Sugar Sugar Rune

Infobox animanga/Header
name = Sugar Sugar Rune


caption =
ja_name = シュガシュガルーン
ja_name_trans = Shuga Shuga Rūn
genre = Romantic comedy, magical girlInfobox animanga/Manga
title =
author = Moyoco Anno
publisher = flagicon|Japan Kodansha
publisher_en = flagicon|United States Del Rey Manga
publisher_other = flagicon|France Kurokawa
flagicon|Germany Heyne
flagicon|Sweden Bonnier Carlsen
flagicon|Poland Anime-Gate
flagicon|Finland Sangatsu Manga
flagicon|Croatia Algoritam
flagicon|Italy Star Comics
demographic = Shōjo
magazine = Nakayoshi
first = August 2003
last = April 2007
volumes = 8
OEM = Infobox animanga/Anime
title =
director = Yukihiro Matsushita
writer =
studio = Studio Pierrot
licensor = flagicon|France Kaze
network = flagicon|Japan TV Tokyo
network_other = flagicon|France Canal J
flagicon|Philippines QTV 11, HERO flagicon|Italy Italia 1
first = 2 July 2005
last = 24 June 2006
episodes = 51
episode_list = List of Sugar Sugar Rune Episodes

Nihongo|"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 manga won the Kodansha Manga Award for the best manga of 2005. . [cite web | url=http://www.hahnlibrary.net/comics/awards/kodansha.shtml | author=Joel Hahn | title=Kodansha Manga Awards | work=Comic Book Awards Almanac | accessdate=2007-08-21] The anime series' time slot was replaced by "Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z" in mid-2006. [Ann anime|id=5334. Accessed 2006-10-13.]

Story

s, 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 through and retain a friendship which no magic can defeat.

Heart rankings

Characters

;Nihongo|Chocolat Meilleure|ショコラ＝メイユール|Shokora Meiyūru|witch; Nihongo|Chocolat Kato|加藤 ショコラ|Katō Shokora|human:Chocolat is an outgoing and daring girl with a forceful personality and the show's main protagonist. She is best friends with Vanilla and is the daughter of the late witch Cinnamon. Duke is her familiar. Chocolat 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. 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. The series progresses, and she begins to fall in love with Pierre, although it is forbidden for witches to allow their hearts be stolen by humans. Later, her identity as daughter of an ogre is revealed. Her voice actress in the anime is Marika Matsumoto.:In French the name translates to "Best Chocolat".:Spell: "Sugar Sugar Rune! Choco-Rune!" Chocolat's name may be romanised as Chocolat or Chocola. It is pronounced Chocola, however. In the English manga published by Del Rey, her name is spelled Chocolat, from the French word for chocolate.

;Nihongo|Vanilla Mieux|バニラ＝ミュー|Banira Myū|witch; Nihongo|Vanilla Ice|愛須 バニラ |Aisu Banira|human: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. She ends up with Houx. Her voice actress is Juri Ihata; her name translates from French as "Better Vanilla". :Spell: "Sugar Sugar Rune! Vani-Rune!"

;Nihongo|Rock'n Lovin'|ロッキンロビン|Rokkin Robin|wizard; Nihongo|Rockin' Robin|ロッキンロビン|Rokkin Robin| human [http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/syuga2/release.html] :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 over 6000 years old and uses facial masks to retain a youthful and attractive face. He seems to be particularly afraid of swords and sharp objects as shown when Chocolat and Vanilla try to learn fencing.

;Nihongo|Duke|デューク|Dyūku: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. At the end of Volume 6 he is returned to his human form. His real name is Nihongo|Poivre|ポワーヴル|Powāvuru; which is French for pepper, Chocolat's uncle and later to be found out , Vanilla's father. Which would make Chocolat and Vanilla cousins.:Duke is English for a noble rank.

;Nihongo|Blanca|ブランカ|Buranka:Blanca is a magical mouse. The familiar of Vanilla, she tries to help her steal hearts. 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, Blanca is very loyal to Vanilla and her family. :Blanca is Spanish for white (feminine form of "blanco"). Her real name in English is Libbie/Libby and she used to run a salon in the Magical World before she fell in love with a human and was turned into a familiar. She is turned back into a human with the power of Pierre's (now white) heart. She turns into a human at the end of Volume 7.

;Nihongo|Pierre|ピエール|Piēru:Pierre is a popular and handsome boy at Chocolat's school, but he has a cold heart, and perhaps 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 seemingly called the Members, who apparently dislike Chocolat being near their Prince. He hates hot things and carrots, but in one of the episode he tries to capture Chocolat's heart by eating carrots. He is part of the clan called "Ogre", but is enigmatic as he also begins to fall in love with Chocolat. His name is the French equivalent of Peter.

;Nihongo|Saule|ソール|Sōru & Nihongo|Houx|ウー|Ū [http://www.amazon.com/Sugar-Rune/dp/0345494873] :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 have a liking for Chocolat at first; however, Houx later develops feelings for Vanilla, which are reciprocated. Their names are the French words for willow and holly respectively; the romanizations "Soul" and "Woo" are incorrect guesses made by the English publisher, Del Rey, as well as fan translators.

;Nihongo|Cinnamon Meilleure|シナモン＝メイユール|Shinamon Meiyūru:The mother of Chocolat, she was a previous Queen Candidate along with Candy Mieux. Thought to have died, it is later revealed that she is Pierre's black cat.Fact|date=April 2008

;Nihongo|Queen Candy (Mieux)|クイーン＝キャンディ(ミュー)|Kuīn Kyandī (Myū):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.

Media

Manga

In the anime Chocolat and Vanilla are given a wand, but in the manga they have to collect hearts to make ecure to buy one.In the anime they are in the same homeroom class, but in the manga they are in separate classes.

Anime

The "Sugar Sugar Rune" anime contains a total of 51 episodes. The anime is somewhat different from the comic; 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
*# Nihongo|"Chocola à la folie"|ショコラに夢中|Shokora ni Muchū|Chocolat with the Madness by Karia Nomoto
*Ending themes
*# Nihongo|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)
*# "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