Sugar Sugar Rune
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or Sugar² Rune is a Japanese magical girl
manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
series written and illustrated by
Moyoco Anno is a Japanese manga artist and fashion writer, with numerous books published in both categories. Her work ''Sugar Sugar Rune'' won the Kodansha manga award for children in 2005. Anno is married to director Hideaki Anno of '' Neon Genesis Evan ...
and serialized in the ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''
Nakayoshi is a monthly ''shōjo'' manga magazine published by Kodansha in Japan. First issued in December 1954, it is a long-running magazine with over 60 years of manga publication history. Notable titles serialized in Nakayoshi include ''Princess Knight ...
'' from September 2003 to May 2007. The series was collected into eight volumes published by
Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...
from September 2003 to May 2007. ''Sugar Sugar Rune'' was adapted into an
anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
television series produced by
Studio Pierrot is a Japanese animation studio established in May 1979 by former employees of both Tatsunoko Production and Mushi Production. Its headquarters are located in Mitaka, Tokyo. Pierrot is renowned for several worldwide popular anime series, such as ...
, which aired on
TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...
from July 2, 2005 to June 24, 2006. ''Sugar Sugar Rune'' won the 29th
Kodansha Manga Award is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, the event is sponsored by the publisher Kodansha. It is currently awarded in three categories: '' shōnen'', '' shōjo'', and general. The awards began in 1977, initially w ...
s in the children's manga category.


Plot

In the Magical World, the future queen is chosen by selecting two young witches and sending them to the Human World, where they'll compete to capture the hearts of boys. Whoever has collected the most by the end of the competition is crowned queen. This generation's Queen Candidates are best friends and polar opposites Vanilla Mieux and Chocolat Meilleure, the daughters of the current queen and her former competitor (respectively). They're aided by their assigned mentor and guardian, pop idol witch Rockin' Robin, and their two animal familiars, Blanca the mouse and Duke the frog. But the girls have more to deal with than just competing for hearts at school. There's something weird about the cool, mysterious middle school boy Pierre, who resembles the evil king Glace—and he seems to be after Chocolat. Now, both trapped within their own new goals, the two witches must fight their way and retain a friendship which no magic can defeat.


Characters

; : : Chocolat is a beautiful and very energetic girl with a forceful personality. She is best friends with Vanilla and is the daughter of the so called, ''late'' witch Cinnamon. She has long orange hair, large emerald green eyes, and pointy ears. In the human world, she is not as popular as Vanilla since her temper makes most boys wary, but she is able to make friends with them instead. Her energetic and cheerful personality makes her very popular in the Magical World, and at the beginning of the series she finds the switch between her and Vanilla's popularity in the human world harrowing. She is very caring and a loyal friend, but she can be very aggressive and prideful. She is secretly in love with Pierre. Her familiar is a lazy but powerful frog named Duke. In her world, she lives with her grandfather, Corne, a powerful wizard who, like Chocolat, has a certain dislike for Blanca. As the series progresses, Chocolat and Pierre develop feelings for each other and (in the anime) end up exchanging hearts and sharing their first kisses. In the anime, she loses the queen contest but Vanilla gives up the throne (making Chocolat Queen). In the manga, Chocolat and Pierre went missing and lost their memories which made them return a few years later, for Vanilla's coronation. Her Theme Color is Pink. ; : : Vanilla is a beautiful, shy and gentle girl. Best friends with Chocolat, she is the daughter of Queen Candy. Blanca is her familiar. She has short blond curly hair, purple eyes, and pointy ears. Because of her compassion, empathy, and cuteness, she is more popular than Chocolat with human boys, which leads Chocolat to believe that the Human World and the Magic World are opposites. Vanilla was less popular in the Magical World than Chocolat, due to her shy personality. Vanilla is also more conscientious, and more dutiful than Chocolat. However, in the third volume Chocolat is able to beat her in getting hearts sometimes. About midway through the series, Vanilla feels insecure and inferior to Chocolat and becomes Ogre Princess due to Pierre's trickery. Chocolat is able to save her. In the anime, Vanilla wins the crown but gives it to Chocolat. In the last volume of the manga, Vanilla wins the right to be Queen, but refuses to take the crown. She finally accepts the crown because Chocolat is missing. After Chocolat is found, she still retains her position as Queen upon Chocolat's wish. She ends up with Houx. Her Theme Color is Purple. ; : : Rockin' Robin is the mentor of Vanilla and Chocolat. He also records their progress in stealing hearts. He is a popular rock star in the Human World ("Rockin' Robin" and "Rock'n Lovin'" have the same spelling in katakana). Although he may seem a bit rude, he has a caring heart, although he rarely displays it. According to Blanca, Robin is actually 6800 years old and uses facial masks to retain a youthful appearance. He seems to be particularly afraid of sharp objects. In the manga, he sacrifices himself for Chocola in the final battle. ; : : Duke is a red and black striped frog who is the Chocolat's familiar. He helps her steal hearts, but isn't much help at the beginning. He has a rivalry with Blanca. Mostly, he is quite lazy and rude, and has an extensive knowledge about hearts, which proves useful later. Duke is actually Chocolat's uncle, the little brother of Cinnamon, who was transformed into a frog. He tells Queen Candy that he turned himself into a frog to pose as a familiar, as he was wanted by the authorities after he concealed Cinnamon when she was on the run. However, his transformation worked too well, and his magical power as a familiar became too weak to allow him to transform back. At the end of Volume 6 he is returned to his human form via a white heart. ; : : Blanca is a magical mouse and the familiar of Vanilla. In the story, she helps Vanilla win at first. She enjoys teasing Chocolat, Duke, and almost anyone who annoys her. She also likes tea parties with her mice friends. Chocolat calls her "Rat". Even though she has a very bitter relationship with Chocolat, there are times when she can show her soft side towards her. In the manga, she was originally a witch named Libbie who ran a salon in the Magical World, but was turned into a familiar when she fell in love with a human and lost her heart. She is turned back into her original form with the power of Pierre's (now white) heart. ; : : Pierre is a popular and handsome boy at Chocolat's school, but he has a cold heart, and is not as innocent as he looks. He's the captain of the fencing and tennis teams of the school and has a fan club of beautiful but cruel and cold junior-high student girls known as 'The Members', who dislike Chocolat being near their Prince. His magical ability is high, as well as his physical strength and capability. Almost nobody can resist his charisma and charm, and many human girls in Chocolat's school are in love with him. He has white blonde hair and ice blue eyes, and is taller than most people in his class. : It is discovered in Volume 2, that Pierre is also from the magical world when he almost takes Chocolat's heart. When he was a little boy the ogres kidnapped him and made him the Ogre Prince, so he didn't choose becoming that and wasn't born as an Ogre. As the story goes on, Pierre begins to fall in love with Chocolat, as does she. He has huge feelings for her and claims that he doesn't know why he can not leave her alone and "involuntarily" risks his life to save her many times. Pierre's noir heart conflicts with a pink heart. In the anime, they exchange hearts. In the manga, Pierre and Chocolat go missing for years after the last battle, with severe amnesia. Once they regain their memories, they manage to be in time for Vanilla's coronation and reunite with her, as well as their other friends. They depart to the humans' world to start a new life, and Pierre's heart is shown to be red for Chocolat. ; and : Twin brothers who are close childhood friends with Chocolat and Vanilla from the Magical World. They both have quite brash personalities that can sometimes land them into trouble. They both come to the Human World as new students in Chocolat and Vanilla's school to protect them. Both of them have a strong liking towards Chocolat, arguing about who will be Chocolat's King when she gets the crown. Turns out that Houx fell in love with Vanilla. ; : The Queen of the Magical World and Vanilla's mother. Even though Vanilla's mother is a queen, she kept a careful eye on the Queen Candidate and the Queen Candidacy so that the ogres could not interfere again. In the anime, she loses the Queen Candidacy, but after the sacrifice made by Cinnamon for the Magical World, the throne was given to her after replacing Cinnamon's place. In the manga, she sacrifices herself at the end to help Chocola defeat Glacé, acknowledging Chocolat as the Magical World's Queen. ; : Chocolat's mother and a famous witch. She was a previous Queen Candidate along with Candy Mieux, she won the candidacy, however she sacrificed the throne for the freedom to save the Magic World. Under circumstances not clearly explained in the manga, Cinnamon went to visit Glacé, the grand duke of darkness, while Candy took over as queen. In Volume 7, it is revealed that Cinnamon had Chocolat around this time, and that Chocolat's father is the King of the Ogres himself. Cinnamon was actually Pierre's familiar who had her voice taken away. Cinnamon fights against Glacé at the end of Volume 8, but stays behind with him as he fades away. She is disguised as a black cat that Pierre is sometimes seen with. In the last episode, when the queen is decided, she asks Robin and Glacier to help her take care of Chocolat. It is said that Cinnamon and Candy were friends during the Queen candidacy. Candy never collected hearts no matter how popular she was. Some say she intentionally did that, feeling that Cinnamon would make the better Queen. ; : Waffle's an anime only character, an immature but kind young witch girl that's always trying to get Houx's affection. In the series, she always caused trouble during the adventures of Chocolat and others. At the start, she has a certain dislike for Chocolat, for that reason she'll steal Houx from her. She's always accompanied by her devoted nanny and travels around in a huge squirrel-looking flying animal.


Media


Manga

The eight-volume manga was written and illustrated by Moyoco Anno. In comparison to the anime, which ended before its serialization in Nakayoshi, the manga more strongly emphasizes the struggle between the witches and the ogres. It was initially published in English by
Del Rey Manga Del Rey Manga was the manga-publishing imprint of Del Rey Books, a branch of Ballantine Books, which in turn is part of Random House, the publishing division of Bertelsmann. History Del Rey Manga was formed as part of a cross-publishing rela ...
, but
Udon Entertainment Udon Entertainment Corp. is a Canadian art studio and publisher. The company publishes original and translated comic books, graphic novels, manga and art books related to anime and video games. It was founded in 2000 and is named after udo ...
currently has the rights.


Anime

In 2005, ''Sugar Sugar Rune'' was adapted into an anime television series produced by
Studio Pierrot is a Japanese animation studio established in May 1979 by former employees of both Tatsunoko Production and Mushi Production. Its headquarters are located in Mitaka, Tokyo. Pierrot is renowned for several worldwide popular anime series, such as ...
under the direction of Matsushita Yukihiro. Consisting of fifty-one episodes with scripts composed by
Reiko Yoshida is a Japanese screenwriter. She has written and supervised numerous screenplays for anime series, live-action dramas and films. Her major works include ''Kaleido Star'', ''Aria'', ''Maria-sama ga Miteru'', '' D.Gray-man'', ''K-On!'', ''Bakuman' ...
and music by Yasufumi Fukuda, Yutaka Minobe, Tomoko Sasaki and
Yasuharu Konishi is a Japanese musician, composer and DJ. He was a founding member of Pizzicato Five Pizzicato Five (formerly typeset as Pizzicato V and sometimes abbreviated to P5)Yang Jeff, Dina Can, Terry Hong, (1997) ''Eastern Standard Time'' pg 277 N ...
(only the latter is credited in the opening and staff list of the anime, however), the series was broadcast on
TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...
in Japan between July 2, 2005 and June 24, 2006. Three pieces of
theme music Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...
are used—one opening theme and two closing themes. The opening theme is by Karia Nomoto. The closing theme for the first twenty-nine episodes is by Karia Nomoto and the last twenty episodes is by the series starring voice actresses
Marika Matsumoto is a Japanese actress. From 2001 and 2003, she was known as "Mini Stop-chan", acting as the mascot for the Ministop convenience store chain commercials in Japan. She is the owner of a unique voice and has held a recital with upcoming star Satos ...
and Juri Ibata.


Reception

''Sugar Sugar Rune'' won the 29th
Kodansha Manga Award is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, the event is sponsored by the publisher Kodansha. It is currently awarded in three categories: '' shōnen'', '' shōjo'', and general. The awards began in 1977, initially w ...
s in the children's manga category. It was called "the greatest fantasy comic of the last five years" by an
Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...
reviewer, who praised its stylish art and epic conclusion.


References


External links


Official anime website
* {{Nakayoshi 2003 manga 2005 Japanese television series debuts 2006 Japanese television series endings Japanese children's animated television series Del Rey Manga Kodansha manga Magical girl anime and manga Moyoco Anno Witchcraft in television Odex Shōjo manga Pierrot (company) TVB TV Tokyo original programming Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (Children)