Peach Boy Riverside anime released episode 1 last Thursday, and some manga fans noticed that it’s a bit different from the manga. For one, the start is not the same and the entire chapter 1 was skipped and we didn’t meet a pretty important character. However, it’s not a matter of cutting, but rather an intentional decision by the director, Shigeru Ueda. He spoke about it in an interview with Animate Times, among several other things. The most important thing is that the shuffle was carefully planned, and that it will not affect the enjoyment of the original story.
The things that were changed were just chronological, and we will see everything in future episodes. To be precise, what we saw in episode 2 were chapters 2 & 3. Episode 4 will include the first manga chapter. Some scenes from the manga were also removed in the 1st episode to avoid potential spoilers. Although we’re sure to see them soon as well.
The main reason for why the Peach Boy Riverside anime had a different start from the manga is the fact that the manga is ongoing. When they were deciding the story, the manga was only between volumes 6 and 7. That means that the anime would have ended halfway through if they were to adapt it up to that point. He said that it was also hard to do the same thing in the anime. In the manga, the point of view changed from Mikoto to Sally after the first chapter.
He thought that most of the staff expected Mikoto to be the main character. However, for the anime, suddenly changing the perspective could confuse watchers. So he instead tried to think about how to make Sally the main character.
The reason he wanted to make Sally the main character was because he thought the story truly begins when Sally meets Frau. He also said that he always wanted to do the shuffle after being tasked with the anime. “But it’s very difficult and the problem is how to explain it to the viewers.” Still, he would have ditched the idea if the original creators were against it. But they weren’t, and a Kodansha staff member thought it was interesting.
There was also the idea of an original ending, but he didn’t want to do it. He said that ever since he was a young fan, he wanted to see anime as drawn in the manga. The people on the original creator’s side were open to letting him do whatever he thought was best, and would have been fine with an original ending, but he still didn’t want to do it.
Lastly, he said that he thinks that readers will be able to understand the logic and appreciate the shuffle. In addition, some people thought the story was easier to understand in the new version. What’s most important is that the content will all be included, regardless of the order we’ll consume it. The anime will have 12 episodes, and it’s streaming on Crunchyroll.
You can check out the synopsis:
“This is a tale that took place long ago. There once lived an old man and an old woman. The old man went into the woods to cut down some grass and the old woman went to the river to… (You know the rest.) The ogres had finally been defeated, but apparently, there were more ogres living elsewhere, so Peach Boy crossed the sea… It was an amazing feat to defeat the ogres and a joyous feat that Peach Boy saved many lives. But the one thing that went wrong… Was that they had fun. This is nothing more than a “What if”… What if there was more than one peach that tumbled down the river?
There’s also a trailer you can watch in case you’re not convinced:
Lastly, viewers in Japan who would prefer to watch the series in chronological order will be able to do that. d Anime Store will air the anime in both the broadcast order and correct chronological order. Again, the Peach Boy Riverside anime will only be different from the manga in terms of when we see certain scenes, and we can expect it all to make sense by the end.
Source: Animate Times via Anime News Network, Crunchyroll Collection YouTube Channel
©Coolkyousinnjya /Johanne/Kodansha/”Peach Boy Riverside” Production Committee
