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Description
From Viz: After her parents divorce, Anna Uekusa and her mother move from Tokyo to rural Shimane. Used to the anonymity of city living, An can't get used to the almost overbearing kindness of the people in her mother's hometown. But when personal tragedy strikes, An discovers how much she needs that kindness.
In 2005 Sand Chronicles was awarded the 50th Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo manga.
Type
Manga
Related Series
N/A
Associated Names
Đồng Hồ Cát 砂时计 砂時計 La Clessidra (Italian) Le Sablier (French) Reloj de Arena (Spanish) Sand Chronicle Sand Chronicles Suna Dokei The Hour Glass
As the saying goes, first love never dies and so it is true in here. I am a romantic at heart and this slow development and time progression story of Ann and Daigo captured me and filled my longing. Art has a charm of its own that fits perfectly with the story. This mangaka also became one of my fav in my few list in shoujo genre.
This wonderfull manga starts as a good and kind of real take on the whole shojo firts love/comming of age thing, that by this point is completly done to death. Still, it is a good start.
But it keep on giving and the characters starts acting far more real world than you would expect. Relationships aren´t overromanticized too much and break down. There are even uncreepy and very apropriate sex scenes here and there and beleavable character groth takes place.
Because of timeprogression the characters have to dead with mariages or lack thereof , shitty jobs and even burnout. Workrelated stress is one seriouse problem you all and i am not kidding. Just work 55 hours a week for some time and you will understand. No kiddy/dreamy fluff here(ok a little) so i have to wonder why a shojo magazine published this manga.
So read and enjoy and move on to her next manga Piece, Nana and my darling Mars for further "unshojo" goodness. Also read Berserk, just because.
by the end of volume four. Characters act out of character, they all blame, accuse and scheme.. all what made the first volumes fun and lighthearted turned into stupid nonsensical drama, real shallow.
I really like it because, even if the plot is a little bit predictable, it goes smooth and fast without all those school festivals that only make you read pages and pages of the same shit. The characters are really realistic and somebody says that An is annoying but is more like she not sure of her future.
Spoiler (mouse over to view)
And for Daigo I think he did all he could to help her but they are still too young, it is too much for a teenager to deal with. They are in a age where boyfriends and girlfriends are most for fun and dating that for support. She has to became strong by herself and them she would be able to love herself and others truly
Honestly, I was hesitant about picking this series up - particularly with the fact that I couldn't find all the chapters online (vol 6 has to be downloaded off SweetSense itself). The reviews were extremely off-putting, but since I'm a fan of manga like this (Cat Street, Mars - all stories with a somewhat nostalgic overtone) I decided to go for it. I'm extremely glad I did. This story probably isn't for everybody (as indicated by the split opinions reviewers have provided) but even if you haven't had that good ol' first love in the countryside it resonates with you. "Sunadokei" - which I take to mean as hourglass, although I'm not entirely sure - revolves completely around the concept of time, a reflection of our own obsession with forgetting and remembering our pasts, trying to control our presents, avoiding and predicting our futures. Youth is painted in glaring, almost unforgiving clarity in a masterfully told story about first love, friendship and family where as much as you sometimes cringe at what Ann, its protagonist, does - "No, you idiot, don't! NO!!!!" - you can't help but root for her too, or commiserate with all she's been through. I don't think this manga is as pedestrian as it first appears - there is excruciating delicacy in even the most minor details. I particularly love the way this story is told - not in a continuous, contextual way, but in fragments and pieces that we have to glue together ourselves, maintaining the impression of a person looking back on his or her own past, remembering only the things that stood out the most, the things that ended up mattering. With some patience and not a little consideration for the meanings that may lurk in the text, I guarantee that this is a painfully honest story that will stay with the reader, and surprise him or her suddenly with its poignancy. There is only one first love, after all. (:
When I started to read this ... well I thought it was interesting but .The girl gets REALLY annoying after !!! And she becomes kind of bi-polar . Verdict: Don't waste your time reading something bad wen you can read something good : )
If someone sais that this one is a typical shoujo-manga I absolutly can NOT understand it. Sand Chronicles is a very touching and also heart-warming manga you can't put aside. I'm annoyed by all these super-cheerful and naive heroines, who seem to be strong but in the end they can't do anything without the boy of their dreams: the absoluty bishounen (handsome, smart, sporty, can everything, knows everything etc.) But Sand Chronicles is different. Of course the heroine is sometimes very whiny. But the development of each character is amazing (the art is also beautiful, too) . Daigo is-thankfully thankfully-anything but perfect. He is far away from that. I like that and I'm sure that if you are also pissed off (excuse me..) by the heroine type "Maron of Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne" this is definetly for you. The plot is realistic, the characters too and-yes-it's not always sunny and blithely but this manga also has moments in it, which are happy. I also think that real relationships ARE that tragic (@weronique), at least it's not unrealistic. By the way: what's the problem with typical shoujo-manga? I mean...they're popular, aren't they? I don't like them that much but...I often hear that they're horrible but those person seem to read the most of them (--:--*) Also I do. But that's not the topic right now.
Well...I'm up to volume 9 now and I hope that she won't end up with Fuji...oh please...!
All in all: this is great, whether it takes part at the country or not (spupapi ;-))
Negative: The beginning was definitely promising...but for some reason it just went downhill for me. The beginning has tints of comedy and light-hearted romance, but then, on later chapters, it started to get darker, and I did not like the atmosphere. Too much angst and melodrama. It seems as if Ann was constantly encountering downfall after downfall...that it got boring. Also, I agree with wintermelon that Fuji's character was wasted, he looked good with Ann!=________=.
Positive: A plus for its realism on the characters and plot. Also, it may look like a typical shoujo, but there's definitely something more to it than just a girl struck by unfortunate times, but gets through it, knacks a boy while she's at it, the end. Art: I really liked the art, like Ai no Koe, to me the art is sketchy, but nice to look at. I've liked her drawings ever since Forbidden Dance x33
Overall, it's in between. Not too bad, not good either. Give it a try, though. Nothing to lose anyway.
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