Japanese Study & Shugo Chara!

So most of my acquaintances know that I'm currently teaching myself Japanese. My love of Anime has evolved into a love of Japanese culture, and I'm actually thinking about moving to Japan. The same way I fell in love with Germany and thus decided to learn the language (I mean, that's the obvious choice, right?), which I did, I guess bilingualism wasn't enough. When I get fixated on something, I put everything I've got into it, and go all-in. That's what's happened here.

I recently came across Ken Cannon's channel on YouTube, and was inspired. He's an American who taught himself fluent Japanese in a year, just by watching Anime. I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out... A lot of what little Japanese I know, was picked up through watching Anime, listening closely and not just reading the subtitles, and recognizing speech patterns and their meanings according to context. Some people discourage this plan of action, saying that if you learn from cartoons, you'll end up talking like a cartoon. But if you think about it, why shouldn't it be possible to learn another language just by immersing yourself in that culture's popular media? People learn English that way all the time, and they don't sound like cartoons when they talk. Although, I know the sitcom Friends is a popular teaching/learning tool in China, and... oi, we don't need Chinese Joeys walking around saying, "How you doin?" now, do we? Haha j/k.

In all seriousness, yes, I've been trying this method. Not solely, though, I've been using Ken Cannon's Japanese Through Anime method in conjunction with my regular studies. The problem that I find with most course material, though, is that it won't teach you to speak Japanese like a normal person. It will teach you ultra-polite Japanese, which is spoken, but you'll sound weird if you talk that way all the time. With friends and acquaintances, you want to speak casually, not like you're speaking to a Shogun. It would be like greeting your anglophone friends with a "Salutations, good sir, fare you well?" in normal speech. Weird, yeah?

Anyway, I've been backtracking and re-watching shows I've already seen and have a pretty good understanding of, without subtitles. So far I've re-watched Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi, InuXBoku SS, and am almost done re-visiting Shugo Chara! And now we've come to the real point of this post: I just had to express just how much I love this show!

If you're biased against Shoujo Anime, then you should really take a long, hard, introspective moment and then throw that bias out the window! This show is great for so many reasons! The action, the love triangles/squares/pentagons, the laughs, and the tears... It's fun for all!

Firstly, who doesn't want their own guardian character, with whom they can transform to overcome their fears and inhibitions?! Seriously? I'll take two, please.

Secondly, I love Amu as a heroine. I'm sick of these demure, mute, indecisive, marshmallow-y heroines that are so popular in Anime right now (*cough* AMNESIA *cough*)! I love a heroine with a backbone, like, to cite one of my all-time favorite Animes, Kagome and Sango from InuYasha. Or Yoko from Gurren Lagan, or Celty from Durarara!!, or even Katara from Avatar. /rant

The thing about Amu is that yes, she's a pretty tough chick, but she's relatable because she's not perfect. She wavers sometimes in her sense of duty, and rarely leaps in feet first, unlike your typical Shounen heroes like Naruto, Ichigo, and so-on. In my opinion that makes her more believable. Besides, what 12-14 year-old-girl doesn't want style like Amu's? I know I did...

Then, there's Ikuto... *swoon* Ikuto, Ikuto, Ikuto..... He's your typical bad boy with a heart of gold. On how many times have I wished he was real, and in my life, and my boyfriend. He's quite a bit older than Amu, which, granted, is a *teeny* bit creepy, but the age gap here is not as large as with another couple I liked... He's just so damned cute. Sexy, mysterious, and he turns into a cat... dare I say, purrfect...? 

As so often happens with popular anime, while it was in production, the publication of the manga fell behind the show. As a result, the second season contains a lot of filler, and story arcs that were tight and fluid (specifically "Death Rebel") became long and annoyingly drawn-out. As well as an anime-exclusive arc that fits nowhere in the canon of the manga. The second season, Shugo Chara!! Doki, while still enjoyable, doesn't wrap up very neatly. When the Anime was renewed for a third season, the manga had already come to an end, and there wasn't enough material for a decent show. The result, Shugo Chara! Party! was an annoying 12 minutes of variety show and 12 minutes of mostly-filler-anime. I'd suggest skipping Party! altogether and reading the manga version of the final chapters, Shugo Chara: Encore, instead, if you want the wrap-up of the story. The manga story is more satisfying concerning the fate of each of the couples. And of Ikuto.

As for me, despite the disappointment of Party!, I'm adding Shugo Chara! to my favorites. I didn't realize how much I loved it until I started watching it a second time. I guess that's how it is sometimes.