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aquamine-amarine · 1 year ago

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Shugo Chara! Sequel Manga

I was supposed to make this post shortly after the news broke on 10/3 about the manga getting a sequel, but I got lazy. So it's late. And then it ended up being super long...

I saw the sentence on the cover of Nakayoshi earlier that weekend, and it didn't specify if it would be a sequel manga. It just said something about the issue containing information about a new project. So it could have gone either way, with that sentence being so vague. It was either a sequel manga or anime reboot. I was personally hoping for the latter. When there was a leak about it being a sequel manga I initially dismissed it. There was no concrete source for it, and with my prior knowledge of how this fandom lies I wasn't going to blindly believe something. I remember first joining this fandom way back in 2008, on a SC! forum called Guardian's Wish. Around 2009 when Crunchyroll first started streaming numerous ongoing anime at the time - the second season of SC! being one of them - the girls on Guardian's Wish would talk about how everyone on the Crunchyroll forums were leaking and lying about all kinds of things for SC!, claiming that their leaks were telling them what was to come in the manga, and it was ridiculous stupid shit like Ikuto having a dog Guardian Character. Lol, no. It was very hard to get Japanese raws back then, so leaks were all we had. Most of them were obvious lies. So I've grown to never believe anything the western fandom says. If I don't have a Japanese source for it, it's bullshit. This fandom still doesn't have its manga lore straight after all…

It was around Sunday night on the 1st (which was actually already the 2nd in Japan) that a Japanese Twitter account finally posted more concrete proof - an actual picture of the article in the issue. I had my legit source. It was a sequel manga… and honestly it wasn't what I wanted. I'm probably the only person in this fandom that didn't want a sequel manga. I wanted a faithful anime reboot. I was scared of a sequel manga. I didn't want them to give into pressure from fans and Nakayoshi to make a sequel manga and then have the story be worse than the original manga or have it ruin the ending. That would have disappointed me so much. The ending was perfect, I didn't want them to ruin it.

I feel like this fandom has constantly missed the point of this manga with the constant ship wars and cries for a sequel. The story of the Guardian Characters ended in Chapter 48 (Volume 11). Why do you think Volume 12 (the Encore chapters) was such a ship fest? That was them wrapping everything else up. Because they finished the main story with Volume 11. They pretty much say this here in a very old blog post about Chapter 48. They purposely made the manga very fast paced, and they admitted that some things had to be cut because of that, in particular chapters dealing with the other Guardians. Which is why Encore focused on the other characters initially.

I think we, the readers, were never supposed to know what Amu's would-be self is, because that would ruin and contradict the message the Guardian Characters were trying to send - that you can be whatever you want to be. It's a very positive message to send, especially to children. Why would they cancel out this message by immediately having Amu decide what she wants to be? This was always supposed to be left open ended. An answer to a fan question about Hikaru's egg hatching back in a 2010 Q&A session kind of supports my theory that Peach-Pit meant to leave things a little open ended. They said they had initially planned to have Hikaru's Guardian Character be revealed in the final chapter, but decided to leave it up to everyone's imagination instead. So that's why I didn't want a sequel. Clearly the ending of the manga was meant to be open ended, and it wrapped almost everything up perfectly.

And as for the shipping, because of course this is going to be brought up within this stupid fandom… I just laugh to myself whenever people STILL naively wonder who Amu ends up with. Are you kidding me?

First, did you not read my previous paragraph? Romance was not the main point of this manga. The Guardian Characters were. Plot first, romance second.

Second, are you people blind or just still willfully ignorant and unable to accept reality? Did you not actually read the manga? Did you not read the last chapter? Did you not listen to the drama CD of the final chapter? Most people haven't and it's shocking, even among the Japanese fandom, the amount of people who don't know about the drama CD adaption of the final chapter. The panel where they start holding hands at the wedding and Amu is having an internal monologue, reading it you think she's the one that says "one day", but in the drama CD both Amu and Ikuto say that line together. I need no other proof that this is canon. The kanji in their last names were also a dead giveaway, and as for the artbook notes for the final chapter title page…

万里: グランドフィナーレですね. 白い服の2人とブーケ…, というのは最初から決まってました. 12巻でバージョンちがいを描きましたよ.

Banri: It's the grand finale. Two people wearing white clothes and a bouquet… that was decided from the beginning. The Volume 12 version is drawn differently.

This was planned from the beginning. Obvious to anyone with functioning braincells, of course. And people who actually read the manga and not that awful, filler infested unfaithful train wreck of an anime. That's a different rant. It's no secret that I despise the anime and how it ruined everyone's character development, especially Amu's.

I did always find it rather odd that there were literally no title pages with just Amu and Tadase in them. You can see the artbook scans for the first artbook here and second artbook here. There was either a third person there or it was a group shot with the other Guardians. There were definitely some chapters early on where a Tadamu title page would have made perfect sense given the content of the chapter. But they just… never did it. It was always strange to me since every other shoujo manga in existence loves to troll readers with the love triangle (and Peach-Pit definitely did plenty of that) and usually that includes being on the title pages an equal amount… but not here. Sometimes I wonder if because this was their first shoujo manga, they didn't know what they were doing. Or maybe they were doing it on purpose.

I can't believe I've never talked about this one before, because it was something I noticed back in 2021 when the new editions were first revealed. A juicy little line I saw on the back of the new Volume 2...

元気と勇気をもらえるミラクルファンタジー, あむとイクトの恋も仲間たちとの友情も深まる第2巻.

A miracle fantasy that gives you energy and courage, Amu and Ikuto's love, as well as the friendship between friends, deepens in Volume 2.

I remember thinking... did I read that right?! Is my shitty Japanese working right?! Did they just admit this so blatantly?! It wasn't the word "suki" they used here either, they used "koi". Even with all the new illustrations, especially this one, they're not exactly being subtle about it anymore. I think that covers the shipping now...

Also, the "miracle fantasy" bit is the tagline the manga had when it was serialized in Nakayoshi.

I also really, really did not want a time skip sequel manga, and I am forever reminded of how badly time skips can go whenever I think of the Digimon Adventure 02 ending. They wrote themselves into such a fucking corner with that epilogue the current movies dealing with them as adults are so messy as a result. Not everything can have a nice clean time skip ending like FMA… and of course the shipping elements in SC! would have just made things even messier, further making people forget once again that the point wasn't the romance, it was the Guardian Characters...

So after this announcement I was left wondering, what kind of sequel manga is this going to be? Is it going to be like Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Arc and take place immediately after the original manga, or is it going to be like Mermaid Melody: Pichi Pichi Pitch Aqua, taking place in the future and being about the main character's children instead? I wanted the former, I was terrified of the latter.

Thank God Peach-Pit immediately came out and said exactly what kind of sequel this is going to be in a post on their pixiv Fanbox - it is going to take place while Amu and the others are in middle school. Hopefully that eases some fears like it did for me. Normally their pixiv Fanbox rules state not to share the information found on their pixiv Fanbox posts, however this particular article is listed as "All Users", and can be viewed by anyone who doesn't have an account or isn't paying for a plan. I think it's safe to share then. Everything else is locked behind a paywall, so I won't talk about those posts.

I honestly don't even know how they plan on continuing the story. I'm still convinced this is just Nakayoshi being greedy and forcing Peach-Pit to do a sequel because Nakayoshi's current cash cow - Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Arc - is ending soon. And with the success of SC!'s 15th Anniversary celebrations, with constant new merchandise and new illustrations, Nakayoshi knows they can milk this next. This is also why I think an anime reboot is still possible, and that they're just saving that news for much later. You don't spend almost 3 years now making new illustrations and merchandise just to give everyone a sequel manga which doesn't cost nearly as much as an anime adaption to make. Yes it still costs money, because art supplies are needed and publishing companies need to print it. However I imagine an anime reboot costs a lot more, especially if they want to get the original voice actors back, all of which are even more popular than they were back then. And they better get them back, because it would break my heart if they were all replaced. Don't even bother to reboot it then if it's not possible to get the original voice actors back. It just wouldn't be the same. And I only really care about the Guardians and Easter, all the minor characters and parents don't need their original voice actors back. Unless someone retired or passed away, then obviously a replacement has to be selected, and in those cases it's understandable. So again, I'm still hoping for a reboot, and I'm convinced they're just hoarding money in the meantime while they wait for a perfect chance to announce it. There's also the matter with Utau's songs... they definitely need to get the rights for those.

Another thing that makes me annoyed with Nakayoshi and the current state of shoujo manga as a whole is that trash like this gets an anime adaption before SC! gets a reboot?! Holy hell this manga is just so bad. I've been so disappointed with the crap running in Nakayoshi nowadays. Obviously I'm not talking about Cardcaptor Sakura, that's good, but everything else in Nakayoshi (like Vampire Dormitory) is just so bad. Shinkon dakedo Kataomoi does actually look sweet and wholesome, it's a shame there are no translations.

And then there's Chou ka Han ka: Gokudou-sama Afurete Afurete Nakasetai, a manga that used to run in Nakayoshi but it got so fucking raunchy they transferred it to a different more adult magazine. The shit I saw when I skimmed those pages make the shit Peach-Pit got away with in SC! look tame. SC! and Arisa really were one of the last good shoujo manga to run in this magazine… and I still need to get around to reading Sugar Sugar Rune and Mermaid Melody: Pichi Pichi Pitch. I've heard good things about them both.

The stuff running in Nakayoshi today is so bad that they have to bring back old classic stuff, first giving CCS a sequel, then Mermaid Melody, now SC!. In one way, it's a compliment to that classic stuff, finally giving them the recognition they deserve because they really were good. And then on the other hand it's insulting to the new stuff running in the magazine because Nakayoshi is basically saying none of them are good enough to compete with what came before them. I find that kind of sad. Instead of cultivating that new talent they just go back to manga that ended a while ago. And I'm afraid that doing that would just end up ruining everything that was good about those manga. They don't need sequels, what they need instead are faithful anime adaptions that respect the source material this time. That Tokyo Mew Mew reboot was so awful though, and it wasn't faithful to the manga at all.

I'm enjoying Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Arc though, so thankfully that sequel ended up being fine. At least Clamp's art actually improved a lot from the original manga, which brings me back to what I've been ranting about lately regarding Peach-Pit's art style not looking the same as it did back in 2010 when SC! first ended. I really hope they use this time before the sequel starts to work on their shoujo art style again, and making sure the story is just as good as the original. I really want this to do good because I love this manga, I'm just hesitant to trust Nakayoshi's intentions here. I'm convinced they're just doing this because CCS is ending and they needed something new to milk money from.

Holy shit did this end up being really long. Damn, I had way too much to say about this, hopefully it isn't too much of a confusing mess.

#Shugo Chara!#Shugo Chara #Amuto #Tadamu #Peach Pit

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demonio-fleurs · 2 years ago

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Tag 9 People You Want To Get To Know Better!

thank you @iam-jacks-redacted-information for the tag!! it's been a minute since i've done one of these so i'm excited !!

First Ship: oh lord. um. so probably usagi/mamoru from sailor moon, but the first time i "remember" consciously shipping something, to like the point where i was engaging in the fandom for it, was tadamu from shugo chara! and it was my first taste of "ah, so this is what it's like to ship something that isn't endgame." it was also a terribly embarrassing time of my life that i will never let myself live down.

Three Ships: hmm... here's some ships i'm currently shipping

imodna(sp?) i haven't really been keeping up with cr3, but i've been popping in from time to time and i do really love the dynamic that marisha and laura have got going on with laudna & imogen. also, sapphic ships for the win!

zorobin (sp?) and lowkey zoro/perona and robin/franky. one piece is my current hyperfocus and robin/zoro/franky are my blorbos so it's just kinda natural i'd gravitate towards shipping them. i lowkey started shipping zoro/sanji at the end of the thriller bark arc, but as of right now (fishman island) i'm leaning more towards the ships i originally listed. that could change by the time i'm caught up tho!!

twiyor. uwu. i fucking love spyxfamily so much, it is my jam and twiyor are the long, slow burn i've been looking forward to for a long time!! i'm super curious to see how long it'll be till one of them finds out about the others identity!!

Last Song: i've had all of uta's songs from one piece red on repeat for the last few days, outside of that it'd be no horse in this race by my good friend zane thomas. it's a beautiful song about depression/suicide, especially in the comedy industry, as well as creating for the sake of creation. any song from his ep is amazing but i've really been listening to that one recently!

Last Movie: the grinch who stole christmas jim carrey version. although technically i just watched my neighbor totoro and spirited away at work but i don't really count that.

Currently Reading: well i just finished roman holiday from rwby, which was REALLY good, so now i'm debating reading kakashi's story or ace's story. i'm also going to be re-reading spyxfamily here soon !!

Currently Consuming: the last few sips of my rockstar limon pepino energy drink. i promised myself i'd be better about drinking energy drinks but the caffeine helps me feel more balanced when im off my meds.

Currently Craving: red bean covered dango. i had it for new years and it's so fucking good and i could eat dozens of it.

okay. tagging peeps. let's see @eriklehnsherrr @neeshabun @questionablecryptids @tablednacl @thegreatbaerri @katia-dreamer @chasmophilia @dnd-n-tea @i-phoenix

Tag, you’re it!

#ange rambles #tag meme #ty for the original tag <3 #i forgot how much i missed doing these !!

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