This show is getting smutty! >3 Though, I never thought the English hater X-Chara will be as freaky as it is in the anime, with its shattering shriek of “DO YOUU HAATE ENGLIIISHHHHHH?” “I HAATTEEE ENGLIISHHHHHH” >.>’’’

Shugo Chara Episode 4 – I’m The Trump Card?!

Amu reluctantly agrees to become the Joker, though it was obvious that she loves the attention from the prince, who personally placed the Humpty Lock necklace on her. According to the Guardians, the Humpty Lock was given by the Original King, to be handed down to the special girl who’ll have three eggs. But wait there’s more! The special Humpty Lock item also comes with an extra Shugo Chara pouch! And, it seems that Amu’s Shugo Charas have already been bribed beforehand with this pouch / cozy house, so she was left with no choice but to accept the Guardians’ offer :p Amu also asked whether the Humpty lock comes with a key, which I will answer in behalf of the Guardians: Yes, there is a Dumpty Lock. But, let’s not reveal who has that lock… yet :3

Nighttime comes and since Amu’s parents were busy with their youngest “singing diva” daughter Ami, she decides to spend some alone in the balcony and take her regular dose of milk after a refreshing bath. Ikuto makes a surprise visit, only to insult Amu that drinking milk won’t help her become well-endowed lol. Sarcastic as he is, Ikuto shows his gentle side as he gives Amu and her Shugo Charas a bunch of sweets to make up for what he did the other day. Remember that Ikuto was quite affected by the sight of Amu crying over her broken tart in the last episode, which shows that he has far more redeeming qualities than his smexy catboyness.

Amu however doesn’t completely realize that Ikuto is also a poser like she is (since he refuses to outright say sorry), and couldn’t come into terms with the fact that he is apologizing for what he did. Ikuto was about to leave, but alas! Amu still wants him to stay longer! So, she pops out a question about Ikuto’s wish and why he’s after the Embryo. Amu most likely thought about what Kiseki said about how the Embryo can grant any wish, and is the reason why people like Ikuto are after it. Sneaky Ikuto sees this as an opportunity to trick the defenseless Amu into getting her first ear bite. Amu frantically backs away and complains about being sexually harassed, but her blush shows otherwise

Ikuto tells Amu that he’s going to be her enemy for as long as she’s by the prince’s side, which seemed to have alarmed her. But since Ikuto is somewhat a poser and a poker-pace, we all know he doesn’t really regard Amu as his enemy, right? :p Ikuto finally leaves, ala cheesy “flying to the moon” style.

Being a Joker is certainly special, as Amu receives her “Kuukai dragging” training in preparation for her X-egg hunting responsibilities ^^;;; The need to recover these eggs was evident in what happened to Suzuki, whose egg was already wreaking havoc even before being hatched. We see some moment between Amu and Kuukai, which was apparently spotted by some paparazzi and becomes the talk of the school the next day. Amu has now become such a poser player.

The next target of the evil villain becomes Yuki Hatoba, a classmate of Amu, whose mind has been filled with doubts for the fear that her transfer to America will change much of her life, especially her friends who she thinks will eventually forget about her existence. Amu runs after Yuki’s batsu tama when she coincidentally bumps into the clumsy new teacher, causing her to lose track of Yuki. Ikuto observes from a distance, but doesn’t make his move despite how Yoru mentions that it’s their job to dispose of the egg. This is already giving us hints that Ikuto is working for some organization.

Amu gets lost and finds herself at a restricted special observatory, where she confides about her reluctance to change any more than she already has; for fear that her present self (which she considers her ‘true self) will disappear along with this change. A quick fall allows her to take a closer look at the observatory which turned out to be a planetarium. As Amu marvels at its beauty, she realizes that change is never something to be feared. No matter what changes happen to people’s lives, the essence of their being and their very existence remains the same, just like the skies.

The other Guardian also searches for the X-egg, led by Kiseki who felt its looming presence. They find Yuki, just in time for her egg to hatch into a full-blown X-Chara. This X-Chara which seems to represent the sentiments of English-hater Japanese people goes on an English alphabet rampage and attacks the Guardians, and eventually Amu, who actually thought that her bad Engrish will actually be of use against it. As Amu sees through Yuki’s true fear in the X-Chara (which was similar to hers), just the mention that there’s nothing wrong with changing was enough to befuddle the little monster. And Amu’s power of love reigns victorious! Yuki’s Shugo Chara then reveals itself as a cute little Engrish-speaking stewardess, who will eventually hatch as Yuki gets to realize her true ambition later on.

Yuki regains consciousness and Amu imparts her words of wisdom, that friends will remain as friends no matter where she might be. They still are under the same sky after all (something Amu realized at the planetarium). Amu and Yuki head to class and meets their substitute teacher-in-charge Shuu Nikaidou, with whom Amu bumped into earlier and mistakes her name as “Himamori”. The episode ends with a guy who seems to be a grown-up version of Hotori, who mentions about the appearance of the girl with three eggs which he seems to have been waiting for.

Thoughts

Manga vs Anime

I have to be really thankful to the ear-biting scene in this episode, or else the shrieking “DO YOU HATTEEE ENGLIISSSSHHHH” would’ve been what I’ll remember this episode for o__O So in that sense, you could say the anime made more impact than the manga ^^;;; The major difference I’ve seen with the manga so far is the delayed appearance of Utau. She was supposed to have appeared in the tart-baking event, and already proclaimed her declaration of rivalry against Amu (well, sort of) right then and there. I found her appearance in the manga quite sudden, so I prefer the liberties the anime took in terms of this pacing. Given this, perhaps Utau will be introduced as the famous idol first before Amu gets to see her with Ikuto. The anime seems to be slowing the pace, which is acceptable IF they intend this anime to have more than 13 episodes, unlike what the rumors say >E

It would’ve been cute to see Amu wondering about whether Ikuto is Utau’s boyfriend at the balcony, which was the scene in the manga where Ikuto makes his surprise visit. And, I think the anime should’ve included the scene where Amu blushed at the thought of her moment with Ikuto in the last episode, where they were really close to kissing (especially in the manga). The Kuukai-dragging scene in the anime was really uncalled for in my opinion… that was really meh >.>”’

Care Bears Care~ <3 LOOL

But hmm… as much as I like the pacing of the anime, I don’t think how long I can stand watching more of Amu’s Care Bears Care cheesy LOVE POWAH attack >.> With the preview of the next episode, it seems like it’s gonna be another bad-egg-of-the-week, which will hopefully flesh out Kukai’s character more, as we haven’t seen much of him yet. The same goes with Yaya. I can’t quite remember a chapter focusing on these two characters yet, so it’ll be great to see the anime fill us with those missing bits. Perhaps this upcoming anime-original / filler episode might even turn out to be better than the manga filler chapter with Amu and the gang in the beach (though I know Hotori fans will disagree with me on this one :p)

Ikuto the Anti-villain

Based from what we’ve seen of Ikuto in the past episodes, we can conclude that he’s actually an anti-villain. He declares himself as Amu’s enemy when his sympathy and concern for her says otherwise. This contributes to the overall mystery of Ikuto’s character, which is probably what draws Amu to him as well (though she hasn’t quite realized this yet). It has been mentioned in this episode that it’s Ikuto’s job to take care of the X-egg, but he seems to be acting on his own and is not completely following what this organization has told him to do. He has his own reasons for this, which we’ll find out later on as we get to see more depth in his character.

The New Character and the “Legend”

Aside from the yet-to-be revealed villain lurking behind the shadows, we see the grownup Hotori-looking new character before the episode ended. He mentions about the Joker’s appearance and how it marks the beginning of the legend. Readers of the manga will already know who this guy is, and I think the anime has also given a few hints about him, but let’s leave that revelation to the upcoming anime episodes. As for the legend he’s referring to, it most likely have something to do with the book The Egg of the Heart and its missing pages, which the manga also keeps a secret up until now.

Misc Thoughts

I found the customized X-Chara look quite nifty, by the way, with that little trademark stewardess scarf it retained despite being turned into a bad egg loool. Another thing I noticed is that Peach Pit seems to be intentionally choosing names for the characters to represent their ambitions. Like Yuki Hatoba’s 「鳩羽」, which literally translates to “a dove’s wing”, representing her soon to be realized dream of soaring into the skies as a stewardess. This is also the case with the ballerina in the manga 姫川舞香 (Maika Himekawa) with「舞」(dance) in her name, who’ll probably make her appearance in the anime later on.

Going Deep~

Each episode of Shugo Chara brings with it a simple message of how people should face their fears in life. In this episode, we’ve seen both Yuki and Amu troubled by their fear to change, which is but common to people. Change is accompanied by new challenges, as one would have to adapt to these changes, which more often than not entails leaving one’s comfort zone. In the case of Amu, this change involved the Shugo Chara and her newfound powers and abilities, which she was initially resistant to due to the fear of not being able to fit in, as it will tarnish her image (or so she thought).

Amu was able to see that this change isn’t all that bad, since it actually allowed her to have new friends, the Guardians. The problem presented now in this episode is Amu’s identity crisis yet again, as she thinks that accepting this change and adjusting to it will lead her to losing her ‘original’ identity. This is certainly not the case, as she also realized later on.

I remember something being mentioned in the Shugo Chara manga, where Ran was explaining to Amu that change is like outgrowing your favorite clothing, in which you’ll have to let go of it and try on another clothing, as you welcome the new you. Despite that change, the essence of your identity remains the same. You might be identified with the clothing, but it’s still you :3 The important thing is for the desire to change to come from within you, and not dictated by other people. It should be elicited, rather than imposed.