Hinako Ashihara (1974–2024)

Originally posted here at Anime Radius.

The Sand Chronicles manga series by Hinako Ashihara has never been a typical title of the shoujo genre. The romance between Ann and Daigo was intertwined with their respective life histories as well as the drama of life in Daigo's sleepy rural town and Ann's city life. Their courtship was troubled and filled with twists and turns and at several points it looked like they were never going to get together at all. But here we are, at the edge of the end of the series, and not only are Daigo and Ann together but they are married to boot. Typically, married life - as well as life in general - is not without its complications, as Daigo and Ann both go through the trouble of looking back at the past while also looking ahead towards the future.

This volume of Sand Chronicles is just as beautiful and wonderfully written as the rest of the series, and it is also surprisingly poignant as it wraps up the series as well as the story of Daigo and Ann as we see more of their new lives as a married couple and as two working individuals. This volume is more Daigo's story than anyone else's - his work as a teacher as well as his memories of Mrs. Koda dominates the narrative but never to the point that we forget Ann is there or how we got to this point in the manga's story. Hinako Ashihara is a master at telling a story that can bring a smile to your face even as your eyes are brimming with tears, and every page of Sand Chronicles' finale proves this is true. It also helps that the artwork is absolutely gorgeous as usual, especially the scenes in winter - there's just something about how Ashihara draws characters walking through a snowy landscape that gets to me every time.

The ultimate question of the final volume of Sand Chronicle's manga is whether or not it will satisfy long-term readers who love the series and hate to see it come to an end, despite how inevitable it was. As a long-term fan of the series myself, having started the series late last year, it delivers like few series' finales do. There are plenty of fitting callbacks to the important events in books past, Ann and Daigo end up together but without seeming forced or a perfect happily ever after, and we go into a place few shoujo series ever dare to tread - seeing our beloved characters as they will be in the future, and the lives they will live in that future. Not gonna lie, from what little we see of Daigo at age fifty, he ages pretty well!

Hinako Ashihara has given shoujo manga fans a series to love and remember for many years. If all ten volumes of Sand Chronicles aren't already sitting on your shelves, hopefully they soon will be. Once you start reading about Ann and Daigo, you won't want to stop until you've reached the end - and what an end it is.
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