Shugo Chara

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My own heart, unlock!

A shoujo manga by PEACH-PIT, serialized in Nakayoshi. Also an anime that began airing in fall of 2007, available on CrunchyRoll under the accurate but somewhat cumbersome title My Guardian Characters.

Amu Hinamori may seem at first glance to be a typical Tall, Dark and Bishoujo character. However, beneath her quiet and cynical exterior lies a shy, clumsy, lovestruck girl who just wishes that she had the confidence to express her true character.

When she prays one night to her "Guardian Spirits", wishing that she could change her personality and be more honest to herself, three magical eggs appear next morning in her bed. These hatch into her three Shugo Chara, or Guardian Characters, each one representing a different facet of her hidden personality: her sporty and energetic side, her artistic side, and her domestic side. With the aid of her Guardian Characters, which can bring her buried personality traits to the surface (sometimes against her will), Amu slowly learns to embrace and accept her Hidden Depths.

But Wait, There's More! Amu soon falls in with her school's "Guardians", an Absurdly Powerful Student Council whose four members each have their own Guardian Character. She discovers that her multiple Guardian Characters make her The Chosen One, able to transform into a Magical Girl with three different forms, one for each Guardian Character she has. With her new powers, she must hunt down the mysterious "Embryo" and battle against the agents of the Easter Company, who are creating Monsters Of The Week from her classmates' deepest insecurities.

Tropes used in Shugo Chara include:

• Absurdly Powerful Student Council: The Guardians (in grade school, no less).
• The Ace: Amu has shades of this.
• Adaptation Expansion: The anime speeds up the pacing to introduce Character Transformation right off the bat, allowing a formerly Story Arc driven series to play out as a Monster of the Week show in the vein of Sailor Moon, in turn stretching a 48 chapter manga into a 100+ episode anime.
• Air Vent Passageway: Kiseki and Yoru pull off an escape this way in the Easter building in episode 81. Justified, since the charas are small enough to fit in normal air ducts, and can fly to avoid making noise or being too heavy.
• Alpha Bitch: Once again, Yamabuki Saaya, played for laughs, since when compared to Amu, she's nowhere as popular. Also, Lulu from the second series.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Ami.
• The Artifact: X-eggs and Character Transformations in the manga.
• Art Evolution: Specially is the eyes and the chin, If you look closely the eyes were more shaped like a square now, and the chin's line is more straight.
• Brother-Sister Incest: Hoshina Utau's real name is Tsukiyomi Utau. No wonder Ikuto brushes off her romantic advances.
• Becoming the Mask: Borderline. Nikaidou-sensei slides right back into using his ditzy teacher persona after his Heel Face Turn, and no one in the school, sans the Guardians, is any the wiser.
  • And Kairi as well.
• Be Yourself: The very premise upon which the show is laid.
• Berserk Button: Don't use the word 'prince' in regards to Tadase or belittle Nagihiko's strange family upbringing.
• Big Fancy House: A few times, in fact, almost all of which have The Thing That Goes Doink.
• Big Eater: Utau Hoshina might not look like it, but she can eat three big bowls of Ramen in less than 20 minutes... and still isn't satisfied.
• Bishie Sparkle: This is a magical girl show, so every single male gets a sparkly scene. It's even lampshaded, when Nadeshiko returns as Nagihiko. As an attempt to change his mind, Tadase sparkles, but it doesn't work. Later, when Amu encounters them and is told about Nagihiko being the new Jack, she sparkles as well, and the rest is history.
• Bishonen: Nearly all the boys, mostly Ikuto and Tadase.
• Biting the Handkerchief
• Bokukko: Miki
• Bouquet Toss: In the last chapter of the manga, at Nikaidou and Yukari's wedding. Guess who catches it? Amu.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Yaya can be this way at times. Also, Rikka, one of the primary reasons for her being so hated.
• Broken Aesop: Well, not so much "broken" as "badly written". Episode 21 of Party/Dokki Doki tries to remind the viewers that it's okay to make mistakes. However, it places too much focus on the "importance" of making mistakes, going so far as to say that mistakes are "treasures". As a result, it comes off as implying that making mistakes is the "only" way to learn.
• By the Power of Greyskull: First-person pronoun) no kokoro, UNLOCK! (My heart, unlock!)
  • Yaya being, well...Yaya prefers to do it her own "unique" way.
• Calling Your Attacks: "Negative heart, LOCK ON! OPEN... HEART!!!"
• Cat People: Ikuto, as well as a Filler character from Doki.
• Christmas Episode: It was so nice, they did it twice.
• Chromatic Arrangement: Ran, Miki and Suu hatch in that order.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Utau's motivation right there.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Suu. Who instead of worrying about what Nikaidou was going to do with her, was more worried that his place was messy. Also, she thought he was going to eat them.
  • El counts, big time.
• The Collector: You know those 100 + episodes of Shugo Chara, in which Easter did horrible evil things to capture the Embryo for an assumedly just as horrible and evil goal? Well, turns out The Boss is really just a collector of shiny objects, and wants to add the Embryo to his Trophy Room.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Kazuomi Hoshina, plain and simple. He isn't at all above ruining children's dreams and using his own stepson Ikuto as a puppet to do his evil bidding, including such things as forcing Ikuto to transform with a black egg filled with evil energy that can kill him (not like he cares about Ikuto's well-being) and making him attack Amu, the girl he loves. Such a nice guy...not.
• Creepy Cool Crosses: Ikuto and Utau. They wear so much of them that it's more of a fashion statement than a religious one.
• Curtains Match the Window: Several characters.
• Dark Magical Girl: Utau.
• Dark-Skinned Blond: X-Dia.
• Dating Sim: The first NDS game have a minor example of one. Hunting X-Eggs and playing mini-games gives coins to Amu, which she can use to buy things and give to boys. Each one have a favorite color and type of item, and while Amu doesn't end with anyone, the game unlocks some romantic scenes. The avaiable boys are Ikuto, Tadase, Kuukai, Nagihiko and later in the game Nikaidou.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Mr. Nikaidou, who became the teacher at Amu's school again after she defeated him and foiled his plans. It does help that he got to see his long-lost Guardian Chara again, plus some dose of Epiphany Therapy. Also, Amu and Utau.
  • Special example. Amu and Lulu already start becoming friends before they have to fight, but that's because Amu doesn't know Lulu's secret.
• Detached Sleeves: Kairi's Character Transform "Samarai Soul" and Amu's transformation with Miki and Dia
• Disappeared Dad: Utau and Ikuto's father, a prominent violinist, disappeared after he was going to be forced to give up playing the violin and run the Easter company.
• Distaff Counterpart: Much like with Rozen Maiden and Gash Bell, Shugo Chara is more or less what would have happened if JoJo's Bizarre Adventure part 3 was penned by CLAMP.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: An instance of Amu and Ikuto licking the same ice cream should be innocent, but the pose, sound effects and music invoked the trope. Especially since the ice cream cone they're licking is Tadase's.
  • You can't mention this trope in this series without recalling when Ikuto recovers Amu's stolen Humpty Lock. Before giving it back, Ikuto decides to hold it up to Amu's chest and stick his Dumpty Key in Amu's Humpty Lock in an act strikingly similar to intercourse, with the background literally going magical, softer music begins playing in the background, and Amu blushes wildly as Ikuto gets closer and closer to slowly inserting the key into the lock. Literally, of course. Amu gets startled halfway through, crushing the moment and revealing that the key is too large for the lock for now....
  • Amu and Ikuto aren't the only victims of these. The whole arm-wrestling scene in episode 91 just feels like a G-rated Yaoi sex scene, at least when taken out of context. Not only Nagihiko tells Kuukai to "be gentle" at the start, the scene also involves a lot of grunting, groaning and luminescent blushing, and ends with Rhythm's egg rising from the pocket it was in and Kuukai screaming out loud as he wins the match.
• Double Standard/Lolicon/Selective Squick/Values Dissonance: Averted for the most part when it comes to Amu and Ikuto's relationship (Amu is 12 while Ikuto is 17) considering that outside of a few of Ikuto's classmates who teased him about it briefly, nobody in-universe seems to care. In fandoms though; of course, since the older one is a male, the fanbase is really divided.
  • Much of the fanbase think the Amu/Ikuto relationship is cute and legitimate like any other couple. However because of the Double Standard, some viewers (especially new ones) might be turned off by this series because of this. Debates about this situation tend to get pretty serious.
• Doting Parents: Amu's parents crank this up to eleven.
• Dreadful Musician: Yamabuki Saaya can't sing. She can play piano, though.
• Eigen Plot: Sometimes have shades of this to give Amu a reason to Chara Transform with with Miki and Suu instead of her 'standard', Ran. It's not too noticeable, but there certainly seems to be a lot of artists and cooks with broken hearts around for some reason...
• Elaborate University High: Seriously, is that an elementary school or Disney Castle?
• Elegant Gothic Lolita: Utau's daily wardrobe has elements of this. It even extends to Il and El's lace-printed Eggs.
• Enigmatic Minion: Ikuto.
• Epiphany Therapy: Nikaidou-sensei's Heel Face Turn is encouraged by Suu's Remake Honey making his Shugo Chara that he thought was gone come back and talk to him. It leaves, but it is pointed out by Suu that he had said "See you again," and was therefore not gone forever.
• Hair Decorations: Amu has her X-hairclips, Yaya wears pigtails with large bows and Rima has a hairband.
• Excited Episode Title: Most episodes have at least one exclamatory! or questionably exclamatory?! segment, some have two. Examples include "The Lonely Queen!", "A Shugo Chara on a Ski Slope!? Snoppe Appears!", "Remake Honey! The Person I Want To Be!" and the rather silly "I Hate These Stupid Chocolates?!"
  • And as if that wasn't enough, many titles feature a character's name in it, like "Nadeshiko! Goodbye Despite Spring!?", "Rima! Unlock the Heart!" and "Utau Hoshina! The Last Battle!".
• Expy: Probably at least part of the reason for Nana Mizuki being cast as Utau, but her singing voice can't hurt.
  • And, lest we forget, Suiseiseki,desu.
• Eyepatch of Power: Ikuto's Seven Seas Treasure transformation.
• Eyes Always Shut: El. Lampshaded by Ran, who remarked that she was awake, though her eyes are still closed.
• Filler: Yes. Shugo Chara is a MONTHLY manga, it's primarily aimed for kids, and there's not much TV Tokyo can do about it, seeing that the manga releases are SLOW. It didn't help that Peach-Pit was also doing Rozen Maiden and Zombie Loan at the same time they made this.
  • Shugo Chara Party is an entire filler season. And after that they decided to just stop production with no indication of any plans to adapt the last arc of the manga.
• Forgot I Could Fly: At one point, Amu gets scared by a silhouette of what appears to be a giant centipede. Turns out it's the Chara, standing on each other's shoulders trying to reach a high place... until Miki points out, "Uh, guys? We can fly."
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Nikaidou-sensei. He manipulated his innocent students so he could destroy their hopes and dreams to try for a promotion. It's eventually subverted when he Heel - Faces. Yukari also probably counts. Again, post - redemption subversion.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Ran is Sanguine, Miki is Phlegmatic, Suu is Choleric, and Dia is Melancholic. By extension, Amu is Supine.
• Freud Was Right: Amu possesses the Humpty Lock, and Ikuto has the Dumpty Key. Amu pretty much summed it up...

"Why does he have a key that fits my lock?"

• • And long before things get to that point, we see Amu asking Ikuto, "Why do you want my eggs?"... after a scuffle that left her lying on her back, and him on his hands and knees, straddling her.
    • Five minutes later, she is covered in white goo.
• Friendly Enemy: Ikuto
• Frilly Upgrade: A partial example with Amulet Fortune — while it's not based on a previous outfit, it's still simultaneously the most powerful and the frilliest outfit Amu gets in the series.
• Full-Name Basis: Tadase insists on calling Ikuto by his full name every time they meet.
  • Yamabuki Saaya insists on using her full name everytime she appears.
• Fusion Dance: The Character Transformation mechanics are of the Power Booster type.
• Future Badass: Of ALL the people, Tsukasa is Tadase in the future. Which will bring up TONS of Wild Mass Guessing since Tsukasa(and by extension Tadase) is known as the first Guardian President. How badass is Tsukasa can vary from person to person.
  • That's more or less still debatable and open-ended. There's no outright confirmation that Tsukasa is the future "Tadase". Amu questions if he really is "Tsukasa", and even Yoru says that it wasn't the guy who gives him sardines. Even KISEKI stated to "Tsukasa", or Tadase, really, that Amu and the others are behind him, but that he'll join them soon to go back to their time. Not to mention, that the real Tsukasa is the brother of Tadase's mother. Unless he brainwashed them, how is that possible? It's in Chapter 48 as a whole. Shouldn't we wait until it's more clear before we jump the bandwagon? Obviously, this isn't the end point.
• Genki Girl: Ran (Amulet Heart as well, to an extent), Yaya and Rikka
• Ghost in the Machine: Essentially what a Guardian Chara is, albeit external.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: In Episode 51, Amu has a shirt on that says "Rock Your Body". She's 11. Of course, it is in English, so a lot of the Japanese watchers might not understand it anyway. But still...
  • Look at Does This Remind You of Anything? above.
• Girlish Pigtails: Let's see... Yaya, Utau, Amulets Clover and Diamond, and Pure Feeling.
• Girl Posse
• The Glasses Come Off: Subverted. Nikaidou originally only wore his glasses as a disguise to look like an innocent teacher and took them off when he was away from the school. After he leaves Easter he wears them almost all of the time.
• The Glasses Gotta Go: Supposedly, Sechiro is a "Bishonen" without his glasses, but the way It's spoken makes it seem like it means "Handsome".
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: Il and El, Utau's Charas, are a devil and an angel.
• Gratuitous English: One of the first X-characters, and Amu's Dad. Though not gratuitous, Rhythm and chara-changed Nagihiko spout random English.
  • El has been known to fall into this.
    • "Shuddup!!"
  • At the theme park in episode 99, you can see "Well Come" instead of "Welcome". Of course, since the park was built by Easter, it could be a way of saying "Well, come here if you think you can stop us".
• Growing Up Sucks: As people grow up, they break their heart's egg and become a corporate zombie. And even if you do gain a chara and achieve your dreams, they still leave you at some point.
  • Only if you stop believing in your dreams. You see, it's not a definite thing, so this trope can potentially be a subversion (or even an aversion) depending on the person.
    • Definitely the believing part. Tsukasa is the future version of Tadase and you can still see Kiseki with Future!Tadase. Plus the fact that Amu's Shugo Chara returned to their egg form.
    • Tsukasa is the exception, though. Kiseki still mentions that he can't show up outside the Road of Stars. Nor can Yoru now that Ikuto has succeeded in his dream, for that matter.
• Half-Identical Twins: Subverted with Nadeshiko, who pretends to be twins of opposite genders in front of Amu.
• The Heartless: The X-charas are pretty much the same as the original heartless, but on a smaller scale.
• The Hecate Sisters: Ran, Miki, Suu
• Hello! Project: Buono!, Shugo Chara Egg, and Guardians 4 were all created for the purpose of doing theme songs for the show. The first two OP's were done by Buono!, who did all of the ED's. Beginning with Doki, Buono! began to only do the ED's. Meanwhile, Shugo Chara Egg did the first two Doki OP's, with Guardians 4 doing all other OP's after that, although Shugo Chara Egg would return in Party to both "host" the show, as well as do the two "Dokki Doki" OP's (G4 did both of the Party OP's).
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Utau's VA is Nana Mizuki, who voiced Fate Testarossa. It doesn't help that they both wear (prominently) black clothes and Utau also has twin-tailed blonde hair, plus they're Dark Magical Girls with family issues whom the protagonist tries to befriend.
  • Nikaidou's VA also plays Ryuuji, the protagonist of Toradora. Though its sort of hard to tell, because Nikaidous voice seems to be either high pitched and ditzy or deep and evil, whereas Ryuuji's voice is in the middle somewhere.
  • Also, Miki sounds just like Ahiru.
  • Tsukuyomi HOWARD MAAAAAAAAAAASOOOOOOOOON!!! Ikuto. That is all.
  • In his ditzier moments, Nikaido can sound quite a bit like Italy.
• The Homeward Journey: During the first Christmas Episode, Su get's lost.
• Honest Axe: Done with Pepe's pacifier in episode 8 of Party.
• Hot Dad & Hot Mom: Sort of parodied with Amu's parents: while the two are fairly attractive, they are nowhere near up to the standards of the trope. Rumors at Amu's school, however, would have you believe that they are something akin to Physical Gods. On the other hand, Ikuto's parents Aruto and Souko are a bit more traditional example.
• Idiot Hair: Tadase and Tsukasa. Your Mileage May Vary about the "Idiot" part.
• Idol Singer: Utau and filler character Yua Sakurai.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: The fortune teller who awakened Amu ironically wants to become a housewife and forget that Charas and the supernatural exist.
  • Amu's own hesitations about being a magical girl contribute to the whole mess in the Dia arc.
• Incoming Ham: Yamabuki Saaya.

"OH-HOHOHOHOHO!!"

• • YOU DARE CALL ME A PRINCE!?"
• Indirect Kiss: Discussed when Amu winds up holding Tadase's ice cream cone and she has to resist the temptation to lick it. Then Ikuto turns up and licks it, and then invites Amu to lick it with him, while Tadase stands there watching.
• Innocent Cohabitation: Ikuto hides/sleeps in Amu's room for a few days.
• Instant Fanclub: There are actually several of these, with overlapping memberships; they're formed prior to the start of the series. The Guardians as a whole, the boys individually, and Amu and Rima even before they join, each have fanclubs. Each fanclub is based on the target's outward character, not the inner one.
• Invisible to Normals: Only people with a Shugo Chara of their own, and a few select others, can see Shugo Chara.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Tadase does this when he realizes how much Amu and Ikuto care for each other.
• Large Ham: Yamabuki Saaya.
• Living Crashpad: In the manga, Amu meets Ikuto when she falls down a hole and lands on him. This is changed in the anime.
• Love Freak: El. Also the only form of Amu's with a tendency to do In the Name of the Moon poses.
• MacGuffin: the Embryo.
• Magical Girl: Amu, and to a lesser extent, the other female Guardians. Also, Ikuto and the male guardians qualify as Magical Boys.
• Magic Music: Utau's singing has various magical effects inside and outside of battle.
• Magic Skirt: Season 1 gave Amu a perfect example - covering even though it appears to be at right angles to her body. Then season 2 goes the opposite direction and chucks a Panty Shot into the intro. Then again this may be the animators trying to point out that Amu is wearing some kind of cheerleader shorts under there.
  • Utau's skirt when she transforms into Lunatic Charm does this as well.
• Malaproper: Ami just adores her sister's "shugoi chara" (a pun on "sugoi" which means "awesome", or "great" or similar expressions, and on "shugo" from "Shugo Chara"). Also, depending on who you ask, this could also be an example of an Incredibly Lame Pun.
  • Nikaidou-sensei is an inversion, since he deliberately refered to Amu as "Himamori-san" ("hima" means "to have free time") in order to belittle her. He ceases to do so after his Heel Face Turn.
    • No, he doesn't. I think then he's doing it in a kinda-friendly-teasing kind of way.
• Meaningful Name: Utau's name can mean "sing." Another possible example is Ikuto Tsukiyomi and Yoru. Tsuki can mean "moon" and Yoru can mean "night." Ikuto has several scenes on the backdrop of the night moon.
• Motif: Traditional playing cards. The Guardians all have titles relating to the Jack, Queen, King, Ace and Joker, and Amu's three (later four) Chara eggs are decorated with hearts, spades, clubs, and diamonds.
• The Mole: Nikaidou and Kairi.
• Monster of the Aesop: The X eggs, and later the ?, Mystery, or Riddle Eggs, whatever you want to call them.
• Mood Whiplash: Maybe it's because this series is aimed at children, but the mood switches from serious to comedic many, many times. One particular case was when Amu didn't have her charas, couldn't transform, and had to face off against Utau - but then Ikuto showed up, which prompted Utau to switch her attention to Ikuto, glomp him, and start whining about how she hadn't seen him for days.
• Most Writers Are Adults: All the main characters are 12 or under, but act like high-schoolers.
• Noblewoman's Laugh: Saaya Yamabuki.
• No Ontological Inertia: Things created or affected by Mystery-Chara-Transformed people revert to normal after their initiators are dealt with.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Mr. Nikaidou frequently trips over his feet and can't spell Amu's last name right in the beginning. After his Heel Face Turn, he cuts back on this and merely becomes a very relaxed teacher.
• Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: Anime-wise: Shugo Chara! Doki! and Shugo Chara! Party. Manga-wise: Shugo Chara! Encore!
• Off-Model: And in the intros of all things
  • Arguably, the puppets representing the charas in the stage musical could be considered this. Specifically, they have "bivalve" mouths (to their credit, they ARE voiced by the anime seiyuus).
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Dia, which is the "nickname" (derived from "Diamond", her symbol) Amu gave her since Dia became an X-Egg and left Amu before Amu learnt her name. It stuck, and Dia never bothered to reveal her real name even after getting purified. Peach-Pit did mention, however, that Ran, Miki and Suu were named after members of a certain band, and that Dia's true name has something to do with said band as well.
• Our Souls Are Different
• Out of Focus: Typical for the Yamabuki Saaya's, and Suzuki Seichiro's of the story. However, during Party the Guardians themselves suffer from this.
  • The charas themselves at the end of the manga.
• Overtook the Manga: Came dangerously close at the end of both the first two series.
• Painting the Fourth Wall: In the fansubs, different fonts are used for each Guardian Character, perhaps to show how exaggerated they are.
• Pair the Spares: Kukai and Utau
  • Happens a lot in Encore.
• Power Gives You Wings: Seraphic Charm and Amulet Diamond, Utau and Amu's most powerful forms, both have giant wings or wing-like extensions.
• Psychologist Teacher: Deeply subverted; Mr. Nikaidou willingly compounds his students' psychological problems for his own gain until the guardians oust him.
• Punch Clock Villain: Ikuto Tsukiyomi.
• Pungeon Master: El in episode 19 of Party.
• Put on a Bus: Kuukai and Nadeshiko, in the fourth volume, are sent off to make room for new Guardians. They're not gone for good, however.
  • So did Lulu,who we probably won't see again.
  • Kairi, but the characters do get Put on a Bus and go out to see him for an episode later.
  • Yamabuki Saaya was supposed to be Put on a Bus, but decided to stay, so she could never be seen again... uhh... I mean, so she could continue her rivalry with Amu.
• Rapunzel Hair: Rima, get some scissors. You too, Nagihiko. Or not.
• Recap Episode: Four and a half so far, including the first two episodes of Doki.
• Remember the New Guy?: Parodied for us (the audience), but Played Straight for Amu and her Guardian characters.
  • Kusukusu greets Temari as if she's met her before. She has, but Amu and her Guardian characters aren't aware that Nagihiko and Nadeshiko are one in the same.
• Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: Borderline and one-sided, actually. Rima gets really really jealous when anyone else gets close to Amu. Other than these times, she doesn't show actual romantic interest in Amu.
  • Yaya and Rima seem to got this in Episode 44 of Shugo Chara! Doki!! when they were trapped in a secret underground base.
  • And Rima and Nadeshiko, who she is noted as being much warmer to than Nagihiko. Their combination egg healing move is called Queen's Waltz.
• Rose-Haired Girl: Amu and Ran.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Nikaidou does this a lot, and Kairi does it once in a while too.
• School Idol: The Guardians in general and Tadase in particular.
• Sexy Discretion Shot: In episode 7 of Party, when Nagihiko goes into an empty room to change into his Nadeshiko clothes. He grabs onto the collar of his shirt... and the scene cuts to his clothes coming off, perhaps to keep the PG rating. Watch the scene here.
• Ship Sinking: With the words "I'll get mad because we're siblings!", the Love Triangle collapsed. Of course, since it's a shoujo series, another one sprung up after it.
  • The chapters of Shugo Chara Encore! also sank some ships, especially Yaya x Kukai. Any hopes of them getting together even after he moved onto middle school fell flat.
• Ship Tease: Pretty much every time Amu and Ikuto meet each other. Also whenever Amu has fantasies about members of her harem. And with Nagihiko during his first episode. And a few times with Nadeshiko too. And (borderline) did we mention that Utau is seemingly Tsundere for Amu as well? (this is getting out of hand)
  • Her harem does love to tease her, when you think about it.
  • Even in the last chapter of Encore! Tadase and Ikuto both catch Amu when she nearly fell after catching a wedding bouquet. The boys also insist the other one let go of her. Of course, even Peach-Pit couldn't sink the manga's main love triangle in the end.
    • Well, Encore does heavily imply that Amu will get together with Ikuto when she gets older in said last chapter, courtesy seemingly time-traveling lookalikes.
• Shout-Out: (Possibly) to Shakugan no Shana, Shana's "Shut up, shut up, shut up!". Another example would be the pose that Rima does when imitating the "Bala-balance!" gag. The pose is clearly taken from Dragon Ball's famous ^{[dead link]} Fusion Dance pose.
• Spell My Name with an "S": Scanslations insist on using Sue, Iru and Eru when the manga raws themselves clearly state that these Charas' names are Suu, Il and El.
  • Even without official sources, Il and El make sense on an intuitive level: Enjeru -> Angel -> El and Debiru -> Devil -> Il. Furthermore, "el" is a common suffix for angelic names.
• Spoiler Opening: Quite a few times, mostly to the viewers who don't seem to read the manga. Omigod, there has to be a new Jack's Chair! We can't leave it empty after Kairi got Put On A-- Wait, is that Nagihiko wearing the Seiyo Academy uniform with the Royal Cape?
• Stealth Hi Bye: Tsukasa makes a habit of suddenly appearing wherever the Guardians may happen to be. Even if they had to go through hell to get there.
• Stripperiffic: Several of the Character Transformations. Special mention goes out to Amulet Heart (very short Magic Skirt and halter top), Black Lynx (a male example of Bare Your Midriff with very, very short pants), and Amulet Devil (a batwing-shaped top and small, tight shorts that hardly qualify as a bikini).
• Stock Footage: The openings of Shugo Chara! Party are made nearly entirely from this, making it looks like a bad dub opening.
• Student Council President: Tadase.
• Surprisingly Good English: The narration at the start of every episode in the first season.
• Take Over the World: Kiseki, Tadase's Shugo Chara, has claimed multiple times he wants to do this. How this will be achieved... Not sure.
• Talking to Herself: Amu and Dia.
• Tempting Fate: In episode 25, Amu is undecided about if she likes Tadase, Ikuto or Kukai. At one point, she decides that "At times like these, I depend on Nadeshiko!" And then...
• There Is Only One Bed: Why the Innocent Cohabitation scenes are so popular.
• The Three Faces of Eve: Straight with Ran, Suu, Miki. Inverted with Kukai, Tadase, and Ikuto.
• Third Person Person: Yaya, Suu, Utau.
• The Television Talks Back: First episode, anime.
• Those Two Girls: Amu has seemingly befriended two girls, Wakana and Manami, yet they never seem to do much.
• Transformation Sequence: Amu's first transformation happens in midair, leading one to believe in an instantaneous transformation. Of course, the roughly 15-second conversation during the fall would put her about half a mile underground, so maybe physics doesn't play a big part in this show.
  • Or at least six feet.
• Transformation Trinket: The Humpty Lock and the Dumpty Key for Amu and Ikuto, respectively. As the rest of the Guardians and Utau show, Character Transformation doesn't always require having something to use it.
  • Arguably, the Shugo Charas themselves are the trinkets, as the characters transform by merging with their Charas, and become a different kind of Magical Girl depending on which Shugo Chara they use.
• Troubled but Cute: Ikuto
• Tsundere: Utau is Type A towards Amu after Defeat Means Friendship.
  • So is Rima for Nagihiko.
• Two-Teacher School : Pretty much the only adults we see at Seiyo Academy are Nikaidou-sensei and Tsukasa. And Tsukasa isn't even a teacher. Not only does Nikaidou teach Amu both years, but he also teaches her in gym and seems to be the only person seen in charge during assemblies.
• Unknown Rival: Saaya Yamabuki.
• Verbal Tic: Ikuto's guardian chara constantly adds "~nya", the japanese equivalent of "meow", to all his sentences (see "catboy" above). Su constantly adds "-desu" to hers, but she's probably just speaking Keigo.
  • Pepe also has one, it being "-dechu."
• Warrior Therapist: There's nothing to get someone to give up evil schemes, follow their dreams, and generally be an all around Better Person In Future than crossing paths with Amu.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Nadeshiko
• Written Sound Effect: A lot of these are present in the first opening for Doki.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: The aptly named Nadeshiko, who is also an Ojou. Subverted by Nadeshiko's inner character, not to mention 'her' gender.
  • Double subverted. Or reverted? Nadeshiko ends up getting Temari, her female Chara back, maintaining small bits of "her" Yamato Nadeshiko-ness. And coindientally, her Character Tranformation with Temari is called "Yamato Maihime".
  • Also Rikka's Chara Hotaru, a fitting contrast to her normal Genki Girl persona.
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Amu and most of the Charas (justified since they can have any hair color). Ikuto, Nadeshiko/Nagihiko and Kairi could probably have stylized black hair.
• You Never Asked: Rima does this after she shows Amu she can Character Transform.
• Zettai Ryouiki: Many of Amu's and Utau's outfits feature this.
  • Amu's legwarmers tend to be just a little bit too low. JUST BARELY
  • If Utau wore thigh-high socks, she would be a Grade S, since she already has the pigtails and the tsundere attitude.