sugar sugar rune 1 Book

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!