Warning: I’m far enough out of the intended age range for the audience of these books, but I will keep this review as fair as possible knowing that fact.
Story-
There’s no contiguous story in these three volumes. At max there’s a story conducted over four different columns, but that’s it. This is a spin-off of the manga Shugo Chara that features the main character’s guardians. These guardians are small fairies born out of a child’s heart. They show up when a child wants to change him or herself. In typical cases, a person only has one guardian character. However, the main series’ protagonist, Amu Hinamori, has three! This spin-off follows the adventures of the three guardians, all in light-hearted fun. The adventures are typically in chronological order, like with the seasons.
Writing-
These books all contain a style of manga called 4-koma, four panels read vertically. This style is typically used for comedy and these books are indeed cute and light comedy. As it’s a spin-off, reading the original Shuga Chara is recommended to understand basic story concepts. (I’ve only read the first volume but was able to understand most of it.) There was no story, but the pacing between the smaller stories that spanned around four columns or less was good most of the time. Outside each of the smaller stories, however, the pacing was really slow and did get boring after reading for a while. The characters all have their individual personalities which adds to the fun of the manga. Seeing their personalities clash and complement each other in various situations is part of the fun.
Art-
The art is done in the style of the original, and is certainly more on the shoujo side, meaning that the eyes are typically drawn larger, and there are more atmospheric elements. Emotions are also stressed. The lines are thinner, adding to the light-hearted atmosphere. The guardian characters are drawn in a chibi style, so expect to see that throughout most of the book since they’re the main characters this time. In the end of each volume are special chapters by guest mangaka (people who draw manga) whose art styles vary.
Age and Warning-
This spin-off is not for older readers, as people older than the intended age range will find it cute at first, but just get bored after a while. There’s nothing to warn about other than the fact that it’s a shoujo manga so there are some references to romance. [Editor’s Note: The original Shugo Chara manga series has a publisher’s rating of Teen/13+.]
Shugo Chara Chan!, vol. 1-3
by Peach-Pit
Art by Naphthalene Mizushima
Vol. 1 ISBN: 9781935429951
Vol. 2 ISBN: 9781935429975
Vol. 3 ISBN: 9781612621173
Kodansha Comics, 2011
Publisher Age Rating: All Ages
