A fun twist on an old tale with interesting characters to follow. I can see why people have been talking about this title!

I think the beginning of the manga was kind of weak for me because it didn't fully convince me at all, We are just starting to follow these two main characters who are the opposite from each other, but there is something that is connecting them together. The black-haired boy comes to this kingdom to defeat the monsters and ends up befriending the princess while she was trying to run off. She wants to go on adventures and she decides that she will him, but that doesn't really happen when she ends up fainting after seeing the corpses of the monsters. I think that as the volumes continue to be out, the more I will be interested in the characters. I wanna see what this peach thing is in the book since I am super confused at the moment.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5. Stars
I loved it. Demon slayer but in the medieval or eto era, so my kind of manga there are adventures, monsters, ogres, mysterious crazy characters with some strange powers and a lot of fights that end so fast. The ending of this volume was amazing! What's going to happen in the next volume? I just need to know!!

A crazy world were monsters are roeming the countryside destroying city after city and the humans have to hide behind high, strong walls. Our heroine the princess of the Kingdom of Aldraic, Sartrienne Aldraic, dreams of traveling the world when she meets with a strange traveler Mikoto who is in reality a ruthless demon-slayer called Momotaro. Will Sartrienne be able to follow him or would she stay hidden behind the walls of her city and just keep dreaming about the world beyond?

Peach Boy Riverside, Vol. 1 is the start of a new series, written by coolkyousinnjya and illustrated by Johanne. It's also one of the odder and more entertaining series I've read recently, with several surprises mixed in.

Sartrienne Aldriac is a princess who desperately wants to get out of her kingdom and explore the world. She almost got her chance when a bunch of monsters came to destroy her kingdom, as her father would rather she run than face what was to come.

Instead of losing her family and kingdom, she watched as an odd sort of hero stepped up to face the monsters. Only, Momomtaro may not have the most altruistic intentions in mind.

Peach Boy Riverside, Vol. 1 is not a series afraid of gore – I can tell you that much. Part of the premise (or so it felt to me) was the line between hero and monster. The hero in this tale revels in all things blood and gore – though thankfully, he keeps his bloodlust focused on monsters (for the moment).

This tale is apparently inspired by classic Japanese folklore, in which a boy is born from a peach, only to rise up and battle ogres. You can see the connection in the title and a bit in Momotaro's origin.

But honestly? It mostly feels like its own being. I feel like it's important to emphasize the 'inspired' part of that description because it certainly doesn't follow the same path. Or focus.
There's a surprise third character introduced into this mix. I won't spoil her introduction or any of that. But I will say that I surprised myself by enjoying her presence far more than I expected.

This title hinted at it being a retelling of an older story, I know nothing of the older story. This title is about a princess who wishes to go on a journey and get away from her kingdom and see the world. She comes across a traveler on one of her attempts to escape the kingdom and they become friends. A group of ogres show up and threaten the kingdom and the princess's new friend takes them all out with no trouble and disappears. The princess denounces her title, cuts her hair and says goodbye to her father and starts off on her adventure. Along the way she befriends a demihuman rabbit. Turns out most people in the area are afraid of humans because they can be as strong as monsters. The princess can't help but want to help the demihuman and they become friends. This was an interesting start to an adventure story. It seems like the princess and the traveler she encountered in the beginning will cross paths again. The demihuman was a nice character as well. There was some development and the illustrations were easy to follow.

I went into reading this first volume blind and just found the cover to be cute.
We get to meet a spunky yet hard-headed princess from the start of the story who wants to go on an adventure after meeting a pretty person.

I like how we were able to know early that the pretty person she met was actually a guy.
There's also lots of fantastical creatures here and I was not expecting that to be present here.

If you do not care about some tropey hard-headed princess with her 'yandere'-ish company, you'll probably like this series. Great way to start the story btw that lets us know what we're in for in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha for an e-ARC.

I was confused at it at first but as the story progressed,the more I found myself enjoying it. I think this story has a great potential and the unanswered questions it left us concerning the main character and traveller boy and his dog made me more curious to find out what's coming next. That cliffhanger at the end gave me aot,tokyo ghoul etc vibes which oof I'm so down for! Frankly, I think this story can turn into a pretty good anime so someone please make it happen

This book is about a princess that want to explore the world but her father don’t let her because outside the walls, there are a lot of demons and it’s very dangerous.

This is only the first volume but what’s quite interesting, it was addictive and I’m curious about that final, in general it was ok this first volume. Mikoto was quite interesting and the princess, I wonder how she did what she did at the final.

Saltherine is a princess who dreams of going on an adventure. Her father won’t let her leave because their kingdom is filled with dangerous monsters. A traveller, Mikoto, enters the kingdom and becomes friends with Saltherine. After monsters attack and Mikoto manages to stop them all single-handedly, he leaves. Saltherine decides to stand up to her father, and rejecting her title goes off on an adventure of her own.

I really enjoyed this manga. The story flows so nicely and I ended up reading the first volume in one sitting. It feels a little like One Piece with Aladdin mixed in. The art style is really nice and clear. As usual with this genre of manga, there’s a lot of humour and it’s very charming.

The characters are great. When Saltherine’s journey starts she meets a demi-human, Frau, who is half-human and half-hare. They’re a fun combination and it’s entertaining to see them go on an adventure together and bond.

The manga feels very short, even though it is the usual 200ish page length. It flies by and before you know it, the first volume is over. I’m glad volume 2 is close to release so I can pick that up as soon as possible. It’s a charming and feel good adventure.

Peach Boy Riverside may not be the best manga off all time, it’s not breaking any new ground, but it’s definitely a good read. It’s full of great imagination, characters and the story flows nicely. I’m looking forward to reading more of this.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kodansha Comics, and Coolkyousinnjya for the opportunity to read this manga in exchange for an honest review.

This manga wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but it was certainly interesting.

Sally, a princess, just wants to go on an adventure. When she meets someone after running away from the palace, she soon finds out that he is Momotaro the Peach Boy, a demon slayer of legend. After he slays a bunch of ogres, Sally isn't sure she is cut out for the violence. After some resolve, she cuts of her heir and follows in his footsteps, going out on an adventure and trying to seek him again.

The second part of the story has Sally encounter Frau, a demihuman rabbit girl. Apparently demihumans are seen as the enemy, just like other monsters, but Frau is different. She is kind and fights for her new human friend, Sally. Sally still wants to find the Peach Boy again, and in the process, learns she might be a demon slayer in her own right.

This was an interesting and fun manga. Those into the demon-slayer genre may find enjoyment out of this one. The world is interesting and seems that it will have a lot more depth to its politics and conflicts as the story progresses.

Something about this seems a bit all over the place. Overall, this seems like an intriguing series opener, but I don't know if there is quite enough to entice me to continue on with it. Time will tell....

Edited to add: The oddness of the Peach Boy reference continued to nag at me, so I dove a bit deeper and my brilliant husband somehow remembered a Japanese tale of Momotaro, the Peach Boy, and his visit to the Island of Ogres. Reading a version of this children's folktale did help me understand and appreciate this story a bit better. I'm going to up this a star because context is everything.

Firstly, I would like to thank Netgalley and Kodansha for providing me with an e-arc of the book.
This review is based on my personal opinion and enjoyment of the book.

Rating: 3.8/5 stars

The story follows princess of Kingdom of Aldarake, Princess Saltherine (Sally) who wants to travel the world outside of her palace with the high walls surrounded her kingdom. This is because monsters and ogres roamed outside of the kingdom so the high walls acted as barrier and protection to the place. But she encountered a traveler named Mikoto by chance when she was on a run from palace guards and unexpectedly witnessed this traveler slayed ogres in front of her. Turned out Mikoto is a demon slayer with amazing ability known as Momotaro . However, instead of feels terrified by the gore scene of ogres being slayed, she found the strength to step out of the palace to pursue the journey of travelling the world and find the mysterious boy.

This is an interesting mix of fantasy with classic folklore. Momotaro, a japanese folklore of a boy born from peach found by an elderly couple. The settings of this story is in old era of the past which have similar vibes to Attack on Titan but less subtle and less gore. We have diverse creatures, ogres, monsters and demi-humans which appeared during Sally's journey. So far, the story is building into an epic adventure but for now, in this volume we didn't get much information about the world building.

The characters are a mixed bag to me. I think Sally is an independent character, she's not afraid of anything, she's resourceful despite living in the castle her whole life , also she's very helpful to others. She help Frau, a demi-human with a rabbit head and Frau is such a loyal creature. Her loyalty to Sally is everything, she's definitely my favourite character. Mikoto is obviously very strong and well known as a demon slayer as most monsters are afraid of him but we didn't get to see of him much so there are still so may questions on his background and his traits as a character.

The storyline moved fast and we get to see the village outside of the palace. The story is packed with action and fight scenes. However, so many things are still left unanswered and this is because its first volume so we are still not familiar with the world yet, why there are monsters, why human hates demi-human so much, how does Momotaro's power works?

Also, at the end of this volume there is a twist and its definitely gets interesting so I'm looking forward to read the next installment. Highly recommended to those who enjoy action-packed manga

Once there was a boy who was born from a peach and he fought some ogres. A classic of Japanese folklore, somebody is probably mouth agape in their grave wondering how said story went from that to this.

I had absolutely no expectations for this book going in, having seen stills of the anime and raised a disinterested eyebrow at what was on offer there. And this book sure features some bloodthirsty characters. And some ogres.

By the time a literal bunny girl in a sailor suit shows up, you can assume this book has the internal consistency of a dormitory cafeteria on chimichanga night. Still, I give this book a lot of credit for not even pretending to care about this fashion choice - don’t excuse, just roll with it!

So I liked this, actually, and it was kind of a fun bit of shonen. It treats the peach boy legend with about as much respect as Evangelion manages to do with Christianity, so fair play to spreading the love there. And I really don’t know squat about the legend and I still enjoyed it.

The titular peach boy is currently the object of pursuit from some of our other leads and we see him doing precious little except killing ogres and enjoying the hell out of it. I have to imagine that he’ll get a little more fleshing out later.

Our main entry point to this world, as a consequence, is actually Princess Sally, who encounters our boy and sees his somewhat alarming zeal for ogre offing. I do like that she kind of gets traumatized by this, but is able to overcome and use it to push herself forward on a journey.

Sally’s actually part of why this book works for me - she’s determined and not stupid, perhaps a little naive, and turns out to be a real positive force when the chips are down. I like the way that what originally looks like some serious PTSD ends up being something far different.

The other part is Frau, the aforementioned bunny girl. Initially a walking advertisement for getting enough beta carotene, she ends up being used as part of an examination of discrimination that might not break any new ground, but was a lot better than just cast her as, say, a bit of fluff (sorry) with no point.

Toss in a couple of decent fights and some violence and a random smattering of danger with some occasional humour and you have something that isn’t particularly novel but didn’t feel like a waste of time either. It’s fantasy trappings are done well enough (minus an inexplicable wardrobe), it treats its leads with respect, and can balance its action with some not unwelcome morality.

3 stars, possibly 3.5 depending on what part of the book I’m thinking about. I suspect I’ll read more of this - it’s low watt shonen that doesn’t especially excel but also doesn’t turn into a slog either, making for a nice, even ride. Sometimes a little consistency is all you need.

This is a very good start to a wonderful story.
I really struggled during the first chapter because of the main character, but I am very happy of her character development.
I wish that we had more backstory on all of the characters, but in the end this is only an introduction.
As far for the translation I don't speack japanese, so I can't really talk about it.

This was an action packed manga full of self-discovery, monsters, friendship and a look into why being different has its own advantages.

I was a bit wary during the first chapter because our main character seemed to be a sort of stuck up princess so I was really glad to see her character development as this volume went on. It felt a bit rushed at first but by the last page, I really liked her and her journey, which just made me want to pick up the next volume as soon as possible.

This series has so much potential to be full of found family and full of a team pairing up to rid the world of monsters in epic ways. Mikoto’s energy when he kills monsters… I love it! I can’t wait to get my hands on more of this story.

3/5⭐️

TW: blood, gore, beheading, violence.

Um what? I need the next volume what's even going on?

So it started with a restless princess whose been wanting to travel and before an attempted break out meets a traveler who pretty much stirs up more of her restless spirit. Outside of the safety of the village is monster, ogres and demi humans and unsafe for any one to roam. Traveler leaves quiet a bloody impression and she ends up leaving to travel on her own.

This book has such an eventful start. Pretty random at times but interesting none the less. It defiantly peaked my interest in wanting to see more of it. I mean I thought the princess was a bit of a brat at first and can see she just needed to get out of her very boring world it was interesting seeing her navigate the world as a new traveler and what happens on her journey. Thing is what the heck was that ending? Like what is going on. I'll defiantly be fallowing along more cause I'm curious what's in store for the next volume!

This is such a weird, random story. I'm not certain entirely what is going on. I feel like maybe a page or two was missing or just the translation was slightly off because there were two cases where the story felt like it jumped oddly during some action scenes when exposition was being given, and we missed something. Pages 46-47 especially felt like there was a whole page or two just completely gone.

That being said, this is an interesting set-up. It's your classic story of humans in a fantasy-esque world beset by monsters that hate them, and there's a ton of xenophobia between the monsters and the humans. The main character wants to explore the world and meet new people, and a foreign traveler arrives at her city to kinda spark her eventual journey. So, nothing unique, but I like the princess's character a lot. She has a lot of agency and is very willing to work hard to get where she wants. She's caring and sweet and snarky.

I have questions regarding the powers of the "Peach Boy" or whatever it's called because, again, I feel like things were left out or not explained well--not sure if pages are gone or things weren't translated correctly--because certain plot points were super confusing and sudden. They make the story interesting, but I wish I had more context.

All-in-all, an enjoyable first book in a new series that shows a lot of promise.

So after i read this, I did look into the Japanese Folktale of Momotaru more. There is potential here but I feel I don't know too much about the characters as the story moves along from one thing happening to the next. I am assuming Saltherine (Sally) has some type of power similar to Mikoto as one of her eyes looks to have a peach in it toward the end of volume 1 when she fights an ogre, as her behavior changes too like Mikoto.I am curious how the rest of the series will continue.


Quick summary:
Princess Saltherine tries to escape the palace to start her journey; during her attempt, she has a traveler (mikoto)help her hide from the guards. She then invited him to the palace so she can hear of his travels. While their talking, an ogre meets with the king proposing he gives 30 sacrifices a month or they will destroy the kingdom. This ogre then spots Mikoto and cancel the plans but another ogre (Moki) wants to fight him. In the end , Mikoto slays them all and continues his journey with his dog. A month passes and the princess decides to start her journey, right off the bat she comes across a harefolk (Frau). They come across some challenges as Frau is a demihuman and they encounter a couple ogres.

This take on the classical Japanese Folktale has a fantasy spin, the art style is vastly different from what I’ve gotten used to in reading from coolkyousinnjya, but with this story that the writer is trying to tell, this was is a good fit. The pacing is fast for a first volume but when dealing with either television pilots or first volumes it’s forgivable, while it may have some similar elements to Attack on Titan this gives the reader similar action when it comes to battling monsters, ogres, but with more humor and optimism to it. The characters are designed well but do offer fan service but unlike most stories that have fan service, this focused more on the story and its premise thankfully. One thing is recommended when checking out this series is that you need to be familiar with this folktale to get a good grasp on the manga’s premise.

(TW:- Violence,Blood)
Genre:- Adventure, Fantasy

Thank you to NetGalley & Kodansha for the e-arc of this manga.

Artstyle:- 5/5 ⭐️
Plot:- 4/5 ⭐️
Characters:- 5/5 ⭐️
Overall Rate:- 4.5/5 ⭐️

Peach Boy Riverside is a new piece from the creator of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid (the anime is available on Netflix). The settings of the manga takes off from the Japanese folklore, Momotaro who is a popular hero that defeat bunch of oni (demons/ogres).Momotaro is a boy borned from a peach that found by an elderly couples.

The manga features Princess Saltherine (Sally) of a kingdom called Kingdom Aldarake. Sally always yearn for adventure outside of her kingdom walls as she feels her village is boring till one day, she met a traveller named Mikoto while on a run from her palace guards. She assume Mikoto is a friendly and weak traveller but little did she know, Mikoto is actually a great demon slayer until Mikoto chopped off all the oni that trying to invade Kingdom Aldarake. From that incident, she made up her mind and set off for an adventure, exploring the world with her new demi-human friend (Frau).

What I love about this manga are the artstyle and the plot. I love how it is relating the story to the Japanese folklore, Momotaro. No wonder the title is Peach Boy, I didn’t see it coming actually. At first you’ll find it confusing on the weird title and weird character name but towards the end you kind of understand why the title is like that as it relates to Momotaro. Somehow I also feel it kind of smiliar with Attack on Titan but much more more lighter than AOT. AOT is very dark, gory and lots of violence but as for Peach Boy here, it have humour and more positive. I am lloking forward to read Volume 2 and ride in adventure with Sally and her friend. I also the twist at the end of the volume too 🤪.

If you like adventure, fantasy and a bit gory manga, this is the one for you.