Reviews

Book of the Month - August 2006

A Little Snow Fairy Sugar

Volume 1

Saga’s well-organized life gets an unexpected shake-up when she stumbles across Sugar, an apprentice snow fairy (normally invisible to humans) that can make it snow by playing her piccolo. In order to become a full-fledged snow fairy, Sugar needs to collect mysterious items called “Twinkles,” and thanks to the accidental germination of a magic seed, Sugar is stuck living with Saga. This is quite a treat for Sugar, who instantly takes a liking to Saga, but the fairy’s over-enthusiastic, clumsy and extremely clingy nature causes Saga no end of frustration. Saga has to try and control Sugar’s mischievous nature without her friends Norma, Anne and wannabe inventor Phil thinking that she’s going crazy by talking to an invisible fairy. She must also deal with Greta, a stuck-up classmate who sees herself as Saga’s archrival.

Matters get even more complicated when we learn that there are more season fairies, each controlling a different aspect of nature. It isn’t long before Sugar’s fellow apprentice fairy friends begin to arrive on the scene. Salt the sun fairy and Pepper the wind fairy are the first to be introduced, also quickly taking a shine to Saga. Eventually, though, the troublemaking duo of Cinnamon the ice fairy and Basil the thunder fairy show up and begin playing tricks. Oh dear!

Despite the silly nature of the manga, there’s actually some touching subtext to the story. Even with all the chaos in her life, Saga takes time out each day to run to the local piano shop and play her mother’s piano, which Saga’s grandmother had to sell after her mom died. Saga’s intense love and dedication to her departed mother is bittersweet, and you get the feeling that the young girl wasn’t so hard on herself when her mother was still around.

Sugar’s artwork (based on the original designs of Koge-Donbo) is fantastic, and although the book is clearly meant for young girls, there’s a certain charm to it that will melt just about anyone’s heart (or at least give them a cavity).

—Phil Theobald

A Little Snow Wizard?

It turns out that Koge-Donbo, Sugar’s original character designer and creator of Di Gi Charat, is a big fan of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. You can check out the artist’s HP fan art by visiting the website at http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~haripota/.