Wakaranai

 
Living up to Shugo Chara’s COOL & SPICY motto, this episode was an entertaining piece of work, combining the traditional feel-good mahou-shoujo template with additives of menace and toil. This was definitely the darkest episode thus far, with a strong villainous presence finally established in the form of a newly indomitable Kinaidou-sensei, as well as more emotionally challenging themes than the typical “boy/girl loses faith in self > bad egg > UNLOCK!” format. Involving the core recurring cast, this episode sees the Guardians’ friendship but through trial and tribulation with the sinister meddling of Nikaidou. Of course, by the unwritten law of this genre, it culminated in a happy ending, but I really did get the sense that their friendship grew stronger as a result, and it was quite a dramatic experience to see them being divided and feeling betrayed. Actually, I think it would have been worth expanding on this plot line for a few episodes, as I felt a bit cheated by the sudden twist to a happy ending, although I suppose they wanted it to fit under the episodic theme of friendship. This episode managed to pack in a lot, from reflections on the nature of friendship, to further hints as to the motives behind Nikaidou and co’s nefarious schemes, all the while squeezing in plenty of funny character moments (usually at Amu’s expense).

On the cool side of things, I noticed the quality of the animation this week. While the cel animation has been very good from the start, there were a number of scenes in this episode that looked great. All in all, I have to commend studio Satelight for their work on the show; they’ve created a unique, attractive art style, as well as a high level of consistency and detail. I really resented ANN when their preview for that season proclaimed that Shugo Chara had animation that was mediocre at best. God, I hate that website sometimes. Another thing that occurred to me quite out of the blue while watching this ep was that Kuukai has just about the sexiest male hair style I’ve seen in anime. I wish I had hair like that, not that my hair is atrocious or anything. Probably the only really annoying thing about the episode was the clichéd ease with which Nikaidou escaped. I’ll forgive it because I don’t think Shugo Chara is trying for realism much, but it’s a bit of a letdown after they cornered him like that.

A really good, entertaining episode. Let’s hope more of this progressive, plot-driven episodes crop up in future. Perhaps things will be consistently more exciting now that the Guardians’ foes have grown more menacing and proactive. On the other hand, more romantic development could yield equal excitement, and it seems as though it may go in that direction next episode.