Sugar Sugar Rune

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 anime series' time slot was replaced by Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z in mid-2006.

Plot

Cover of the original soundtrack CD, showing Chocolat (left) and Vanilla (right) in their witch uniforms.

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.

Heart Rankings

"Hearts" are representations of an emotion someone feels towards another person, that can be extracted and crystallized by witches. Capturing a human's heart dulls the emotion they were feeling, but if their feelings are particularly strong a new heart of equal value may reappear quickly.

Hearts are a crucial part of the Queen Candidacy challenge, as the Queen Candidates are supposed to become popular with human boys and take as many hearts as possible. The Magical World uses human hearts as a source of energy. Hearts are ranked and given monetary value equal to their difficulty to obtain.

Characters

Chocolat Meilleure/Chocolat Kato (ショコラ・メイユール/加藤 ショコラ, Shokora Meiyuuru/Kato Shokora)

Voiced by: Marika Matsumoto

Chocolat is a very energetic girl with a forceful personality. She is the series' protagonist. 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. (Episode 51). 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 birthday is August 13.

In French, Chocolat's name translates to "Best Chocolate".

Chocolat's name may be romanized as Chocolat or Chocola. In the English manga published by Del Rey, her name is spelled Chocolat, from the French word for chocolate. In the anime, Chocolat has the power to purify noir hearts after Amber gives her a potion. Her father is Glacé,the Grand Duke of Darkness.

Spell: Sugar Sugar Rune! Choco-Rune!, Brilliant Etoile, and Fleur Spiral.

Vanilla Mieux/Vanilla Ice (バニラ・ミュー/愛須 バニラ, Banira Myuu/Aisu Banira)

Voiced by: Juri Ihata

Vanilla is a 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 birthday is November 16.

Vanilla's name translates from French as "Better Vanilla".

Spell: Sugar Sugar Rune! Vani-Rune!, Larme Grêle, Collection, Bubble Blizzard, Hailstorm of Crystal Tears (as Orge Princess) and Obsure Crystallization (as Orge Princess)

Rockin' Robin (ロッキン・ロビン, Rokkin Robin) Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda

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 (Note: 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 Chocolat in the final battle.

Date of birth: November 7. Height: 188 cm.

Duke (デューク, Dyūku)

Voiced by: Yuuichi Yasoda

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.

His real name is Poivre which is French for pepper. Duke is English for a noble rank.

As a familiar, he ends all his sentences with "kero" (けろ), the noise a frog makes.

Blanca (ブランカ, Buranka)

Voiced by: Chisa Yokoyama

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.

As a familiar, she ends all her sentences with "chu" (ちゅ), the noise a mouse makes.

Pierre Tempête de Neige (ピエール・テンペテ・ド・ネージュ, Piēru Tenpete do Nēju)

Voiced by: Hiroki Konishi

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 piercing, sharp ice blue eyes, and is tall, slender, and muscular.

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's emotions get the better of him, and he 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. He is a tsundere but shows his sweet side later on. He even tells Chocolat to kill him, but she can not. Soon, his heart softens, and eventually, after Chocolat purifies the noir, his heart turns pink for her. They exchange hearts. In the end of the last episode, the popular Pierre kisses Chocolat's hand in front of everyone. 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.

Houx/Woo (ウー Ū) and Saule/Soul (ソウル Souru)

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/Woo fell in love with Vanilla.

Their names are the French words for holly and willow respectively.

Queen Candy (クイーンキャンディ, Kuīn Kyandi)

Voiced by: Sumi Shimamoto

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 Chocolat defeat Glacé, acknowledging Chocolat as the Magical World's Queen.

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, 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. In the anime, 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 (ワッフル, Waffuru)

Voiced by: Ayaka Saito

Waffle's an anime only character, an immature but kind young witch girl that's always trying to get Woo'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 Woo from her. She's always accompanied by her devoted nanny and travels around in a huge squirrel-looking flying animal.

Reception

The manga won the Kodansha Manga Award for the best manga of 2005.^[1] It was called "the greatest fantasy comic of the last five years" by an Anime News Network reviewer, who praised its stylish art and epic conclusion.^[2]

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, but Udon Entertainment currently has the rights. ^[3]

Anime

The anime contains a total of 51 episodes. It made some changes from the original manga, mostly adding more stereotypical magical girl elements, such as Chocolat and Vanilla needing to transform into their witch uniforms in order to collect hearts or cast spells, and Chocolate's outfit being pink instead of black. It also expanded the story, adding original plots and characters, probably because the manga hadn't yet finished at the time the anime was being produced.

An English dub was produced and aired on Cartoon Network (Philippines), with Andrea Kwan as the voice of Chocolat.

• Opening theme
  1. "Chocolat à la folie" (ショコラに夢中, Shokora ni Muchū) by Karia Nomoto. In French the opening theme translates to "Chocolate to Madness"
• Ending themes
  1. Ailleurs vers la lune (月の向こうの世界, Tsuki no Mukō no Sekai) by Karia Nomoto (Eps. 01–29).In French the ending theme translates to "somewhere else towards the moon".
  2. "Date☆Date" by Marika Matsumoto and Juri Ihata (Eps. 30–51)

The lyrics of the opening and ending songs are provided Moyoco Anno. The music and arrangement are by Yasuharu Konishi, the main songwriter of Pizzicato Five.

References

External links

• Official Website
• Sugar Sugar Rune (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia