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SAND CHRONICLES, VOL. 1

In Sand Chronicles, a young woman looks back fourteen years ago to a tumultuous period in her life – a time of transition and discovery.

Sand Chronicles, Vol. 1 introduces 12-year-old Ann Uekusa and her recently divorced mother, Miwako.  Ann and her mother are moving in to live with her mother’s parents in their rural Japanese hometown, Shimane.  Accustomed to living in the anonymity of the city, Ann has a difficult time living in a small town environment where everyone seems to know everyone else’s business.  The villagers’ kindness towards her, as Miwako’s daughter, seems embarrassing and overbearing.

Ann does, however, make a few friends: the rascally and handsome 12-year-old boy, Daigo Kitamura, and also two children from the town’s wealthiest family: the 11-year-old Shika Tsukishima and her 12-year-old brother Fuji.  When tragedy strikes, Ann will need them, and she will discover how much she really needed kindness.

THE LOWDOWN:  In her shojo drama, Sand Chronicles, manga-ka Hinako Ashihara emphasizes the importance of friendship as an elixir for chronic loneliness.  Friends also get a person through those times of intense depression or grief.  Even when someone might not want to see anyone in a time of heartache, just knowing that friends are right outside the door is a source of comfort.  Ashihara’s winsome, dreamy art, with its wispy line work and patterned toning are stereotypical shojo, but still matches the beauty of this story.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  As an entry in VIZ’s “Shojo Beat” line of manga, Sand Chronicles offers some of the most heart-warming “Manga from the Heart” (the line’s slogan).

B+

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