Sugar Apple Fairy Tale, Vol. 1

One of my anticipated releases in 2022. I've read the original Japanese version up until volume 11 years ago, but never really finished the whole series. Considering this is a fairly old series, I didn't really have much hope that it'd ever get licensed... until it did. Now I can't be any more excited to go through the story all over again.

It's nice to know that even after all this time, Sugar Apple Fairy Tale hasn't lost its charm. It's a sweet, magical story tinged with just the right amount of sorrow. As a main character, Anne has firm principles and knows how to carry herself in the world, having spent most of her life traveling with her late mother. The story takes place in the Kingdom of Highland, where humans are enslaving fairies after snatching the entire kingdom from the latter's hands. Honestly, the world-building is pretty solid and explores many aspects of the fantasy world without ever resorting to info dumps.

This first volume introduces Anne to Challe, a warrior fairy born from obsidian, and covers her journey to join the Royal Candy Fair in the royal capital, Lewiston. There are also lots of scenes involving sugar candy crafting, which is surprisingly detailed even when you set the beautiful designs aside. There's quite a few side characters that join them or simply cross paths with them along the way, but the majority of the book is spent on Anne's attempt at forging friendship with Challe. A friendship that might just evolve into something else by the time they arrive at their destination. The way emotions are being portrayed in this book is so brilliantly done, and I can't help but get attached to the characters.

One of the things I love about this series is that each volume has a pretty, color-themed subtitle that sums up the plot nicely. The first volume's is the obsidian fairy, referring to Challe. The next one is going to be the blue duke, and the story is just as much fun from what I can remember. The second volume won't come out until January, but I'm already looking forward to it.