A Little Snow Fairy Sugar

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Chitchana Yukitsukai Sugar
ちっちゃな雪使いシュガー
(A Little Snow Fairy Sugar)
Genre Shojo
TV anime
Directed by Shinichiro Kimura
Studio J.C.STAFF
Network Japan TBS
Other networks:
Original run 2 October 2001 – 26 March 2002
No. of episodes 24[1]

A Little Snow Fairy Sugar (ちっちゃな雪使いシュガー Chitchana Yukitsukai Shugā?) is a manga and an anime series with character designs by Koge-Donbo. The manga is published in Japan by BROCCOLI. The anime is produced by J.C.STAFF and licensed by Geneon Entertainment, released on DVD subtitled in several countries worldwide.

Contents

[edit] Story

The story is based around 11-year-old Saga Bergmann, a young girl in a small German town who lives with her grandmother Regina and works in a coffee shop when not in school. Saga is extremely structured and plans her life down to the minute. One day, she notices a tiny creature in a fluffy outfit that appears to be starving. She offers it a waffle, which helps revive the tiny creature. Saga learns this tiny creature is Sugar, an apprentice season fairy. Sugar explains that season fairies alter the weather by playing a magical instrument, and her specialty is snow, which she creates by playing the piccolo. Sugar is joined by two more apprentice season fairies, Salt (the Sun fairy), an outgoing male fairy who plays the trumpet to make the sun shine more brightly, and Pepper (the Wind fairy), a quiet and caring female fairy who plays the harp to make the wind blow.

All three apprentices are shocked at the realization that Saga can see them, since humans aren't supposed to be able to see season fairies. Pepper speculates that some exceptional humans might be able to see them, which is the best possible explanation. Sugar tells Saga that the three have been sent to Earth to train as full-fledged season fairies, and to do that, they must find the 'Twinkle' (In the Japanese version, the season fairies search for kirameki, which refers to something that sparkles or shines).

Sugar moves into Saga's bedroom and sets up residence, much to the consternation of the super-structured Saga. Saga is a well-meaning, intelligent and highly-organised girl who feels compelled to look after the childish, loud and irresponsable Sugar, who is incapable of looking after herself, as viewers can see when Sugar nearly starved to death before Saga saved her. The story is complicated further with the arrival of two adult season fairies: Turmeric, a cloud fairy, and Ginger, a rain fairy, and the Elder, the leader of the season fairies.

With the highly disruptive presence of Sugar, Saga's life goes haywire. Her friends Norma and Anne think she's losing her mind, and her teacher, Miss Hanna, is worried that her best student is acting strangely. Not at all concerned with her strange behavior is Greta, an egotistical rich girl who considers Saga to be her rival, and Phil, a goofy inventor. Elder, Ginger come in later, which Elder has a crush on Ginger.

[edit] Characters

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
  • Saga Bergmann is the first main character of the story. Her mother has died, but her father's fate is never clarified. She lives with her grandmother in a fictitious small German town called Mühlenburg in the anime, although lives in Guttenburg in the manga. She works in a coffee shop and keeps to a strict schedule (although in an attempt to get everything finished, she still tends to run late - her encyclopedic knowledge of shortcuts means that she still appears organised). She finds Sugar by accident and offers her a home, which Sugar accepts gratefully.
Saga plays her mother's piano in the local music shop, because they had to sell it, and respects great pianists. She often has trouble trying to appear sane to her friends when talking to what seems like nothing (as all fairies are invisible to other humans). When Sugar leaves Saga to return home, Saga loses the ability to see fairies- and it's implied that many people go through the fairy phase when younger so that fairies can gain 'twinkles'.
  • Sugar, the second main character, is a female little snow fairy, who tries to use her piccolo to summon snow from the sky. She has wanted to be a snow fairy since a child in an attempt to follow in her mother's footsteps; a famous snow fairy who could summon snow that is both soft and warm.
Sugar acts like a small child; she is clumsy, stubborn and has a short attention span, and also has the habit to kiss whoever she is fond of when she's happy. She tries her best to be friends with Saga, but often gets things wrong. Sugar, like all the fairies in the series, has an unequaled love of waffles. In the anime, it is led to believe that she mispronounces waffles as 'waffos'. Whenever Sugar gets excited, she squeals 'waffo!' (However, in the manga, she said 'waffos' before ever eating a waffle.)
  • Pepper is a female little wind fairy, who uses her harp to summon wind. She lives in the house of a veterinary who has a newborn baby, and she often cares for the baby and sings it lullabyes.
Pepper is the calmest, most gentle and most polite of the featured fairies. She is very humbled in her ability, which is quite developed. In addition, she can talk with animals.
  • Salt is a male little sun fairy, who uses his trumpet to make the sun shine more warmly. It is never mentioned where he lives.
Salt wishes to become a sun fairy as his father was one, but ultimately decides that he wants to be a cloud fairy like Turmeric. This is a hard decision for him. He gets his twinkle immediately before Pepper, leaving Sugar all alone on the Earth (except for two other apprentices, Basil and Cinnamon, who they aren't friendly with).
  • Greta is Saga's self-proclaimed rival. The spoiled daughter of a rich family, she's not as popular as Saga and resents that, often setting up impromptu contests between them in an attempt to prove herself better than Saga. Greta is hardly a villain; most of the time, she comes off as a buffoon and makes a fool of herself. Actually, however, she has a good core (which she won't admit even to herself) and redeems herself in a big way at the end of the series.
  • Anne and Norma are Saga's best friends. Anne is taller, quiet and more intelligent, while Norma is shorter, bubble-headed and obsessed with (very odd) fashions. They're often concerned about Saga, but support her in whatever she wants to do.
  • Phil and his two friends (lanky Jan and stout Alan) are (often unsuccessful) inventors who often try to enlist Saga, Anne and Norma's help with their latest project. It's speculated that there's a love interest between Phil and Saga.
  • Miss Hanna is the fourth-grade teacher in charge of Saga, Anne, Norma, Greta and Phil's class. She cares for Saga's family situation and therefore is quite concerned at Saga's strange behavior and odd outbursts. She has a pet turtle named Lancelot.
  • Vincent, a young actor in the Hammond Theater Troupe, is a talented piano player who admires Ingrid Bergmann (Saga's late mother). He often says things without really thinking about them and forgets them after a while, and he is quick to improvise - two traits which greatly unsettle Saga at first, but later she comes to be close friends with him. (Some fans have speculated that Vincent is actually Saga's father because of his interest in her, his familiarity with her mother, and his ability to see season fairies. That is entirely conjecture.)
Vincent can see Season Fairies - in a way - but how clearly is revealed only in the series' Special.
  • Ginger is a beautiful adult rain fairy who plays the violin. She is honest to the point of hurting, but she means well, and has a crush on a cloud fairy, Turmeric, which is, however, unanswered.
  • Turmeric is an adult cloud fairy who plays the cello. Turmeric is a kind, thoughtful and subdued fairy whom Ginger loves and who becomes Salt's role model. He seems oblivious to the affections of all female Season Fairies towards him - including Ginger -; he puts his art first and strives to perfect himself constantly.
  • The Elder, the old lead fairy, uses a conductor's baton to control the weather. The Elder is extremely wise, but usually comes off as a buffoon and is often distracted by his somewhat unnerving infatuation with the younger Ginger.
  • Basil (a thunder fairy) and Cinnamon (an ice fairy) are the juvenile delinquents of the series. These two in-training fairies are less successful than Salt, Pepper and Sugar at gaining the twinkle, although they say they're getting pretty close to getting it when Sugar gets hers - it's presumed that they do finally find it, whatever it may be in their case. They live in an abandoned warehouse and value mischief and fun above all. Cinnamon wildly plays the cymbals to summon ice (setting up a very wild face as he does so), and Basil plays the drums to summon thunder and lightning.
  • Grandmother Regina is Saga's grandmother, who she lives with. Regina is a gentle old woman who's good cooking satisfies both Saga and Sugar. Saga often uses the excuse that she's buying waffles for Regina in order to buy extra ones to give to the season fairies. Regina seems to know that Saga sees fairies, or at least helps her with coming to terms with them, which implies that Regina herself may have seen Season Fairies as a child.
  • Kanon is the young daughter of one of grandmother Regina's friends, an often absent musician. At age three when she first appears, she is quite a handful, restless and always wanting to play. However, she, Saga and Sugar (who Kanon can't see) become quite fond of each other, and with Saga's help she develops her musical talent.
  • Mr. Luchino owns the coffee shop at which Saga works. He's caring and understanding and often amused at Saga's fastidiousness. He often encourages Saga to enjoy life more and stop sticking to such a strict schedule, and he puts her occasional unusual behavior (the fault of the Season Fairies) down to stress. He is always seen munching a cookie.
  • Henry, who works from the clock tower in the village, gets regular coffee deliveries from Luchino (in which he is 'ab-'used as a guinea pig to test out new blends). He also controls the drawbridge at the bottom of the tower.
  • Paul is a worker at the local music shop. He lets Saga play her mother's piano in the shop even though he knows she'll never buy it, much to the apparent irritation of the Manager, a stern-looking man. Thus Saga plays only when the latter is absent (for a very particular reason).
  • Joe is a raven who sporadically appears as an antagonist. He is both bad-tempered and eager to steal any shiny objects he can find. He and the fairies (especially Sugar) often get to fight about one slight or another.

[edit] Locations

The scenario for the story is set in the fictional city of Mühlenburg, a small medevial-style town. It's design is patterned after Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Places of note within or near Mühlenburg include:

  • Saga's house.
  • Saga's school, which lies just outside the city walls.
  • the City Wall Tower which is supervised by Mr. Henry. A popular spot for tourists - and Saga - to look over the city.
  • the Market Square. One of the most popular booths is a waffle-maker, of whom Saga and the Fairies are regular customers. The fountain in its center is also a popular meeting spot.
  • the top of the city church bell tower, where the Fairies sometimes congregate.
  • the Junkyard. Phil, Alan and Jan have a makeshift workshop in the place, where they try to convert Phil's ideas into reality.
  • the city's Theater.
  • the Music Store Crescendo, where the piano of Saga's mother is stored.
  • the Coffee Shop where Saga works and which is run by Mr. Luchino.
  • the Animal Hospital of Dr. Barbara, where Pepper resides. (Note: The anime uses the English term for this facility, whereas the German word would be 'Tierklinik'.)
  • the city's Park and Playground.
  • Greta's small but luxurious house.

The third DVD in the series, released by Geneon, features a lengthy tour of Rothenburg with voice over provided by director Shinichiro Kimura and Masumi Asano, the voice of Saga. Kimura discusses at great length how he and other artists on the production toured the town to get ideas for the series and took hundreds of pictures. Judging by the comments, Asano did not visit Rothenburg with Kimura. This DVD extra shows numerous pictures of the city and morphs them into the anime versions, showing that the artists paid very strict attention to detail.

[edit] Cast

Japanese seiyū

English voice actors

Spoilers Included

[edit] Episode list

  1. Saga Meets Sugar- about Sugar meeting Saga
  2. An Itsy-Bitsy Roommate- Salt and pepper come.
  3. Twinkle-Twinkle, Comfy-Warm, Puffy-Fluffy- Salt thinks a twinkle is comfy warm, Pepper thinks it's puffy fuffy, Sugar believes it's twinkle.
  4. Where Are the Twinkles?
  5. The Elder Arrives!!
  6. I Couldn't Say Sorry
  7. Heart Joining Melody
  8. The Shape of the Dreams
  9. The Bear Pianist
  10. A Backstage Happening
  11. My Favorite Piano
  12. Goodbye, Mr. Bear
  13. A Twinkle Found?!
  14. Pepper and the Dream of Mr. Turtle
  15. The Tiny Guest
  16. The Faraway Town's First Snow
  17. While Waiting For Sugar
  18. Festival! Waffo!
  19. One Memory For Two
  20. The Vanished Promise
  21. The Lonely Two
  22. I'm Sorry, Sugar
  23. Tiny Miracle at Muhlenburg
  24. I'm Right Over Here

Spoiler End The next two episodes were aired as a Special. Four years after the conclusion of the TV series, Saga remembers a school play in which she'd played the princess and inspired Sugar and her fellow fairies to make a play of their own. Chronologically, the special is set after episode 13, A Twinkle Found?!

  1. What's in the Heart - Part I
  2. What's in the Heart - Part II

[edit] References

  1. ^ A Little Snow Fairy Sugar (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia. Accessed 2006-12-04

[edit] External links

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