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]

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

Nakamura, Shinichi Producer

Kishimoto, Reigo Producer

Hatta, Shinsaku Producer

Yasuda, Kenji Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard

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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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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 ... that the series does not have any potential, but it just wasn't exactly the series for me. If perhaps you enjoy such story lines, then go for it, but it's simply not my thing.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Oct 3, 2024

LuxuriousHeart

Not Recommended

I have an anime and manga backlog. I wanted to diversify my anime and manga list, so I looked around for recommendations in each demographic, and I did my own research. Shugo Chara came up a few times. It wasn't too popular. Even if you specified Magical Girl series, it would be towards the bottom of each list. Safe to say, while it was on my backlog, it wasn't a priority for me. That is until, my friend recommended it to me. I was conversing with them about my backlog. They originally recommended Nana to me. ... I told them that due to my impatience with Yona of the Dawn, Black Clover, Dance Dance Danseur, and Hunter x Hunter, I'd rather watch/read a series that is complete. So they saw Shugo Chara on my list and recommended it to me. It was always low on most people's list and wasn't really a priority on my list. Though since my friend recommended it to me, I decided to give it an earlier watch. Especially since, aside from a few things, we generally have similar taste. Even on live action shows, we're very similar. This series will just be added to the small pile of disagreements.

I'll just talk about the age gap right away. It's the elephant in the room. The two characters with the most chemistry are Amu (MC) and Ikuto (one of the guys in her reverse harem). There's a five year age gap where one is 11 and the other is 16. That's a huge problem, and it makes no sense. Amu and her friends act as if they're older. Like, she legit acts like she's 13 or 14. They really should've aged her up. Though that wasn't really the biggest issue, funny enough. Even if it was obviously some chemistry there, I didn't really hate it early on. I didn't start to hate it until around the mid to late 30s. I was actually pondering why I had lost interest. I thought it was due to the amount of episodes. Basically, 41 chapters were made into 102 episodes (the remaining being filler). I thought that the show in general had too much filler. Then I remembered something. The Dear Brother manga had 18 chapters, but the anime adaptation was 39 episodes. The Cardcaptor Sakura manga had 50 chapters while the anime had 70 episodes. The Princess Tutu manga had 10 chapters while the anime had 38 episodes. I really liked those series. So then, what was the issue? That's when I realized the true kiss of death for this series.

The cast doesn't have any chemistry. The characters are actually good, but that means nothing when they don't interact like friends. Among the many filler episodes, not enough are dedicated to the more fun episodes that would show cast interaction. Not enough emphasis on friendship, a Christmas arc, a summer arc, a spring arc, a festival, etc. Where is the fun??? They needed to focus more on that, and less on the reverse harem.

So overall, I rate it a 5. Like I said, the characters are good. Some episodes are fun. The show itself was fun until the 30s, so that has to count for something. I just wish that they focused more on fun. Do I recommend it? No. It's too niche. You'd have to be very young to enjoy this series, or watched it when you were young.

If I had to change things around, then...

DON'T READ PAST THIS POINT IF YOU DON'T WANT MODERATE SPOILERS!!!

If I could correct Shugo Chara I would:
- Age: age the cast up, except Ikuto and Utau. I'd make Amu, Utau, Tadase, Rima, and Nadeshiko start off being 13, with Rima technically meeting them when she's 14 and they're all 14. Aging Utau down so she wouldn't be 14 and beefing with a 10 year old. Kukai would be 14. Yaya and Kairi would be 12. Ikuto would remain 16. All of them would be in middle school, except Ikuto who's in high school
- Ships: Amu x Ikuto would start off 13 and 16, and end the series 15 and 18. That way, they'd still keep some of that forbidden age gap spice, without it being too unsettling. Rima x Painter would be 13 and 13, and end the series 15 and 15. Yaya x Kukai would be 12 and 14, and end the series 14 and 16. Nadeshiko would remain a girl and be paired with Tadase at ages 13 and 13, and end the series 15 and 15. Kairi would end up with Saaya (mean red haired girl) with her being the same age as Amu. So they'd be 13 and 12, and end the series 15 and 14. Plus, obligatory older girl x younger guy for a switch up. I'd make a love interest for Utau. Have her love interest be an up and coming female popstar that Easter is pushing as her replacement. The new popstar would be an Indian woman with a forehead jewel, purple hair, and brown eyes. It'd be a queer relationship, amongst the majority Het pairings. Plus, Shugo Chara is obviously inspired by Utena, so it'd be a nice homage to that. They'd start off as enemies. It would be a lampshade to Nanami (In RGU, Nanami has blond hair and purple eyes, like Utau) not liking Anthy (purple hair references anime Anthy while brown eyes references manga Anthy).
- love dynamics: Amu wouldn't have a crush on Kukai, because it makes no sense. Have Kairi crush on Yaya instead of Amu. Combine that one girl plotting with Amu and Saaya, and make Saaya crush on Kukai from the start. She'd offer to help Amu win Tadase if Amu could help with Kukai. Saaya would warn about Nadeshiko x Tadase and Yaya x Kukai. The joke is that Amu thinks she's crazy, but those ships come together in the end. Kairi would join and they'd help each other win over their crush, but would eventually grow to like each other.
- regular dynamics: more friendships and hobbies. Have them do more activities together. Have the ships hang out alone together and go on dates and separate with each other at festivals. Bring on the fun!

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	Poll: Shugo Chara! Episode 28 Discussion Trineas - May 27, 2008	31 replies	by AshRayKay »» Oct 14, 6:58 PM
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