Sugar Sugar Rune
| Sugar Sugar Rune | |
| File:Ssrmain.jpg | |
| Genre | Romantic comedy, magical girl |
|---|---|
| Manga | |
| Written by | Moyoco Anno |
| Published by |  Kodansha |
| English publisher |  Del Rey Manga |
| Magazine | Nakayoshi |
| Demographic | Shōjo |
| Original run | August 2003 – April 2007 |
| Volumes | 8 |
| Anime | |
| Directed by | Yukihiro Matsushita |
| Studio | Studio Pierrot |
| Released | 2 July 2005 – 24 June 2006 |
Sugar Sugar Rune (シュガシュガルーン, Shuga Shuga Rūn) or Sugar² Rune is a manga by Moyoco Anno and an anime TV series based upon it. The manga won the Kodansha Manga Award for the best manga of 2005. .[1] The anime series' time slot was replaced by Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z in mid-2006.[2]
Story
The story involves the characters Chocolat (pronounced "Shocola", as in French) and Vanilla who are young witches from the Magical World. They are chosen to compete in a contest to become Queen of the Magical World. Even though they are rivals, they remain best friends. Chocolat's mother won in the previous contest, but because of the ogres, it was Vanilla's mother, Candy, who became the queen. Chocolat is now determined to win the contest, and be that "bright star" (A Radiant Queen of Light) for her mother. In order to win the contest, the witches must disguise themselves as humans and compete to steal the most human "hearts" (actually crystallised emotions). With the help of Rockin' Robin, their mentor and guardian, and two familiars, the competition begins to see who will become the next Queen.
However, trouble begins to brew in the way of the two queen candidates as Pierre, a cold and mysterious boy, begins to win Chocolat's heart and starts to use both her and Vanilla to his own use. Now, both trapped within their own new goals, the two witches must fight their way through and retain a friendship which no magic can defeat.
Heart rankings
| Color | Ecuré | Feeling |
|---|---|---|
| "Pee" yellow (Jaune) | 5 | Surprise or fear |
| Orange (Orange) | 300 | Crush or casual love-at-first-sight (Usually just a strong feeling of like) |
| Green (Vert) | 350 | Friendship |
| Rainbow (Multicolore) | 500 | Funny or interested (Anime only) |
| Pink (Rose) | 1000 | Exciting or the throbbing beat of sweet love |
| Purple (Pourpre) | 2500 | Sinful desires |
| Blue (Bleu) | 3500 | Respect and honour |
| Crimson (Rouge) | 5000 | Passionate love |
| Black (Noir) | Extremely hurts witches other than ogres; subtracts points | Hatred and jealousy |
| White (Blanc) | Cures the black (noir) heart | Purified black heart; no hate at all. Can purify familiar to former selves |
Characters
- Chocolat Meilleure (ショコラ＝メイユール, Shokora Meiyūru, witch); Chocolat Kato (加藤 ショコラ, Katō Shokora, human)
- Chocolat is an outgoing and daring girl with a forceful personality and is the series' main protagonist. She is best friends with Vanilla Mieux and is the daughter of the late witch Cinnamon.
Chocolat has long, straight orange hair, large emerald green and impish eyes, and pointed ears. She is not as popular as Vanilla since her outrageous temper makes most boys scared of her, but is able to make friends with them instead. In the Magical World, she lives with her grandfather, Corn, a powerful wizard who, like Chocolat, has a certain dislike for Blanca and has a bad temper. Her birtday in august 13 .As the series progresses, Chocolat begins to fall in love with Pierre and (In the anime) end up exchanging hearts with him (Episode 51). Later, her identity as daughter of an ogre is revealed. Her voice actress in the anime is Marika Matsumoto.
- In French the name translates to "Best Chocolat".
- Spell: Sugar Sugar Rune! Choco-Rune! Chocolat's name may be romanised as Chocolat or Chocola. It is pronounced Shocola, however. In the English manga published by Del Rey, her name is spelled Chocolat, from the French word for chocolate.
- Vanilla Mieux (バニラ＝ミュー, Banira Myū, witch); Vanilla Ice (愛須 バニラ, Aisu Banira, human)
- Vanilla is a shy and timid girl. Best friends with Chocolat, she is the daughter of Queen Candy. Blanca is her familiar. Vanilla has short, curly blond hair, large purple and timid-looking eyes, and pointed ears like Chocolat. She is more popular than Chocolat in the Human World, which leads Chocolat to believe that the Human World and the Magic World are flipped. Vanilla also tries harder than Chocolat to become Queen in the first two volumes of the manga. However, in the third volume Chocolat is able to beat her in a couple of other things. Almost halfway through the series, Vanilla turns into the princess of the ogres, along with the prince, Pierre due to Pierre's own trickery on Vanilla's insecurities. However, Chocolat was able to save her and Vanilla was able to return to her normal self. In the last volume of the manga she wins the competition, but refuses to take the crown. A few years later, she finally accepts the crown. She ends up with Houx. But, in the anime, it is a lot more different. Vanilla wins the competition but gives the crown up to Chocolat, thinking that she is more suited to become queen (Thus making Chocolat Queen of the Magical world and the Ogre Queen). Her voice actress is Juri Ihata; her name translates from French as "Better Vanilla".
- Spell: Sugar Sugar Rune! Vani-Rune!
- Rock'n Lovin' (ロッキンロビン, Rokkin Robin, wizard); Rockin' Robin (ロッキンロビン, Rokkin Robin, human)[1]
- Rockin' Robin is the mentor of Vanilla and Chocolat. He also records their progress in stealing hearts, for he is an expert. He is a popular rock star in the Human World (Note: Rockin' Robin and Rock'n Lovin' have the same spelling in katakana). Although he may seem a bit rude and obnoxious, he has a caring heart, although he rarely displays it. According to Blanca, Robin is actually over 6000 years old and uses facial masks to retain a youthful and attractive appearance. He seems to be particularly afraid of swords and sharp objects as shown when Chocolat and Vanilla try to learn fencing in the anime.
During the fight against Glace, at the end of the manga, Robin is hit by Glace's giant Noir and dies.
- Duke (デューク, Dyūku)
- Duke is a red-and black striped and green-eyed magical frog who is the familiar of Chocolat. He tries to help her steal hearts, however he isn't much help at the beginning, and seems to think that he is hopeless with her. He has a rivalry with Blanca. Mostly, he is quite lazy and rude, he proves to be friendly and harmless, and has an extensive knowledge about hearts which prove to be useful later on. Duke is actually a little brother of Cinnamon who was transformed into a frog shortly after her betrayal to the magical world. At the end of Volume 6 he is returned to his human form via a white heart. His real name is Poivre (ポワーヴル, Powāvuru); which is French for pepper.
- Duke is English for a noble rank.
- Blanca (ブランカ, Buranka)
- Blanca is a magical mouse and the familiar of Vanilla. In the story she puts Vanilla in the lead of the competition 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 the girl.
- Blanca is Spanish for white (feminine form of blanco). Her real name in English is Libbie/Libby. She 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 (ピエール, Piēru)
- 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 apparently dislike Chocolat being near their Prince.
It is discovered in Volume 2, that Pierre is also from the magical world. Although, he isn't a witch, but is apart of the clan called "Ogre". As the story goes on, Pierre begins to fall in love with Chocolat and eventually, (after losing his heart) his heart turns white. His name is the French equivalent of Peter.
- Saule (ソール, Sōru) & Houx (ウー, Ū)[2]
- The two are close childhood friends with Chocolat and Vanilla from the Magical World and are very close brothers, although 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 have a liking for Chocolat at first, arguing about who will be Chocolat's King when she gets the crown. However, Houx later develops feelings for Vanilla, which are reciprocated. Their names are the French words for willow and holly respectively; the romanizations "Soul" and "Woo" are incorrect guesses made by the English publisher, Del Rey, as well as fan translators.
- Cinnamon Meilleure (シナモン＝メイユール, Shinamon Meiyūru)
- Chocolat's mother and a famous witch. She was a previous Queen Candidate along with Candy Mieux. Under circumstances not clearly explained in the manga, Cinnamon went to visit Glace, 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. Presumed dead, it is later revealed that she is Pierre's black cat.[citation needed]
Cinnamon fights against Glace at the end of Volume 8, but stays behind with him as he fades away.
- Queen Candy (Mieux) (クイーン＝キャンディ(ミュー), Kuīn Kyandī (Myū))
- 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.
- Waffle (ワッフル, Wafuru)
- A girl that's always trying to get Woo's affection.Her voice actress is Ayaka Saito
Reception
The manga of Sugar Sugar Rune was called the "greatest fantasy comic of the last 5 years" by an Anime News Network reviewer, who praised its stylish art and epic conclusion.[3]
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Media
Manga
| This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2008) |
The Sugar Sugar Rune Manga spans 8 volumes. Compared to the anime, which ended before the books did, the manga empathizes more on the struggle between the witches and the ogres. And while it does have some silliness in it, is generally more serious than the anime.
Anime
The Sugar Sugar Rune anime contains a total of 51 episodes. The anime is somewhat different from the comic; while it retains the original storyline (expanding on it at times) it adds elements which a more stereotypical magical girl franchise. The main differences are that Chocolat and Vanilla must transform into their witch outfits in order to collect hearts and cast spells, Chocolat's costume appears pink in the anime (as opposed to the original black) and while in the manga, they must work in order to buy their wands and spell jewels, in the anime these are presented to them in the queen candidacy ceremony. Lastly, the anime adds an additional color of heart – rainbow.
- Opening theme
- "Chocola à la folie" (ショコラに夢中, Shokora ni Muchū, Chocolat with the Madness) by Karia Nomoto
- Ending themes
- Ailleurs vers la lune (月の向こうの世界, Tsuki no Mukō no Sekai, Elsewhere towards the moon) by Karia Nomoto (Eps. 01–29)
- "Date☆Date" by Marika Matsumoto and Juri Ihata (Eps. 30–51)
The words of the opening and ending songs are provided the mangaka Moyoco Anno; the music and arrangement (in addition to the background music) are by Yasuharu Konishi (previously the main songwriter of Pizzicato Five).
Both Polish and French version have their own opening that are adaptations of the original "Chocola à la folie" opening in these languages.
References
- ^ Joel Hahn. "Kodansha Manga Awards". Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
- ^ Sugar Sugar Rune ({{{type}}}) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia. Accessed 2006-10-13.
- ^ Santos, Carlo (10 November 2008). "RIGHT TURN ONLY!! A Dark And Stormy Knight". Anime News Network. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
I'm still recovering from one of the most satisfying, most creative, most epic endings to a fantasy series ever.