Title: ちっちゃな雪使い　シュガ〜 (Small Snow Fairy, Sugar) Vol. 1
Artist: BH SNOW+CLINIC
Creator: 蒼はるか (Haruka Aoi)
Character Design: コゲどんぼ (Koge-Donbo)
Book Size/Pages: B-6, 166pp., w/furigana
Volume: 1/3
Original Serialization: Monthly Dragon Junior 8/01-12/01
Rating: 3/4

While I try to keep with the natural progression of series, i.e. if the manga came out first, then I'll read the manga first before the anime, for this one, I went ahead and read the manga which is based off the anime series. I've only seen the first few episdoes of the anime (yet another case of having the whole season unwatched on my shelf), so I can't really comment on how it compares, but there are some things that are immediately noticeable.

The artwork in the manga is just a little off. I like the character design in the anime, and the manga tries to follow, but there's just something a little different about how she is. Maybe it's her eyes, but it bugs me a bit. The story is cute from what I've seen and read in this first volume. I love the intro to the anime.

No bonuses except for a few colors pages to being the story and a letter from the author after the first chapter

おはなし１　シュガーが街にやってきた。。。 (Story 1, From the Streets Came Sugar): Saga, a punctual and very orderly girl whose mom has died, encounters a Snow Fairy, Sugar, almost passed out on the street. Much to the fairy's surprise, Saga can see her even though she's supposed to be invisible to people. Saga takes her home where Sugar reveals that she's looking for a "Twinkle" so she can be a full-powered Fairy. The two of them get in an argument after Sugar tries to help out one of Saga's friend's experiment. What angers Saga even more is that a plant has sprouted from her musical toy piano.

おはなし２　シュガー「きらめき」を探す。。。　(Story 2, Sugar Searching for "Twinkles"): To try and alleviate Saga's anger, Sugar decides to hurry up her search for the "Twinkle." Along with two other fairies, Salt and Pepper. She gets herself trapped by a crow after seeing some twinkles from its nest. Meanwhile, Saga has cooled off a bit, so she comes out just in time to save Sugar.

おはなし３　シュガー、家出をする。。。 (Story 3, Sugar Runs Away): Sugar is practicing her magical flute. She's not good at it so it disturbs Saga. On top of that, it beckons the crow back, this time into the music store where Saga's mother's piano resides. Saga gets annoyed again, so Sugar wants to write her an apology letter. Unfortunately, she chooses sheet music that Saga's mom worked on as the paper to write on, which is a big no no. Eventually, she comes to her senses, remembers the words her mother told her when she was writing music and she forgives Sugar. Salt and Pepper also explain the situation.

おはなし４　夢のカタチ。。。　(Story 4, The Shape of the Dream): Phil, Saga's experimenting friend, is trying to make a weather machine that will produce an aurora. Salt mocks this idea as he doesn't respect humans trying to do a fairy's work. However, in the end, he after talking to a fellow fairy who's also an artist, he helps out Phil in his experiment and makes it a huge success.

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