Random Sampling: Shugo Chara!
Let’s get girly
The last time I random-sampled something, it was Komodo No Jikan, which scarred me for a while, so it took some time for me to close my eyes and point my finger and the virtual phone book of anime again. But here’s what I got:
- Series: Shugo Chara!
- Genre: Magical Girl?
- Episode: 12 (and 1)
Story
Amu’s classmates and even her own parents think she’s quite the “cool and spicy” girl: fashionable, slightly aloof, fine being by herself. But in reality she’s just a shy girl who can’t ever think of something to say. One day she prays to her guardian angel (who she only believes in secretly) to help her out, and said angel delivers three eggs. Those eggs hatch into Shugo Chara (guardian characters) who let her unleash different facets of her personality, hopefully in order to facilitate her “true self.” Somwhere in there, characters with “X Eggs” seem to be able to suppress peoples’ true selves. Maybe.
What’s it got?
- An appealing lead character. Amu seems about as “real” as a magical girl series can actually handle. Her cool-exterior / frilly-girl-interior contrast is fun too.
- Neat art style derived from Peach-Pit’s original manga. Amu is cute and stylish — her clothes and hair change a lot, which shows that someone’s actually putting effort into the look of the series. And plaid? Mesmerizing.
- Yuuichi Nakamura playing against type as a pretty blue-haired kid with a bad attitude.
Uhhh... yeah.
- A different romantic angle. I think. I’m not sure from ep. 12 where that’s going to focus, but it clearly involves the president of the school’s “Special A”-like club (who all also have Charas), the Nakamura character, and a pop idol who looks like something out of ef.
Potential shitters
- Thin basic concept. I’m not sure if this egg business can hold up for 50 episodes, even if it’s just a pretext for character development. Overall, the series doesn’t seem very meaty. If that’s true, it could be enough to shit-can the show off the bat.
Evaluation
I’m interested enough to go on. I was intrigued (or at least confused) enough to check out the origin episode after seeing one bit, so that’s promising. The big thing Shugo Chara! seems to have going for it based on my tiny sample is Amu herself, a winning character who resists the standard anime stereotypes. That’s good, since the theme of the show is her developing her personality — if it wasn’t a compelling personality, there wouldn’t be much reason to watch.
This series has been going on for a while. Anyone who’s seen it care to recommend? Should I stay or should I go?
