▪	RELEASED BY:		DEL REY
		▪	AUTHOR / ART:		PEACH PIT
		▪	FORMAT:		JAPANESE / B&W
		▪	PAGES:		224
		▪	RATING:		T
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		08/28/2007
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		10/03/2007
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		CHRISTOPHER SEAMAN

SHUGO CHARA! is a new offering from Peach Pit, that is chock full of all the goodness that made their companion titles like ROZEN MAIDEN a great success.  Fitting in firmly with other manga created involving young girls suddenly acquiring special powers through the possession of magical talismans, this story is sure to be a hit as much because of its great character design and art as much as its engaging story. 

To summarize the story so far, Amu Hinamori is something of a celebrity at her elementary school.  Idolized because of her dress and mannerisms, (the stand-offish way she has with people is the result of her social awkwardness being mis-read as ‘coolness’), Amu is secretly unhappy, and wishes she could assert a personality other than the ‘external’ character she unintentionally displays.  Watching a television program about the nature of Guardian Angels, (not the vigilantes), she prays one night for deliverance and the next morning finds three eggs in her bed.  Each egg contains a Guardian Character, (the translation of Shugo Chara), with the ability to manifest changes in Amu that will help her dreams of being someone else come true.  Possessing such eggs, however, has put her in the company of some rather interesting characters, like the Guardians, appointed by the students to act as protectors in school and mediators with the staff, and a boy with cat ears, who is accompanied by a teen pop idol with a quest of her own.  The former recruit Amu to hunt down more of these eggs and the latter hounds her relentlessly, causing much havoc along the way. 

The second volume picks up easily from the set up of the plot in the first.  Amu is now on call for egg hunting, and manages transformations readily to accomplish her tasks.  It’s never easy, though, as one capture during a concert where a bad egg- known as an X character- makes an unwelcome appearance is concerned.  Amu must neutralize the X character without literally bringing the house down.  Enter on the scene characters speaking with menace in their voices about finding the Embryo, and we know that Amu’s adventures are going to eventually get very, very interesting.  Between X eggs, Guardians, and embryos, Amu may be getting more than she asked for in getting caught up in this whole world. 

However, there’s still time for the obligatory summer vacation story, and in this one, Amu and her friends end up at a place owned by the grandfather of one of the students.  Only problem is, though, the place is a cemetery and temple!  Very old school in his ways, Grandpa wastes no time putting the kids to work cleaning, praying, and minding their manners.  Will they ever get to the beach?  Will they ever be able to play with fireworks at night during the summer festivals? 

No sooner is that over- and I’m not telling you how it ends- Amu is back into action at school, taking dancing classes and finding herself in the position of having to be prima ballerina in a show after the prodigious young girl who had the part sprained her ankle.  There are eggs in the hearts of dancers and some of them are very bad indeed, as Amu will find out before the action is over in Volume Two.

The artwork is Peach Pit wonderful.  Still busy in its layout, the manga is easier to follow this time, with the odd shaped panels and inserts disrupting the flow of the story less than before.  The manga’s plot moves swiftly, and new elements or mysteries in the story are often quickly explained to get readers up to speed and back into the story.  One notes the use of the word ‘often.’  There is a backstory building about the powers vying for the eggs, and we as the readers are now being treated to frustratingly obtuse exchanges that occur between shadowy characters on the sidelines now starting to creep into the story.  One cannot help but roll the eyes, as this device is used so often it really becomes clichéd.  But, this is SHUGO CHARA! and Peach Pit we’re writing about, and in this kind of manga, such things are to be expected.  If you’ve read any of their other stories or those of Clamp in this vein, you will know what this reviewer means.  But that is no reason not to follow this story.  It is worth the read, and will not disappoint prospective readers in any way at all.

EXTRA:
SHUGO CHARA has some useful notes provided by Del Rey at the end of the story; helping us non-Japanese understands the culture better.  There is no preview of Volume Three in the original Japanese format, however, but ads for other Del Rey titles remain.  A brief story synopsis is included at the beginning to get new readers up to speed on the story.  Character profiles are also placed periodically through the book.

IN SUMMARY:
Peach Pit has hatched another success in SHUGO CHARA!  Magic, mystery, and good fashion sense makes this story a must read for fans of manga with a twist.  If you love transforming heroes, jewels shaped like hearts, an cute, cute, cuteness, you’ll love SHUGO CHARA!