This is a series that is straight fiction except...
The except in this case would be the Shugo Charas. All children hold an egg in their soul, the egg of their hearts, their would be selves. Basically, all children who have dreams for the future have the potential to reach those dreams within them. But for some children, either they need extra help to reach those dreams, or those dreams are too strong and loud for their hearts to contain them, and so Shugo Charas (Guardian Characters) are born. Most children never have Charas, and of those that do, most have one. But a few kids have more than one. Amu has four, Utau has two, Nagihiko has two. These are because these children have strong but wildly divergent dreams. Utua's two are a devil and an angel, as an example, because she is torn between the part of her that will do anything she has to do - even become the villian - to get what she wants, and the part of her that wants to be and do good. Nagihiko's is a question of gender identity. With Amu.... it is different, as will be explained below.
Now because of this heart energy and these eggs there is a special hearts' egg called the Embryo, or so the legend says. Supposedly it can grant whoever possesses it a wish. Anything they want. So the second in command of Easter - a giant corporation with their fingers in nearly every pie - is determined to have it, for his boss. But Easter is willing to destroy the dreams of children to attract the Embryo, no matter what it takes.
Since most adults, and even most kids over the age of 4 cannot see Shugo Charas, this war is fought in the background of a seemingly normal world. And the only people to stand against Easter are a group of children with Charas (Chara Bearers) hand picked by the mysterious Tsukasa, the first King of the Guardians. These Guardians are given titles, the King, the Queen, the Ace, the Jack, and the Joker. They have three goals as Guardians. Protect children. Stop Easter. And get the Embryo. That last is because their king has a wish himself. To become king of the world. Apparently the other Guardians support this because it is fun. And these are the heroes, folks!
Personal History: Amu-chan has always had issues making friends. Her mother's questionable sense of style doesn't help, putting Amu in gothy.punk clothes and her baby sister (Ami) in angelic frilly clothes. Amu wants to wear lace and frills sometimes, but feels like she can't. She feels put in a box, and she's developed this "cool and spicy" outer character that represents that. Her parents think she is this great big sister who always puts Ami first, and so since she doesn't want to disappoint them, whenever there is a choice between what Ami wants and what Amu wants, Amu shoves her own choice way down deep inside and pretends she doesn't care, so they might as well do Ami's thing.
The one day they moved. And she was in a new school, a new chance to make friends and shed her outer character. Except she was so nervous when she was introduced to the class that she couldn't get more than a word out. The class somehow decided that this was because she was too cool for the class. And somehow idolized her for it. She wants to be friends with the other kids, but falls into the peer pressure of conforming to their expectations.
And then one day, her outer character became too much for her.Freaked out about a spooky TV show, but unable to admit to that after her family praised her for being so brave, she curled up in bed to melt down in private, and then prayed for some way to truly be herself. She woke up the next morning to find three eggs in her bed, a red heart, a blue spade, and a green clover.
Confused, she put them in her bag and headed to school. At school she mooned over the "prince", King's chair Tadase, and mooned over the guardians, though when someone commented that she wasn't impressed by stuff like that, she felt pressured to be cool and aloof. It didn't help that she had scared off some bullies that morning on her way to school and the story had already spread. Seriously, people seemed to think she beat up another school's whole Futbol team. She really didn't know where these rumors came from. She felt one of the eggs starting to move and she twisted to investigate whenTadase came over and put a hand on her shoulder. Internally she melted because her crush was talking to her and shojo sparkling at her and she panicked, shoving his hand aside and brushing him off, leaving. She of course hated herself for that after.
She was so freaked out during assembly, listening to the Guardians that she didn't notice when the red egg hatched or her hair clip turned into a heart. She did however hear a small voice telling her to transform from a girl who was scared to a girl who was open. Then without any control over herself, she found herself standing up and confessing her love in front of the whole school. She was rejected and fled in horrified shame.
Which was how she wound up in the construction site, on a day off, fallen into a hole in the ground. In that hole she met the chara born of the red egg, a pink little handspan high cheerleader named Ran who was perky and sweet and wore frills and waved pom poms and had unlimited optimism. With Ran's "help" Amu got out of the hole... and wound up trapped on the top of the partially constructed building, clutching a steal beam. Which.... was when she met Ikuto.
Ikuto worked for Easter and had a Chara of his own, Yoru. He tried to steal her remaining eggs in case either was the Embryo and she got so freaked out that when he backed off with the eggs, she forgot how high up she was, and chased after them. She plunged towards the ground, eggs falling after her, unable to believe in herself enough to tap Ran's power. Except that Ikuto had stolen more than her eggs that day, he had a powerful artifact called the Humpty Lock. And something about Amu and her desperation woke the power in the lock and instead of getting a small boost from Ran she full on magical girl transformed. As Amulet Heart, she was able to fly. Until her concentration and confidence broke and she tumbled to the ground... or rather, into Tadase's waiting arms. Ikuto was chased off, and Tadase left her with his handkerchief and a lot of confusion.
The next day Nadeshiko, the Queen's Chair of the Guardians, came to invite Amu to the Royal Garden. Her classmates thought her confession was cool, and were starting to warm up to her, and she was afraid that this would make them back off again, so she refused to join the Guardians, even though they all also had Shugo Charas, and could give her answers. Around this time the second egg, the blue one, hatched and she met Miki, who is tomboyish and artsy.
Nadeshiko refused to take no for an answer and offered a bribe of pictures of Tadase to get her to join. It nearly worked. Then she told Amu that Tadase's birthday was coming up and offered to help her make a fruit tart as a gift for him. Amu reluctantly gave in, and while they were baking had another run in with Ikuto who tried to steal her last egg. That was the first time she saw Nadeshiko Chara-change (the small change when a chara takes over and gives a power boost, but isn't a full transformation.) Nadeshiko nearly KILLED Ikuto with a naginata. and during their fight, the tart crust Amu made hit the ground and shattered. The third egg was born to try and fix it, the green clover Su. Su is terribly domestic but also... not always successful. Not only did she fail to fix the tart, but she almost drowned Amu and Ikuto in raw dough. Whoops. In the end, Ikuto left and they had enough dough remaining to make cookies instead.
Nadeshiko agreed to meet Amu the next day to go together to give Tadase the cookies, but the little troll called Tadase and told him she was supposed to meet Amu but couldn't make it, could he meet Amu and let her know...? Of course, because Su tried to help, Amu wound up giving him a batch of cookies with a really soppy love note. So Amu did the only reasonable logical thin the main character in a shojo anime could. she broke into his house to swap the gifts for the batch of cookies with the simpler note.
Of course she got caught. But somehow this led to her getting pressured into joining the Guardians. She's still not sure how that happened, really.
But as a Guardian who has three eggs she was the Joker, and had a special duty, to catch and purify batsu-tamas. One might ask what Batsu-tamas were. She did. They were the corrupted dreams forcibly pulled from children's hearts by Easter. If they were destroyed, or even just never returned, that child would lose that dream, and part of their soul, forever. She used her full on chara-nari (magical girl transformation) to become Amulet Heart, Clover, or Spade, and with the aid of the other Guardians fought Easter time and time again.
As she fought she grew more powerful in fits and starts. She also grew closer to the other Guardians, and Nadeshiko soon became her best friend. Amu started to actually loosen up and enjoy her time at school with her friends. Things were great. Until the end of the school year. Kukai, their Jack, was graduating. And more... Nadeshiko was going to leave school to travel abroad. Amu's happy little life shattered without two of her anchors. Tadase was still a distant crush, and while Yaya - the Ace - was a good friend, she wasn't exactly someone that Amu could lean on for support as everything changed.
Two new Guardians started with the new school year. Both were new students, both already had their charas. Rima was a tiny ball of a girl who used her cuteness as a weapon and turned the boys against Amu for daring to be more popular than her, which rallied the girls around Amu and turned the class into a war zone of shojo school drama until eventually Amu made friends with Rima and got her to stop using the boys as personal servants.
The other new Guardian was Kairi. No one knew at the time that he was actually working for Utau's manager, and thus for Easter. Utau, like Ikuto worked for Easter to put Xs on children's hearts. She did it through singing, which was bad. What came next was worse.
Utau had it out for Amu from the start because Amu had Ikuto's attention. Utau was head over heels in love with Ikuto and super obsessed with him. Anyone who he looked at more than her was on her list. And that meant Amu. One day while trying to torment Amu, Amu's fourth egg - a golden Diamond - showed itself. Amu had just found the egg that morning and hadn't told anyone about it yet. But under Utau's verbal torment, the part of Amu's dreams that had birthed that egg started to shrivel. The egg gained an X and then hatched that way. The resultant chara, Dia, joined forces with Utau... which should have been impossible.
With Dia's power, Utau was able to put the evil power of her song onto CDs, which Kairi then distributed among the school. She became like a pied piper, drawing children from their beds at night enmasse to steal their eggs. Kairi played both sides of the fence. Utau, in her single minded focus on this new goal started neglecting her own charas, who decided that this was Amu's fault, so Amu would fix it. The Angel Chara specifically kept forcing Amu to transform with her into Amulet Angel. Amulet Angel's primary power.. was waving a white flag. And she refused to fight against Utau.
It all came down to a huge battle one night. Kairi swapped sides and joined the Guardians for REAL, fighting with them as one of them. Amu changed transformations so many times she thought she was going to faint, and she squared off against Utau directly, all the Guardians behind her. When Utau's manager almost died, something in Utau snapped and she transformed with her angel chara into Seraphic Charm, and Dia recovered transforming Amu in to Amulet Diamond. Together they purified all the Batsu-tamas and Batsu-charas and nearly had the Embryo.
Utau quit Easter after that, and she and Amu shifted into being frenemies. Unable to handle the loss of honor at what he had done, and being in love with Amu and unable to face that, Kairi transferred schools, leaving them behind until he could become a man of honor to win Amu's heart. (In the manga he gave her the pouch she carries her eggs in, which is so much sweeter than how she gets it in the anime.) That left an empty chair among the Guardians.
Which was when Nagihiko. Nadeshiko's twin brother, returned from having spent the first thirteen years of his life oversees. (Can anyone smell the trope? Nope? Just me? Okay.) By this point Rima had decided she was Amu's best friend, but when Nadeshiko got mentioned because of Nagihiko she became super jealous and possessive and hated Nagihiko right off the bat. Amu spent a lot of time trying to make peace between them.
Meanwhile, Easter replaced Utau with Lulu, a girl who could use magical jewelry to create a new kind of foe. Nozu-tamas and Nozu-charas. These didn't darken the dreams of children, but corrupted them in a new way, giving the child insane amounts of power. (Think the Akumas from Miraculous) By this point all of the Guardians )Excepot Nagihiko) could fully transform and they were in for a fight.
Amongst all this drama was also relationship drama, as Amu was in serious crush with both Tadase and... Ikuto. She kept trying to deny her feelings for Ikuto, but those odd moments where he didn't act like an enemy kept throwing her and his slipping into her bed like a lost kitten didn't help her heart rate either. But Ikuto had been acting odder and odder of late. And then became enslaved to Easter in a new and horrible way, not seeming to know them any more... Things just can never be easy for Amu...
Pick a chara. LOL. Okay so Amu is a girl who doesn't like how she comes across, how people see her, and is desperately fighting her own shyness so that she can do something about that. Each of her charas helps her to showcase an aspect of herself (or more than one) that is normally hidden.
With Ran she is perky, energetic, athletic, and upbeat. She loves sports and competition. She can cheer on anyone and is brave enough to speak her mind, no matter how she might regret it later.
With Su she is also energetic and optimistic, but in a different way. It is less "GO GO! YEAH! WE CAN DO IT!" and more "Got a mess? Leave it to me! I'll fix it!" Where Ran is we can do anything, Su is we can FIX anything. Su is the side of her that wants to be a happy housewife someday. (blame her mother, the woman works for a housewife magazine, and is constantly giving Amu tips on being a "good mother, wife, and guest.")
Miki's impact on her personality is less direct than Ran and Su's. Miki herself is calmer, and while she crushes on every cute boy EVER, she can also be more focused. She doesn't take over Amu as often as the other two do, but rather teaches Amu by refusing to take over. She uses her quiet words and (sometimes) brooding nature to get her point across. Where Ran's answer to Amu's lack of confidence is to chara-change and show her she can do it, Miki will refuse to change, saying that she knows Amu can do it, but if Amu keeps relying on her to do it for her, she'll never learn.
With Dia.... things are very different. Dia spends most of the series after she arrives asleep in her egg, telling Amu that she's not ready for her yet. Dia represents Amu's desire to shine, to be in the spotlight. A dream that was born from knowing Ikuto and Utau, though their music. Thanks to Ran and the others, Amu now has the courage to DREAM about being on a stage one day and being a star, but not the courage to actually do it. When she gets closer to that point, she's been told. Dia will hatch again.
On the whole, Amu is often frustrated by her charas, but loves them all. She tries to act tough, but she's got a soft heart, and always wants to help others, not matter the cost to herself. She's easily embarrassed though, and her charas sometimes push her into embarrassing situations to show her that it isn't the end of the world, and because, well... they think it is funny.
But the big "Sailor Moon Says" moment that comesa at the end of most episodes... comes from Amu as herself, not chara-changed or chara-naried. Just Amu as Amu. It is her empathy. The moment comes after the battle, when the child who was behind the Batsu-chara or Nozu-chara is waking from their daze, when she gives a short speech about how they're feeling and how she can relate and ways to grow from there. Usually with her back to the child because she's too embarrassed to say such conry things to their face. But the speeches, while short, are usually very touching and on point. And that empathy, I think, is the core of who Amu is. And the embarrassment at not being able to look at the person while saying it. but saying it anyway because the other kid NEEDS TO HEAR IT, is crucial to understanding her inner and outer character.
CRAU developments: N/A
Key themes: Empathy. Living your dream a step at a time. Transformation. Risks. Faceted personalities.
Main Motivation: On the surface it seems to be "be less embarrassed", but I think more... it is a happy and safe world for her, her friends, her family, and all the children. At the moment that means stopping Easter. Not by destroying them, but by helping them, even if she doesn't realize she can. She's got a good track record at reforming bad guys. Utau, Sanjou (Utau's manager), Kairi, on and off Ikuto, and even Nikaidou, who had been a top Easter agent who became a sub at their school as part of a nefarious plot and signed on as a full time teacher after he quit Easter when Su and the others helped him remember his own childhood dreams.
Skills:
As herself... Average little kid skills. Fair at most things, excelling in little. Chara-nari with not just her charas, but ANY. Even when she doesn't want to. And one chara can force her to Chara-nari even if she is already transformed with another. Which is exhausting. I think her record is sic transformations in one battle, but it might have been seven.
Chara-changed: With Ran: Athletic like whoa. Large leaps that are nearly flight. Loud voice. Excessive energy. With Miki: Artistic and creative. Can create clothing and masterpieces of art. With Su: Very domestic at top speeds. She can make wonderful yummy treats, and clean a house like she was Mary Poppins, only faster. She can also magically fix small things.
Chara Nari: (this is not an exhaustive list, as she constantly gets new powers) With any: Purifying Batsu and Nozu tamas and charas. Excess speed strength and agility. Borderline flight. Summoning their special weapons and power ups. With Ran: Flight as in the air under her feet is like ground when she wants it to be, as well as true flight for short bursts. Extreme athleticism and strength. A magical baton that works a bit like a boomerang, and magical pom poms. Magical inline skates for speed. With Miki: Colorful Canvas! A magical spell cast with a giant paint brush that can stun or still foes, and can make the air thick. She can do similar with music using a G clef shaped baton. With Su: REMAKE HONEY! Using a green wisk, she can issue forth a burst of magic that can mend or repair very nearly ANYTHING. She can undo paint spills this way, convince an animal that stole a wallet because of a nozu-tama to bring it back, and undo magical attacks. It is excessively powerful, but unlike the other special abilities... it can also sometimes crit fail in hilarious ways. Not always, but sometimes.
Item: The Humpty Lock which is what lets her, and eventually others, Chara-nari.
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1/2 Age/canon point/Sample/notes
Player Information
Name: Chicklet
Age: Adult
Contact details: PM this journal or
Other characters: None yet
Character Information
Name: Amu Hinamori
Canon: Shugo Chara
Canon Point:
OU/AU/CRAU/OC: OU
Age:
World Information:
This is a series that is straight fiction except...
The except in this case would be the Shugo Charas. All children hold an egg in their soul, the egg of their hearts, their would be selves. Basically, all children who have dreams for the future have the potential to reach those dreams within them. But for some children, either they need extra help to reach those dreams, or those dreams are too strong and loud for their hearts to contain them, and so Shugo Charas (Guardian Characters) are born. Most children never have Charas, and of those that do, most have one. But a few kids have more than one. Amu has four, Utau has two, Nagihiko has two. These are because these children have strong but wildly divergent dreams. Utua's two are a devil and an angel, as an example, because she is torn between the part of her that will do anything she has to do - even become the villian - to get what she wants, and the part of her that wants to be and do good. Nagihiko's is a question of gender identity. With Amu.... it is different, as will be explained below.
Now because of this heart energy and these eggs there is a special hearts' egg called the Embryo, or so the legend says. Supposedly it can grant whoever possesses it a wish. Anything they want. So the second in command of Easter - a giant corporation with their fingers in nearly every pie - is determined to have it, for his boss. But Easter is willing to destroy the dreams of children to attract the Embryo, no matter what it takes.
Since most adults, and even most kids over the age of 4 cannot see Shugo Charas, this war is fought in the background of a seemingly normal world. And the only people to stand against Easter are a group of children with Charas (Chara Bearers) hand picked by the mysterious Tsukasa, the first King of the Guardians. These Guardians are given titles, the King, the Queen, the Ace, the Jack, and the Joker. They have three goals as Guardians. Protect children. Stop Easter. And get the Embryo. That last is because their king has a wish himself. To become king of the world. Apparently the other Guardians support this because it is fun. And these are the heroes, folks!
Personal History:
Amu-chan has always had issues making friends. Her mother's questionable sense of style doesn't help, putting Amu in gothy.punk clothes and her baby sister (Ami) in angelic frilly clothes. Amu wants to wear lace and frills sometimes, but feels like she can't. She feels put in a box, and she's developed this "cool and spicy" outer character that represents that. Her parents think she is this great big sister who always puts Ami first, and so since she doesn't want to disappoint them, whenever there is a choice between what Ami wants and what Amu wants, Amu shoves her own choice way down deep inside and pretends she doesn't care, so they might as well do Ami's thing.
The one day they moved. And she was in a new school, a new chance to make friends and shed her outer character. Except she was so nervous when she was introduced to the class that she couldn't get more than a word out. The class somehow decided that this was because she was too cool for the class. And somehow idolized her for it. She wants to be friends with the other kids, but falls into the peer pressure of conforming to their expectations.
And then one day, her outer character became too much for her.Freaked out about a spooky TV show, but unable to admit to that after her family praised her for being so brave, she curled up in bed to melt down in private, and then prayed for some way to truly be herself. She woke up the next morning to find three eggs in her bed, a red heart, a blue spade, and a green clover.
Confused, she put them in her bag and headed to school. At school she mooned over the "prince", King's chair Tadase, and mooned over the guardians, though when someone commented that she wasn't impressed by stuff like that, she felt pressured to be cool and aloof. It didn't help that she had scared off some bullies that morning on her way to school and the story had already spread. Seriously, people seemed to think she beat up another school's whole Futbol team. She really didn't know where these rumors came from. She felt one of the eggs starting to move and she twisted to investigate whenTadase came over and put a hand on her shoulder. Internally she melted because her crush was talking to her and shojo sparkling at her and she panicked, shoving his hand aside and brushing him off, leaving. She of course hated herself for that after.
She was so freaked out during assembly, listening to the Guardians that she didn't notice when the red egg hatched or her hair clip turned into a heart. She did however hear a small voice telling her to transform from a girl who was scared to a girl who was open. Then without any control over herself, she found herself standing up and confessing her love in front of the whole school. She was rejected and fled in horrified shame.
Which was how she wound up in the construction site, on a day off, fallen into a hole in the ground. In that hole she met the chara born of the red egg, a pink little handspan high cheerleader named Ran who was perky and sweet and wore frills and waved pom poms and had unlimited optimism. With Ran's "help" Amu got out of the hole... and wound up trapped on the top of the partially constructed building, clutching a steal beam. Which.... was when she met Ikuto.
Ikuto worked for Easter and had a Chara of his own, Yoru. He tried to steal her remaining eggs in case either was the Embryo and she got so freaked out that when he backed off with the eggs, she forgot how high up she was, and chased after them. She plunged towards the ground, eggs falling after her, unable to believe in herself enough to tap Ran's power. Except that Ikuto had stolen more than her eggs that day, he had a powerful artifact called the Humpty Lock. And something about Amu and her desperation woke the power in the lock and instead of getting a small boost from Ran she full on magical girl transformed. As Amulet Heart, she was able to fly. Until her concentration and confidence broke and she tumbled to the ground... or rather, into Tadase's waiting arms. Ikuto was chased off, and Tadase left her with his handkerchief and a lot of confusion.
The next day Nadeshiko, the Queen's Chair of the Guardians, came to invite Amu to the Royal Garden. Her classmates thought her confession was cool, and were starting to warm up to her, and she was afraid that this would make them back off again, so she refused to join the Guardians, even though they all also had Shugo Charas, and could give her answers. Around this time the second egg, the blue one, hatched and she met Miki, who is tomboyish and artsy.
Nadeshiko refused to take no for an answer and offered a bribe of pictures of Tadase to get her to join. It nearly worked. Then she told Amu that Tadase's birthday was coming up and offered to help her make a fruit tart as a gift for him. Amu reluctantly gave in, and while they were baking had another run in with Ikuto who tried to steal her last egg. That was the first time she saw Nadeshiko Chara-change (the small change when a chara takes over and gives a power boost, but isn't a full transformation.) Nadeshiko nearly KILLED Ikuto with a naginata. and during their fight, the tart crust Amu made hit the ground and shattered. The third egg was born to try and fix it, the green clover Su. Su is terribly domestic but also... not always successful. Not only did she fail to fix the tart, but she almost drowned Amu and Ikuto in raw dough. Whoops. In the end, Ikuto left and they had enough dough remaining to make cookies instead.
Nadeshiko agreed to meet Amu the next day to go together to give Tadase the cookies, but the little troll called Tadase and told him she was supposed to meet Amu but couldn't make it, could he meet Amu and let her know...? Of course, because Su tried to help, Amu wound up giving him a batch of cookies with a really soppy love note. So Amu did the only reasonable logical thin the main character in a shojo anime could. she broke into his house to swap the gifts for the batch of cookies with the simpler note.
Of course she got caught. But somehow this led to her getting pressured into joining the Guardians. She's still not sure how that happened, really.
But as a Guardian who has three eggs she was the Joker, and had a special duty, to catch and purify batsu-tamas. One might ask what Batsu-tamas were. She did. They were the corrupted dreams forcibly pulled from children's hearts by Easter. If they were destroyed, or even just never returned, that child would lose that dream, and part of their soul, forever. She used her full on chara-nari (magical girl transformation) to become Amulet Heart, Clover, or Spade, and with the aid of the other Guardians fought Easter time and time again.
As she fought she grew more powerful in fits and starts. She also grew closer to the other Guardians, and Nadeshiko soon became her best friend. Amu started to actually loosen up and enjoy her time at school with her friends. Things were great. Until the end of the school year. Kukai, their Jack, was graduating. And more... Nadeshiko was going to leave school to travel abroad. Amu's happy little life shattered without two of her anchors. Tadase was still a distant crush, and while Yaya - the Ace - was a good friend, she wasn't exactly someone that Amu could lean on for support as everything changed.
Two new Guardians started with the new school year. Both were new students, both already had their charas. Rima was a tiny ball of a girl who used her cuteness as a weapon and turned the boys against Amu for daring to be more popular than her, which rallied the girls around Amu and turned the class into a war zone of shojo school drama until eventually Amu made friends with Rima and got her to stop using the boys as personal servants.
The other new Guardian was Kairi. No one knew at the time that he was actually working for Utau's manager, and thus for Easter. Utau, like Ikuto worked for Easter to put Xs on children's hearts. She did it through singing, which was bad. What came next was worse.
Utau had it out for Amu from the start because Amu had Ikuto's attention. Utau was head over heels in love with Ikuto and super obsessed with him. Anyone who he looked at more than her was on her list. And that meant Amu. One day while trying to torment Amu, Amu's fourth egg - a golden Diamond - showed itself. Amu had just found the egg that morning and hadn't told anyone about it yet. But under Utau's verbal torment, the part of Amu's dreams that had birthed that egg started to shrivel. The egg gained an X and then hatched that way. The resultant chara, Dia, joined forces with Utau... which should have been impossible.
With Dia's power, Utau was able to put the evil power of her song onto CDs, which Kairi then distributed among the school. She became like a pied piper, drawing children from their beds at night enmasse to steal their eggs. Kairi played both sides of the fence. Utau, in her single minded focus on this new goal started neglecting her own charas, who decided that this was Amu's fault, so Amu would fix it. The Angel Chara specifically kept forcing Amu to transform with her into Amulet Angel. Amulet Angel's primary power.. was waving a white flag. And she refused to fight against Utau.
It all came down to a huge battle one night. Kairi swapped sides and joined the Guardians for REAL, fighting with them as one of them. Amu changed transformations so many times she thought she was going to faint, and she squared off against Utau directly, all the Guardians behind her. When Utau's manager almost died, something in Utau snapped and she transformed with her angel chara into Seraphic Charm, and Dia recovered transforming Amu in to Amulet Diamond. Together they purified all the Batsu-tamas and Batsu-charas and nearly had the Embryo.
Utau quit Easter after that, and she and Amu shifted into being frenemies. Unable to handle the loss of honor at what he had done, and being in love with Amu and unable to face that, Kairi transferred schools, leaving them behind until he could become a man of honor to win Amu's heart. (In the manga he gave her the pouch she carries her eggs in, which is so much sweeter than how she gets it in the anime.) That left an empty chair among the Guardians.
Which was when Nagihiko. Nadeshiko's twin brother, returned from having spent the first thirteen years of his life oversees. (Can anyone smell the trope? Nope? Just me? Okay.) By this point Rima had decided she was Amu's best friend, but when Nadeshiko got mentioned because of Nagihiko she became super jealous and possessive and hated Nagihiko right off the bat. Amu spent a lot of time trying to make peace between them.
Meanwhile, Easter replaced Utau with Lulu, a girl who could use magical jewelry to create a new kind of foe. Nozu-tamas and Nozu-charas. These didn't darken the dreams of children, but corrupted them in a new way, giving the child insane amounts of power. (Think the Akumas from Miraculous) By this point all of the Guardians )Excepot Nagihiko) could fully transform and they were in for a fight.
Amongst all this drama was also relationship drama, as Amu was in serious crush with both Tadase and... Ikuto. She kept trying to deny her feelings for Ikuto, but those odd moments where he didn't act like an enemy kept throwing her and his slipping into her bed like a lost kitten didn't help her heart rate either. But Ikuto had been acting odder and odder of late. And then became enslaved to Easter in a new and horrible way, not seeming to know them any more... Things just can never be easy for Amu...
2/2
Personality:
Pick a chara. LOL. Okay so Amu is a girl who doesn't like how she comes across, how people see her, and is desperately fighting her own shyness so that she can do something about that. Each of her charas helps her to showcase an aspect of herself (or more than one) that is normally hidden.
With Ran she is perky, energetic, athletic, and upbeat. She loves sports and competition. She can cheer on anyone and is brave enough to speak her mind, no matter how she might regret it later.
With Su she is also energetic and optimistic, but in a different way. It is less "GO GO! YEAH! WE CAN DO IT!" and more "Got a mess? Leave it to me! I'll fix it!" Where Ran is we can do anything, Su is we can FIX anything. Su is the side of her that wants to be a happy housewife someday. (blame her mother, the woman works for a housewife magazine, and is constantly giving Amu tips on being a "good mother, wife, and guest.")
Miki's impact on her personality is less direct than Ran and Su's. Miki herself is calmer, and while she crushes on every cute boy EVER, she can also be more focused. She doesn't take over Amu as often as the other two do, but rather teaches Amu by refusing to take over. She uses her quiet words and (sometimes) brooding nature to get her point across. Where Ran's answer to Amu's lack of confidence is to chara-change and show her she can do it, Miki will refuse to change, saying that she knows Amu can do it, but if Amu keeps relying on her to do it for her, she'll never learn.
With Dia.... things are very different. Dia spends most of the series after she arrives asleep in her egg, telling Amu that she's not ready for her yet. Dia represents Amu's desire to shine, to be in the spotlight. A dream that was born from knowing Ikuto and Utau, though their music. Thanks to Ran and the others, Amu now has the courage to DREAM about being on a stage one day and being a star, but not the courage to actually do it. When she gets closer to that point, she's been told. Dia will hatch again.
On the whole, Amu is often frustrated by her charas, but loves them all. She tries to act tough, but she's got a soft heart, and always wants to help others, not matter the cost to herself. She's easily embarrassed though, and her charas sometimes push her into embarrassing situations to show her that it isn't the end of the world, and because, well... they think it is funny.
But the big "Sailor Moon Says" moment that comesa at the end of most episodes... comes from Amu as herself, not chara-changed or chara-naried. Just Amu as Amu. It is her empathy. The moment comes after the battle, when the child who was behind the Batsu-chara or Nozu-chara is waking from their daze, when she gives a short speech about how they're feeling and how she can relate and ways to grow from there. Usually with her back to the child because she's too embarrassed to say such conry things to their face. But the speeches, while short, are usually very touching and on point. And that empathy, I think, is the core of who Amu is. And the embarrassment at not being able to look at the person while saying it. but saying it anyway because the other kid NEEDS TO HEAR IT, is crucial to understanding her inner and outer character.
CRAU developments: N/A
Key themes: Empathy. Living your dream a step at a time. Transformation. Risks. Faceted personalities.
Main Motivation:
On the surface it seems to be "be less embarrassed", but I think more... it is a happy and safe world for her, her friends, her family, and all the children. At the moment that means stopping Easter. Not by destroying them, but by helping them, even if she doesn't realize she can. She's got a good track record at reforming bad guys. Utau, Sanjou (Utau's manager), Kairi, on and off Ikuto, and even Nikaidou, who had been a top Easter agent who became a sub at their school as part of a nefarious plot and signed on as a full time teacher after he quit Easter when Su and the others helped him remember his own childhood dreams.
Skills:
As herself... Average little kid skills. Fair at most things, excelling in little. Chara-nari with not just her charas, but ANY. Even when she doesn't want to. And one chara can force her to Chara-nari even if she is already transformed with another. Which is exhausting. I think her record is sic transformations in one battle, but it might have been seven.
Chara-changed:
With Ran:
Athletic like whoa. Large leaps that are nearly flight. Loud voice. Excessive energy.
With Miki:
Artistic and creative. Can create clothing and masterpieces of art.
With Su:
Very domestic at top speeds. She can make wonderful yummy treats, and clean a house like she was Mary Poppins, only faster. She can also magically fix small things.
Chara Nari: (this is not an exhaustive list, as she constantly gets new powers)
With any: Purifying Batsu and Nozu tamas and charas. Excess speed strength and agility. Borderline flight. Summoning their special weapons and power ups.
With Ran: Flight as in the air under her feet is like ground when she wants it to be, as well as true flight for short bursts. Extreme athleticism and strength. A magical baton that works a bit like a boomerang, and magical pom poms. Magical inline skates for speed.
With Miki: Colorful Canvas! A magical spell cast with a giant paint brush that can stun or still foes, and can make the air thick. She can do similar with music using a G clef shaped baton.
With Su: REMAKE HONEY! Using a green wisk, she can issue forth a burst of magic that can mend or repair very nearly ANYTHING. She can undo paint spills this way, convince an animal that stole a wallet because of a nozu-tama to bring it back, and undo magical attacks. It is excessively powerful, but unlike the other special abilities... it can also sometimes crit fail in hilarious ways. Not always, but sometimes.
Item:
The Humpty Lock
Sample:
Notes: