Death’s Notes and Thoughts

Based on a shoujo manga by PEACH-PIT, serialised in Nakayoshi. Everybody at Seiyo Elementary thinks that stylish and super cool Hinamori Amu has it all: But nobody knows the real Amu, a shy girl who wishes she had the courage to truly be herself. Changing Amu’s life is going to take more than wishes and dreams–it’s going to take a little magic! One morning, Amu finds a surprise in her bed: three strange little eggs. Each egg contains a Guardian Character, an angel-like being who can give her the power to be someone new. With the help of her Guardian Characters, Amu is about to discover that her true self is even more amazing than she ever dreamed. [taken from AniDB] The Description is from the first season, cause the so called “2nd” season is basically a seamless continue, so I consider them as one and also review them here as one long series. First of all, I must say I was kinda surprised that the anime isn’t as low and stupid like I first thought when  a friend of mine, Asakomi, said to me I should give it a try since I could like it. It too a few episodes until it begun to unleash it’s fun potential, but then it definitely catched me. At first it seems it’s the usual kids series that run later on your local station at lunch time to entertain the kids, but for people who knows their anime is a lot to see present. Also unlike other series that follow this stereotyp I descriped here our characters undergo a development in behavior and feelings. It’s not like often that in the start she is having a crush on him but never during the series there comes a conclusion to it, no, sure here is nothing final yet as the manga still continues but still one gets a good idea whats coming up. Also she is quite tricky, maybe not intended but the result is what counts, when it comes to men. I mean later on she have a kind of harem around her, just that she don’t take the big advantage of that fact^^. It’s fun to see the harem-game in a different variant from the usual. But well, lets not forget about her lil’ fellows that aren’t bad either. Ran (red/heart)) is her sporty and a bit hyperactive self, causing our dear Amu often problems since she is quite impulsive and so takeover her every now and then. Then we got Miki (blue/spade), the artistic self, through she tries to act a bit reserved later on she melts and gets more social/livly. Also she is a bit of a collector when it comes to male shugo chara’s, kinda the Amu of the shugo chara’s^^. I mean during the series so far (up to episode 102) she had a crush on nearly every male char, and did collect a lot of pictures of them. Then there is our parodie shugo chara, at least I would title her like that, Sue (green/clover). Those of you, who saw Rozen Maiden, may agree that she is a friendly parodie variant of Sueseseki, her looks kinda remind me, also her habit of always adding “-desu” and her clumsyness. It’s just that she is the counterpart of Sueseseki in terms of behavior, as she is friendly with friend and foe. Dunno, she was often a reason for me to lol a lot. It has definitly a reason why she have a kind of repair ability ;p. But yea, there are also the fellow characters of Amu, with their own Shugo Charas. First she meets the so called “Guardians” which are her first fellows, and begin to fight the evil X-Characters. But intrestingly here we don’t kill our enemy but rather put them in a corner and then pyschologically finish them off. The X-char result from a depressed and lost heart, so she have to make them believe in their dream again. I like this alternative way of solution a lot, since often they have to kinda “kill” the enemy but here they clean them. But then again, when I think over it, the main reason to watch it for me was the funfactor the shugo chara’s produce, since they hit often the bulls eye with their comments on Amu’s behavior, make her going angry (which is kinda cute), and also the fact the character’s develop. Also a positive aspect was that here it don’t play out the school life/scenario card. Often you also see the bunch in private clothes (and those change!, a rare ocassion), and during their free time. I must say I took a liking in Amu’s style which I would descripe as “light gothic”, through she also sometimes wear more “normal” clothes. Another thing which surprised me was how they integrated the trap-topic (trap => a boy dressed up perfectly as a girl or other way round). It’s not giving me those eerie feeling like other series did, for example Happiness!, which I call for a reason rather Trappiness! *creepy~*. Also this series have a rather positive message that gets delivered to the viewer during watching, like “Continue to believe in your dream!” and “Go for your dream!”. All together I had much fun, and also didn’t felt like they filled up somewhere (through they probably did as they’re ahead of the manga, hence that Shugo Chara Party crap running now), since all fall into it’s place, it may take time until one see it, but then it gets visible. So give it a try and have lots of fun like me!

I picked some op’s and ed’s from the ones, otherwise it would get too much. Why the weird border is present, beats me, but those where the only HQ variants of the OP i came across…

Shugo Chara Opening 2

Source: YouTube

Shugo Chara S2 Ending 2

Source: Youtube

Shugo Chara S2 Ending 1

Source: YouTube

Enjoy!

-Death

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