Shugo Chara! – Episode 48

September 6, 2008 at 3:32 am | Posted in Shugo Chara! | 27 Comments

This episode was super boring and I went through the whole thing with a completely blank expression (except for the small smile when Kukai showed up. Yaya really doesn’t entertain me.

But who gives a shit? Ikuto’s back. And he’s back again next week too for exactly what I’ve wanted since episode 13.

For the first time in weeks I actually checked out the screencaps on 2ch. Curiosity lead me to wikipedia to see if there were any new episode titles, and there were. All the way up to episode 51. And episode 49 caught my eye with the title: “The Secret of the Violin! Notes dancing on the wind!”

I wasn’t very suspicious because that’s more how Shugo Chara does the titles. You know… “One sentence! Another Sentence!” So I looked forward to the screencaps this time. I got excited when it was 9:00, that’s when Shugo Chara just finishes airing in Japan and the screencaps for the preview would be up (according to my timezone). So I went right for the computer when I got home and BAM! Ikuto.

And not just Ikuto, but we also seem to have the last missing Amuto scene in there because I saw Amu singing. Yes~!

But really…all of this should be saved for the preview section, but somehow I couldn’t help it. I was just generally unimpressed with Yaya’s filler episode and I didn’t want to start off on a sour note at all. In fact I’m trying to keep the “ugh” factor out entirely. After all, Satelight did what I’ve been wanting them to do with filler episodes. Focus on a real character. It’s not their fault that I just don’t really care for Yaya anyway.

So, know that I didn’t care for it, but that I don’t have a real problem with it.

Heh. Now excuse me. In order to keep myself upbeat I have to watch the episode preview every few minutes. Hehe. Ikuto~! I missed you!

—–

Summary

(Um, I got lazy towards the end, but anything that might be important for later episodes has been included in full detail)

The Guardians are walking to the main school building and all of the students are gettign excited over them. Ran, Su, and Miki comment on how the way everyone sees the guardians is different from their inner and would-be selves. Yaya shows up and really isn’t the different from her would-be self (then I think Yaya’s baby brother is brought up or something…I don’t know).

In the garden, everyone wonders about how Kairi is doing since they’re now back from Summer Break and seeing the empty Jack’s chair for the first time. Everyone promises to do their best. Then Tadase brings up the shining egg they’ve seen a few times that might be the embryo. Yaya says they have to find it quickly so Tadase can conquer the world, calling him “ouji” and making him go into King Mode. Then the First King appears randomly and says something (like even though they don’t have a jack, they should be fine…or something). Then Tadase orders Yaya to do something while still in King Mode, or just say something to freak her out (I don’t know what, but it has something to do with training).

Then at Easter, people are working on computers (including that guy who I’ve decided to call “Yukari’s stalker” from episode 38). They find some images of the shining egg Tadase was just saying might have been the embryo and Stalker Scientist thinks he knows what it is, or really just goes, “This is…!”

The guardians are talking about Yaya’s training (for what I have no idea) while Yaya plays with a bird and Kukai suddenly shows up for a visit. Tadase explains his reasons for telling Yaya to do whatever or something. Yaya just wants to play with Kukai, but he brings up the training and she refuses. After some flattery and encouragement Yaya and Pepe both agree. The training is strikingly similar to Amu’s (the dash with Kukai…memories).

While Yaya’s recovering from the dash after, some kids approach them looking for a parakeet which Yaya thinks is the same bird from before. The rest of the Guardians show up and promise to find the bird. Amu draws the bird (by chara-changing with Miki) and Kukai and Tadase decide to put Yaya in charge of finding the bird by herself. With urging, she agrees. At home that night, Yaya complains about the day to her mother (she couldn’t find the bird). But when she sees Tsubasa it reminds her of the kids that day and she decides to do her best.

The next day Yaya shows up in her Sherlock Holmes detective gear, like she saw on TV. Yaya wanders around looking for the parakeet and the kids call her over and she says she’ll find the bird that day. Then she randomly goes to the First King to ask him questions, but just ends up hanging out. The Guardians spy on her and go back and forth a little about Yaya searching for the parakeet.

At Easter, Stalked Scientist shows off the pictures that are probably the embryo to the director. He turns to Ikuto in the room and asks if he saw it too and why he didn’t say anything. Ikuto being Ikuto basically just says, “Who knows. I wonder why.” The director than says that since Utau isn’t there anymore, finding the embryo is his job now and that he won’t be forgiven next time (basically). Ikuto leaves and Yoru vents out his frustration as they walk. The director says some things that piss me off (but I don’t feel confident enough to translate).

Yaya’s still looking for the bird and she and Pepe randomly end up wondering if it’s been kidnapped or something. The Guardians are still following her. Then she gets called to her ballet class and asks everyone if they’ve seen the bird. Later during class, Mai (the girl whose egg got x-ed way back) sees the bird in a tree outside and Yaya goes chasing after it. She falls, but instead of crying and chara-changing she keeps going and looks for the bird all over. Then, when Kukai’s walking home, Daichi points something out to him.

During some randomness (involving eating and me questioning Amu’s tastes again), the Guardians lost Yaya and are looking for her. They find Yaya, whose found the bird. It flies up high so Yaya chara-nari’s so she can make it fall to sleep and she catches it. The doctor who they went to when Tsubasa was sick shows up, and it turns out to be his bird that she just found. Rima confirms it with the picture.

Yaya goes back to school disappointed, but the bird was returned already. Kukai shows up and tells the Guardians what happened. The kids were able to get the bird back themselves. And everything ends well.

—–

Thoughts

Well, this episode wasn’t bad. As far as filler episodes go, it’s pretty good. Focusing on a real character, but eh. I just find Yaya boring. It can’t be helped if I don’t care for it.

Ew. Fangirls without noses and with bad bangs and…they all just have varying shades of brown hair and they all pretty much have the same face. Seriously…couldn’t even use different hair colors? Way to make annoying fangirls bother me even more Satelight (yes, this is just a pet peeve of mine).

I loved this picture of Rima. Though for some reason, I expected her to turn to the camera slowly, smile politely, tilt her head to the side, close her eyes with a little bow and say, “gokigenyo.” Only some people will get that, but that’s really how it felt to me.

Aww…cute. I want to be able to glomp onto Rima too. Not fair~!

…I miss Kairi too! To be honest, I’d been trying not to think of him recently, but…I really miss him! He wasn’t in the anime for long enough! It’s not fair! They didn’t have to make him leave so soon! He could have stuck around for at least one more episode. Or two. The recap, then a Guardians having fun filler, and then the episode where he leaves. That would be better.

Eh? Get out of my anime fool! Sheesh…I guess because now that all the real characters have left Easter, this guy has to do some random crap. If they do have an anime-original arc, I hope they make an Easter villain I can take at least a little seriously. This guy sucks!

Kukai! You’re back! Why didn’t you come back just one episode earlier!? It’s not fair! But I’m happy that you’re back for this week anyway. Now then…next time Kukai appears, Utau should appear as well. I know that when I’ve been demanding things, they’ve been slowly happening! I demanded fillers about characters, and I got it. Utau and Rima fillers specifically. Got it!

So Come on Satelight! Get to the Utakai filler (and the sleepover filler…and do Alice in Wonderland for fun).

Quickly, Yaya wasn’t really bad in this episode. Since she made such a bad impression on us about being a bratty older sister, I’m glad they went back and showed us that Yaya did become a proper older sister after that episode. I don’t dislike Yaya really I guess…I just can’t help but feel like she’s sort of a filler character since she never does anything that has an effect on the plot. And her “funny” scenes just don’t seem funny to me, so she really doesn’t seem to serve a purpose. For me anyway.

Animals with detective gear reminded me (very randomly) of “The Great Mouse Detective“. Does anyone remember that movie? It’s a Disney movie I used to watch all the time when I was little. About that mouse who’s a detective and lives underneath Sherlock Holmes’s house. Ah…I used to love saying Rattigan just because it was fun to say.

I want to see that movie again. (This really has nothing to do with anything…but I wanted to fill up some space since I don’t have that much to say on this episode.)

Ikuto! You’re back! So soon! After last week, there was some doubts if Ikuto would appear until his arc, but nope! He’s right here. Too bad that him being here still makes me a sad fangirl. Knowing what a lot of us have come to know, seeing Ikuto still under Easter’s control makes me sad.

Ah, and how I was reminded of back really early when some fans were saying that Ikuto seemed too emo. But now we know what he’s had to go through. Ah poor Ikuto.

At least despite him actually seeming to get ticked off before leaving the room (we…seriously don’t usually see Ikuto showing that stuff around Easter, so it surprised me), Ikuto’s still his normal self. I’m just wondering how long Ikuto’s going to be stuck with Easter like this in the anime. They don’t really have it set up for him to taking off too soon.

Of course everything is the fault of this fugly guy. I hope he gets kicked onto the third rail and then gets run over by a train. Yeah…I seem to come up with a new death wish for this guy every time he appears. He really brings out the anger in me (that asshole).

…My god it’s back. And wtf Pink!? This is…so distracting. Even when it’s just still, I can’t help but stare at it. Annoying. This is definitely the last time I’ll mention it though. But seriously…wtf…

Oh come on! Just today I thought, “Ah, even if I think there’s any sort of scene where Tadase looks lame and possibly gay, I won’t say a thing because I’m tired of people taking me too seriously.” But come on!!

Sheesh, and this was Amu’s imagination…what’s up with you Amu? You even added in pink doilies! What’s up with that?

What the Hell!? Longer pigtails out of nowhere? They weren’t like this all episode, but then just this one moment. Wow. It kind of scared me.

Oh hey! Yaya didn’t mess up with her powers! Only the bird fell asleep. Now let’s just hope she can do this during actual battles too. Somehow I doubt it though…but I’ve been wrong before.

—–

Preview

This looks familiar…but I don’t care. Familiar things have to happen when Satelight goes back to put in something that they never should have taken out. But I’m fine with it. More Amuto that way. Every time they add in a scene or event that should have happened in a previous episode (pretty much always from the 12 and 13 mess up), they have to do a new lead up and we get more Amuto.

And we’ve hit the end of the episode 12 and 13 clean up. We have Amu singing~! Unfortunately it seems that we also have 1, 2, 3 filler characters. I’m unsure about how I’ll feel about that. But whatever, no matter what…Ikuto. Yeah…judging by the preview there will be plenty of Ikuto screentime. I like that.

Also, part of me thinks that two girls being involved with violins could somehow make Amu jealous. I’m not sure what makes me think that, maybe it’s just what I’ve been hoping for since Amu didn’t get much of a chance to be jealous of Utau before the big reveal. I miss her, “W-what am I thinking about him for?” and I’d be happy to replace it with, “W-what am I feeling so angry for?” with plenty of blushing of course.

But really, no matter what I’m excited about next week. It really was my favorite scene in the manga for a really long time (before chapter 28), so I’m really looking forward to it. Judging by the fact that Amu seems to find Ikuto playing his violin in the park, I’m betting it’ll be like in the manga.

Wow Satelight, you guys are really trying to make up for all the other complaints before you plunge into the whole unplanned second year. Aside from fillers, I don’t think anyone has anything left to complain about now.

Amuto aside for a moment (Man, I’m looking forward to Saturday), all the episode titles up to the previously planned “ending” to the series have been announced. Considering that Satelight was planning on having Shugo Chara end with 51 episodes six months ago (up until now, they’ve been planning episode 6 months in advance, starting “next season” it’ll only be 3 months), it makes sense.

“Have We Really Found it?! The Embryo!” and “I’ll Get the Embryo” are the English translations. The guess is, they’ll find the embryo and lose it, or they’ll chase something that won’t turn out to be the embryo and will continue on with new determination. It’s the standard, “Hey, the manga’s still going, so we couldn’t come up with an ending, but they’ll vow to continue instead” sort of thing. We know that it’s continuing, so we’ll still have to wait for news on the next story arc. Considering that Ikuto’s showing up now just like he has been. I kind of figure there will be some anime-original arc before Ikuto’s, but we’ll have to wait and see. Also, it seems like the violin Ikuto’s playing is his own violin. Fans who follow the manga and any spoilers should know why that would mean a delay on Ikuto’s arc.

Well, we’ll see what happens eventually.

(And quickly…yeah, I’ve been busy. I didn’t reply to anyone’s comments last week. I don’t think I’ve even read them all. I’ll explain what’s caused the blog slowdown either later today or tomorrow. I’m catching up again though.)