I thought the anime started off really well. First of all, some people may not mind the art in anime so much, saying tings like "Oh, art doesn't matter so much as long as I can differentiate between different characters" but for me, I can't stand to watch an anime that does not have good art. But for this anime, that was not a problem at all. The artwork was perfect! and most of all hinamori amu (the most important protagonist) was designed really well. I would further like to mention that her voice acting was great too! It was natural, and really did suit the character well I think. Thus in terms of art and voice, no problems what so ever.
The idea of the story itself, I thought, was unique and captured my interest initially at the beginning. However, bearing in mind that this show is meant for children, it became pretty repetitive throughout with lots, and I mean lots of filler episodes (especially in season 2) . Now, my age is definitely not be categorized as 'child' so I really don't have the right to complain about fillers despite how annoyed I felt during my way through the episodes. It felt as though these fillers blocked the progression of the story way too much. But if I put myself in perspective of a child watching the same anime, I'm sure I would have gotten excited whenever Amu did a character transformation. In fact, that would have been ALL I cared about so as a child, filler or not, as long as she made that transformation I would have enjoyed it. My point is that given my age, and yours too (i'm sure) we don't have the right to complain about fillers since we, in the first place, are watching a show that was meant for kids in the first place. So for me at least, despite my hatred of these filler episodes, I came to understand their worth and managed to keep hold till the end.
The first season went pretty well I thought. The story progressed well, posing questions and uncertainty, developments between character relationships etc. Its this 'development' that we look for, and the first season managed to do just this and made it enjoyable for me to view. However the second season was different. It undoubtedly lacked the depth which was present in the first season and, as I said above, was highly concentrated with fillers. I'm sure even with these, the story could have progressed as well as it did in the first season, but instead, I felt like there was a huge separation from the 'main plot' to 'side plot'. For instance, serious event takes place and causes despair but in the next episode all the seriousness is suddenly neutralized by a rather boring filler episode. I'm sure the fillers could have been made better than that, or even, made in a different order so that it does not interrupt the tension that was built up from before. I am not complaining about the existence of these filler episodes, do not misunderstand. I am merely noting that these could have been made with a bit more care so that it does not disturb the development of the anime. Perhaps then, for older audiences, it could have been much more enjoyable.
So I thought that there was a dramatic change in the level of enjoyment from my initial sense of satisfaction in the first season to utter disappointment in the second.
Now for the characters.. I really liked Hinamori Amu. She is energetic, kind, cute and straightforward. All the qualities that you would look for in a perfect protagonist in an anime like this. Not just her, but all the other characters were great too. In terms of the relationships between these characters, I really initially loved the fact that Nadeshiko and Amu were so close. After all, she was Amu's first friend ever and her 'best' friend. The close friendship between them made me feel happy for Amu but I was rather disappointed later on, and the reason for that is not what you may expect. But since I don't want to write any spoilers, I will prohibit myself from saying it out loud. The other two main characters of the story is Ikuto and Tadase. The love triangle the goes on between the two and amu is rather obvious from the start so no spoilers there. Given that amu and tadase are elementary school students, a part of me says that heavy romance is not possible. However there indeed exists elements of romance in here and so another part of me screams that even if 'light' romance, there should be a proper pair at least. The ending of the anime provided me with the worst pairings possible and I'm sure 99% of mature viewers were disappointed with the outcome . But Oh well, that is my opinion only. I'm only suggesting that if romance is what you are looking for, this anime is not really the right one to watch but i must admit, it is cute when amu blushes. Maybe that may perhaps change your thoughts, I don't know. Romance is not really a big part so... yeah. Anyway the character desgns, I thought, were really good. Tadase the typical princely figure with Ikuto being the character that has a much more playful attitude, especially towards the one he likes.
Overall I think this show was good. It was good, but not good enough. Note that I haven't written anything to do with the third season, 'shugo chara party' because it is useless to write about. There is absolutely no point in watching that. Not only is Ikuto kicked out from it, even Amu appears less and less frequently. Anyway, I thought initially shugo chara was great, but as I watched on, it became less and less enjoyable for me to watch. Eventually I dropped in during the third season. And trust me, it is not only me who feels this way. Season 3 only has under 30 episodes because of the loss of popularity. I don't find that strange given that they changed the whole show completely.
So to finalize, I do not recommend you to put hours and hours watching this. My recommendation is for you to read the manga and enjoy the story with better development, formation of a proper pair, and most of all less time!. The manga is concise and follows the story directly! it will take you less time to finish with more enjoyment than the manga.
