Sand Chronicles is THE coming of age story. It isnt often where we get to watch characters grow up to this extent. We dont see their whole lives unfold but we do see the moments that altered their lives forever as they grew from middle schoolers to working adults. We get to see them gain maturity over different points of their lives as growing up is a long process and not something that happens overnight. Sand Chronicles is the story of Ann a girl whose parents divorced. She moved to the countryside with her mom back to the rural small town where her mother grew up. Initially Ann cant stand the suffocation of the small town and yearns to go back to the city where she grew up. However a tragic event drastically changes her life and she finds refuge in the kindness the village offers her. This story spans many years following Ann from the time she was 12 to the time she turns 30. And not just Ann but her closest friends as they grow mature and make mistakes. https://hanyan.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/sandchronicles.jpg?w=639h=463 Sand Chronicles is all about the passing of time and the memories that come with it. Even the pacing reflects this as each chapter or two will show Ann at a different age and stage of life. Every chapter is incredibly long 80100 pages and slow paced reflecting on some of the most important and life changing moments from that year and how they affect Ann throughout her life. Even the side stories reflect on different points in time or characters reminiscing about the past. Past present and future even time as a whole are incredibly important in this story. This manga emphasizes both the growth and mistakes that come with the passage of time. All of the characters change over the course of the manga and try to figure out what they want from life. They make horrible mistakes. They hurt people close to them. But thats part of growing up and this manga is sure to show both the good and the bad aspects of youth. And this manga isnt just about the past present and future but its about the memories that come with it. So many characters are weighed down by their pasts by horrible memories trauma and regret. Its up to them to choose to move on or not. Whether or not they let their pain consume them. Ann deals with a traumatic incident as soon as she moves to Shimane. Her relationship with Daigo the boy she fell in love with was her sole reason to live during that dark time. She struggles with her own fragility and fears that shes weighing Daigo down with her dependance on him. She is a very human character unsure of herself and constantly pretending to be stronger than she is. She is an incredibly strong person in some ways and fragile in others constantly forcing herself to deal with her depression and trauma on her own. https://2.bp.blogspot.com/b8Z6DJZSW34/UlBiVV93BKI/AAAAAAAABYE/DrMuPYWgimk/s1600/sunadokeiv01ch01pg062063.jpg Daigo is a very lovely and kind person and hes very loyal and caring towards Ann. However he isnt the perfect boyfriend. He is straightforward to a fault. He argues with Ann and says things that hurt her sometimes. And Daigo also feels like he needs to save her from her pain and that hes the only one who can do it. Just like Ann he also has a satisfying conclusion and character development though his ending revolves more around his chosen career while Anns is more about her emotional issues. Fuji is their close friend from a wealthy family who is in love with Ann. His love is unrequited due to her constant feelings for Daigo but that doesnt stop him from trying. He lives his life full of uncertainty as many rumors state that he is not his fathers legitimate son and his mothers cold behavior towards him does nothing to reassure him. He finds himself running away or taking the easy way out of situations. Fuji feels trapped by his family and only through rebellion is he able to find what he truly treasures in life. I do wish that he didnt marry his cousin in the end. Why couldnt the author have made him rebel by marrying a poor girl with a lot of rumors that surround her or something to make the parents not object? Why did it have to be his cousin? At least their relationship isnt really explored. Shika is Fujis younger sister and she is a year younger than the rest of the cast. While Fuji is treated coldly by their mother Shika is sheltered by their parents and receives more intense training as the daughter of a wealthy family. She is still a normal girl determined to be seen as helpful to the people around her as the way she was raised made it nearly impossible for her to make friends after middle school. Shika is burdened by her family especially a dark secret she was not supposed to know. It is only when she receives freedom that she is able to get her life together and I appreciated how she had a different type of ending than the other characters due to her never receiving a true romantic arc. https://i.pin.com/originals/03/ef/6c/03ef6c7bef789880427d77e551c37d39.jpg These characters all change so much over the course of the manga coming to terms with themselves and their pasts. Their development is very visible as with age comes maturity. Even minor characters like Anns exfianc who begins the story as a misogynistic and horrible person shows glimmers of change when we see him again a few years in the future. No two characters have the same sort of conclusion. They are different people and they all walked different paths in life. For Shika the emphasis was on her career for Fuji it was romance for Ann it was both romance and her emotional wellbeing while with Daigo it was both romance and his career. I love it when stories acknowledge that different types of people take different paths in life and not everyone gets married to their high school crush right off the bat. I was so relieved when they didnt set up Shika with Anns ex. I would have been so mad if they took that route because Shika deserves better than him. The art is quite unique. I think I like the art in Sand Chronicles a lot more than her later series Piece since its not quite as exaggerated and the lips and noses are not as prominent. Other visual elements include the hourglass symbolism which has a dual meaning representing both the theme of time passing and Anns feelings for Daigo. No matter how hard she tries to get rid of the hourglass she cant seem to lose it for good. https://static.zerochan.net/Sand.Chronicles.full.171010.jpg I feel like I didnt do this story justice at all and I dont even feel like this review is good but I felt like I just had to write about this series and implore people to read it. Its dramatic because its a drama but I never felt like it was overly melodramatic. Id say its perhaps one of the most grounded shoujo dramas Ive read so far. It has so much to offer and Id love it if more people read it.