Sugar Sugar Rune: Is Chocolat A True Friend To Vanilla?

What happens in episode 6 of the Sugar Sugar Rune anime and manga series by Moyoco Anno that can make you question whether Chocolat, the main female character, is a true friend to Vanilla, her supposed best friend?

In this episode of Sugar Sugar Rune (#ad), Chocolat agrees to have a fencing match with Pierre Tempête de Neige, the captain of the fencing club. If she wins against him, she’ll be allowed to join the fencing club.

Vanilla will also be fighting alongside Chocolat since they are at a disadvantage what with Pierre being more knowledgeable and skilled than they are.

There are a number of scenes in this epi that kind of pissed me off, particularly with regards to Chocolat Meilleure / Kato and how she treats her supposed best friend. Why?

Okay, first of all, Vanilla Mieux / Ice shows exactly what kind of friend she is by doing her best to practice learning how to fence. She isn’t interested in fencing and she’s only really doing this for Kato.

And yet she’s so dedicated to learning that she spends the whole night practicing, so much so that the next day, she is tired and sleepy and doesn’t have much of an appetite.

Kato doesn’t know what Ice was up to. She doesn’t know about her practicing all night long for her sake. But they’re supposed to be best friends so that shouldn’t matter at all.

So, when she sees Vanilla looking tired and sleepy and not having much of an appetite, shouldn’t she at least display some concern? As friends, she should ask if Ice is okay, if she’s feeling well, if something is bothering her, etc.

But none of that happens. What do we get instead? We get Chocolat being completely callous and cold and uncaring and unconcerned. She says, “Can I have your strawberry mousse?” when she sees the food on Vanilla’s plate.

What in the world? Talk about being a horrible friend. They’re supposed to be best friends, so where’s all the concern? Instead, we see Kato thinking with her stomach. Sheesh, right?

Thankfully, Kato redeems herself slightly when she tries to cheer up Vanilla (it’s about time, Chocolat) when the latter is near-tears after practicing so much and yet she finds that she still can’t hit her fencing target.

When Chocolat sees this, she finally shows some concern and asks Ice if she hurt herself. She tells Vanilla not to be so hard on herself and then even says that they should practice together.

Well, it’s good to know that Chocolat Kato isn’t that cruel. It would be nice if she was more attentive to Vanilla though, if she showed more care.

I mean, you have Vanilla who’s completely out of her comfort zone with fencing and who struggles to learn how to fence and who’d rather be doing anything else but fencing and yet she still does it anyway and it’s all for Chocolat’s sake. If that’s not friendship, then I don’t know what is. What do you think about all this?

*Notes:
- Pic is from Amazon.com; link shown above

This Will Make You Hate Pierre's Fanclub In Sugar Sugar Rune

In episode 6 of the Sugar Sugar Rune anime and manga series by Moyoco Anno, some members of Pierre’s, the main male character, fanclub attack Chocolat, the main female character. What’s wrong with this scene?

What makes the Members (what Pierre’s fanclub is called) completely and totally ridiculously insane, not to mention irrationally jealous?

Chocolat Meilleure / Kato agreed to have a fencing match with Pierre so she could join the fencing club (Pierre’s the captain). Some of the members of Pierre’s fanclub show up to harass her because of this. They challenge her to a fight. What’s wrong with that? Several things, actually.

1. Chocolat is outnumbered
2. She doesn’t know how to fence; they know how to fence
3. She’s only carrying a broomstick with her; the Members actually have fencing swords with them
4. She’s only an elementary school student, much younger than the Members who are all in middle school

So, why were they attacking Kato in the first place? Apparently, it’s because they’re jealous of her upcoming fencing match with Pierre Tempête de Neige and I’m like, seriously, what kind of joke is this?

You’ve got to be kidding me, right? Why are the Members being so completely ridiculously insane and irrationally jealous? What’s up with them attacking a little girl for something so silly?

I mean, Chocolat is a kid compared to them. She’s so much younger than them and she doesn’t even know how to fence. It’s completely stupid of them to even look at Kato as competition for Pierre’s heart, isn’t it?

Well, I mean, if we’re looking at it in a realistic way anyway since, unfortunately, it seems overly apparent that Sugar Sugar Rune (#ad) is going to be shoving the Pierre x Chocolat pairing down our throats whether we like it or not.

But, for right now, there is absolutely nothing going on between those 2, so why should the Members be jealous? Pierre hasn’t even expressed interest in Kato (not exactly anyway and certainly nothing so blatant). Plus, as aforementioned, Kato’s a kid when compared to the Members.

It looks like she hasn’t even hit puberty yet. Sure, she may have a crush on Pierre, but so what? Isn’t that like just akin to a little girl having a bit of a crush on an older guy they perceive as pretty cool and stuff?

With the way the Members are going on about it, all ridiculously pissed off and angry, they make it sound like Chocolat’s about to go on a date with Pierre instead of having a fencing match with him. Seriously, what’s the big deal?

The Members are making mountains out of molehills. It’s just a fencing match. They should get over themselves and be ashamed of beating on a little girl for not even doing anything wrong. Plus, what’s with them calling Pierre ‘Prince’?

Instead of being impressed, this whole thing is just reiterating the fact that he’s such a Gary Stu. Seriously. I mean, he’s got mindless fangirls who are so into him, it’s crazy, not to mention scary. Then there’s the fact that, not only is he brilliant at fencing, he’s also the captain of the fencing club. Oh, wow, he’s so perfect. Yeah, a perfect Gary Stu. *Roll eyes* LOL. So, what do you think?

*Notes:
- Pic is from Amazon.com; link shown above

What's Wrong With Chocolat Using The Magical Fortune-Telling Book In Sugar Sugar Rune?

"Draw out your charm. The effort to draw out your own charm is something very important."
- Magical fortune-telling book in Sugar Sugar Rune anime

The above quote was said by a magical, talking fortune-telling book in episode 6 of the Sugar Sugar Rune anime and manga series by Moyoco Anno. What’s up with this quote?

Okay, let’s just get this out of the way now - the magical fortune-telling book in Sugar Sugar Rune is completely and utterly useless. Seriously, just look at the quote shown above.

What is it even supposed to mean and how is it supposed to help Chocolat Meilleure / Kato (#ad) who is worrying about having to beat Pierre Tempête de Neige in a fencing match so she can join the fencing club?

It’s important to make an effort, to try your best, to work hard - this is common sense, isn’t it? Chocolat doesn’t need some magic book to tell her what she should already know.

Of course, she needs to work hard and make an effort in actually learning how to fence so she has a chance against Pierre who is the captain of the fencing club.

Sheesh, what’s the use of having a magical fortune-telling book if it only tells you things you already know, if it doesn’t even really help you at all? What do you think?

*Notes:
- Pic is from Amazon.com; link shown above

Why Duke And Blanca Shouldn't Have Pretended To Be Robin In Sugar Sugar Rune?

In episode 5 of the Sugar Sugar Rune (#ad) anime and manga series by Moyoco Anno, Duke and Blanca, familiars of the main characters, pretend to be someone they’re not. How come this isn’t funny at all and how come they shouldn’t have done that?

Mochizuki-sensei, the homeroom teacher of Chocolat Meilleure / Kato and Vanilla Mieux / Ice, the main characters, decides to visit their house to talk to Robin, their guardian.

When she arrives inside the house, Rockin’ Robin isn’t there yet, so Kato and Ice have to entertain her and keep her company while waiting for their guardian to come home.

Unfortunately, they suffer a few mishaps in the form of their familiars. Mochizuki ends up seeing Duke, the frog, and Blanca, the mouse, talking when they’re not supposed to be able to. Naturally, she freaks out.

Vanilla and Chocolat hasten to get their familiars out of their teacher’s sight. They then reassure her that she was just seeing things and that there is definitely nothing magical going on in their house.

While Vanilla is busy keeping their homeroom teacher company, Chocolat goes to talk to their familiars, ordering them to stay out of sight so as not to get their sensei suspicious.

Kato then gets it into her head that it’s a good idea for a frog and mouse to pretend to be Robin. She gets them to transform into the likeness of Robin. They show up to talk to Mochizuki. As you can expect, it doesn’t go well at all.

Duke, being a frog, adds “kero” at the end of everything he says. For Blanca, being a mouse, it’s “chu”. Blanca, being Vanilla’s familiar, is extremely loyal to her, so, as Robin, she tells Mochizuki all about Ice’s skills, prowess and talents while belittling Kato.

For Duke, being Chocolat’s familiar, it’s the other way around. Naturally, their teacher gets very confused. At one point, she ends up seeing 2 Robins then 3 when the real one finally shows up. So, the question now is, why was this entire incident necessary?

Why did Duke and Blanca have to pretend to be Robin to keep Mochizuki entertained? This is completely pointless, stupid and silly. Why? It’s because the familiars have been taken out of the room already.

They were far away from the teacher already and they were no longer causing trouble. They’d already been told to stay out of sight, so that should be the end of that. After making sure that Duke and Blanca were safely out of the way, Chocolat should have returned to the living room to join Vanilla and Mochizuki-sensei.

Then the 3 of them could have chatted while they waited for Robin to show up. There was no point to having the familiars pretend to be Robin. What’s with having to wait a few more minutes for Rockin’ Robin to show up?

It wasn’t like he couldn’t make it; he was just a little bit late. Plus, with how much Mochizuki likes him, it’s obvious that she’d be willing to wait for him even if it took him hours to show up.

In short, having the animals pretend to be Rockin’ Robin just made things worse and was nothing but a complete waste of time. Actually, the entire episode was pretty much a complete waste of time. It was total filler, nothing more. What do you think?

*Notes:
- Pic is from Amazon.com; link shown above

What's Wrong With Mochizuki Seeing Duke And Blanca In Sugar Sugar Rune?

In episode 5 of the Sugar Sugar Rune (#ad) anime and manga series by Moyoco Anno, Mochizuki-sensei, the homeroom teacher of the main characters, ends up seeing things (particularly a talking frog and mouse) that she’s not supposed to see.

What’s wrong with that? How come she shouldn’t have had to see that? How come it doesn’t make sense for her to see that?

Mochizuki-sensei goes to visit the house where Chocolat Meilleure / Kato and Vanilla Mieux / Ice, the main characters, live to talk to their guardian, Robin. Naturally, she doesn’t know that her students are actually witches who have magic.

So, when she arrives in their house and the 2 start showing her around, she ends up seeing Duke, Chocolat’s frog familiar, and Blanca, Vanilla’s mouse familiar. The 2 familiars are talking and generally not acting like how animals are supposed to act.

Naturally, this causes trouble for the 2 witches as they scramble to get the familiars out of sight and reassure their teacher that she’s seeing things and that, nope, there’s definitely nothing magical going on in this house.

So, what’s the problem with this then? It’s the fact that the entire incident seems contrived and unbelievable. For one thing, didn’t Chocolat and Vanilla tell their familiars that Mochizuki-sensei was coming to visit their house?

They told Rockin’ Robin, which was only to be expected since their teacher wanted to talk to him. But how come they didn’t tell their familiars about this visit especially since they were both worried that their teacher might find out about their magic if she goes to their house?

For another, even if the 2 didn’t say anything about the home visit, shouldn’t the familiars already know about it since they seem to be around Chocolat and Vanilla all the time?

In one scene, we even saw Blanca in the classroom where she ends up landing on Mochizuki’s shoulder after a fight with Kato, causing said teacher to faint at the sight of the mouse.

If Vanilla and Chocolat did tell their familiars about the home visit, then why are those 2 causing so much trouble? If the 2 witches didn’t say anything, then why didn’t they? If they’d just told Duke and Blanca about the home visit and ordered them to stay out of sight, then all the shenanigans in this episode wouldn’t have had to happen.

They wouldn’t have had to deal with a teacher who’s freaking out about seeing talking animals. Seriously, all this just seems too contrived to be believable. What do you think?

*Notes:
- Pic is from Amazon.com; link shown above