Sugar Sugar Rune

Plot

In the Magical World, the future queen is chosen by selecting two young witches and sending them to the Human World, where they'll compete to capture the hearts of boys. Whoever has collected the most by the end of the competition is crowned queen.

This generation's Queen Candidates are best friends and opposites, Vanilla Mieux and Chocolat Meilleure, the daughters of the current queen and her former competitor (respectively). They're aided by their assigned mentor and guardian, pop idol witch Rockin' Robin, and their two animal familiars, Blanca the mouse and Duke the frog.

In addition to competing for hearst at their new school, the girls become involved in a conflict surrounding Pierre, who is a middle school student who bears a resemblance to Glace, the former evil king. Pierre is interested in Chocolat, and, as a result the relationship and the competition with Vanilla threaten to complicate. As their experiences in the Human World begin to challenge their friendship and their individual goals, the two witches mus navigate the competition while confronting the forces that threaten Magical World.

Characters

Chocolat Meilleure/Chocolat Kato (ショコラ・メイユール/加藤 ショコラ, Shokora Meiyuuru/Kato Shokora)

Voiced by: Marika Matsumoto (2005 anime), Miyu Kobashi (upcoming anime)

Chocolat is a very energetic girl with a forceful personality. She is best friends with Vanilla and is the daughter of the so called, late witch Cinnamon. She has long orange hair, large emerald green eyes, and pointy ears. In the human world, she is not as popular as Vanilla since her temper makes most boys wary, but she is able to make friends with them instead. Her energetic and cheerful personality makes her very popular in the Magical World, and at the beginning of the series she finds the switch between her and Vanilla's popularity in the human world harrowing. She is very caring and a loyal friend, but she can be very aggressive and prideful. She is secretly in love with Pierre. Her familiar is a lazy but powerful frog named Duke. In her world, she lives with her grandfather, Corne, a powerful wizard who, like Chocolat, has a certain dislike for Blanca. As the series progresses, Chocolat and Pierre develop feelings for each other and (in the anime) end up exchanging hearts and sharing their first kisses. In the anime, she loses the queen contest but Vanilla gives up the throne (making Chocolat Queen). In the manga, Chocolat and Pierre went missing and lost their memories which made them return a few years later, for Vanilla's coronation. Her Theme Color is pink.

Vanilla Mieux/Vanilla Aisu (バニラ・ミュー/愛須 バニラ, Banira Myuu/Aisu Banira)

Voiced by: Juri Ibata (2005 anime), Tsukino Chikasada (upcoming anime)

Vanilla is a shy and gentle girl. Best friends with Chocolat, she is the daughter of Queen Candy. Blanca is her familiar. She has short blond curly hair, purple eyes, and pointy ears. Because of her compassion, empathy, and cuteness, she is more popular than Chocolat with human boys, which leads Chocolat to believe that the Human World and the Magic World are opposites. Vanilla was less popular in the Magical World than Chocolat, due to her shy personality. Vanilla is also more conscientious, and more dutiful than Chocolat. However, in the third volume Chocolat is able to beat her in getting hearts sometimes. About midway through the series, Vanilla feels insecure and inferior to Chocolat and becomes Ogre Princess due to Pierre's trickery. Chocolat is able to save her. In the anime, Vanilla wins the crown but gives it to Chocolat. In the last volume of the manga, Vanilla wins the right to be Queen, but refuses to take the crown. She finally accepts the crown because Chocolat is missing. After Chocolat is found, she still retains her position as Queen upon Chocolat's wish. She ends up with Houx. Her Theme Color is purple.

Media

Manga

The eight-volume manga was written and illustrated by Moyoco Anno. In comparison to the anime, which ended before its serialization in Nakayoshi, the manga more strongly emphasizes the struggle between the witches and the ogres. It was initially published in English by Del Rey Manga, but Udon Entertainment currently has the rights.

Anime

In 2005, Sugar Sugar Rune was adapted into an anime television series produced by Studio Pierrot under the direction of Matsushita Yukihiro. Consisting of fifty-one episodes with scripts composed by Reiko Yoshida and music by Yasufumi Fukuda, Yutaka Minobe, Tomoko Sasaki and Yasuharu Konishi (only the latter is credited in the opening and staff list of the anime, however), the series was broadcast on TV Tokyo in Japan between July 2, 2005, and June 24, 2006.

Three pieces of theme music are used—one opening theme and two closing themes. The opening theme is "Crazy for Chocolat" (ショコラに夢中, Shokora ni Muchū) by Karia Nomoto. The closing theme for the first twenty-nine episodes is "The World Beyond the Moon" (月の向こうの世界, Tsuki no Mukō no Sekai) by Karia Nomoto and the last twenty episodes is "Date Date" (デート☆デート, Dēto Dēto) by the series starring voice actresses Marika Matsumoto and Juri Ibata.

A CG short anime ONA titled Sugar Sugar Rune Les deux sorcières, produced by Studio Khara and directed and written by Yusuke Matsui for the anime's 20th anniversary and serving as a prologue to the original manga, was initially released at Japan Expo 2025 and later released on YouTube. At the same time and event, it was announced that a separate new anime adaptation by the same studio and director is also in production.

Reception

Sugar Sugar Rune won the 29th Kodansha Manga Awards in the children's manga category. It was called "the greatest fantasy comic of the last five years" by an Anime News Network reviewer, who praised its stylish art and epic conclusion.