Spanning for only 19 chapters (4 volumes), "Sugar Dark" tells a decent dark romance story which you can complete in around an hour or even less. It is easy to read, the pages are divided into simple panels that are easy to follow but there are also some single pages in each chapter that makes you appreciate the art.
 The art style, while not that great, it does a good job to maintain the darker tone of the story with some well drawn imagery.The story & characters aren't complicated but there's a surface level of mystery surrounding each of them, which was decent enough to care for, but since it's pretty short, the world building is lacking. Most of the story takes place at a cemetery between a boy & girl with a few other characters. It kicks off the story by showing a guy burying a girl and it mostly keeps that tone throughout (except for a few silly moments).
The dark/supernatural setting allows for some gruesome imagery & spooky vibes, while the romance is pretty subtle. It follows the same boy meets girl formula with a familiar storyline but is good enough to root for. The side cast is alright, only "Karasu" is noteworthy and the remaining are pretty forgettable (except the big dog).
There's a fun little twist at the end of the story which was well foreshadowed but the ending itself feels abrupt and incomplete, leaving a lot to explore. The ending looks like your standard happily-ever-after but you can also view it as a somewhat bittersweet ending, it's entirely your interpretation. But it left a few questions unanswered about the world, lore & some characters. I personally would've preferred a much darker ending, I don't mean to say I don't like happy endings but given the story's darker setting & characters, I would've much appreciated if it had a much darker ending. But for what it is;
10.5 out of 11 users liked this review
