Ah, Sugar Sugar Rune. One part magical girl, one part queenliness contest, and all 2000s shoujo. The manga and anime have essential differences, and this paradigm breakdown follows the manga. There are some differences in the plot, but the paradigm more or less remains intact and the same between the manga and anime—with the exception of the anime adding different colors of ‘hearts’ than existed in the manga. 

Basic Paradigm

Magic relies on the power of human emotion—which can be solidified into ‘Hearts.’ Different emotions of different intensity have different value (https://sugarsugarrune.fandom.com/wiki/Hearts). These crystalized emotions form the basis of the Magic World’s currency, which is called Ecru. This makes the SSR paradigm a coins based system. 

In the series, two Queen Candidates (Vanilla and Chocolat) go to the human world to gather Hearts. They use the Ecru they earn in order to first buy wands. This is the in-setting symbol of adulthood (Sugar Sugar Rune Manga, Chapter 6). 

Once they have their wands, the Queen Candidates are able to see further in a magical catalogue and buy ‘extras’ that both decorate their wands and give them spells they can use instantly. Otherwise, the girls have been seen using potion-making and rituals. But, the ‘extras’ are a source of immediate, route spells that are built into their wands. Very successful witches have numerous extras—and their wands look more like jewel encrusted staves. 

Equipment 

A witch in the SSR paradigm first needs a locket—this is a special locket enchanted to capture hearts. The shape of one’s locket seems to be a repeated motif within setting. Vanilla’s motif is a diamond, which is repeated in the first ‘extra’ she adds to her wand. Chocolat’s motif is a heart, which is repeated through her wand, and a hairpin, as well as other accessories she wears. 

The witch then needs to decide on a short incant to capture hearts. The individual incantations also seem to reflect the nature of the witch. Vanilla’s incantation is more meek and cute. Chocolat’s is direct and bold. 

As unfortunate as it is, it’s pretty much impossible to create a wand like one in-setting. It would be impossible to add ‘extras’ on in perpetuity. One way of getting around this may be jewelry. Extras appear as precious and semi-precious gems, so jewelry seems like it may be an equivalent use. Or, perhaps the power within each gem could be ‘imbued’ into the wand via a ritual. 

Either way, a wand and extras/accessories are also required. 

Moral Concerns

Within the paradigm, witches cannot have more than one heart. Love can be fatal for them, unless they are loved equally by the one that they love. Humans quickly regrow their hearts, so they are effectively farmed for their emotions. Now, this can seem very morally dubious, depending on how you look at it. In essence, ‘harvesting’ human emotions does not seem to harm them. If anything, they get a little tired if they’ve been harvested from too often, but that seems to be the extent of the damage. Also, harvesting ‘hearts’ does not stop humans from experiencing the emotions. 

Hearts also only come from positive emotions—with the exception of Noir. However, Noir hearts are effectively useless to the witch world, with only one very rare exception. 

Are you willing to farm humans to grow your own power? That’s not a question that I, as the writer, can answer for anyone. But, it is a concern that anyone looking into this paradigm should strongly weigh. For me, personally, I have no issue farming hearts from people that I don’t particularly care about or that I doubt I will ever encounter again. 

Dangers

In the world of Sugar Sugar Rune, there are only a few dangers. First, there are ‘Ogres’ which are basically the same as witches, just ones who sided with the wrong person at the wrong time. There are also corrupt officials in the royal palace, but that is almost par for the course. 

Witches live longer than humans, and generally seem to have a very good time in the human world. They are able to continually grow their power, and they aren’t doomed to a tragic fate just by virtue of being a witch. There are a few moral concerns with this practice, but no overt horrors dwell within this paradigm. With little to no dangers, and room to grow, this is a safe and flexible paradigm for a Geekomancer to explore.

Final Grade: A