[Phantom Stranger]

Alright, Shugo Chara.

Not a whole lot happens here, which makes sense, it's the first episode so it's mostly set up, which is fine. I could have done without the two bits of exposition they throw in. Exposition is one of those tricky things you have to be careful with, because usually it just comes off as lazy. Choosing to tell us things rather than showing them, but it's mostly harmless here, if a bit jarring.

Amu's life oddly reminds me of my own time in school, regardless of how brief it was, in that she's utterly confused by her own popularity. The focus of the show seems to be based around personas, and how most people put on different ones in front of other people. In Amu's case it's a bit more extreme, in that she comes off as incredibly cool, but really just want to be seen as an ordinary girl, yet is unable to be to be her true self. Not even her parents seem to know the real her. She just wishes that she could be someone different. So that's where the guardian characters come in, these cute little chibi fairy like creatures that hatch from eggs and can take over Amu, sort of like an Imagin. The one focused on here is Ran, sort of a peppy flirty cheerleader type with the power of flight. The irony of course is that Amu is completely embarrassed by doing something she never would when under Ran's control.

We also see her character change, more or less when Amu has enough confidence, she can go into a magical girl form and have complete control, along with the power of a particular guardian. I think this is hinting at her inevitably being comfortable with her personality where her true power lies, not being taken over by something you're not, nor being afraid to be what you truly want or are. But it's too early for me to say.

In addition to Amu, there are other characters that can change, several of which are school guardians, which of course go to school with Amu. I don't trust them, they're not given any indication that they're evil but that's why I don't trust them. Something is off about them. They're also widely incompetent, leaving a seemingly powerful item poorly guarded. Anyway, we don't learn much about them, the only one with any real focus is Prince, who I swear I thought was a girl as first. I really don't trust him. I just expect at some point he'll be revealed to be some egomaniac, the kinda guy that tells everyone he's better than them. He's not even shown to be in anyway that, he's rather nice. I just get a feeling. Maybe it's just the name.

Our only other character of note is Ikuto, who I don't even think was named here. I like Ikuto, he's clearly a Selina Kyle type character, a thief that flirts with the main character, with not entirely impure intentions for their actions. He doesn't flirt here, but you can kinda tell that's what he's there for. Though I kinda spoiled myself too on that.(See avatar) Again, not much is shown about him, just introduced. I like his little cat guardian though.


Last few things of note:

I can't help but giggle when I hear Humpty lock.

Cool & Spicy makes me think of pop-tarts and Hotwheels.

Amu's sister Ami is adorable, and is apparently voiced by Hamtaro, I mean Kurumi arms... Kurumi Tokisaki.... Kurumi Mamiya.