is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hinako Ashihara. It was serialized in Shogakukan's Betsucomi magazine from the May 2003 issue (released in April) to the July 2006 issue (released in June). Shogakukan collected the individual chapters into 10 bound volumes from August 2003 to August 2006. The series won the 50th Shogakukan Manga Award in the shōjo category in 2005. Viz Media licensed the manga for an English-language release in North America, first serialized in their Shojo Beat magazine in 2007 and later published in ten print volumes from January 2008 to January 2011. The manga is also licensed by Kana in France and by Planet Manga in Germany. In 2007, Sand Chronicles inspired a live-action Japanese television drama series which aired during the half-hour Love Theatre time-slot on TBS. In 2008, the manga was adapted into a live-action Japanese feature film directed by Shinsuke Sato, starring Kaho and Nao Matsushita as the main character Ann during different stages of her life. Plot Twelve-year-old Ann Uekusa and her mother move to the small town of Shimane, where Ann's grandparents live and everyone seems to be familiar with everyone else. Ann soon becomes friends with Daigo, a young boy who lives in Shimane, as well as Fuji and Shika, Fuji's younger sister and her best friend in Shimane. When Ann's mother, Miwako, commits suicide, Daigo helps Ann cope with the sudden change in her life. They fall in love, but Ann's life can only become more complicated when her estranged father suddenly arrives from Tokyo. After greatly contemplating going to Tokyo to live with her father after he asks her, she decides to stay. Ann tells Daigo about her decision but makes her go anyway. Ann and Fuji both live in Tokyo but hardly ever talk because Fuji goes to an elite high school, K High. Ann reunites with the friends she had before moving to Shimane and they continue their friendships. In Tokyo, she ends up becoming closer to Fuji, which causes conflict between her and Daigo. In Shimane, Shika learns the truth about her parentage; in her confusion, she begins to fall in love with Daigo. When Ann returns to Shimane, Shika upsets Ann's fragile emotional state so that Ann and Daigo will break up. In the end, Ann breaks up with Daigo for fear that her own sadness will weigh him down. Ann returns to