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. 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:

7) Take Care Against Eating Too Much
8) Pajama And The Sleeping Princess
9) The Stolen Something Four
10) Well Done! Friendship Renewal
11) Time Traveling Hinagiku
12) The Beautiful Devil's Love Fortune Telling

The episodes this time dealt with such hard-hitting topics as obesity (if you get fat, men won't want to marry you), sleeping too much (you've got to circulate if you want to meet Mr. Right), laziness and moodiness (guys don't like lazy women), the importance of friends, the virtues of timeliness, and the power of love. I could blather on endlessly about the specifics but other than sounding self-important, it would serve no purpose. The formula for this show is common and generic so unless you're looking for a cultural throwback to laugh at, it wouldn't help change your mind to say much more.

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. 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.

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.

Extras: There weren't a lot of extras this time, with the usual clean opening, clean closing, and trailers to Pretear (English and Japanese versions), Final Fantasy Unlimited, Saiyuki, Angelic Layer, Azumanga Daioh, and Kaleido Star. With six full episodes, I can't complain too loudly about extras given ADV's policy of favoring 3 episodes per DVD all too often.

Final Thoughts: If you enjoyed Volume 1 and want more of the same, you should rush right out and get this one too. If you're looking for a topic on a graduate thesis dealing with cultural programming by means of children's television shows from Japan, this would be a worthy title to look at as well. I got enough belly laughs from it to suggest it as a rental but most people would be in awe at how flawed this one was.

For much better anime choices, look at: DVDTalk's Best Of Anime 2003