Ranked #517

Shugo Chara!

The Mahou Shoujo genre is all too often populated with casts of sweet, brightly animated lolis who are surrounded by perverted adults and magical animals. Couple this together with overly long and usually indecent (given the ages of the characters) transformation scenes and stupid inane plots that make watching children's programming with your kids seem smart by comparison. Shugo Chara! takes those stereotypes and blows them up completely, and leaves us with one of the most wonderful and enjoyable anime experiences ever.

I found this series to be a breath of fresh air. While the premise of the story is nothing that we haven’t seen before, it just feels like an original idea. The plot is very much typical of a Mahou Shoujo series. If you’ve seen a series such as Sailor Moon, then you’re going to find a lot of similarities. Our heroine, Amu Hinamori, finds herself thrust into a magical world she never realized was around her until she wakes up one morning with three eggs in her bed. These eggs soon hatch revealing her Shugo Chara, or Guardian Characters. We soon find out that everyone has these eggs in their hearts as a representation of their hopes and dreams for the future. Amu becomes friends with others who have guardian characters and begins to battle against the evil organization called Easter, to protect everyone’s heart egg and find the mysterious one known as the embryo.

The story moves along nicely early on, introducing us to the world and the characters while explaining origins and back story. There is a lot of pretty good magical action and surprises along the way. What was maybe the most surprising to me was the depth of the romance and relationships part of the story. Considering the ages of the characters, I was not initially all that optimistic about a story that myself, a twenty-something adult could relate that much to. But I was surprised to find Amu to be a very complex character with a lot of emotional depth. She grows tremendously as a character from the beginning to the end of this season.

However, Shugo Chara! is not without its faults. One of the most glaring is the number of recap episodes throughout the series. I never have understood the necessity to devote an entire episode towards a recap in this day and age. In the age of DVRs, internet streaming, and downloading, the necessity to have recaps for new viewers seems like a waste of time to me. The other major issue was that there was a lot of what I would term "filler" episodes. Stories that did nothing to advance the overall plot in anyway. For filler they were not bad stories and a lot of them did serve to let us get to know the series huge cast. But really the most annoying was the amount of it after the main plotline from the second half was concluded. It felt a bit anti-climatic and was disappointing to have to sit through 7-8 episodes before the season finally concluded with something involving the main storyline.

The cast for Shugo Chara is enormous. Normally I would say this is a major drawback but in this case it really wasn’t. The key to the whole series is Amu and her guardians. For me, Amu has already moved into my favorite anime characters of all time. She is someone I think every girl (and boys too I think) will find something to relate to themselves. I think her internal insecurities and her outside persona and the struggle to be accepted by society yet still be true to yourself is something that will resonate with viewers. Her conflicted heart over her romantic feelings for various boys and her own lack of confidence over her own "true self" I believe will also strike a nerve. In a lot of ways I think she is the most "real" anime character I’ve ever seen.

There are simply too many other characters to cover in detail with the scope of this review. Amu's guardians Ran, Miki, and Su are adorable and lovable aspects of her personality. The same could be said for all of the other guardian characters and their relationships with their owners. The most important and interesting of the supporting cast is Ikuto. I see him as a Tuxedo Mask type character from Sailor Moon. He comes to Amu's rescue when she needs it but isn’t necessarily on her side. His intentions remain obscure for the entire season so we will have to wait to find the answers to that. The rest of the cast, while enjoyable, is far more stereotypical and shallow. You’re bound to have a few favorites from them and even the villains, but this is a story about Amu.

The artwork and animation is outstanding. I absolutely loved the character designs and styling. I felt it was a very fresh look. The backgrounds and settings are a bit over the top at times but beautifully drawn. The guardian characters are completely adorable and are a certainty to steal your heart away. The various magical transformations, even in their full form are reasonably short and devoid of pedo fan service. This was possibly the most refreshing aspect of the whole show. The music is equally brilliant. The various opening and ending themes were catchy tunes that captured the spirit and essence of the show.

My enjoyment of this series was really off the charts. I really wanted to give this show a perfect score but the way the story drags on with little happening towards the end hurts its overall score. If you’re even have a passing interest in Mahou Shoujo stories, then Shugo Chara! has to be at the top of your watch list. For everyone else, your mileage may vary but I think your seriously missing out if you don’t give this show a try.
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Any fan of Mahou Shoujo anime should really enjoy Shugo Chara!, especially since it's been a while since we've seen a Mahou Shoujo anime which has more plot than using sparkle rays to blast some monsters.

Shugo Chara! has all the classic Mahou Shoujo elements; blasting away a similar enemy in fillers, overly long transformation sequences, a "chosen" and "special" heroine, and the classic idea of making enemies into friends.

But Shugo Chara! has what a lot of Mahou Shoujo seem to be missing. A nice message and some good romance. It's not just about blasting away the enemy, it's about a young girls confusion over her "true self," something that a lot of people can probably identify with. Amu also finds herself confused very often over what she's feeling over certain guys in her life. After all, good shoujo needs a nice love triangle, doesn't it?

All of the characters in Shugo Chara! are also incredibly entertaining. The Guardians, Easter's two pawns Ikuto and Utau, and certainly Amu herself. Even the fillers are mildly fun to watch...if you're not looking for substance, but just fun.

Overall, Shugo Chara! is a good anime to watch. It's been compared to great anime like CardCaptor Sakura, and while I wouldn't go that far, it is definitely the best Mahou Shoujo anime in a while and it does have the appeal to span multiple ages (I've encountered fans from ages 10-30). So, if you're a fan of mahou shoujo, or just shoujo in general, you really can't miss Shugo Chara! (though, I will just leave off mentioning the fillers to warn any impatient viewers). read more