Sugar Sugar Rune, Volume 1

シュガシュガルーン [Sugar Sugar Rune] #1

by Moyoco Anno

QUEEN OF HEARTS

Little witch-girls Chocolat and Vanilla are best friends, but only one of them can be Queen of the Magic World. To determine who deserves the title, they must go to the Human World and enter a strange competition. Whoever attracts the most human boys . . . wins!

Here’s how it When a boy falls for a witch-girl, she utters a few mystic words and the boy’s heart will be hers in jewel-like form. It may sound simple, but winning hearts is tricky business. While Chocolat had no problem enticing witch-boys with her forthright personality, human boys seem to be drawn to shy and modest girls like Vanilla. And to make matters worse, Chocolat is finding herself increasingly drawn to the cool and mysterious Pierre–who feels nothing for her! The girls had planned to be best friends forever, but both of them want to be Queen. Will their rivalry ruin their friendship?

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Romance, Comics, Graphic Novels, Shojo, Witches

216 pages, Paperback

First published March 23, 2004

About the author

See also: 安野モヨコ

Moyoko Anno (安野 モヨコ) is a Japanese manga artist and a fashion writer, with numerous books published in both categories. Her manga and books have attained considerable popularity among young women in Japan. Though she primarily writes manga of the josei demographic, her most popular series, Sugar Sugar Rune, (serialized in Nakayoshi) is targeted at primary school-aged girls. In a recent Oricon poll, she was voted the number eight most popular manga artist among females and thirteen in the general category. Her manga Happy Mania was made into a television series in 1998, followed by Hataraki Man in October 2007. Sakuran was made into a movie in 2006.
In the movie Japan Sinks, she has a cameo role alongside her husband; their characters were also married. The movie was directed by Shinji Higuchi, who, like her husband Hideaki Anno, is a co-founder of Gainax.

Anno won the 29th Kodansha Manga Award for children's manga in 2005 for Sugar Sugar Rune.

Visit her blog: http://www.annomoyoco.com/blog/

Reviews

[K aren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seemingly cute and geared toward young girls, Sugar Sugar Rune is the story of two young witches, Chocolat and Vanilla sent to the human world. Once there, they are to compete against one another in winning more human boy hearts to win the title of Queen of the Magic World. Chocolat and Vanilla are best friends as well as rivals but where Chocolat is bold and defiant, Vanilla is shy and timid. Let the romance begin!

Sugar Sugar Rune is definitely not what it seems. On the outside it looks to be a typical magic-girl type series, falling in line with stories such as Cardcaptor Sakura or the more popular Sailor Moon, geared toward young girls. The artwork isn't groundbreaking, and tends to follow the shoujo pattern of big eyes and excessive girly screen tones, but by no means is the art bad. On the flip side, it's actually quite charming and chic in its choice of fashion and character design. At the same time, the magic girl aspects are quite standard, with spells and wands cast and bought to obtain hearts. Pretty boys with long haired fringes and mysterious love rivals a la mode.

However, I was pleasantly surprised at how much deeper Sugar Sugar Rune strikes the heart, and how much better it really this than what it seems. The main plot device, the competition to win boys' hearts, actually evolves into something quite endearing. Sugar Sugar Rune takes a simple storyline and develops it further, adding sincere scenes on the basics of love: from the painful first heartbreak to the honey sweet flavor of mutual love, and hints on to unrequited love. The girls, Chocolat and Vanilla are actually quite mature and insightful for their age, especially Chocolat. She recognizes love as fleeting, and the values of friendship early on after trying (unsuccessfully) to obtain a high leveled heart. Actually, Sugar Sugar Rune is simply so sincere in its portrayal of childhood love, that it is absolutely endearing to anybody - young or old, male or female, reminiscent of their elementary school crushes.

Sugar Sugar Rune may not be the most original or beautiful manga out there, and neither it is the most poignant, but it sets up a great start for the series and introduces a tender theme already. Too many shoujo manga stories have fallen victim to overusing love stories and romance cliches. Sugar Sugar Rune in its naive childhood look at love avoids most of these, much in the same way a series like Gakuen Alice does. From a child's view, first love is so wholesome, so sweet, how can any of us not reminisce about our first tugs at the heartstrings? Don't judge this one by its cover, from its first pages Sugar Sugar Rune will have you enchanted, and keep you reading.

[božica · Rating 4 out of 5]

!!perfect manga for the fall season!!

[laura :* · Rating 4 out of 5]

tbh 4 - 4.5 ⭐

tää oli mun lempparisarja nuorempana, joten päätin lukee uuelleen ihan mielenkiinnon vuoksi :') ja voi että tää on sulonen ja niin nätti ja nostalginen! rakastan vähän

[steph]

Sugar Sugar Rune YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS!!!!
Im Alter von... 13 oder so habe ich den ganzen Comic (online) gelesen. Zusammen mit Card Captor Sakura (der Anime Serie), Tokyo Mew Mew (der Serie) und Shugo Chara (Manga & Serie) this changed my brain chemistry. Ich liebe magical girls..... 🥺
Finde am ersten Band sehr interessant, dass es teilweise ganz merkwürdiges Pacing hat. Es wirkt auf mich so, dass das bei "älteren" (Tausis) Manga häufig so ist, dass z.B. über zwei Seiten relativ schnell Sachen "erklärt" werden und dabei z.B. die Orte einfach im Hintergrund wechseln, an denen die Leute sich aufhalten, die grade sprechen. Es ist schwer zu beschreiben, was ich meine... Heutzutage (habe ich das Gefühl) werden Manga viel stärker auf Pacing und so offensichtlich super klar verständliche Sinnzusammenhänge im Ablauf der Geschichte ge-edited.
Ich finde aber auch teilweise, dass diese "Offenheit" bei dieser Art Manga für Tweens gut ist, weil es zum weiter-Denken einläd. Ich mag auch Moyoco Annos Zeichnungen extrem, die sind mega charmant und die ganze Welt ist sooooo cute und sehr originell irgendwie. Es muss nicht alles komplett Sinn machen, wenn es cute ist und zum Träumen anregt, dass es einen magischen Katalog gibt, in dem man Zaubersachen bestellen kann...
Ich glaube, diesen Band (Deutsche Erstausgabe von Band 1, 2006! Hinten im Buch Werbung für Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch!) habe ich 2017 o.ä. irgendwo gefunden. Vielleicht für 2€ in einem Second-Hand Stapel gekauft oder so. Ich habe mich sehr darüber gefreut, den zu besitzen, weil die Geschichte mich als junge Person wirklich sehr fasziniert hat.
P.S.: Ich liebe den evil Bad Boy Love Interest. (Keine Überraschung...)

[jupe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trop mimi, au départ je le lisais surtout pour le style graphique parce que faut dire que côté narration et découpage c'est un peu dur à suivre, les bulles qui flottent et on sait jamais qui parle, le layout chargé, le lore alambiqué etc... mais les persos sont super attachants et évidemment un de mes tropes de persos préférés c'est la weird girl, donc chocola a gagné mon cœur direct🤎 trop hâte de continuer!!

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some spoilers ahead if you haven't read Book One! Just a heads up. :)

That being said, I absolutely MUST review book one of this amazing series that I think is completely under-rated in the Manga world. It may have spawned an Anime series (which was awful) and a Nintendo DS game (which was fair) but the Manga is and will always be the greatest form of this story.

Right at the start you are instantly introduced to our two leading females, a bold and brash red head named Chocolat Meilleure and a timid, mousy, curly-headed blonde named Vanilla Mieux. Just a heads up, the character names don't really get much more creative than being named after foods and sweets and objects and such (You know like Queen Candy, Cinnamon, and Lt. Glacier). They're on their way to the Human world from their own to compete in a Competition to decide who will be the next reining Queen, though the girls make a promise not to let the competition come between their friendship.

The moment they appear in the human world they plummet towards the Earth, only to be stopped by Rockin’ Robin who will serve as their “Guardian” in the real world. The girls are brought to their living arrangements and sleep for the night to prepare for school the following morning. At school, Chocolat and Vanilla must capture the emotions of their male classmates in the form of heart shaped Gems, and points are given on a scale based on the color of the Heart. At the end of the competition, the girl with the most hearts becomes the next Queen.

Now while in the Magical World, Chocolat is ever popular due to her outgoing and often rude nature. The boys admire her because she's fearless, strong willed, and can even "Whup their butts!". So of course, Chocolate assumes to dominate the competition in the Human World. However her and Vanilla quickly find that in the Human World, quite the opposite is true. Vanilla, who is quiet, klutzy, and incredibly shy hardly has to speak in front of her male classmates before their Heart Gems are bursting forth.

A lot of the story from here on consists of miscellaneous things that Chocolat and Vanilla do at school as they learn more about collecting hearts, human emotions, magic, and even responsibility and keeping your priorities straight. They even summon their familiars! But things take a turn for the worst when Chocolate realizes she may be crushing on the mysterious cold-hearted student Pierre when her own emotions form an orange heart after spending some time with him. And seeing as Witches aren’t supposed to give their hearts to humans, she finds herself panicking and with good reason. Pierre isn’t who he says he is but at this point you’re not told much.

The art for this Manga initially turned me off of it because something about it bugged me. But after giving it a chance I grew to love the art style and the story is very well told. The characters are extremely likeable and I love both Chocolat and Vanilla even though they’re both character types I’ve never quite been fond of. It’s funny, it’s interesting, and it’s amazing to watch Chocolat grow as a person and become wiser and mature. The story only gets better from here!

[Jessica Öström · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helt okej! Kul att läsa lite manga för de är jag inte van att göra. Kände att jag är lite för gammal för denna men den va trevlig att läsa :) rekommenderar till någon yngre än mig

[anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE MEMORIESSSSS

i love both characters and their friendship despite the rivalry. i can't wait to read more and see their relationship evolve.

[asia ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱₊˚⊹ ᰔ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sugar Sugar Rune is an incredibly cute 00’s witchy shoujo, with gorgeous artwork and a decent storyline. We follow two young witches, Chocolat and Vanilla, as they compete to become the next Queen of the Magical World. Vanilla is sweet, shy, and thoughtful, while Chocolat is outspoken, competitive, and seemingly fearless. Their friendship, while cute and endearing, had some undertones of jealousy and envy.

As much as I enjoyed this book, there was one aspect that made me a bit uncomfortable. Chocolat and Vanilla are both around 10 years old, still in elementary school, while Pierre, a boy Chocolat develops a crush on, is a middle schooler, likely 13 or 14 years old. Although it's not uncommon for a young girl to have a crush on an older boy, Pierre’s interactions with Chocolat toward the end of the book bordered on a mutual attraction. The age gap, while not massive, felt strange, especially since Pierre looks much older than Chocolat.

[Julay · Rating 3 out of 5]

C'était mimi mais je ne suis probablement pas le public visé parce que c'est très enfantin.

[Morgane Gst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pourquoi ai-je autant hésiter à me lancer dans ce shojo ? C’était franchement incroyable je ne suis pas déçue, je n’aurais jamais pensé que ça me plairait autant ! J’ai vraiment eu un coup de cœur pour ce premier tome de Chocola et Vanilla, l'univers est intrigant et plein de magie (j’adore !)
Je me suis tout de suite attachée aux personnages avec leurs personnalités très distinctes et débordants d'énergie, je trouve les 2 personnages principaux : Chocola et Vanilla, sont adorables et elles ont toutes les 2 quelque chose en plus qui fait qu’elles sont uniques et attachantes.
C'est un manga touchant, tendre, drôle, doux, sans prise de tête et en même temps on sent que ce n’est pas non plus uniquement mignon, que quelque chose de plus sombre se cache derrière.
J’ai également beaucoup apprécié les dessins qui nous plonge dans l’ambiance du manga.
Je recommande fortement et je n’ai qu’une hâte, lire le tome suivant !

[Hailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this when I was in middle school and it was one of my favorite series! I’m pretty sure they stopped printing and producing copies of this around the time I got into high school so I wasn’t sure I would be able to find any copies! I got really lucky and was able to find the first three used online and they’re even better than I remember! I absolutely love the art style and the characters are so cute and have such interesting arcs! I’m so excited to read the next one.

[ribbonknight · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve had this on my shelf for a while, having bought a used copy. It’s rare to find this series in used shops but I decided to finally read it and see whether it’s worth continuing to try tracking down the rest- I loved it! Chocolat is a fresh heroine, and throughout the book she experiences actual consequences for her actions and for the way she uses her magic. I LOVE the art, and now wish we had more of Anno’s stuff in English.

[Once upon a Dream · Rating 2 out of 5]

I disegni purtroppo non mi piacciono molto anzi li trovo abbastanza fatti male.
La trama è abbastanza carina, ma ripetitiva (prendere cuori all'infinito).
Ma dal primo volume non posso giudicare bene quindi vedremo con il secondo :)

[Aci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Retombée en face assurée

[Door]

Kinda weird out by the fact that chocola and vanilla are supposed to be 10??

[louise ୨୧ · Rating 4 out of 5]

j'adore leur style par contre la romance avec le mec nul ça SUFFIT

[moon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chocola la best (j'avais oublié à quel point Pierre était badant 💀)

[Leona · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Xuxa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witches, Chocolat and Vanilla, are best friends. However, they are also competing to be the next Queen of the Magical World. To find out who is better suited, they are sent to the human world to steal the hearts of young boys, since humans can have another heart. Chocolat thought it would be easy, but apparently human boys don’t like girls with strong personality, and prefer quiet and shy girls like Vanilla. And to make matters worse, Chocolat has to deal with the cool Pierre. She must be careful, because if she falls in love, she must give up her one and only heart and she will die.

The first thing that I noticed about this manga, was how beautiful the artwork is. One signature trait about shoujo manga (graphic novels aimed for girls) are the big eyes. Certainly, Moyoco Anno gives us just that, however, unlike traditionally shoujo manga, there is something different and refreshing about her style. It kind of reminds me of Halloween meets 1920s France. If you look at the outfits, or even some of the names, you can definitely tell that the French were a big inspiration for style of her art.Read the rest on my blog

[Lady Tea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: ❤❤❤❤❤ / 5

I used to love this series as a kid, both because of the detailed and beautiful artwork and the interesting story premise. One of the things I liked most was how mature the characters were drawn, even though the story's technically about kids.

The premise is that Chocolat and Vanilla, two best friends from the magical world, are competing against each other for the position of queen. The competition involves them going into the human world and capturing the "hearts" of humans, which they can extract using magic. Humans can produce many hearts, but witches and wizards only have one, which, if it is stolen, will result in their deaths. So, in short, they must steal hearts, but not let their own be stolen.

The character designs and details like candy and cutie outfits are adorable, but despite the shoujo-moe plot, there are some serious elements to it. This volume was mostly introductory, but as the plot thickens, I'll be commenting more on that. One of my favourite series, for sure.

[Zaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

If the story is too much oriented around love (with very young characters), Chocola was a satisfying hero. I liked the fact she was strong minded and it's interesting to see her build relationships even if she's not a "sweet, nice, quiet" girl (yey for the feminist undertone). I hope she'll keep her personality! The art was a bit messy, but worked otherwise, and I enjoyed to see some magical stuff and animals (with a nice ecological undertone). The read was entertaining enough, so I'll continue the series when I've some time.

[Bucletina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Insípido, por momentos irritante, inverosimil, plagado de clichés. Decí que el dibujo es medianamente lindo y que, por momentos, tiene ciertos toques más "josei", o al menos que contrastan mucho con el resto de las situaciones del manga, hiper shojos e infantiloides. Ojalá se tire más para ese lado en los demás tomos, que no tengo ninguna intención de leer.

[Michelle Kobus · Rating 2 out of 5]

The artwork on some of the characters is really beautiful and I like that. The concept is also cute. My problem is that there are text bubbles everywhere; they clutter the artwork and it's a bit confusing trying to read them all in order. Plus, Chocolate can be pretty annoying.

[Eve Lumerto · Rating 5 out of 5]

High school favourite. The friendship really spoke to me.

[Laurianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

C'est frais, mignon et original, j'ai bien aimé le fait de capturer des coeurs.

[Anja · Rating 5 out of 5]

for UnderHyped readathon.
I love this manga series, it's just so cute. also rereading this for the 5th time already. will never stop!

[Matilda · Rating 4 out of 5]

cute

[Mona · Rating 5 out of 5]

I binged read the whole serie in a night.But I was too lazy to put up a review so yeah, it's going to be a long ramble.

Sugar Sugar Rune was my childhood.When I was in elementary school I watched the anime on tv and became addicted in that instance.I bought the manga soon after.I forced my little sister to roleplay with me.
I was absolutely obssesed.

Reading this serie again made me so nostalgic.It was like catching up with an old friend after a decede.

Pierre was the first unattenable anime boy I fell in love with.He is way too dreamy ugh.
Chocola was just lovely and I can relate to her a lot,some people may find her personality annoying at times but I didn't.Not really.And I just realized that I'm very similar to her.I just love all the characters.Sugar sugar rune is near and dear to my heart.

I didn't finish reading and watching this serie in the past.Now I can ticked it off my to-do-list.

The art is even better than I remember.I really adore Moyoco's unique art style.Not to mention that Every charaters are so distinguishable.Their features and hair style really reflects their personality.No same face syndrome in this manga.

I'm just gushing about the art at this point but holy shit man, Moyoco really slayed me with her backgrounds.
All the intricate details and designs really adds to the mood of this series.
Whether it's food,clothings,furniture or magical creatures you can see the love and effort she put into Sugar Sugar Rune.

I really like how most of the characters are in middle school.It's really refreshing.Most manga,regardless of genre focuses on highschool protagonists.

The chemistry between Chocola and Pierre was undenyable.I really love the dynamic of these two.Stoic,cool type vs. Loud,reckless is nothing new but oh man it's swoon-worthy watching them breaking the ice.

The end game romance for Vanilla was qestionable at best.It felt too sudden and rushed I cringed a bit.But I'm not really mad about it.

I really love the ending.I find true to Chocola's character.I love this manga.That's it,that's the entire review in a line.

[EruInBookland✨️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Appassionata dell'anime da una vita finalmente mi sono decisa di recuperare il manga, e ne sono rimasta piacevolmente colpita. Moyoco Anno ha un tratto bellissimo e estremamente dettagliato, mi sono piaciuti moltissimo soprattutto gli sfondi che rendono benissimo l'idea del mondo magico e creano l'atmosfera giusta. Ho notato anche delle idee abbastanza "innovatrici" del genere mahou shojo, poiché gli elementi magici si ispirano maggiormente al mondo della magia "occidentale" alla Harry Potter. In più, ho apprezzato moltissimo l'idea del "costruirsi da sole man mano la bacchetta" (diversamente dall'anime) vedendo maggiormente la crescita di capacità delle due protagoniste di capitolo in capitolo.
La vicenda amorosa mi ha appassionato un sacco poiché si tratta di un trope enemies to lovers ben costruito.

L'unica nota negativa probabilmente è la velocità del manga. Ho notato che alcuni dettagli non vengono spiegati benissimo, come ad esempio il passato di Pierre, solamente accennato per essere intuito dai lettori (cosa che nell'anime viene trattato benissimo). Per il resto il manga spiega benissimo tutte le vicende familiari di Chocola, dei famigli, tutte le questioni politiche di extramondo, rendendo l'opera molto più matura rispetto alla controparte animata. Ho amato tantissimo l'idea della cattura dei cuori come fonte di energia del mondo magico e l'utilizzo dei cuori come vera e propria valuta per gli abitanti, idea originale per il world building.

Consiglio sugar sugar rune a tutti gli amanti delle "ragazze magiche" e non solo.

P. S speriamo in una possibile nuova ristampa poiché l'opera merita una nuova edizione e di essere conosciuta anche dalle nuove generazioni di lettori.