Sand Chronicles, Vol. 1

Delicate mood and generous empathy help this teen-girl romance cross cultural boundaries. Twelve-year-old Ann feels disoriented when her newly divorced mother leaves Tokyo and moves back to her village and less-than-sympathetic parents. Ann has trouble adjusting to rural culture—where, for example, cute wild bunnies are not pets but food. However, the townspeople, especially rabbit-hunting young Daigo, offer Ann friendship and support after her mother commits suicide. As they go to summer camp with other young teenagers two years later, Ann and Daigo still are close, but Ann worries about losing him to a rival while she also obsesses about when she’ll begin having regular periods. Some of the plot complications are predictable, such as lonely rich-kid Fuji beginning to cast yearning glances at Ann, and some of the characters’ concerns may seem trivial to grownups. But Ashihara’s art is quietly lovely, especially winter scenes with the air swirling with snowflakes or when a summer night is full of fireflies. Her script treats all the characters with gentle respect. The translation ignores differences in regional dialects, missing some clumsiness in conversations, but this manga still succeeds in showing the delight as well as the awkwardness of developing relationships. (Jan.)