Shugo Chara!

Amu Hinamori is a shy girl who struggles to make friends in part due to the rumors spread around school about her "cool and spicy" personality. Wishing that she could show everyone her "would-be" self, Amu wakes up to the presence of three colorful and ornately decorated eggs in her bed. Each of these "Hearts Eggs" houses a "Guardian Character"—manifestations of someone's would-be self and their dreams. With the aid of Ran, Miki, and Su, Amu now finds herself able to express who she truly is. However, things do not always pan out in her favor.

The sudden appearance of Amu's Guardian Characters prompts the Seiyo Elementary Guardians, a student council-like group with each member possessing their own Guardian Character, to take notice of her. As someone who has multiple Characters, Amu is roped into being the Guardians' "Joker," tasked with helping them find X Eggs—corrupted versions of one's Hearts Egg.

As she becomes entangled in the Guardians' quest, Amu begins to uncover more about these mysterious Characters, the X Eggs, and the organization that seems to be at the center of it all.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Shugo Chara! was released in 16 compilation DVDs by Pony Canyon, each containing three to four episodes, from February 20, 2008 to May 20, 2009.

The series has been dubbed in French and Italian by Studio La Dame Blanche and LOGOS srl respectively.

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Shugo Chara!
Sequel:	Shugo Chara!! Doki

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Tsukiyomi, Ikuto

Main

Nakamura, Yuuichi
Japanese

Hinamori, Amu

Main

Itou, Kanae
Japanese

Hoshina, Utau

Main

Mizuki, Nana
Japanese

Fujisaki, Nagihiko

Main

Chiba, Saeko
Japanese

Souma, Kuukai

Main

Abe, Atsushi
Japanese

Miki

Main

Katou, Nanae
Japanese

Hotori, Tadase

Main

Takagi, Reiko
Japanese

Mashiro, Rima

Main

Yahagi, Sayuri
Japanese

Suu

Main

Toyosaki, Aki
Japanese

Ran

Main

Asumi, Kana
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Nakamura, Shinichi

Producer

Kishimoto, Reigo

Producer

Hatta, Shinsaku

Producer

Yasuda, Kenji

Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

	1: "Kokoro no Tamago (こころのたまご)" by Buono! (eps 1-26)
	2: "Minna Daisuki (みんなだいすき)" by Buono! (eps 27-51)

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Ending Theme

	1: "Honto no Jibun (ホントのじぶん)" by Buono! (eps 1-12)
	2: "Renai ♥ Rider (恋愛♥ライダー)" by Buono! (eps 13-26)
	3: "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" by Buono! (eps 27-39)
	4: "Gachinko de Ikou! (ガチンコでいこう!)" by Buono! (eps 40-)

Reviews

Nov 3, 2023

Animelover875

Recommended

Shugo Chara! is quite a handful to talk about. So many elements of the season (nay, the series) can be seen from just these 51 episodes, and to truly break it down in a few sentences isn't really possible. Things are handled so drastically different that in my opinion, Shugo Chara's characters and plot pretty much stand on their own spectrums.

To start with, Shugo Chara's plot is arguably its weakest element. The plot is barely held together by a monster-of-the-week format. The execution and method chosen to do this, while weak, is incredibly effective in a symbolic way; using eggs as a metaphor for childhood ... innocence and character development gets points for originality if nothing else, and it's a good thing it holds up so well. However, it does have some incredibly unfortunate implications, such as the fact that it and the counter for its metaphor goes hand in hand with predatory behavior towards children. This is made worse by Nikaidou, who pretty much lays the entire metaphor on the table on.

One of the best parts of Shugo Chara, however, is its characters. Shugo Chara's actual characters are broken down into a series of onion-like layers that gives them lots of depth and allows for genuine exploration of characters, since they're based in logic and given real behaviors. This also helps create a nice contrast between someone's "outer character" and their "inner character" (or "true self"), and creates some great comedy, one of Shugo Chara's other elements it excels at. The comedy in Shugo Chara is pretty much the best you could want: lots of constantly changing and exaggerated faces, visual comedy, puns, subtle jokes, straight man schtick, it's pretty much all covered. They experiment with a TON of styles, which I respect their willingness to try at least. Thankfully, at least a few jokes are guaranteed to make you laugh. The Charas behaviors and episodes themselves based on premise alone also lend themselves heavily to comedy, and the writing delivers.

A character's "Guardian Character" (referred to as their "Chara" for ease of writing) adds another layer to the "inner and outer character" symbolism I mentioned before; here, it's not necessarily them, but even if it's not, a Chara is based on who they want to be. So we can argue that at least in a philosophical sense, they represent at least an ideology of the type of person that you could become. Shugo Chara's characters aren't relegated to just jokes; lots of side characters, main characters, and even the Charas themselves all get plenty of time to grow and develop, several reoccurring. One of the most interesting elements present is that while Charas are typically invisible, some characters have the ability to see Charas despite not being children: namely, Ikuto, Utau, Saeki Nobuko, and Nikaidou, oddly enough. I'm unsure if this is meant to be symbolic, but my best guess is that it could be interpreted as they haven't lost their childlike innocence, which would speak volumes to Utau's character arc.

Personally, I found Utau's arc to be done the best. Despite it putting the majority of Dia's character development on the backburner due to the amount of time it was extended away, it works harmoniously with the way she goes through a genuine moral struggle to find herself and ultimately, the courage to make important decisions that impact the rest of her life.

Overall, Shugo Chara may not be the best series ever; on the contrary, it seems pretty low quality, formulaic, repetitive, has a terrible plot, and other elements. However, these aren't its true strengths. Its true strength is engaging with its audience and putting them in the characters' perspectives firsthand, getting us to feel their struggles and joys and emotions with vigor, with plenty of laughs and empathetic moments along the way. Despite its low score, this is an absolutely positive recommendation.

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May 23, 2018

Kang-Yuna

Mixed Feelings

I remember that this was in fact one of the very first anime series, that I have watched, after a friend had recommended this to me. Overall, the show was fine, but for me it was not exactly the type of anime I would watch again. Everything is found to be really ''girly'', and focusing on a typical theme of magic powers, and a group of girls that go out to save the world. In fact, a lot of previous tv shows, as well as anime have a similar concept, such as the Power Puff Girls, and Tokyo Mew Mew. Of course, I'm not saying ...

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Sep 6, 2021

Henunun

Not Recommended

If I were my 12 year old self, I would've given his a 9, but rewatching this many years later, I realized this show is your below average magical girl anime. To start, the idea with the eggs being little charas of people you wish you were was unique and interesting, but the characters and plot kind of ruin it all.

First of all, the main character Amu has no character development and your run-of-the-mill overpowered, Mary Sue (This pink hair doesn't help). The fact that she has so many charas and even has a final transformation with all her charas really shows the bias towards ...

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Third Season of Shugo Chara! Announced [Updated Aug 26]

According to Toradayo. magazine vol.103, the third season Shugo Chara! was announced to start on October 3rd. The title is "Shugo Chara Party!". Source: To...read more

Aug 25, 2009 5:13 AM by dtshyk | Discuss (102 comments)

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Poll: Shugo Chara! Episode 11 Discussion nOObman - Dec 23, 2007	41 replies	by Scoopy777 »» Feb 20, 3:34 PM
Poll: Shugo Chara! Episode 10 Discussion candydive - Dec 10, 2007	33 replies	by Scoopy777 »» Feb 20, 2:57 PM
Poll: Shugo Chara! Episode 9 Discussion nOObman - Dec 9, 2007	31 replies	by Scoopy777 »» Feb 19, 2:23 PM
Poll: Shugo Chara! Episode 8 Discussion Faust721 - Nov 28, 2007	29 replies	by Scoopy777 »» Feb 19, 1:55 PM
Poll: Shugo Chara! Episode 7 Discussion Kineta - Nov 20, 2007	28 replies	by Scoopy777 »» Feb 19, 6:06 AM

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Shugo Chara!

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Information

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Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

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Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

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