you enjoy this type of show, it'll be as good as its counterparts from other companies but don't expect a lot of intelligent writing or animation taking place. The technical limitations aside, it's worth a rental if only to goof on with your friends.

Check out DVDTalk's Top Anime of 2003 for more hints on good anime to watch.