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Sand Chronicles (Series)
October 13, 2011

Written by Hinako Ashihara, Sand Chronicles is one of the series that appeared in Viz's short lived monthly magazine, Shojo Beat. It ran in Japan from 2003 till 2005, and Viz picked it up and began releasing chapters in Shojo Beat in 2007. The central character in this series is Ann Uekusa, who is 12 when she moves to Shimane with her mother after her parents divorce. They live with Ann's grandparents, and at first Ann has trouble adjusting to live in the small, close-knit, gossip filled town after coming from Tokyo which is depicted as being like New York (i.e. no one sees anything). Ann's mother has problems, however, and that is clear very early own. Not long after moving there, Ann's mother kills herself. Ann gets through it, in large part due her friendship with Daigo, and later siblings Fuji and Shika. As the years pass, friendship turns to love, but then Ann moves back to Tokyo. The distance, rivals for affections, and Ann's on-going psychological issues begins to strain both love and friendship.

Sand Chronicles spans Ann's live for well over a decade, from when Ann is 12 through when she is 26. For me, the most powerful thing about this series is the story itself. Ashihara pulls us along on Ann's journey, as she makes friends, loses friends, falls in love, loses love, and copes with the various changes happening in her life while also trying to deal with growing up. Along the way, we get a very realistic look, in my humble opinion, of teenage relationships, with confusion, uncertain, overstated optimism, casually given promises, betrayal, and heartbreak, along with the tender, awkward sweetness of a mutual first love. Throughout the story we also glimpse Ann's unresolved trauma behind her mother's suicide is masterfully interwoven, managing to be both subtle yet clear, not only from Ann herself, but from those around her. The stories with the side-characters is also interesting, particularly the family issues that Fuji and Shika have to deal with, and how that affects their relationships and actions regarding Ann and Daigo.

The art is good, with consistently well-drawn, distinctive characters, despite the sometimes large cast. The backgrounds are mostly kept simple, if there at all, yet with the detail needed to convey the place and feel of the scene. Viz's translation is, of course, well done, with translation notes included in each volume. Sand Chronicles is technically a ten-volume series, however the actual story concludes at the end of the eighth volume. The remaining two volumes are a collection of "side stories", including a look at the four friend's parents as kids, stories with some of the side characters, and a look at the characters in their 30s. So you can choose to just stop at volume 8, but if you want to see more about the past and future, snag the last two as well. In particular, the story 30 years before the main story, about Daigo and Ann's mothers, that starts volume 9 adds some extra depth to the main story and Ann's mother as a character. Also in Volume 10, you can get a bit of Daigo's past and his thoughts of events that happened during the story's climax.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the series, and I hope we see more from Ashihara, as she seems very skilled at telling highly dramatic stories without overloading on sap or melodrama.

Rating: A

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