'Sugar Sugar Rune' manga ~ when your husband is mr Hideaki

spoiler alert

as always...

I wonder if that's infectious... At least I really doubt if it's not mrs Anno's husband's influence that a wonderful bright story ends up in a strange mess like that.

story and characters

'Shoujo' and 'romance' in the genre classification actually explain all that's necessary to know when deciding whether to give it a try or not, but 'Rune' makes a strange attempt to seem more mature than it is, and that's what puzzled me. While the anime was undoubtedly aimed at very young girls (if the Heroines are 10 years old, their admirers should not be much older), the last volumes of the manga were dealing with things that I'd recommend for slightly (?) older girls.

Like I said, the last 2 volumes are somewhat messy and that's the biggest disappointment, since the ending looks like it was created in a hurry, like 'well since it's a story of the new generation I'll have to get rid of the older generation, but how should I explain it? well let's just pretend they had to sacrifice themselves. and then it turns out a lot of time has passed, oh, how should I explain this? well let's just pretend it has'. Some things actually left me in confusion, like the story of Glass, including how Chocolat's mama and Glass developed their feelings, or how Pierre was taken to the land of ogres, or why Duke knew the real name of Pierre and why he managed to stop him with that.... And, I mean, is it really ok to fight with your own relative and defeat him, losing several relatives and important people in the course of the battle? Some things were remade in the anime to a much better story, to my surprise. At the same time, some developments were too swift to make a good narration - especially those attempts to create any romance beyond the relationship of the main Heroine. And I don't really like it when mangaka forgets herself that she previously created an intrigue and never explains it or explains it too briefly.

I do believe she could think of a way to make a more enjoyable ending, I mean she's the author right? Well, as an author she also has the right to introduce as much tragedy as she wants, but I don't really like it when the tragedy is only explained by the fact that mangaka suddenly decided to add some 'depth' to the story and couldn't think of anything better.

Speaking about the humour, I'd say I rather liked it than not. What I noticed is that every time I thought about something, the next page I saw mangaka deal with that thing that bothered me. Here I thought whether it's actually ok for a boy to fly in the sky in a nightie...

And then:
'But that's really great! Though he's wearing negligee...'
'Pierre is so cool! Though he's wearing negligee...'
'Negligee?'
'Pierre, that's mine!'

graphics

Like I said, it's absolutely visible that the mangaka is from the world of fashion. Her characters constantly change clothes and all choices are extremely elaborate and meticulous. The details of the costumes, fabrics, accessories etc. are also beautiful and I'm not sure if I have ever read anything similar in terms of fashion. There were stylish manga series in my experience, yes, but never so 'fashion-conscious'.

There is even a small addition in one of the volumes which explains to young girls how to keep themselves cute, tidy and neat.

I also liked it very much how missis Anno conveyed the atmosphere of important moments with the means of visual impression and frame composition. This is probably my favourite illustration when fish in the aquarium are drawn as if they floated around Pierre without any glass separating them.

The emotional side may be questionable, but I personally liked it a lot.

 I am especially weak to crying characters with poor fate. Even if they're actually hot uncles...

conclusion

It started when I saw one of those 'my top ... anime' compilations. It was a 'romance' centered one. 'Rune' was in the list and I thought, judging by its style it'd be a light positive story about cute small schoolgirl and her love life. Well, it's not that I was wrong, but the story turned out to be heavier than I expected. I'm not joking, losing characters whom you already began to like it really hard. And though 'Rune' is just 8 volumes long, it sure manages to capture your heart before you notice it.
Even though I said a lot of harsh things, I'd still give this manga a positive mark. It's stylish and the graphics is really unique, the story is OK if you manage to make up with some doubtful points that I listed - as a simple story about 'the good celebrating victory over the evil' it surely is great. What many people (including me) believe to be a characteristic of a good story is whether the characters grow and develop as the story goes. Unlike how it happens frequently, the part 'several years later' did not give that feeling 'the story ended and they lived happily ever after their boring everyday lives'. Surely all characters in 'Rune' changed a lot and became good teenagers or adults. It could be seen even in the new style of Chocolat who was previously wearing much bolder costumes, but now the mangaka created a simple yet stylish look for her without any unnecessary attributes.

By the way, that page really made think of a Soviet 'Cinderella' version.

 

That's because 'Rune' is a story full of sweetness, fluffiness and cuteness. Hardly interesting for boys, it would be a good choice for young manga lovers and their older friends, who also have the right to read fairy-tales.