Sweet Rein Volume 1

“It’s Christmas in Heaven. The snow falls from the sky. But it’s nice and warm, and everyone looks smart and wears a tie.” – Monty Python

It’s November and all the the major businesses in the world are keen to force Christmas upon us, and it looks as if manga publishers are jumping on the bandwagon too. Viz Media is now publishing a short-lived series, only three volumes long, with a festive theme.

Sweet Rein begins about a week before Christmas with 17-year-old Kurumi Sagara who is spending the holiday alone: her mother is dead, her father is overworked, and all her friends are busy. While walking around town she bumps into a guy called Kaito and suddenly Kurumi discovers that she has a rein attached between her and this stranger. A stranger who is incredibly happy.

Kaito claims to be a magical reindeer and that this rein means that Kurumi is a “Santa Claus” whom he should serve. Kaito obeys any order Kurumi gives, is able to transform from human to reindeer form when told to do so, and can fly. The only way to break the relationship is for them to kiss, but the relationship is struck again if they touch each other. Kurumi must now go around on Christmas Eve, flying a sleigh, delivering presents to all the good children.

So far there is not much to go on, but the story seems to be alright. There is a major jump between the first and second chapters however, as the first is set during Christmas while the second leaps straight into summer. However, the tales told are still nice and at times moving. In the second chapter Kurumi meets a boy who has cancer and thus is staying in hospital. It looks unlikely that he will survive until Christmas so together she and Kaito try to fulfil the boy’s wish of getting a letter from his best friend who is now at a different school to him.

The art is decent too. In fact, while you are reading it, you cannot help but feel a bit more jolly. You could be reading it in November, January, or even in July at the height of summer, and it would still raise a bit of a smile.

The one problem, as evidenced by the fact that Sweet Rein has only three volumes, is that the story is rather short. In this single volume there are only three chapters, the fourth being a separate one-shot vampire story called Sweet Bite Mark. This story is about a male vampire who suddenly discovers he has a daughter, and has its good moments too.

Sweet Rein appears to be a short, sweet series. It is not long, but it will make you feel a little bit merrier as December approaches.