Sand Chronicles

Sand Chronicles (砂時計) is a manga by Hinako Ashihara. It completed serialization in Japan in Betsucomi during 2005 and was licenced by Viz Media. It began serialization in English in Shojo Beat's August 2007 issue, replacing Yume Kira Dream Shoppe. Sand Chronicles has been released in Germany under the title Sunadokei - Die Sanduhr and is translated by Burkhard HöFLER.

The series has also been adapted as a dorama series in Japan. In 2005, it was awarded the 50th Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo manga. It was also adapted into a movie, starring Kaho and Nao Matsushita (2008).

Plot
Ann and her mother move to the small town of Shimane, where Ann's grandparents live and everyone seems to be familiar with everyone else. Ann soon becomes friends with Daigo, a young boy who lives in Shimane, as well as Fuji and Shiika, Fuji's younger sister and her best friend in Shiname.

When Ann's mother, Miwako, commits suicide, Daigo helps Ann cope with the sudden change in her life. They fall in love, but Ann's life can only become more complicated when her estranged father suddenly arrives from Tokyo. After greatly comptemplating going to Tokyo to live with her father after he asks her, she decides to stay. Ann tells Daigo about her decision but makes her go anyway. Ann and Fuji both live in Tokyo but hardly ever talk because Fuji goes to an elite high school, K High. Ann met back up with her friends she had before moving to Shiname and they continue their friendships. One of Ann's friends, Micchon as they call her, has an "impossible love" because she's in love with A guy from K High. Ann admits she knows a guy from K High, Fuji and promises to get Fuji to introduce them. Later Ann has a birthday party and Daigo calls her, he said he was coming to Tokyo for her birthday present. Daigo and Ann have a good time and even share a few kisses along the way. After Daigo leaves back to Shiname, Ann feels sad so she gets drunk. Ann calls Fuji to have a picinic with her. Fuji finds her on the side of a public road drunk. Under the cherry blossom, they talk and Fuji kisses Ann.

As of the Viz Media Shojo Beat May issue, Ann and Daigo have broken up after Shiika tries to steal Daigo from Ann. Fuji and Ann are now dating and go up to the beach in a cabin with friends, their friends ditch them and leave them alone in the big cabin hoping they might connect since they are dating. Ann fails under the pressure and kisses Fuji, then takes a shower. When she gets out Fuji asks her where he she wants to sleep, she chooses to sleep in the same bed with Fuji so she doesn't hurt his feelings. The mood seems right and they make love. In the morning, Ann feels bad because half of the time, she was unintentionally picturing Daigo and wonders in she only had sex with Fuji to forget about Daigo. Ann also had thrown away her prized-possession, her sandglass timer that Daigo traveled far to get her after she broke hers when her mother committed suicide.

As of the Viz Media Shojo Beat July issue (Winter, Age 18), Ann learns that her father's friend Kaede Kuroki is pregnant with Ann's soon-to-be half-sister and attends her father and Kaede's shotgun wedding after graduating high school. She is also starting to heal the broken friendship between her and Shika, who now attends school in Vancouver. Daigo and Ann make it to the schools of their choice while Fuji must repeat his senior year.

In volume 7, after attending her middle school reunion, Ann spends some time with Daigo, where he tells her to find her own happiness. 6 years later, Ann meets a young businessman named Keiichiro Sakura and they become engaged shortly after. Soon they break it off, however, after Ann learns that he only uses people for his own gain. Almost a week afterward, she takes a train to Okayama, where Daigo teaches elementary school. Ann's grandmother, meanwhile, believes Ann will suffer the same fate as her mother.

In volume 8, after a failed suicide attempt, Ann meets Daigo who asks her to marry him. She says yes and at the very end are shown to be happily married with an infant son named Ryo. Meanwhile, Fuji decides to marry Mariko despite the fact that they're cousins and Shika decides to work for her uncle in America.

Characters

 * Ann Uekusa (植草 杏) (Ann Minase (水瀬 杏): The protagonist of the story. An affectionate, sensitive girl who likes to be silly sometimes, Ann cares deeply for all her friends. After her mother's death, she and Daigo become very close and she wishes that she will be able to stay with Daigo for the rest of her life. However, she chooses to return to Tokyo to take care of her estranged father when he comes to see her in Shimane. Drama Actresses:  Sato Megumi, Kobayashi Ryoko (middle school), and Miyama Karen (young girl)


 * Daigo Kitamura (北村 大悟): Ann's first friend when she comes to Shimane, Daigo is very athletic and is not very articulate.  He and Ann eventually fall in love and begin a long distance relationship when she leaves Shimane for Tokyo.  They break up when Ann feels that she's too much of a burden to him.  He and Ann are the same age.  His mother is a down-to-earth woman who was best friends with Ann's mother. Drama Actors:  Takezai Terunosuke, Sano Kazuma (middle school), and Izumisawa Yuuki (young boy)


 * Fuji Tsukishima (月島 藤): Shiika's older brother, Fuji comes from a well-off family.  He is the same age as Ann and Daigo and has a secret crush on Ann, which he eventually reveals to her.  Fuji tends to keep to himself and eventually decides to attend high school in Tokyo shortly before Ann leaves Shimane.  He has doubts concerning who he is because it is suspected that Fuji is not his father's biological son (though his father has accepted him as such), but the son of one of his mother's affairs.  It is revealed eventually that he did not result from the affair, though it remains the reason why his mother does not treat him the same as his younger sister.  Drama Actors:  Shibue Joji, Aoyagi Ruito (middle school), and Kawaguchi Shouhei (young boy)


 * Shiika Tsukishima (月島 椎香): Ann's best friend in Shimane and perhaps her only best friend growing up. Though her mother is kind and loyal to her children, Shiika does not get along with her well.  She is one year younger than Ann.  It is revealed through a letter written by her mother to a lover that she is the child of the affair stated above. The reason that her mother pays more attention to her and pushes her so hard it is out of guilt of the affair.  Drama Actresses:  Kinouchi Akiko, Kakiuchi Ayami (middle school), and Yamauchi Nana (young girl)


 * Misayo Uekusa (植草 美佐代): Ann's grandmother.  Though she is strict, she wants what's best for Ann and cares for her.  When Miwako commits suicide and leaves Ann in the care of her parents, Ann's grandmother believes that she was too insensitive to Miwako, but was unable to bear seeing her daughter so depressed and blames herself for Miwako's weakness.


 * Masahiro Minase (水瀬 正弘): Miwako partially married Ann's father to leave Shimane because she was too sensitive to bear how everyone in her town could gossip about one another so easily.  They moved to Tokyo after marrying, but when Ann's father ended up deeply in debt during Ann's childhood, Miwako divorced him.  A year after Miwako commits suicide, he comes to Shimane and offers to take care of Ann should she choose to return to Tokyo.  He cares deeply for his family and had worked very hard to clear his debts before he approached them again. He calls upon Ann to live with him in Tokyo because he promises the debts are soon over. Ann now lives with him for high school.


 * Ayumu Narasaki (長崎 歩): Ann's childhood rival, who had her sights set on Daigo and used dirty tricks to try and get him for herself which incidentally lead to them being a couple. Ayumu and her brother and family move back to Shiname and meets up with Daigo after Daigo played soccer with her little brother. She now tutors Daigo because he told her he wanted to be a grade school teacher and she is the only one who supports him. Everyone thinks Ayumu and Daigo have a thing but Daigo doesn't want that.


 * Kaede Kuroki (黒木 楓): Masahiro's new wife and Ann's stepmother. She's stated that she's been in love with Ann's father since high school although he was completely unaware until many years later. In volume 7, she gives birth to Ann's half-sister, Chii (千衣).