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Reviewed by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane Sand Chronicles is one of the newest offerings from Viz's Shojo Beat line, and the first volume is a joy to read. It follows some of the standard shojo conventions (take one good-hearted, determined heroine and add angst), but does so with feeling; by halfway through this volume the main characters have already taken on a life of their own and started getting their hooks into readers' hearts. The story opens when the protagonist, Ann, finds herself unceremoniously transplanted from Tokyo to her mother's rural hometown after her parents divorce. Ann and her mother move in with her (Ann's) grandparents and start rebuilding their lives, but it's hard going--twelve year old Ann is unused to the way country neighbors know everyone else's business, horrified by the idea that the cute rabbit she sees in the woods is someone else's idea of supper, and worried about her mother. And no sooner does she begin to build friendships with some of the other local kids and adjust to her new life than her world turns upside down all over again. It's a simple enough plot, covering almost two years of Ann's life in the first volume alone, but the honesty behind it makes for compelling reading. Ann herself is believably vulnerable without being weak, and her relationships with Daigo and Fuji, two of the boys her age, capture a lot of the awkwardnesses of young teenage boy/girl friendships. Those relationships wind up taking center stage as the volume progresses, allowing the characters' feelings to change as they begin to grow up, without making them carbon copies of other first-love stories. Readers familiar with manga-ka Hinako Ashihara's work from an earlier series, Forbidden Dance (available from TokyoPop), will likely be impressed by how far she's come as an storyteller. Her art style--fairly standard shojo, with delicate lines and good expression--hasn't changed substantially in the intervening years (Forbidden Dance dates back to 1997, roughly six years before Sand Chronicles' Japanese release), but so far this series is a remarkable example of shojo instead of merely enjoyable. This volume includes a two-page glossary of terms and cultural notes at the end of the book. Comment on this review of Sand Chronicles v1 on the Manga Life Forums. |
19 November 2008
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