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Little Snow Fairy Sugar
© Geneon Entertainment, Japan
Mania Grade: A
Audio Rating: A
Video Rating: A-
Packaging Rating: A
Menus Rating: A-
Extras Rating: A
Age Rating: All
Region: 2 - Japan
Released By: Geneon Entertainment, Japan
MSRP: �6000
Running time: 75
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Disc Resolution: 480i/p (mixed/unknown)
Disc Encoding: MPEG-2
Series: Sugar
Review Date: Friday, March 29, 2002
Release Date: Friday, December 21, 2001
What They Say
"Saga, Sugar Meet" (Episode 1) In Murenburg (Germany), a young but
capable girl, Saga, lives with her aunt. Unexpectedly, she meets a
small, doll-sized girl. She introduces herself as Sugar, a small snow
fairy. Why is it that only Saga can see Sugar?
"A Tiny Roommate" (Episode 2) To become a top-class snow fairy Sugar
traveled to the human world to train. But she comes to live with Saga.
Sugar wants to learn more about the human world, so she follows Saga
to school.
"Shiny, Warm, Soft" (Episode 3) The season fairies-in-training have
come to the human world to find "kirameki", and to plant their own
Magic Flower. Sugar meets her apprentice friends Salt and Pepper, and
together they search the town for "kirameki". By the way, what is
"kirameki"?
The Review!
The official home page can be found at TBS (http://www.tbs.co.jp/snow-sugar/), which of course includes pictures
of the anime (http://www.tbs.co.jp/snow-sugar/info/dvd.html)
This is adorable, cute anime for kids and adults of all ages. You don't have to believe that little fairies control the weather to enjoy the adventures of Sugar, Pepper and Salt and their human friend, Saga.
Fans of the Di Gi Charat animation style (big eyes, cute characters with doll-hats on their heads, non-existent noses, sweat beads and the angry mark) will be in real treat for both eyes and ears. The show features "kawaii" (cuteness) in appropriate large doses. Sound effects highlight the characters' cuteness. The music is vibrantly memorable and covers a wide range of moods, in piano, toy piano, violin and
other instruments.
People who also enjoy animation showing small lessons in friendship, hard work, and courage will not go wrong with this series. There is no violence or sexual overtones, and the story is meaningful and light-hearted.
Sugar, Little Snow Fairy is currently being aired in Japan on satellite TV, and will end the broadcast in the middle of March after the 24th episode. DVDs come in "Seasons", for a total of 8. Each DVD has 3 episodes of about 20 minutes each. DVDs are currently being
released monthly in Japan. Season 8 will arrive in July 2002. At a price of 6000 yen, 3 episodes are not very cheap. In total, you're looking at 48,000 yen for this series.
Technical:
Video is great. Quality is high-TV or OVA level, which means clean, detailed moving characters in the foreground. The aspect ratio is 1.66:1, which reflects the way it was shown on satellite TV. There is no jerkiness in any of the animations. Computer generated graphics are sparsely used to enhance the magic in pastel-painted scenes. Also some zoom-in and zoom-out computer-aided effects are used on the characters themselves.
As an aside, although I had no visual problem playing this DVD in my
computer, when using my Japanese Sony PlayStation 2 (DVD Player version 1.00) the contrast was totally messed up and the screen was hard to see.
Audio is 2 channel stereo Dolby Digital and sounds great. The seiyuu (voice actors) are very animated. Since this show has mainly young girl characters, you must have a stomach for high pitched voices, especially Sugar's. Call it gratingly, "sugary" cute. Personally I think it fits the young child "what is this, what is that" nature of Sugar. The sound effects are also adorably cute. Music creates the
friendly atmosphere, especially the warm piano and violin pieces.
Menus are functional, with a floating Sugar to greet you. Whenever you make a selection, Sugar floats off screen, presumably to ready the video for you.
There are no subtitles or additional languages, but Japanese language
learners should not have any problems following the dialog.
Content: (Contains spoilers, go watch the anime already!)
Saga is the likable, dependable young girl who has a habit of planning her whole day out loud. Saga's friends include two girls, Norma and Ann. Saga is also friendly with Fille, a young hobbyist interested in controlling weather, but has a bad habit of making his inventions explode. Saga has a rival in her class, Greta (whose character music is in violin) who tries to compete with Saga. Saga lives with her aunt, since her pianist monther died a long time ago. (Where's the
father?) Saga's hobbies include playing the piano, and dreams of being just as good as her mother.
One day, Saga encounters Sugar. Sugar introduces herself as a snow
fairy-in-training. Sugar explains that fairies control the human world weather, using musical instruments. Sugar and her friends, Salt and Pepper, have come to learn about the human world, find "kirameki" and grow their own Magic Flower. Since they do not know what "kirameki" is, they must find it themselves, and not bother working fairies, such as rain fairy Ginger. However Saga is the only person who can see the fairies. This makes for some weird situations where Saga seems to be
talking to herself.
Sugar's own instrument is a flute. Salt is the sun fairy, and he uses a trumpet. Pepper is a wind fairy, and she uses a harp. Along the way we will meet other fairies, with other instruments. For example, Ginger uses a violin for making rain.
Episodes 1 and 2 deal with the motivation for why Sugar must live with
Saga. Episode 3 introduces the fairies' quest.
Extras:
Season 1 simply includes a non-titled opening and ending.
I bought the first-time special box for Season 1. This box includes:
Space for the first 4 DVDs, A postcard size desk calendar in watercolor style,
A greeting card that plays a melody when you open it, and Picture stickers.
Inside the Amaray case of Season 1, there is a special full-color
12-page booklet with sketches and pictures of seiyuu. Also there is a
collector card which on its back makes a picture if you collect all the DVDs.
Conclusion:
If there was a gentle introduction to the G-rated side of Japanese anime, I'd include this in the list as next selection after Totoro. This is a very high quality anime that kids and adults will enjoy. If you like "kawaii" cute, and if you want to show to your anime friends something worthwhile, this comes highly recommended.
Disclosure:
I am a fan of the show. I currently own the first 3 DVDs, the first soundtrack, the 2 character voice sound tracks and the manga. I intend to buy the rest of the DVDs and the other audio merchandise. Reach me at piyokun@email.com for any comments.
[note: Preview picture can be found at this url:
http://www.tbs.co.jp/snow-sugar/info/img/j\_dvd01.gif\]
![http://www.tbs.co.jp/snow-sugar/info/img/j\_dvd01.gif\]](http://www.tbs.co.jp/snow-sugar/info/img/j\_dvd01.gif\]){kind=link}
Features
Japanese Language,Non-titled opening and ending
Review Equipment
P3-500 based computer , Pioneer DVD-ROM DVD-303 player, 17-inch Attic monitor, Radeon 7200 graphics card, stereo headphone speakers. Sony Playstation 2 for comparison
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