Peach Fuzz

Peach Fuzz is a three-volume English-language manga written and drawn by the team of Lindsay Cibos and Jared Hodges. It was recognized as a grand-prized winner of Tokyo Pop's "Rising Stars of Manga" competition in 2004.

A young girl named Amanda Keller is determined to get herself a ferret as a pet, an animal she adores because it's cute, fuzzy, and exotic (as opposed to cats, dogs, birds, fish, and other "common" house pets). After a short disagreement with her mother, she is eventually allowed to go to the pet shop and purchase the ferret, which she names "Peach".

Peach is the imaginative and irritable type, and tends to bite its new owner whenever she moves in to be petted. She perceives the human world as some sort of medieval fantasy, and Amanda's hand as a "handra" out to cause her harm. This causes all sorts of problems for the duo in the real world. Throughout the story, Amanda tries to learn how to take care of her pet and get it to warm up to her before her mother takes it back to the pet shop in exchange for a "less dangerous" animal.


 * All There in the Manual: A lot of more in-depth details about the characters can be found in the back of volumes 1 and 2.
 * Animesque: The series originated in the Rising Stars of Manga, of course.
 * Companion Cube: Mr. Fuzzy, plus any other toys Peach views as alive. Pavaratty's microphone could also count.
 * Dark-Skinned Blond: Amanda's friend Mimi.
 * Imagine Spot: The parts of the story told from Peach's point of view, where she is a benevolent knight protecting herself and her "kingdom" against the vicious "handra" monster.
 * Since Peach spends her whole life in one big Imagine Spot, a more tradition example might be her vision of the "ferret prince" visiting her.
 * Left Hanging: A lot of little hints at bigger emotional dilemmas in the humans' lives were dropped, but the story focused mostly on Peach's adventures and is only three volumes long, so most of these potential side-stories weren't fully developed.
 * Mood Whiplash: The majority of the manga is fairly lighthearted, but interspersed throughout the story are some potentially upsetting scenes. Top prize goes to Edwin's memories of his past, but also of note are the Shadow Ferret Clan and the parents' stressed reactions to various events (for example, Kim's mother weeping over her daughter's selfishness).
 * Title Drop: Sort of. Amanda names her ferret because it reminded her of a "fuzzy peach".
 * Weasel Mascot: The ferrets, in the eyes of Amanda and her friends.