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theseventhl's review against another edition
5.0
Originally posted here at Anime Radius.
The Sand Chronicles manga series by Hinako Ashihara has never been a typical title of the shoujo genre. The romance between Ann and Daigo was intertwined with their respective life histories as well as the drama of life in Daigo's sleepy rural town and Ann's city life. Their courtship was troubled and filled with twists and turns and at several points it looked like they were never going to get together at all. But here we are, at the edge of the end of the series, and not only are Daigo and Ann together but they are married to boot. Typically, married life - as well as life in general - is not without its complications, as Daigo and Ann both go through the trouble of looking back at the past while also looking ahead towards the future.
This volume of Sand Chronicles is just as beautiful and wonderfully written as the rest of the series, and it is also surprisingly poignant as it wraps up the series as well as the story of Daigo and Ann as we see more of their new lives as a married couple and as two working individuals. This volume is more Daigo's story than anyone else's - his work as a teacher as well as his memories of Mrs. Koda dominates the narrative but never to the point that we forget Ann is there or how we got to this point in the manga's story. Hinako Ashihara is a master at telling a story that can bring a smile to your face even as your eyes are brimming with tears, and every page of Sand Chronicles' finale proves this is true. It also helps that the artwork is absolutely gorgeous as usual, especially the scenes in winter - there's just something about how Ashihara draws characters walking through a snowy landscape that gets to me every time.
The ultimate question of the final volume of Sand Chronicle's manga is whether or not it will satisfy long-term readers who love the series and hate to see it come to an end, despite how inevitable it was. As a long-term fan of the series myself, having started the series late last year, it delivers like few series' finales do. There are plenty of fitting callbacks to the important events in books past, Ann and Daigo end up together but without seeming forced or a perfect happily ever after, and we go into a place few shoujo series ever dare to tread - seeing our beloved characters as they will be in the future, and the lives they will live in that future. Not gonna lie, from what little we see of Daigo at age fifty, he ages pretty well!
Hinako Ashihara has given shoujo manga fans a series to love and remember for many years. If all ten volumes of Sand Chronicles aren't already sitting on your shelves, hopefully they soon will be. Once you start reading about Ann and Daigo, you won't want to stop until you've reached the end - and what an end it is.
The Sand Chronicles manga series by Hinako Ashihara has never been a typical title of the shoujo genre. The romance between Ann and Daigo was intertwined with their respective life histories as well as the drama of life in Daigo's sleepy rural town and Ann's city life. Their courtship was troubled and filled with twists and turns and at several points it looked like they were never going to get together at all. But here we are, at the edge of the end of the series, and not only are Daigo and Ann together but they are married to boot. Typically, married life - as well as life in general - is not without its complications, as Daigo and Ann both go through the trouble of looking back at the past while also looking ahead towards the future.
This volume of Sand Chronicles is just as beautiful and wonderfully written as the rest of the series, and it is also surprisingly poignant as it wraps up the series as well as the story of Daigo and Ann as we see more of their new lives as a married couple and as two working individuals. This volume is more Daigo's story than anyone else's - his work as a teacher as well as his memories of Mrs. Koda dominates the narrative but never to the point that we forget Ann is there or how we got to this point in the manga's story. Hinako Ashihara is a master at telling a story that can bring a smile to your face even as your eyes are brimming with tears, and every page of Sand Chronicles' finale proves this is true. It also helps that the artwork is absolutely gorgeous as usual, especially the scenes in winter - there's just something about how Ashihara draws characters walking through a snowy landscape that gets to me every time.
The ultimate question of the final volume of Sand Chronicle's manga is whether or not it will satisfy long-term readers who love the series and hate to see it come to an end, despite how inevitable it was. As a long-term fan of the series myself, having started the series late last year, it delivers like few series' finales do. There are plenty of fitting callbacks to the important events in books past, Ann and Daigo end up together but without seeming forced or a perfect happily ever after, and we go into a place few shoujo series ever dare to tread - seeing our beloved characters as they will be in the future, and the lives they will live in that future. Not gonna lie, from what little we see of Daigo at age fifty, he ages pretty well!
Hinako Ashihara has given shoujo manga fans a series to love and remember for many years. If all ten volumes of Sand Chronicles aren't already sitting on your shelves, hopefully they soon will be. Once you start reading about Ann and Daigo, you won't want to stop until you've reached the end - and what an end it is.
reddyrat's review against another edition
4.0
The final bonus volume of Sand Chronicles is more like an epilogue than a bonus. It continues the main story. Daigo and Ann are now 30 years old. They're happily married, although I don't think they have kids yet.
As the summary states, Daigo digs up a time capsule. This opens up many memories from the past and also many things to teach his students now. Daigo's teacher at age ten was Mrs. Koda. He admired her greatly - worshiped might be a better word. She believed in him and made him believe in himself. It was fun seeing snippets of Daigo as a ten year old. He was a big cry-baby. Always fighting with Fuji. Mrs. Koda told Daigo and his classmates that the most important thing they could do was to become somebody that they liked - to like themselves.
Daigo is thrilled to meet up with Mrs. Koda again twenty years later to open the time capsule. He still thinks of her as one of the most important people in his life. But Mrs. Koda has a secret. Can Daigo still accept her even if she isn't the perfect person he always envisioned? (Who are we kidding...of course he can).
Daigo imbues Mrs. Koda's strength. He imparts her words and wisdom onto his students. He believes in them and provides them with opportunities to learn and succeed. He is a great teacher.
We also get a few moments with Ann. She's more of an afterthought in this story - thrown in because she's a main character in the rest of the series - but I still liked having her there. We see how she's become an equal to Daigo. Able to stand on her own feet and support him as much as he supports her.
I'm very sad to see Sand Chronicles end. Every volume pulls at your heartstrings. Ashihara knows how to create characters you love and put them into situations that challenge them...and pains the reader to endure. I highly recommend Sand Chronicles.
As the summary states, Daigo digs up a time capsule. This opens up many memories from the past and also many things to teach his students now. Daigo's teacher at age ten was Mrs. Koda. He admired her greatly - worshiped might be a better word. She believed in him and made him believe in himself. It was fun seeing snippets of Daigo as a ten year old. He was a big cry-baby. Always fighting with Fuji. Mrs. Koda told Daigo and his classmates that the most important thing they could do was to become somebody that they liked - to like themselves.
Daigo is thrilled to meet up with Mrs. Koda again twenty years later to open the time capsule. He still thinks of her as one of the most important people in his life. But Mrs. Koda has a secret. Can Daigo still accept her even if she isn't the perfect person he always envisioned? (Who are we kidding...of course he can).
Daigo imbues Mrs. Koda's strength. He imparts her words and wisdom onto his students. He believes in them and provides them with opportunities to learn and succeed. He is a great teacher.
We also get a few moments with Ann. She's more of an afterthought in this story - thrown in because she's a main character in the rest of the series - but I still liked having her there. We see how she's become an equal to Daigo. Able to stand on her own feet and support him as much as he supports her.
I'm very sad to see Sand Chronicles end. Every volume pulls at your heartstrings. Ashihara knows how to create characters you love and put them into situations that challenge them...and pains the reader to endure. I highly recommend Sand Chronicles.
giorginav's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
annelives's review against another edition
4.0
A nice ending to a great series. I just wished we had gotten more of Fuji's wedding. I liked the time capsule story and most of the short snippets into different characters lives, but I didn't care for the "behind the scenes" panes.
wendytheowl's review against another edition
5.0
volume 1->10 (no spoilers)
FR
Pour commencer l'année 2023; j'avais envie de me relire quelque chose que j'aime, une lecture doudou.
Alors, clairement, ce manga ne peut techniquement pas entrer dans cette catégorie réellement, parce que on parle notamment de suicide. Mais c'est une lecture très nostalgique pour moi.
Je l'avais découvert à un moment assez compliqué pour moi, et bizarrement, j'étais tombée totalement amoureuse de l'histoire, malgré la difficulté, malgré les personnages dont je ne supporte pas forcément ce qu'ils.elles disent/font.
Et malgré les défauts, malgré ce que moi, je n'aime pas...
C'est toujours un coup de coeur. Je suis toujours amoureuse.
Mon avis n'a pas changé. Je n'aime toujours pas les mêmes choses. Et j'adore toujours les mêmes choses.
Je ne peux pas le recommander à tout le monde, au vu des sujets. Mais si vous pouvez gérer les cw, n'hésitez pas !
ENG
To start the year 2023; I wanted to re-read something I like, a cuddly reading.
So, clearly, this manga cannot technically fit into this category really, because we are talking about suicide in particular. But it's a very nostalgic read for me.
I had discovered it at a time that was quite complicated for me, and oddly, I had fallen totally in love with the story, despite the difficulty, despite the characters of whom I don't necessarily support what they say/do.
And despite the flaws, despite what I don't like...
It's always a crush. I'm still in love.
My opinion has not changed. I still don't like the same things. And I still love the same things.
I cannot recommend it to everyone, given the subjects. But if you can handle the cws, don't hesitate !
FR
Pour commencer l'année 2023; j'avais envie de me relire quelque chose que j'aime, une lecture doudou.
Alors, clairement, ce manga ne peut techniquement pas entrer dans cette catégorie réellement, parce que on parle notamment de suicide. Mais c'est une lecture très nostalgique pour moi.
Je l'avais découvert à un moment assez compliqué pour moi, et bizarrement, j'étais tombée totalement amoureuse de l'histoire, malgré la difficulté, malgré les personnages dont je ne supporte pas forcément ce qu'ils.elles disent/font.
Et malgré les défauts, malgré ce que moi, je n'aime pas...
C'est toujours un coup de coeur. Je suis toujours amoureuse.
Mon avis n'a pas changé. Je n'aime toujours pas les mêmes choses. Et j'adore toujours les mêmes choses.
Je ne peux pas le recommander à tout le monde, au vu des sujets. Mais si vous pouvez gérer les cw, n'hésitez pas !
ENG
To start the year 2023; I wanted to re-read something I like, a cuddly reading.
So, clearly, this manga cannot technically fit into this category really, because we are talking about suicide in particular. But it's a very nostalgic read for me.
I had discovered it at a time that was quite complicated for me, and oddly, I had fallen totally in love with the story, despite the difficulty, despite the characters of whom I don't necessarily support what they say/do.
And despite the flaws, despite what I don't like...
It's always a crush. I'm still in love.
My opinion has not changed. I still don't like the same things. And I still love the same things.
I cannot recommend it to everyone, given the subjects. But if you can handle the cws, don't hesitate !
buuboobaby's review against another edition
5.0
How is it possible that I cry EVERY TIME I read a new volume of this manga??????? Maybe it's not Daigo who is the cry baby.
Full review to follow
Full review to follow
lilsuccubus's review against another edition
2.5
A strange way to wrap up the series, in my opinion. It's almost entirely about Daigo as a teacher and about a teacher he had as a kid. A few pages are dedicating to Fuji getting married (to his cousin??). Not a satisfying ending.
juliemawesome's review against another edition
3.0
This might be my favorite of the series. I felt I could understand it better than most of the others.
julieneutron's review against another edition
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
tora76's review against another edition
5.0
I love this so much. It's complicated and realistic, and the focus stays solidly on An. This is her story, and while there are some subplots with guy angst, it never takes over and becomes a story about the guy and his angst, like so many shoujo series do. I loved the characterisations here, too. There are strong women and weak women and women who struggle and become stronger over the years. It is also one of the few shoujo series where I was honestly not sure whether or not it would have a typically happy ending.
I highly recommend this. The series is ten volumes total, with the main story being the first eight, and some side stories taking up the last two volumes.
The basic story is about a woman named An. It starts off with her finding an hourglass in the closet and reminiscing about when she got it. The story then goes back to when she was twelve and her parents had just got divorced. She and her mother moved back to the boonies to live with her grandparents. That's when she meets Daigo, Fuji, and Shiika, who will be lifelong friends. That's also when her mother commits suicide, something that affects An immensely and which she will never really get over (in fact, you could say the story is much more about An and her mother than it is about any of the romances). The story follows her through the years until it meets up with the point where she found the hourglass, then goes on a few years after that. The main side stories we get are one about An's mother, Daigo's mother, and Fuji and Shiika's mother when they were young, one about An's little sister, and one set a few years in the future from the end of the main story.
As I said above, this is really a story about An and her mother. It's a story about how some boy can't make it all better, no matter how much you love him or he loves you. I love that it's not easy for Daigo, either, to love someone like An, that even once they're together for good, he can never not look at her and remember all the bad times, too. I love that even when he rescues her when she slit her wrist, he doesn't really rescue her. He's not heroic. He stands there gaping at her lying on the sand while the taxi driver is the one who says get her in the car, hold her hand above heart level, let's get to the hospital. I love that she does eventually accept that she couldn't have saved her mom, and that her mom committing suicide doesn't mean she didn't love her. I love the moment at the grave, when Chii (her half-sister, who is 19 years younger than her) asks if her mom died because she was sick, and An thinks about it and says yes. I loved the backstory we got for her mom, and the contrast between her and Fuji and Shiika's mom, both so different, yet they both ended up fucking up their kids pretty well.
In terms of romance, I love that everyone found happiness - and that that happiness was not necessarily a romantic relationship. I mean, Shiika. Wow. She got over Daigo, got away from her family and the fucked-up-ness there, made her own way in a foreign country and made a career for herself there. All without a man. I even thought that it might end with An by herself, too. I don't think I've ever thought that about a shoujo manga before. Usually they're so predictable, yet here I really wondered. When she got with Fuji, I thought it really might work out for them. When she got with Sakura, I thought it really might work out for them, too (well, I had more doubts about that one, but I thought maybe!). And then when An finally made her peace with her mother, I really thought that's where it would end.
And yet at the same time, I'm happy she and Daigo did get back together in the end. I would have liked it the other way, too, but this didn't feel disappointing. Their relationship overall felt much more realistic than you'd expect for a couple who met when they were twelve and started dating when they were fourteen, and I think the fact that they weren't together most of the time is responsible for that. I love that they had a long distance relationship and it didn't work out.
This is just such a great series. Just the right length, too. It didn't feel like it was dragging on forever to keep the story going. And I really liked the art.
I highly recommend this. The series is ten volumes total, with the main story being the first eight, and some side stories taking up the last two volumes.
The basic story is about a woman named An. It starts off with her finding an hourglass in the closet and reminiscing about when she got it. The story then goes back to when she was twelve and her parents had just got divorced. She and her mother moved back to the boonies to live with her grandparents. That's when she meets Daigo, Fuji, and Shiika, who will be lifelong friends. That's also when her mother commits suicide, something that affects An immensely and which she will never really get over (in fact, you could say the story is much more about An and her mother than it is about any of the romances). The story follows her through the years until it meets up with the point where she found the hourglass, then goes on a few years after that. The main side stories we get are one about An's mother, Daigo's mother, and Fuji and Shiika's mother when they were young, one about An's little sister, and one set a few years in the future from the end of the main story.
As I said above, this is really a story about An and her mother. It's a story about how some boy can't make it all better, no matter how much you love him or he loves you. I love that it's not easy for Daigo, either, to love someone like An, that even once they're together for good, he can never not look at her and remember all the bad times, too. I love that even when he rescues her when she slit her wrist, he doesn't really rescue her. He's not heroic. He stands there gaping at her lying on the sand while the taxi driver is the one who says get her in the car, hold her hand above heart level, let's get to the hospital. I love that she does eventually accept that she couldn't have saved her mom, and that her mom committing suicide doesn't mean she didn't love her. I love the moment at the grave, when Chii (her half-sister, who is 19 years younger than her) asks if her mom died because she was sick, and An thinks about it and says yes. I loved the backstory we got for her mom, and the contrast between her and Fuji and Shiika's mom, both so different, yet they both ended up fucking up their kids pretty well.
In terms of romance, I love that everyone found happiness - and that that happiness was not necessarily a romantic relationship. I mean, Shiika. Wow. She got over Daigo, got away from her family and the fucked-up-ness there, made her own way in a foreign country and made a career for herself there. All without a man. I even thought that it might end with An by herself, too. I don't think I've ever thought that about a shoujo manga before. Usually they're so predictable, yet here I really wondered. When she got with Fuji, I thought it really might work out for them. When she got with Sakura, I thought it really might work out for them, too (well, I had more doubts about that one, but I thought maybe!). And then when An finally made her peace with her mother, I really thought that's where it would end.
And yet at the same time, I'm happy she and Daigo did get back together in the end. I would have liked it the other way, too, but this didn't feel disappointing. Their relationship overall felt much more realistic than you'd expect for a couple who met when they were twelve and started dating when they were fourteen, and I think the fact that they weren't together most of the time is responsible for that. I love that they had a long distance relationship and it didn't work out.
This is just such a great series. Just the right length, too. It didn't feel like it was dragging on forever to keep the story going. And I really liked the art.