ink-impressions reviewed Shugo chara! by Peach-Pit.
Review of 'Shugo chara!' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
A Shugo Chara is a guardian character that hatches from an egg to help people become what they want. Because of her wish, Amu has three such eggs, each containing a different Shugo Chara. With the help of her guardian characters, Amu's life changes from one stroke to the next. Amu becomes friends with the school’s most popular students, but also attracts many unwanted guests.
My feelings towards this manga are mixed.
It’s supposed to focus on a group of elementary school students (4th grade) but they seem much older, and the sexy encounters and crushes seem out of place at that age. I believe the target audience for this book is middle-grade readers, around 12-13 years old, regardless of the school grade it focuses on. The protagonist, Amu, is an introverted new student at school who everyone thinks is cool because she seems aloof and weird.
One morning, the …
A Shugo Chara is a guardian character that hatches from an egg to help people become what they want. Because of her wish, Amu has three such eggs, each containing a different Shugo Chara. With the help of her guardian characters, Amu's life changes from one stroke to the next. Amu becomes friends with the school’s most popular students, but also attracts many unwanted guests.
My feelings towards this manga are mixed.
It’s supposed to focus on a group of elementary school students (4th grade) but they seem much older, and the sexy encounters and crushes seem out of place at that age. I believe the target audience for this book is middle-grade readers, around 12-13 years old, regardless of the school grade it focuses on. The protagonist, Amu, is an introverted new student at school who everyone thinks is cool because she seems aloof and weird.
One morning, the heroine finds eggs in her bed. The eggs contain tiny magical people that can give her a different “character.” It’s unclear how it works. Suddenly, she transforms into a completely different person and does something completely out of character after wishing something. In school assemblies, she shouts out her love for her crush, or she becomes an artist, athlete, or cook abruptly.
Among the school students, there are some kids who have their own characters, including antagonists. As part of her job, Amu hunts X eggs, which are eggs that have gone wrong. It felt like a video game with temporary powers and missions, reminiscent of Mario's ability to grow or fly after eating the correct mushroom. Egg creatures are a metaphor for growing up and forming your adult personality; they appear only in young children and disappear as the child grows.
With most Shojo manga, the characters follow a formula. The first volume introduces the heroine, the popular girl ally, and the two love interests who create a standard love triangle (the good prince and the bad boy with a cat-like appearance and behavior, similar to Fruits Basket). The plot is hard to follow because of the layout, but it's simple enough to not be a big problem.
The idea of altering a character's personality is intriguing, but it felt arbitrary when done. By giving the heroine instant temporary powers, the story loses drive. Perhaps this series will improve in subsequent volumes, but I wasn’t engaged enough to read the other volumes. Obviously, I’m not the target audience, and another reader may feel differently, but I’ve read the stronger shojo manga series in the past. The creators seemed to have designed this intending to turn it into an anime.