Shugo Chara!! Doki

Spoiler warning if you are not caught up.

If this were the first season, you can believe I would've given this series a high rating. Unfortunately, it's not, so I didn't. Shugo Chara! Doki is basically the bullet in the gun that killed most, if not all of it's fans.

Story:
This sequel starts off by bombarding the viewer with filler after annoying, useless filler. And it continues for at least a full 15 episodes. It adds a stupid "plot twist" by introducing the idea that basically anyone who is momentarily depressed can Character transform. I hated this the most out of the whole story. I felt as ... though the whole premise in the first season (one can only transform with an actual chara and the ability to Chara Change)was completely ignored.

Art:
The art was probably the highest point in this series. Although it started out nice, it seemed that the more I watched it, the more deformed the art had become. Or perhaps I didn't notice it before...either way, I noticed that most of the deformities had been associated with the face. How the head and eyes had been enlarged and facial features began looking spaced too far apart. For the most part, I did enjoy the clothing, but that's mostly it.

Sound:
I liked the OPs and EDs for the first season. I found them to be quite catchy, "iPod" worthy I guess. But I didn't enjoy any of the OP's in Doki. They bored and annoyed me and I found them to be wayyyy to girly. x_X At points I thought the BGM was only there to sound cute, since it didn't seem to match the mood of the situation. The Seiyuus fit their roles nicely, though no one really stood out.

Character:
Basically Amu hasn't changed much except the whole "with Tadase" thing. Tadase, same except for the reason why he hates Ikuto is revealed. Yaya, annoying and same. Although when it comes to Ikuto, you basically learn about his story and how he actually doesn't want Amu to worry about him. Other characters are introduced, Lulu and her chara Nana. Lulu's basically a snob who wants to make her mother happy and her chara is probably THEE most annoying chara in the series. Then like 20 supporting characters introduced who do nothing except fill up the episode.

Enjoyment:
I greatly dislike this series. The humor that was once there is now gone, all that's left is crappy, awkward, forced comedy; the likes of which would put Rima to shame. It's filled with stupid fillers that make you want to tear your brain stem out. In my opinion, the only reason worth watching is to see what happens to Ikuto. I would have dropped this about 15 episodes back, except that I had hoped that it would get better. Now the only reason I'm sticking with it is because I would feel like all the time spent watching would be wasted if I didn't follow through.

-- some spoilers discussing where the anime and manga diverged --

No one has written a review after viewing all the episodes yet, so I thought I should. Despite all the fillers in the first half, it was the second quarter that ruined this series for me. They had canon, manga material to work with - and they completely butchered it, rewriting it so that the story made no sense and the characters were out of character.

The story is about Amu and her love life just as much as it is about the Embryo, and it's important to the story and character development that we see ... that Amu is starting to fall in love with Ikuto, who loves her for who she is. The manga is a lot more obvious about this than the anime. In the manga, Amu is obviously falling further and further in love with Ikuto, and as he leaves to search for his father, she rushes to him at the airport. He kisses her and tells her 'I'll definitely make you fall in love with me - be prepared' before he boards the plane. This was obviously a very important moment, but was cut completely from the anime.

The airport scene was replaced with Amu telling Tadase how much she loves him and not Ikuto, which makes no sense at all. Amu even admits to herself that she's falling in love with Ikuto, and her Shugo Charas realize it as well, so why such a butchered ending? I can't see how the third series is going to fix it, either.

There were also a lot of other 'Amuto' scenes cut from this series and a lot of romance between Tadase and Amu added. From the bedroom scenes between Amu and Ikuto, where they snuggled a lot more than is shown in the anime, to Amu wrapping her arms around Ikuto, and Tadase realizing that she's in love with Ikuto as well. They were replaced with 'shout your love contests' and dates between Amu and Tadase. Amu is meant to be developing from a 'confused and lost' girl who had a crush on the popular 'prince' who only loves one side of her, to a mature character who has fallen in love with somone who really needs and understands her. The anime completely ruined this development, and Amu hasn't matured at all like she has in the manga.

The music and art weren't bad, although I don't think Ikuto's songs were as sad as they were described in the manga, and I preferred the music from season one.

All in all, I was very disappointed, and recommend that Ikuto fans read the manga instead in order to understand the true magnitude of Ikuto's and Amu's relationship.

Okay let me tell you this before the review, I LOVE SHUGO CHARA. I am a hardcore Shugo Chara fan and Amuto fan. You could say I am biased, but please let me explain why.

Sometimes when you have your mind set on liking something, you most definitely will like it. This is Shugo Chara doki for me. No matter how many problems people point out in it, I can only find good things about it. The story leads away from the manga's plot for a new arc, the Lulu arc. Now yes at first just like everyone else, I hate Lulu. But as her ... arc went on I came to like her. You have to find the good in her. So once we get past that part you get to the ikuto arc, YAY xD. Those scenes were amazing and even Tadase's confession was. Sure the Tadamu got on my nerves sometimes but nothing that ruined the show. The fighting scenes were epic. I will tell you that there are obviously many fillers, but even those are interesting to me and have bits of the original story in them too.

The art was still good this season, I even have to admit I like it more then I liked the art from the last season. It was a little sloppy sometimes but the majority of the amazing as usual.

The openings and endings were all catchy and adorable though childish at times. A little different from the last season. The voices were good for all the characters, suiting them all perfectly. And the soundtrack fit the situation perfectly when some memorable songs in my opinion.

The main cast of characters are my favorite part of Shugo Chara. Even Lulu. Some of the filler charaters were pretty good too. But back to the original characters, they all have their own amazing personalities and their own stories. I love them with all my heart.

I LOVED Shugo Chara. Besides the occasional Tadamu moments and boring filler episodes, it was very enjoyable. Please give it a try. Don't listen to those other reviews. This anime is worth your time. Especially if you liked the first season. Remember though, view it with an open and positive mind set. That's the key to enjoying this anime.

Shugo Chara Doki!! is the continuation of the Shugo Chara!, where the main character Amu is still in the same grade as she was at the end of Shugo Chara! The guardians face new enemies, meeting old friends and creating new friends. Their main goal is still to get the embryo, with Easter trying new schemes to get the embryo first.

The story has a nice flow, seeing as i haven't really read much of the manga it seems to be moving towards to current chapters out.

It is a very enjoyable anime to watch overall its, if you love Shugo Chara then you should ... defiantly watch the sequel.

I personally love Shugo Chara Doki!! and i look forward to watching it every week

first time i saw this i was like wtf, what happened to shugo chara? then i learned it was the continuation of it and i was like O-O really...then i was all like fan girly and ^^" how could i have not known that. the series is actually a bit better than the original cause its a bit less tense and serious-serious about utau and amu and ikuto and x-eggs and characters and such. i was a bit suprised at the new character, her shugo chara, and her new form of ? Eggs (bit like 'XD') overall, i like the ikutoXamu thing, so go shugo ... chara doki!
Kawaii~darknightxday

First season was a hit.
This season is just what the hell.

Story completely ruined and milked because of Amu's love life. It was so bothersome to see her break each person's heart after another. Also, why does she transform with Ran like 239483948 times and uses the other charas almost never?

This anime had so much potential especially with the manga written but they completely ruined it.

Also, heads up. The animation changed and does not look as good as season 1 and also, 3/4ths of the actual episode is a bunch of useless filler stuff. So just skip to the real episode.

To be honest when i saw tittle for new season Shugo Chara Doki! i was excited to see more going on between characters buuuuuut when you think omg it got exciting it somehow goes back to other minor characters and Amu just forgets about Ikuto.Filers,i don`t mind them really but after a while it gets annoying.Especially when Ikuto gets in trouble,he comes to Amu for help she chase him out because of something stupid and then she just forgots about him and goes saving others and being all lovey dovey with Tadase 0.0 Not to mention he was and always is there when she ... needs him.
Overall this anime is funny and cute as much as first season and i love it

Not only did i had to drag myself to finish it after 1 year on hold but it was absolutely dreadful.

The anime just 360 slapped the manga in our face and butchered the plot . Amu's love life was altered from what it originally was from the manga .Not to mention ( in the manga) i had hopes for the 'ikuto and amu at the airport ' scene for the ending...big nuke up the butt , that never happened! Worse ... ikuto disappears from the face of the planet. As a fellow ikuto fan , this was sad.

I know shes the main character but TO ... MUCH AMU.
I wanted to see more a lot more of the character build up/spotlight for the others too . She's not the only main chara.

FILLERS WERE ANNOYING AND SOME WERE USELESS !

Music was good , i enjoyed it and matched very well with the moods . But at times it was too much for me.

This season is also even worse at getting to the point . IT'S TAKEN 3 YEARS OUT OF MY LIFE SPAN . Just skimmed half of every episode because of it.

The lectures got even longer than i could possibly handle. Our Amu feels the need to give a long lecture on morals and dreams I swear she gives my philosophy teacher and my mom a run for there money.GET TO THE DAMN POINT.

I'm not a professional review writer , but i'm giving this a bag of broken hopes and dreams. From not liking these girly mainstream anime , to watching the first season , i became in love with romance and girly stuff , even taught me a few things... Now that i saw DOKI ... i'm scared of even clicking on another girly magical anime again.

My otaku senses are saying it isn't going to change for PARTY or maybe it'll get worse i dont know. But after the horror , i recommend every fan of girly magical anime to go strait to the manga .

Shugo Chara! Doki!! is without a doubt, far and away, one of the worst useless sequel seasons to ever exist. Credit where it's due, the Embryo arc was put on hold as is standard by this point and did need a resolution; however, the use of 51 episodes to explain a plot that could have been completed in half that amount was inexcusable. Despite the first season's ability to thrive by building on the concept of the Heart Eggs, there's a reason it only worked once. At a certain point, it feels less like an enjoyable show and more like the writers wanted to cash ... in on Shugo Chara's popularity by keeping the series running as long as possible, at the expense of its quality. And Shugo Chara! Doki!! truly suffered for this.

A lot of character arcs that were expected to have a payoff are either completely abandoned, dragged out for nearly the entire season, or wind up extremely underwhelming. As an example, it was hoped by many that Nagihiko would reveal his true identity as "Nadeshiko" to Amu, a payoff which never arrived, even during the season finale. Other storylines were similarly abandoned, with even the anime-exclusive Lulu having her own redemption arc pushed off for a ludicrous amount of time, to the point she appeared several times remaining fully "evil" long after her redemption began. Despite what the season would incline us to believe, character interactions are, ironically, rather sparse; there are some great moments that have a wonderful setup here, yes. But these are overshadowed by a number of exceedingly blank storylines and episodes. Even Dia, who was promised to appear with a major role after the end of the first season, only had three canon appearances.

One of the biggest flaws is that the season itself feels unnecessary; a lot of the arcs that were covered in the first season could have ended perfectly fine there, and instead, it feels that the season has run out of steam. The finale is also particularly bland which is a true shame, especially given how well the first season did despite its low quality. I'm sorry to say this, but it's a case of a great magical girl series that's worn out its welcome. Not even cute characters and some truly amazing episodes could save this season. 2/10.