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I picked this series up after reading about it online, on Twitter I think? And on paper it's my kind of manga; a beautifully illustrated fantasy about a plucky heroine chasing her dreams. Sign me the heck up!

Unfortunately, after reading the first volume I'm left with somewhat of an uneasy feeling. This is mainly due to the romance aspect, I've always been iffy about age gap romances and since I started working at a school it's become even more off putting. I wouldn't bring this up if it wasn't clear that Anne and Challe are meant to be endgame. I know Challe is a ... fairy but that makes it even worse! Like, not only is the age gap insane but there's no future for that relationship! What happens when Anne is 80? Or if one day she wants children?

And that's not even touching on the slavery aspect of the relationship, let's not forget that Anne owns Challe. I know she'll release him when she reaches her destination. But it's not exactly the most healthy start to a relationship!

Having said all that, I will 100% be buying volume 2. Anne is a sweetheart and I'm totally rooting for her to become a silver sugar master. Admittedly, I'm also intrigued to see how things will play out between Anne and Challe as travelling companions.

I really wanted to like this manga, but it simply suffers from how short it is. I don't often complain about a manga being too short, usually my complaint is that they can drag on. However, four volumes simply wasn't enough to explore all the plot elements that were introduced about mid-way through. Since this is only four volumes it suffers from poor pacing, everything happens at break-neck speed. This in turn creates a jarring shift in tone as there simply aren't enough chapters to allow the plot to play out in a natural way.

It never feels like it's building to something. it's just ... a series of things happening before the Big Bad is announced, then everything gets dropped to focus on that. Even then, the explanations feel muddled and rushed. Some world building has clearly gone into this story, so it's a shame that it wasn't given any room to breathe before we were rushed on to the next bit. It felt like visting an art gallery 5 minutes before it closes, there simply wasn't enough time to enjoy all the work put into each piece before dashing off to the next.

The characters had no time to really develop, which was a shame. I was rooting for Louise once Graham had left, I wanted to see a sisterly bond develop between Lindsay and Louise, I was intrigued about Diana and Russell's relationship. And most of all I wanted to be swept up in romance once Graham returned home. Were they are groundbreaking study of the human condition? No, but they were fun, sweet and relatable. The fact that I wanted to spend more time with them is testament to just how invested I was.
All I can hope for is that this'll get the Sugar Apple Fairytale treatment and be adapted again into a longer running series.

Despite this, I would still recommend it for people who want a quick, light, predictable read with likeable characters. If you want something with a bit more emotional weight, with complex relationships then you won't find it here.

DISCLAIMER: it's difficult to review this series as a completed manga as I believe that Kaori Yuki planned to write more but was unable to due to the fact her health took a really bad downturn. With this in mind the plot was probably more rushed than was intially planned.
Now that's out of the way, let's get on with the review.

So I actually really love this manga, I initially picked up the first three volumes at a London bookstore London and after devouring them in record time I had to pick up the rest.

As somone who loves romance, dark fairy tales and fantasy ... this ticked all my boxes! But it was the characters that really sold it for me, Kaori Yuki has a knack for creating imperfect characters that you just can't help but root for. Both the Beast and Belle are flawed in their own ways, which is what makes their romance all the more heartfelt. They're just two damaged people who find something in each other that they just can't find anywhere else.

That being said, like all of her other work, Kaori Yuki can't help but make things more than a little convoluted. I won't hold it against this series though because I feel if the story had enough time to develop things wouldn't feel quite so crammed in and rushed. Having said that, I love the world she created and the very her take on a classic fairy tale.

But unlike her previous work, this is a lot less dark and gory. So if you're put off by her heavier stuff, then dw, this is has no gore and incredibly minimal horror.

The character designs are really fun and different, I love her unusual and whimsical take on the Beast and the castle inhabitants. And as ever, the clothing is immaculate.

One plus of its length is that it's a very quick read and won't take up quite so much bookshelf space!

If you want a non-soppy romance with plenty of fantasy action then I thoroughly recommend it.


And shout-out to Kaori Yuki for working through such an intense health scare. She truly is amazing.

I haven't watched to the end yet but feel that I've watched a sufficient amount to share my thoughts

To be honest, I tried watching it before and couldn't get past how silly Migi looked. But recently I fancied some body horror, I kinda cycle through phases of horror genre, so I stuck it on.

After two days of binge-watching I kinda can't help but feel disappointed. The show started strongly enough. Although not the most original premise the designs of the infested humans are cool and the animation is really nice.

Unfortunately, that leads me to my first criticism. Because of the way it's animated ... the bodies look rubbery, you don't get a sense of the visceral horror of heads splitting apart. It all looks like putty. This can't really be helped though due to the constraints of the medium.

But despite my snobbery I continued watching, I hoped that the story would distract me from the almost Loony Toon quality of Migi. Now I can't say that the story is bad, it's pretty standard stuff; a high schooler being flung into crazy circumstances is hardly ground-breaking. But the body horror aspect really appealed to me. Unfortunately, this seems to take a back seat to the incredibly generic romance of the main two characters.

It made for some frustrating viewing; genuinely interesting plot threads were just glanced over in favour of some generic drama occurring in the MC's life.

That leads me to my last point; nothing had any weight to it because the characters have no substance. Or more accurately all the main characters have no substance. In this series stuff just happens and people just roll with it. After each tragedy at the school all we get it 'and after a short while the school reopened'.
Characters witness terrifying stuff but by the next episode they're fine. Nothing has any impact; massive developments occur and then are never addressed again.

By the end of the anime I got the distinct impression that the writers realised that they'd wasted a load of time and tried to cram in as much intrigue and action as possible. They introduce politics, the police, different parasite factions. But at six or so episodes to the end I can't but question why they even bothered.