Shugo Chara! Anime Review

Genre: Magical Girl/ Fantasy/ Adventure

Synopsis:

Amu is an elementary school-girl who is constantly misunderstood by her peers, even being nick-named "cool and spicy," and having over-the-top rumors spread about her. Because she is hesitant, she often trips up and refuses to show her real self- she is actually very cute and friendly. One day, she wakes up to find three Easter eggs in her bed, which soon hatch into guardians that help her actualize her real potential and give her magical abilities, such as flight.

Episode One review:

I was really skeptical with the anime at first, as I usually find Magical-Girl genre anime to be extremely tedious and clichéd. Sailor Moon defined the Magical Girl genre, with its forgettable villains and repetitive plot. With that said, I found Shugo Chara to be a surprisingly refreshing anime.

The main character, Amu Hinamori, is incredibly likable. She's multi-dimensional and realistic, and the antics she gets into (due to the "help" of her guardians: Ran, Miki, and Shu) are absolutely hilarious to watch. Imagine how mortifying it would be for you to confess your feelings to your crush. Then imagine how much worse it would be if the entire school was watching! It actually happens in the first episode. Secondary characters adhere to your usual anime-clichés, you have your school wimp, your school bullies, the character that the main character has a crush on (in this case, Tadase Hotori), and so forth. However, the villain (Ikuto Tsukiyomi) is quite adorable and interesting enough, definitely not your typical Magical Girl villain, especially not with those cat ears... I will pay further attention to him in the future. He seems to be a bishounen (pretty boy) type character, and as a fan-girl, I am very interested in these types. Given how he is the only character who is of young adult age so far, he is probably going to be one of the few, if not the only character that can be classified as "bishounen" in the show.

The plot seems to be your typical coming-of-age show, in which a character with problems stemming from personal doubt manages to gain confidence. Added to that, you have some supernatural events (Amu Hinamori has 3 guardian "angels," furthermore, she and other characters have magical abilities), and I am sure that there will be future plot arcs that have not yet been introduced.

The show appears to run about sixty-five episodes. I certainly will not be watching all of it in one sitting. Each episode is entertaining enough on its own, and does not have enough suspense to have you clamoring for the next episode. You finish each episode with a "that was really cute and sweet!" feeling. However, it is entertaining and cute, and if you have young children around and want to introduce them to anime...or if you want to just relax and watch something that is easy on the eyes and brain, then this is the show for you.