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Sugar Sugar Rune
シュガシュガルーン (Shuga Shuga Rūn)
Genre	Romantic comedy, magical girl
Manga
Author	Moyoco Anno
Publisher	Kodansha
English publisher	Del Rey Manga
Other publishers: Kurokawa Heyne Bonnier Carlsen Anime-Gate Sangatsu Manga Algoritam Star Comics
Demographic	Shōjo
Magazine	Nakayoshi
Original run	August 2003 – April 2007
Volumes	8
TV anime
Director	Yukihiro Matsushita
Studio	Studio Pierrot
Licensor	Kaze
Network	TV Tokyo
Other networks: Canal J QTV 11, HERO Italia 1 Cartoon Network TVB
Original run	2 July 2005 – 24 June 2006
Episodes	51 (List of episodes)
Anime and Manga Portal

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.^[1]

Story

Cover of the original soundtrack CD, showing Chocolat and Vanilla in witch uniforms

The story involves the characters Chocolat (pronounced "Shocola", as in French) and Vanilla (pronounced Vaniya) 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 crystallized 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 and retain a friendship which no magic can defeat.

Heart rankings

Crystal Hearts are heart-shaped jewels supposed to play a big role in the queen candidacy as well as in the Magic World, because it is the source of energy on their dimension, each of them has different points.

Characters

Chocolat Meilleure/Chocolat Kato (Shokora Meiyuuru ^?)

Voiced by: Marika Matsumoto

Chocolat is an outgoing and daring girl with a forceful personality. She is the series' main protagonist. She is best friends with Vanilla Mieux and is the daughter of the late witch Cinnamon. She 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. She is extremely popular in the magic world. Her familiar is a lazy but powerful frog named Duke. 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 birthday 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). In the anime she loses the contest of being the next queen, however, Vanilla gave up the throne and gave it to Chocolat instead (making her the Queen of both the Magical World and the Ogre World). In the manga Chocolat and Pierre went missing and lost their memories which made them return a few years later, by Vanilla's coronation.

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 gave her a potion.

Spell: Sugar Sugar Rune! Choco-Rune!

Vanilla Mieux/Vanilla Ice

Voiced by: Juri Ihata

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 because Chocolat had been missing. 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.

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

Spell: Sugar Sugar Rune! Vani-Rune!

Rockin' Robin Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda

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 6800 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. In the manga he loses his life sacrificing himself for Chocolat in the final battle.

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

Duke

Voiced by: Yuuichi Yasoda

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, trying to hid himself for protecting Cinnamon. 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.

Blanca

Voiced by: Chisa Yokoyama

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.

In the manga 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.

Her real name in English is Libbie/Libby and Blanca is Spanish for white (feminine form of blanco).

Pierre Tempête du Neige

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 apparently dislike Chocolat being near their Prince. Almost nobody can resist his charisma and charm. He has white blonde hair and piercing, sharp ice blue eyes

It is discovered in Volume 2, that Pierre is also from the magical world. Although, he isn't a witch, but is part of the clan called "Ogre", he's their prince. As the story goes on, Pierre begins to fall in love with Chocolat and eventually, (after losing his heart) his heart turns white.

Houx and Saule

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 of them have a strong liking towards Chocolat, arguing about who will be Chocolat's King when she gets the crown. Their names are the French words for holly and willow respectively.

Queen Candy

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 manga she sacrifices herself at the end to help Chocolat defeat Glacé, acknowledging Chocolat as the Magical World's Queen.

Cinnamon Meilleure

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 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 candiancy. Cinnamon never collected hearts no matter how popular she was. Some say she intentionally did that, feeling that Candy would make the better Queen.

Waffle

Voiced by: Ayaka Saito

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

Reception

The manga won the Kodansha Manga Award for the best manga of 2005. .^[2]

The manga of Sugar Sugar Rune was also 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]

Media

Manga

The Sugar Sugar Rune Manga spans 8 volumes. Compared to the anime, which ended before the books did, the manga emphasizes more the struggle between the witches and the ogres.

Anime

The Sugar Sugar Rune anime contains a total of 51 episodes. The anime is somewhat different from the manga; 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
  1. "Chocolat à la folie" (ショコラに夢中, Shokora ni Muchū ^?, Chocolate with Madness) by Karia Nomoto
• Ending themes
  1. 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)
  2. "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

From Wikiquote

Sugar Sugar Rune is a manga and anime series created by Moyoco Anno. These are quotes from the English manga.

Chocolat Meillure/Chocolat Kato

Sugar Sugar Rune Choco Rune, your heart come to me!

(to Takamura) This is what I can do for you.

I'm so MAD!

Do I feel this way because of the smell of the jasmine flowers?

I'm okay because I'm not cold.

Vanilla's probably crying by herself too right now.

Agrandissement!

And I'm falling in love as quickly as I'm tumbling down right now.

I shouldn't have let go of his hand...

You are my horse! (to the Nihilist Spider)

So Amber, how old are you really?

When the noir is gone, even Cireux can sense Pierre's kindness.

I don't care if my body rips into a thousand pieces, I'll use all my powers so my heart will shine as brightly as it can!

Hey hey! This place has two bathrooms! How luxurious. I had heard the Human World was lame, but I might actually like it here!

He was so cool...even during the whole carrot thing. (about Pierre)

So this is the power of human love...

Vanilla Mieux/Vanilla Ice

Sugar Sugar Rune, Vani Rune, heart, heart, please come to me!

I'll become the queen who can touch the darkness.

It's a bittersweet and memorable pain.

Chocolat-chan, when you become queen, I want to be a baker in the Magical World.

Gather, Noir!

Pierre

Girls are at their most beautiful when they're asleep.

I want a lot more strength.

I'm going to take your heart, Chocolat.

A baby witch like you who can't even create a force field, telling me you're going to take my heart?

Collecting red and orange hearts can't compete with noir.

Sanction!

I love you, Chocolat.

Rockin' Robin/Rock 'n' Lovin

It's because she's in love.

I could... even during your bathtime. (when Chocolat comments on his entering without permission)

Maybe it's the fire department come to throw some water on our fiery love.

My forbidden love for Chocolat!

Amber

And you didn't use magic? How kind of you.

You couldn't tell I was nice from the beginning?