Such imagery in one so young…

I’ve been watching Shugo Chara! recently. It’s a fairly simple magical girl show with young characters and a lot of explicit morals about being true to yourself and “everyone’s special.” I’ve only seen the first few episodes considering how long the series is, but I’m finding it more enjoyable than I would have thought.

The cute but brooding cat-boy anti-hero has nothing to do with how much I enjoy this show, honest...

What I’m starting to wonder about, though, is the phallic imagery. Yes that’s right, in a show with a twelve year old heroine, there are some fairly strong implications being made. What could I be talking about?

Amu holds the ‘Humpty Lock’, and Ikuto holds the ‘Dumpty Key’, obviously a matching object. He’s the key, and she’s the lock. So presumably at some point some miracle is going to come of him putting his…into her…yeah. Add to this the tsundere attitude that Amu is showing towards him (caused by her general defensiveness and confusion over whether he’s a good or a bad guy), and Ikuto’s slinky, too-close, well… CAT-BOY!

Obviously, Shugo Chara! is not going to do anything explicit, because it’s not that kind of show. Watching it as an adult, though, this is the most basic innuendo in the book and it’s rather amusing to see it used in a fairly innocent context. I’m sure the show merely wants to use the necessary union of opposites to show us how the world needs all sorts of people and it’s ok to be different.

Yeah, right.

EDIT: From episode 38 – Ikuto suggests trying the Dumpty Key in the Humpty Lock: “It looks pretty tight. Will it fit?” …they’re not even trying to mask this anymore.

This entry was posted in Anime and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Such imagery in one so young…

  1. z says:

    “The cute but brooding cat-boy anti-hero has nothing to do with how much I enjoy this show, honest…”

    — yup, totally got that vibe from the picture. 😛

    i always find it strange when people wear ‘cross’ accessories when they’re not christian. a pet peeve or sthg.

    all that aside, i love how cheeky this post it. makes me want to watch the anime.

  2. Pingback: “Because I’m a girl…” (Shugo Chara!) | Psychopomp

Leave a comment