Anime
Shugo Chara – 05 “Substitute Episode Starring the Substitute Player”
A soccer game is coming up between Seiyo Academy and Seifuu Academy. Yamada-kun in Kuukai’s team screws up during practice, so he wasn’t chosen to be part of the fighting team who will be competing against their opponent. Yamada-kun who is aware of his weaknesses continue practicing despite not being chosen but some discouraging message from the famous fortune teller Nobuki Saeki makes him even more disheartened. The day of the competition comes and Yamada-kun continues to contemplate on his incompetence, making him fall prey to The Evil Egg Hunter. Amu goes to the rescue and talks him into believing in his capabilities.
The match continues and Yamada was suddenly called out to be a substitute player, a chance given to him in recognition for his hard work. Yamada makes a goal! And, the game ends up in a tie. Kuukai and Yamada have some man-to-man talk, where Yamada prods Kuukai to give him some clobbering as punishment for being a bad kid. He felt bitter about not being chosen and thought that it doesn’t matter if the team loses. Yamada asked for it, so Kuukai punches him with a Shoryuken attack.
Thoughts
Argh… Why did they have to insert this kind of a filler. I don’t think there was any need to see more of Kuukai’s l33t soccer skillz and his fans. We already know that. And as if that will do anything for the plot >_< I really felt this episode was a waste. Kuukai is cool and all, but I don’t think an entire episode is all worth dedicating for showing us this soccer match starring him and Yamada-kun! And their beautiful friendship strengthened further because of the X-egg incident~ ESPECIALLY if they plan to have this series run for only 13 episodes. There was completely no Ikuto!!! No signs of Utau’s appearance either. We see the evil egg guy lurking in the shadows again~ I don’t think that differed from the previous episodes. I think we can all just skip this episode and it’d be like nothing happened. =__=
They seemed to have stuffed this episode with the “Himamori” (literally translates to having a lot of free time) joke which they weren’t able to include in the previous episode. That, and we get to see Yamabuki in her wild fantasies with the prince~ We also see an out-of-character Nobuko Saeki who suddenly starts preaching about how ordinary people can’t compare with geniuses. =__=
On the other hand, I found it admirable that Kuukai didn’t resort to using his chara abilities in the mini soccer match he had with Amu. I also found Ran’s mini pompom-cheering cute lol. But honestly, I don’t think I found anything good in this episode but this. The lack of confidence thing has already been tackled in the past. The message I want to pass to Yamada other than the believe in yourself stuff, would be for him to stop comparing himself with other people. All the pessimism and lack of confidence usually finds its roots in such comparisons.
Oh, and I just noticed that the freaky X-Chara is also voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro, Yoru’s voice. And, the X-Chara is “wearing” some shorts this time LOL.
Next week, looks like Shugo Chara will be back on track with the manga. BUT since they still haven’t shown Utau, they had to skip that one chapter (and another beach-filler chapter) and head to the ballerina chapter. I am still hoping they’ll show us that skipped chapter, once Utau shows up.
So next week, we’re going to see Amu’s Amulet Spade, and Yaya’s Chara abilities~ wai~ We SHOULD see a little of Ikuto in the next ep, if they stick to the manga.
EDIT: On second thought, the soccer match between Amu and Kuukai was a fun watch. And, it was nice seeing Nadeshiko in her yankee mode again during the actual soccer match 
Without biases, yes it was a pretty enjoyable episode nonetheless.
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Definitely not as good as the previous episodes… it wasn’t particularly bad, just a tad more boring than the usual. I blame this on the lack of Ikuto.
Seriously, as if being a catboy wasn’t enough, they even had to get Yuuichi Nakamura to voice him. How can I not love the character.
Well, the good point may be that Satelight seems to be bringing fillers la Kamichama Karin to make the series last longer. In the first place, I never understood where the “13 eps” rumor came from… not a single source indicates this, plus I can’t think of a single one-cour early morning show.
Also, Miyuki Sawashiro as the X-Chara? Woah, I’ll have to listen to that crazy voice again. I can’t help but be amazed at her range, then. It was already incredible before this season, but she’s doing so many roles she’s never done before this fall (Yoru, a plain freaky role as the X-Chara, a ‘kind’ shota as Mayuki from Suteki Tantei Labyrinth, …). I’m really amazed.
@Katapan: yeah, it must be the lack of Ikuto “withdrawal syndrome” :p Abe’s smexy voice makes Ikuto much more hawt +___+
I am hoping that the 13-episodes rumor is wrong… o__o
Nadeshiko’s yankee mode is one of my very favorite aspects of this show. I must have watched her chara change 10 times — busted a gut laughing every time. In light of her… future developments, her chara change makes a lot of sense. ~_^ Can’t wait for that part!
Thanks for the review. I guess I’ll skip this episode then. Since I usually can’t stand mahou shoujo transformation shows, I was going to drop the anime after the first episode because it didn’t sparkle as much as the manga for me, but gave it another shot due to the praise of anime bloggers. However, by episode 4, I was fast forwarding to just the Ikuto x Amu moments. =) I’m watching this show purely because of Ikuto.
@spring_rain: hahaha, we’re the same! can’t stand mahou transformation shows that much either and i’m watching only for ikuto and amuXDD
only 13 eps? that’s sad. but then anime adaptations usually don’t have a choice but to be short esp when there isn’t much of the manga out yet. like zombie loan, that was a disappointment. i felt the story hadn’t really developed much yet.
So they have Play Game4’s in Minami-ke, and PlayStadion2’s in Shugo Chara…
Also, usagijen is the biggest Shugo Chara tsundere I have ever seen.
@apexantapex: I like Nadeshiko’s Chara change especially when Temari first shows that miko-like graceful moves first before Nadeshiko goes yankee mode
@spring_rain: Seeing the Amu x Ikuto antics is my main reason for watching this as well… but I try to enjoy the other aspects of the show :3
@beingmeyuki: we’ll see how much they can pull off with 13 eps, if it will indeed run for that length.
@Totali: LOL. I believe I just become tsuntsun at times… but far from being a full-fledged tsundere :p
yeah love thier moments :)) Amu & Ikuto of course :)) but didn’t enjoy the show this time
This show is stupid. I hope it ends at episode 12.
I prefer the other peach-pit shows
I thought that this episode was filler-ish myself, but it did show how Amu is starting to lighten up and “be herself” (whoever the heck THAT is) aroud other people.
Man, the episodes are almost up to date with the American manga releases! Guess I really do need to find the manga online now…
I like the show, I don’t think it is stupid. But I must admit this epsiode is pretty boring apart from the part when Amu was playing soccer. It was so funny!!!!
@Starry: We enjoy the show, and that’s all that matters. Never mind people who brand this show “stupid”, considering that word is actually subjective.