IMHO. 'Shugo Chara' ~ is longer better than shorter?

If I were asked what anime to recommend for a young boy, I would be in a puzzle. But ask me what a young girl may watch, and I have a ready list of anime series for all tastes - from anime adaptations of tales and children's books to new takes on classic fairy-tales and completely original slice-of-life stories.

Would 'Shugo Chara' be in that list? I doubt. At least I didn't expect to see a 'PG - children' rating for an anime which goes beyond kabe-don scenes and scenes of 'he caught her when she was falling', introducing scenes of ear-biting, ice-cream licking, which don't really look vague at all, to say nothing of cross-dressing and a girl with a brother-complex kissing her brother in the lips.

I mean, this 'inserting a key into a lock' moment... Should it really be so obvious?

Unfortunately, 'Shugo chara' lacks originality in everything. This idea of a girl with a special ability to purify spirits, this search for a special something that has unique powers and can grant wishes, this school club that has a secret mission, and, as if these qualities were connected, a glass orangery with a small tea table.

This is a warning to all anime directors on Earth: attempts to make short anime out of long ongoing manga maybe more or less successful, but any attempt to make an anime series longer than it could be if it followed its manga source - be damned.

I've seen it already in anime like 'Sugar Sugar Rune' or 'Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne'. Filling anime with fillers, forgive me this tautology, makes it hardly watchable. 51 episodes were probably tolerable, but 51 episodes followed by 51 episodes, which were, in their turn, followed by 25 episodes nobody really asked for, were a disaster, not only because there were so many, but because  there was hardly any story in them. Compare with Sailor Moon, which has its own share of fillers, but manages to present an exciting, developing (sic!) story including not one, but 5 arcs, while being 200 episodes long.

Why I didn't rate 'Shugo chara' as 1, or 'appalling', and gave it an 'average' 5, is because it was partially watchable, these watchable parts being the comic relief of moments that could otherwise overburden me with Spanish shame. Talking about saving the world is watered down by simplistic reasoning.

Discussing serious matters is interrupted by an angel adjusting her halo.

And 'dokidoki' moments are watered down by discussing the realistic aspects of 'hiza-makura'.

It never hurts to have just a little self-mockery.

In fact, 'Shugo chara' had much more potential than was used, thanks to the wonderful character design done by the original manga creators. Girls could find many various designs, not only girly frilly dresses or Japanese kimono, but also signature leg warmers, chokers and wristbands, with plaid pattern and 'Gothic' elements. As for men's fashion... I think I may have been missing slender guys in leather.

The only good thing 'Shugo chara' introduced, in contrast to borrowing from manga, was voice acting, since music was very, very secondhand. I was almost ashamed such nice seiyuus spent so much time voicing this nonsense. Here is the list: Aki Toyosaki, Saeko Chiba, Kanae Itou, Kana Asumi, Nana Mizuki, Yuuichi Nakamura, Akemi Kanda, Ayumi Fujimura, Junko Minagawa, Rie Kugimiya, Atsushi Abe, Mitsuki Saiga and many others. Akira Ishida was probably still bound by his contract of 'voicing a hundred of 'mystery-man-who's-watching-over-the-main-characters'. Not that I consider any of them my favourite seiyuus of all times, but they are good when together, creating that atmosphere of happiness, which was so abundant in 00s. Maybe they weren't absolutely special like older seiyuus I admire, but they have become kind of  'silver age' for me. The only exception was my beloved Miyuki Sawashiro. She stands out whenever she is involved. Even before I realised it was her, I was captivated by that voice.

In fact, that may be the reason why Yoru, the cute cat-resembling 'guarding character', became my favourite character out of all. I could literally give anything to stop this guy making such a sad face.

P. S.

I remember some maitres of anime describing how young animators should come out into the world and look at as many things as possible to be able to draw them naturally. Well, out of all animators who created 'Shugo chara' only one seems to know what violin looks like when played. And that is despite the fact that violin is not just an item for a single episode, but an important recurring theme.

×

×

×

〇

associations. light green

I don't know why many people associate such sounds with blue colour, water, sky, and so on, because for me this is so green...

Hello goodbye by Chiba Saeko ~ мне послышалось?

Убейте меня, но я слышу русский язык в самом начале песни. Мне с самого начала, с самого первого прослушивания казалось, что это так, но я не была уверена, что это не мои галлюцинации. Ведь когда идея придет в голову, от нее уже не избавишься. Но сейчас, нечаянно включив ее на большой громкости, я ясно услышала - "очень популярная песня". Мужской голос в самом начале хорошо слышен и похож на голос диктора радио, но если уж японцы и включили бы иностранную запись в песню, то мне казалось более вероятным, что оно будет американское. Но все-таки, это именно "очень популярная песня". После следует еще одна фраза, но ее уже нельзя разобрать. Мне кажется, там есть слово "посмотри...", а вот дальше уже сложно.

Российские фанаты, подтвердите или разоблачите меня! 

my humble opinion on HIMEKA

while having nothing to do with Japan in terms of her origin, she struggled and she was successful - she was able to sing a lot of songs from anime she loved and she became an anime song performer herself. however, I would separate these two sides of her

her own songs present on the 'himekanvas' album were great. this was the album I started with and I was fascinated. her pronunciation and her voice and her manner reminded me of the 2000s generation a lot, which is gradually fading away yielding to the overly cute songs of the late 00s and the 10s which we are living through

however, being so delighted with the fact that I found an almost 'classical' anime songs performer, I hoped too much that her covers would be good, too. I was mistaken. half of the songs she covered should be banished into oblivion (in her version of course)

'sayonara solitaire' - tasteless, vulgar, banal, trivial, just like millions of other singers on the Earth could perform it. even if I admit that Chiba-san is not a perfect singer herself, and this song could be covered by someone perfectly, HIMEKA was not an example of 'another version which has a right to exist'. oh no, too pops a voice, too plain an arrangement, simply terrible

'yuzurenai negai' - ohhh... and this song should be prohibited for being covered for_ever. yes. nobody, nobody ever should dare to sing this song. oh please, do not touch Tamura-sama's works. while 'sayonara solitaire' could be performed by someone else provided she (or even he) does not have an obviously pops sound, 'yuzurenai negai' should not be covered by anyone at all. never. no one.

'tamashii no refrain' - I admit I was a fool not to know that this song is from NGE - shame on me, thousand times. well, now I know - and what? I hate it sung by HIMEKA even though I should admit she sung it so-so, not bad... but ooh... I heard it covered by Takarazuka. I listened to it just now sung by Takahashi Youko-san. HIMEKA's voice cannot add any charm to it. moreover, this is a song from 90s. and such works should not be adapted into modern ones or covered by modern performers. they do not, they cannot understand the soul of 90s. well, they could - but I have met none so far, who would

'voices' - I should I admit I have forgotten who performed this song in the original. I guess it could be Arai Akino-san, but I am not sure. however that may be, HIMEKA spoiled the song as well. no voice trembling or shouting with all your might, no pops cheap tricks can make this song more beautiful than 'twas in the original. I wonder if HIMEKA knows the story of this song and its origin. HIMEKA's voice is completely wrong here, she does not create the image that was so necessary in the movie. oh, 'tis 'Macross +' if you wonder

'sore ga ai deshou' - I thought this song to be completely suitable for HIMEKA's voice, and suddenly... 'tis also contra-indicated to HIMEKA. though the voice of Shimokawa-san was also cute and smacks of pops, it was a bit more gentle and 'airy', as she did not put too much of a strength into singing
'Adesso e Fortuna' - I thought this to be a beautiful song of HIMEKA's own creation, but then I thought it sounds strange for her, as if something is wrong there, as if 'tis not for her... and what a coincidence, 'tis a cover. I should admit I liked it a lot in HIMEKA's performance, 'tis very expressive and strong but... when I listened to the original from 'Records of Lodoss War' I felt so nostalgic, despite the fact I have never watched the anime itself or heard the song. again, 'twas the 90s. 'twas a different time. 'twas another style. it cannot be transformed into something new and contemporary. though there are a lot of examples of successful reviving of something old, this particular strata of music should be left there where 'twas, forever

the other songs were perhaps ok, but I could not listen to them while realizing that they were perhaps completely different in the original version

summing up...

somehow, while having only one voice, HIMEKA seems to be split up into 2 people. one of them is a successful singer with a lot of nice songs, and the other one is a cheap sounding pop singer spoiling everything she reaches up to. this makes me respect her as a foreigner who bravely comes to Japan to fulfill her dream but I shall listen only to her own songs and ignore her cover album

well, compare for yourselves - 'sayonara solitaire'

lyrics translation! - 'hikari' by Saeko Chiba

光　(hikari) by 千葉さえ子 (Chiba Saeko)

one of my favourite songs among what I have ever heard. tender and sad, and the lyrics is so touching, and Saeko-chan's voice is also one of the most recognizable and outstanding... her vibration and her intonations are really one of the best

Japanese

涙隠した瞳であなたはどこへゆく

遠ざかる夢の答え探す旅人

抱きしめて届かなくてだけどその胸に

ぬくもりを少しだけ分けてあげたい

ここに私はいるからずっと

振り返らない旅路をあなたが行くのなら

私はいつもあなたを追いかける風

どこまでも

冬枯れた町の中にあなたの微笑みが

いつも確かな光を届けてくれる

強すぎて分け合えない寂しさにいつか

慰めの一滴が届くようにと

ここに私はいるからずっと

振り返らない二人はさまよいの果てに

光と風の世界を作りはじいめる

手をとって

translation

where do you go hiding tears in your eyes

a traveller searching for a dream that runs faraway

though embracing, cannot reach you, but with your heart

I want to share just a little warmth

as I shall be here always

if you go for a journey without looking back

I shall always be the wind that chases you

wherever

in a wintry desolated town your smile

always brings definite light

to the loneliness that is too strong to be shared

someday will a single tear of consolation reach

as I shall be here always

in the end of their wandering the two who don't look back

will start to create a world of light and wind

holding hands

romaji

namida kakushita hitomi de anata wa doko e yuku

toozakaru yume no kotae sagasu tabibito

dakishimete todokanakute dakedo sono mune ni

nukumori o sukoshi dake wakete agetai

koko ni watashi wa iru kara zutto

furikaeranai tabiji o anata wa yuku no nara

watashi wa itsu mo anata o oikakeru kaze

doko made mo

fuyugareta machi no naka ni anata no hohoemi ga

itsu mo tashika na hikari o todokete kureru

tsuyosugite wakeaenai samishisa ni itsu ka

nagusame no hitoshizuku ga todoku you ni to

koko ni watashi wa iru kara zutto

furikaeranai futari wa samayoi no hate ni

hikari to kaze no sekai o tsukurihajimeru

te o totte