Shugo Chara is a story about Hinamori Amu, who is known to be cool and stylish but is actually a girl on the inside. Her life changes magically with the birth of the Character Gurdians (Shugo Chara), who gives her the power to change to her another self.

As this is my first review on an anime episode, I might miss on certain details and whatsoever. But nevertheless, I hope you would enjoy my upcoming reviews on the rest of the episodes of Shugo Chara!

“Kokoro no Tamago (こころのたまご)” by Buono!

“Honto no Jibun (ホントのじぶん)” by Buono!

[Summary]

The episode starts with students from Seiyo Elementary school heading for lessons. A boy is being bullied by a pair of middle school students, extorting a video game from him. This is where our heroine, Hinamori Amu makes her appearance. After recalling several rumors about how scary Amu is, the two middle school boys runs away frantically, thus saving the boy from them. Amu then says he’s blocking the way and heads off for school.

Rumors about her being cool or stylish are often spread school. Things like her mother being a famous magazine writer, her father being a professional photographer or her boyfriend is someone who’s much older than her and is a foreigner. Hearing the gossips among her classmates, she comments that being cool and stylish is just not her. At dinner time, Amu and her family are watching a TV reality show about a famous psychic talking about spirits. She then “speaks” to Amu, to much of her shock, she goes to her bedroom and panics over the strange encounter she just had and then reflects upon her outside character and about wanting how to be a honest girl. Remembering the words of the psychic, she goes to the balcony and prays for her guardian angel to give her courage to show her real self outside.

Amu wakes up to see 3 different colored eggs sitting on her bed. Much to her dismay, thinking that she gave birth. But after touching one of the eggs, she calms down and proceed to eating her breakfast and going to school. Being a caring girl on the inside, she decided to bring the eggs to school in order to keep them warm. As she heads for class, her schoolmates exclaim upon the arrival of the school guardians, Kukai Souma, Yaya Yuiki, Nadeshiko Fujisaki and lastly, our heroine’s cursh, Tadase Hotori.

After the introduction of the 4 guardians, one of the eggs in Amu’s bag began to to move; as she try to secure the egg back into her bag, the guardians spots her 3 Shugo Chara eggs and Hotori approaches her, with her shooing him off, giving him a nickname of shortie. The guardians then comment about the 3 guardian eggs that Amu carries and talk about the legend where a person with 3 guardian eggs will inherit the Humpty lock, which I will cover later. During the fall meeting, Amu thinks about Hotori and wish that she could express herself honestly. That was when her egg changes her personality and she stands up to apologize and proceed to confess to him. After being rejected, Amu runs out of the school, saying that being so open in front of everyone is not her character. She then falls into a hole in a construction site nearby. The Humpty lock get stolen and one of the eggs jumps out of Amu’s bag, ready to hatch.

Here’s the first of Amu’s Shugo Chara, Ran. After Ran helps Amu out of the hole, Ikuto, the thief of the Humpty lock appears and steals Amu’s eggs. Amu then tries to retrieve the eggs but in the end falls. As she falls, the Humpty lock reacts to her and she transforms. But she loses control of her power and falls and Hotori saves her. After Ikuto makes his getaway, Hotori shows concern for Amu and proceeds back to school. Leaving Amu to daydream about Hotori and Ran saying that Amu is a scent pervert. The episode ends with Ran cheering Amu by saying that there are still chances and Amu tries to leave her behind.

[Impression]

Shugo Chara feels colorful and fun. The artwork is great, with great special effects. Together with the sound effects and music, it makes Shugo Chara an anime that perks people up. The story is unconventional in the mahou shoujo genre, especially the use of the eggs and the guardians.

The first episode introduces the characters and also the power of the Shugo Chara and the Humpty lock, which is a great way to let the audience know about how things work in the anime. One thing I like about the first episode is that there are some cute moments(Amu’s sister dancing) which really cheers me up. The cheesiness in the anime is very appropriate and therefore makes the anime worth watching.

One last picture of Ran for the day.