This series is so awesome .. or rather COOL AND SPICY. Peach Pit have recipes for success in all their series. I haven’t watched or read DearS or Zombie Loan, but I hear great things about them. And I already adore Rozen Maiden, so Shugo Chara! is just following the trend of awesome.

Is it because of Amu? Maybe so. But I also like the music. And the plaid layer masks.

I repeat what Shirukii said about this series in February:

Shugo Chara in a nutshell:

Episode 1: FUCK NO I’M WATCHING A GIRLY SHOW
Episode 2: Fuck…I’m watching a girly show
Episode 3-current: FUCK YES I’M WATCHING A GIRLY SHOW!

It just works that way with this series.

What I’ve Learned

So far we’ve got Amu and the Guardians. Kukai and Tadase are loved by all girls. Nadeshiko is just the ideal girl/woman-type while Yaya is way hyper. Amu has three shugo chara named Ran, Miki, and Suu. Their magical chants are also in the OP. My friend likes Miki the best, but I’m not entirely sure why. I guess since she’s the most level-headed of the three. Amu has a sister named Ami and two silly parents.

There’s the mysterious Ikuto. He and Tadase are two rivals for Amu’s affections. And then Utau, who is YAY MIZUKI NANA. Ikuto is also Okazaki Tomoya, which is interesting once I finally listened close enough to him to realize. But he’s not as cool as Utau.

Easter is a silly name for an evil organization, but it goes with all the egg/playing-card themes of this series, which I do like. And the lead guy of Easter just .. looks really weird.

The series focuses much on the story and character development. The actual magical battle scenes end up very short, with Amu dodging just one attack or making just one preparatory attack before doing the Open Heart final move. Sometimes it’s just mere dialogue before she performs the X-Egg healing. It’s a little anticlimactic sometimes, but it’s not bad.

Nikaidou is an odd villain, but Himamori is a funny joke. I wonder if he dies and gets replaced later.

Why does series rock so much?

Again, it’s probably Amu. Or it’s probably because we haven’t had a good magical girl series in a while. I think DKellis wrote on this somewhere when it was first airing. It started off really innocent and sweet. Amu just wanted to live her school life, but now there’s this mission — eggs are going bad! So she transforms and has a love interest, etc. etc.

But then it gets a little twisty. Or it’s just the character interactions are so unique. We haven’t had a cast of characters like this before. Or such an interesting concept of would-be-selves. It’s kiddish but yet kind-of mature at the same time. Of course some X-Characters are kinda silly; it’s not like we’re saving people from suicide or grand larceny or murder, but somehow you’re still rooting for Amu to succeed.

In these middle episodes though as the action gets a little better and the story rolls along, it almost ranks with the normal action/drama series. But you still have this lighthearted fun along the way.

I think all the silly faces and soliloquies have a lot to do with it, too. And “your key which opens my lock” makes me giggle to no end. According to Hinano, the series does get a little bit on the suggestive side as far as dialogue goes, but it’s toned down a ton in the anime.

Go, Amu, go. You cool and spicy thing.

~Crisu