#wedding cherry

[memspark]

[mahou-furbies]

Wedding Cherry.

[majokkid]

[hotwaterandmilk]

I haven’t seen anyone on here talk about Wedding Apple while the hype has been building, but the first couple of chapters dropped yesterday and Animate Times just posted a good behind-the-scenes interview with Tomita Sukehiro and the director of TypeBee so I thought I should probably bring it up on here since it is a genuine successor to Wedding Peach.

What is ‘Wedding Apple’?

The full title of the series is Ai Tenshi Seiki Wedding Apple and Tomita is clear that it is intended as a modern take on the wedding tropes that inspired the original Ai Tenshi Densetsu Wedding Peach series.

Wedding Apple has been in the works for a while but was recently announced as a visual ‘battle’ web novel hosted on Tap Novel (see here) and the first couple of chapters were posted yesterday (June 23rd). Basically it’s a visual novel told chapter-by-chapter with graphics, character (text) dialogue, and interactive elements.

What is the plot?

Very similar to Wedding Peach in that you have a group of angels fighting against devils to preserve love. Transforming magical peeps in a battle group, you know the drill. However, the leads in this story have somewhat different backgrounds and attitudes towards things like marriage to reflect the modern setting. This becomes apparent when you check out the angelic roster:

Asahi Ringo (Wedding Apple): A 17-year-old part-time wedding planner who has a loving heart and an appreciation for marriage due to her romantic childhood memories.

Kirino Ayame (Wedding Iris): A 33-year-old single mother whose husband left (disappeared) several years ago and is now struggling to balance raising her young son with running the wedding planning business, Iris.

Naeba Sakura (Wedding Cherry): In her second year of junior high school, Sakura is the daughter of a florist and has more negative views on marriage and relationships than Ringo due to her parents’ strained relationship.

Yukishiro Tsubaki (Wedding Camellia): A 26-year-old part-time worker who left a life of privilege behind to make her own way in the world. Falls for men easily but is seeking true love.

Mukasa Ran (Wedding Orchid): The 17-year-old child of a karate dojo owner and spirited classmate of Ringo. She is considered stubborn and masculine by peers and harbours a hidden love for Ringo.

These new angels fight against sinister devils who are good-looking men that use live concerts to brainwash their victims (don’t ask).

Where is it available?

As mentioned above, the story is ongoing via Tap Novel. You can visit the Wedding Apple page here. The first two chapters are currently online with the third releasing on June 30th. You can preview the work via the URL above but for the full experience the app is recommended. Wedding Apple is only available in the Japanese language at present.

What are my thoughts?

I’ve been a Wedding Peach fan for most of my life so I’ve got a lot of feelings about this project. First off, what I’m liking so far:

Women in their twenties and thirties being magical girls? A queer angel who wears shorts into battle??? God, I’ve been wanting these things for so long just hook them to my veins. DLJFDKJFLKDSJFLSKFJSL!11!1!!

The fact that Tomita has a team of scriptwriters including women to really get a solid perspective this time. Plus the fact he wanted to do an updated version of a very outdated magical girl take at all, that’s cool. Oh and also it’s told in a way that works well with his background as a script writer and scenario creator.

It uses a fun content delivery system that’s got the feel of visual novel but still has anime and manga-friendly elements.

The different perspectives on love and relationships that each angel brings. In Wedding Peach you just had Salvia who wasn’t into marriage, now you’ve got Sakura and Ayame who have had painful experiences related to marriage. That shit is good, yes, different viewpoints, gimme.

Stuff I’m not that keen on:

The character designs and artwork = super generic. They could have so much more life in them but they feel very default visual novel. (PLEASE PEOPLE START DRAWING GORGEOUS FAN ART, THE ANGEL COSTUMES COULD POTENTIALLY LOOK SO COOL)

The unique delivery system means it is going to be very hard to see this translated and accessible for overseas fans unless it becomes popular enough for adaptations into other media.

Ringo is pretty much just Momoko so far, I really would have liked for her to stand out a bit more given the others are all a bit different from what you’d expect.

I’ve got my fingers crossed, don’t let me down, Wedding Apple!

[Please be advised that the relevant content on this post has not been updated since the day of its original posting, June 24th 2021. Do not look to this post for information beyond what was available when the title launched. I will not be updating this post to reflect new goings-on in the series at any point, this was merely intended as a gush post when Wedding Apple went live and nothing more.]

[bunnymajo]

[magicalgirloftheday]

✧・ﾟ:*Today’s magical girl of the afternoon is: Wedding Cherry from Wedding Apple!✧・ﾟ:*

[hotwaterandmilk]

I noticed a couple of people wondering about what the transformations are like in Wedding Apple. They’re not all that dissimilar from those in Wedding Peach, the leads first transform into their wedding dresses before performing a second change into their battle attire.

So far (as of 23/09/21), we’ve only see Wedding Apple and Wedding Cherry transform. For reference, I’ve typed out the Japanese text for each call and my own basic approximation of their romanization.

Wedding Apple’s Transformation Calls

Manifestation of Lovely Angel Apple! マニフェステイション・オブ・ラブリィ・エンゼル・アップル!

Oiro Naoshi! A Bride's Change of Costume! お色直し! ア・ブライズ ・チェンジ・オブ・コスチューム!

Wedding Cherry’s Transformation Calls

Manifestation of Faithful Angel Cherry! マニフェステイション・オブ ・ フェイスフル・エンゼル・チェリー!

Oiro Naoshi! A Bride's Change of Costume! お色直し! ア・ブライズ ・チェンジ・オブ・コスチューム!

These are in no way official and if I’ve messed anything up just let me know. I’m not an expert re: this series or the Japanese language by any stretch of the imagination, but I am totally looking forward to seeing what transformation calls will be used for the remaining angels!

[hotwaterandmilk]

We finally got Wedding Cherry in this week’s third part of the "Wedding Cherry Tanjou!” arc in Ai Tenshi Seiki Wedding Apple! Sakura’s feelings about her parents’ complicated relationship make her vulnerable to the devils, but ultimately Ringo gets her through the situation. When she quietly thanked Ringo at the end I was like ;o;. For Sakura, that’s progress.

Anyway it was nice to see Apple team up with someone, finally. Really hoping for a bit more on the devils as this goes on to help build up the mythology.  I’ll be interested to see what happens in the new “Marriage Blue” arc next week.