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Being in pain for existing is something unfamiliar to me; the pain of a violent loss also is. Self-hate is also unknown personally, just like the hate directioned for someone else. If I said I never disliked someone I'd sure be lying, but it would be an exaggeration if I told anybody I ever felt something as big as pure hate. Still, this manga touched my heart like none other before.
We all have these strong feelings, translated into strong words, feared, but felt with intensity. How one could blame someone who, having lost a loved one, desires the same fate for the murderer, knowing that ... even with the hate, it's the sadness that screams the loudest? And how one could blame someone who, never having experienced something such as love and happiness, takes a path according to those terms? How condemn someone who decides their lives' fate?
In the end, none of these questions have an answer; no rationality, no truth.
'Watashitachi no Shiawase na Jikan' doesn't intend to resolve any of these puzzles nor give a 'universal truth' about the matter, but touches in wounds that everyone has at a certain level and makes you think, think and feel. From the very first page, you know what's going to happen; still there's a magic in the sincerity of the narrative that catches your attention. In just 8 chapters, the characters are lively enough to get your simpathy, or at least your understanding. The art is stunning, gentle and so fitting to the plot; it certainly adds the sensibility the story needs.
As ironic as it may be, all the joy and despair in life comes from humanity itself: the same one that makes you laugh makes you cry; just as the same hands that kill can give life. And, in that never-ending contradiction, we immerse in all the experiences that will decide which path our lives will take.

First of all, I'd like to say that the score I gave is clearly biased, but this manga doesn't deserve anything less than 8.

Shugo Chara! may look like a typical shoujo, but its peculiarities make it unique in my opinion; the main character, Amu, has doubts and insecurities normally present at her age, the classic love indecision seen in any lead in the genre, and a will for being the best she can be that seems innovative to me in this category. There is the everlasting love triangle, but it doesn't maintain itself as the primary aspect of her life. The little 10, 12 and ... even 14 yo me could see themselves (myself (?)) in her and feel motivated for solving the questions that were brought up.

Each time I re-read it, its flaws become more evident, and you must read it acknowledging them (most of them centering around romantic relationships); they could've easily been removed or changed into something more fitting to the story... but yeah, they're there and there's not much we can do about it. Despite them, in my opinion the good messages in the manga can bring much good to youths who grow confused and scared of never finding themselves - after all, that's the base of the story: Who I am and who I want to be?

Shugo Chara is a kids' mahou shoujo manga, and follows the structure of the genre presented in most of its titles; but first of all it's a story that deconstructs and questions genre views, brings to children meaningful questionings in the process of growing up, and a good message about all the possibilities of who you could be, but most importantly, about the wonderfulness of being who you are.