Sand Chronicles

Plot

Twelve-year-old Ann Uekusa and her mother move to the small town of Shimane, where Ann's grandparents live and everyone knows each other. Ann befriends Daigo, Fuji, and Shika, Fuji's younger sister. After Ann's mother Miwako commits suicide, Daigo helps Ann cope, and they fall in love. Ann's estranged father arrives from Tokyo and asks her to live with him; she decides to stay in Shimane, but Daigo makes her go anyway.

In Tokyo, Ann reunites with old friends and grows closer to Fuji, causing conflict with Daigo. In Shimane, Shika learns the truth about her parentage and falls for Daigo, upsetting Ann's emotional state so that Ann and Daigo break up. Ann returns to Tokyo and starts a relationship with Fuji, but it does not last because she does not love him. Daigo refuses Shika, and rumors circulate that he is interested in classmate Ayumu.

Nearing graduation, Ann learns her father and his friend Kaede Kuroki are dating and that Kaede is pregnant with Ann's half-sister.

Characters

Ann Uekusa, also known as Ann Minase, is the protagonist. She is an affectionate, sensitive girl who cares deeply for her friends. After her mother's death, she becomes close to Daigo and wishes to stay with him forever, but she returns to Tokyo to live with her father. She breaks up with Daigo during high school, and they reconnect as adults.

Daigo Kitamura is Ann's first friend in Shimane; he is athletic and not very articulate. He and Ann fall in love and begin a relationship that becomes long-distance when she leaves for Tokyo. They break up when Ann feels she is a burden, but reconnect later. His mother was best friends with Ann's mother.

Fuji Tsukishima is Shika's older brother from a well-off family. He has a secret crush on Ann, which he eventually reveals. He attends high school in Tokyo and has doubts about his parentage, as it is suspected he is not his father's biological son, though it is later revealed he was not born from an affair. She does not get along well with her mother, though her mother is kind and loyal.

A letter reveals that Shika, not Fuji, is the child of her mother's affair, and her mother's guilt drives her to push Shika hard. Misayo Uekusa is also a character in the series.