Amu Hinamori

Amu Hinamori is the main protagonist from the Shugo Chara! anime and manga.

Amu is a student of Seiyo Elementary. Amu's classmates see her as "cool and spicy" Amu can be identified as a Tsundere (Mean and Cold to opening up to other people), but Amu's true character is shy and timid. Part of the reason for this misunderstanding is the trendy punk goth clothing her mother buys for her as well as the way she expresses her shyness. However, when Amu wishes for the courage to become her would-be self, three colorful eggs appear. When they hatch, they reveal Amu's Guardian Characters: Ran, Miki, and Su.

Amu becomes a member of the Guardians, the school's student council, and discovers that each member has a Guardian Character. Amu's position with the Guardians is the Joker. Her task as the Joker is to search for and purify X Eggs and X Characters (also, in the second season, she purifies Mystery Eggs, the corrupted forms of people's would-be selves). Ran, Miki, and Su help Amu with her task through a process called Character Transformation, which is enabled by the Humpty Lock and grants Amu special abilities depending on the Guardian Character. Later on, Amu also creates a fourth egg, known as Diamond. In the second season, when Amu shows her true potential, the Humpty Lock increases in power. Thus, new transformation scenes are used...

In the AWA fics, Amu is a student at the AWA Academy.

Appearance
Amu has short layered pink hair, a portion of which is styled into a ponytail with cross-shaped hair clip. She also has honey-golden eyes. At the start of the series, Amu usually has a cold and stoic expression on her face, though as the series progresses, she is shown smiling more frequently, mainly due toward her interactions with the other Guardians convincing her to become more honest.

She has a visual kei-like way of dressing and wears X-shaped clips in her hair. Amu Hinamori has an extensive wardrobe, which is shown in Episode 18.

Personality
Amu is shy and self-denying, but is also kind-hearted, and always prepared to go out of her way to help others who need it, and learns the philosophy that comes with her life. Amu pretends to be tough even though that's not who she really is.

On the other hand, she is also very caring and responsible, though she can also be a bit airheaded and often forgets to do her homework. Her parents entrust her with the care of her little sister whenever they're unavailable.

Amu's favourite food is omelette and her favourite subject is music. However, Amu hates home economics, despite gaining a cooking guardian character. Her favourite colour is red and she likes doing window shopping. Her favourite word is "nakayoshi" which means "having a good relationship between friends." She doesn't like ghosts, or the occult. She wants to have an Ace card and she's not good at Scissors, Paper, Rock. She has her ear to the ground, meaning she can hear people whispering secrets that they don't want heard. This is because she is worried about hearing rumors of herself.

Abilities
Unlike normal children, who usually have only one guardian character (or, in some cases, two), Amu is gifted with three, and eventually, a fourth one is born. Their theme centers around the four suits in a card deck: heart, spade, clover, and diamond.

The word "Amulet" means good luck as it was stated in Episode 1 of Shugo Chara Party!.

 Charas   Powers 
 * Ran is the first guardian character to hatch, and the first to character transform with Amu. She is extremely energetic and is almost never seen without her cheerleader pom-poms. She is born from Amu's wish to become someone other than herself. In Chapter 38, Ran undergoes a new Character Transformation, along with Miki, Su, and Dia; becoming Amulet Fortune. Because Amu became what she wished for, Ran disappeared in Chapter 44. At the end of Shugo Chara Encore Chapter 4 Ran rehatches. Ran represents Amu's desire to be more honest, athletic, and confident.
 * Miki is the second guardian character to hatch. She is very artistic and fashionable. Her powers include increasing Amu's drawing and painting abilities. She is born from Amu's wish to become someone other than herself. In Shugo Chara! Doki, Miki is the only one out of Amu's Guardian Characters to be able to sense Mystery Eggs clearly. Miki is also the guardian character that reflects on Amu's love interests, showing an interest in Kiseki, Yoru, Daichi, Rhythm, and Musashi. In Manga 38, Miki undergoes a new Character Transformation, along with Ran, Su, and Dia; becoming Amulet Fortune. Because Amu became what she wished for, Miki disappeared in Chapter 44. At the end of Shugo Chara Encore Chapter 4 Miki rehatches. Miki represents Amu's desire to be more sharp, levelheaded, and artistic.
 * Su is the third guardian character to hatch. She tends to be very girly and doesn't have many fighting skills, but has domestic skills. She is very good at housekeeping, cooking, and knitting. She is born from Amu's wish to become someone other than herself. In Chapter 38, Su undergoes a new Character Transformation, with Ran, Miki, and Dia; becoming Amulet Fortune. Because Amu became what she wished for, Su disappeared in Chapter 44. At the end of Shugo Chara Encore Chapter 4 Su rehatches. Su represents Amu's desire to be more caring, sensitive, and improve her domestic skills.
 * Dia is Amu's fourth and final Guardian Character. Her egg was created a while after Ran, Miki, and Su were born. Because Amu disliked everything that happened in the spring term, Dia lost sight of her owner, became an X-Character, and went to Utau Hoshina. She returned to her slumber after Amu "shines again," but came out permanently later. She's positive and wise, yet something of an airhead. Dia stays out of her egg for the latest chapters, looking for Amu's three other eggs that disappeared. At the end of Shugo Chara Encore Chapter 4 Dia rehatches. In Chapter 38, Dia comes back when Amu "shines" and undergoes a new Character Transformation with Ran, Miki, and Su, becoming Amulet Fortune. Dia represents Amu's desire to be an idol, be noticed in front of others, and shine.

Humpty Lock - According to the Founding King's legend, a person with three Guardian Characters will have very special powers and will be given the Humpty Lock to be able to harness those powers. It was this item that granted her the ability to Character Transform, as well as granting the other Guardians this ability later. The Humpty Lock has strong reactions to her emotions. She can use it to activate her well-known technique: Open Heart, in order to cleanse X-Eggs and X-Characters and free their owners from their own despair and negativity. Humpty Lock is Amu's main weapon and a counterpart to Dumpty Key, which can create very powerful phenomenon when both are brought together. The Humpty Lock is known to have mysterious powers.

 Character Changes 

When Amu Character Changes with a Guardian Character, her hair clip will change and give her specific special abilities.

When Amu Character Changes with Ran, her hair clip becomes a red heart and bestows her athletic and limited flying abilities. A side effect to this is that Amu becomes honest to the point that she blurts out whatever is on her mind. Amu still has relative control over her body while in this Character Change (unless it a specific task that she has to complete, e.a. swinging around a bar for gym class).

When Amu Character Changes with Miki, her hair clip becomes a blue spade and gives her increased artistic abilities. However, the Character Change, while short, is powerful and makes Amu spontaneously start drawing to the point that she has no control over her body.

When Amu undergoes Character Change with Su, her hair clip becomes a green clover and she improves in cooking and housekeeping skills. Like with Miki, Amu does not have much control over her body, to the point that Amu's character literally changes into much more girly version of herself. She is also able to create ingredients out of thin air.

Dia undergoes Character Change with Amu for the first time in Episode 108. When Amu undergoes Character Change with Dia, she becomes a sparkling person with a shiny smile, and calms her down. This change also allows her to release the light inside her heart. Amu's hairclip becomes a yellow diamond when under this Character Change. It doesn't make much of an impression to everyone.

In Chapter 43 of the manga, Il forcefully Character Changes with Amu, granting her a pair of black bat wings and the ability to fly according to Il's command.

This is the first and only time, anyone in the series has Character Changed with a Guardian Character other than their own.

 Character Transformation 

Open Heart - is Amu's finishing move to cleanse X-Eggs, X-Characters, and Mystery Eggs, and she can use this in any of her three transformations. Her transformations' names are started by 'Amulet', which it means Lucky Charm (Amuleto) from Italian and Spanish, but also can translated as 'charm' from English. As Amulet Clover, her Remake Honey technique is used over this, but she starts to use it in ''Shugo Chara!! Doki''. As Amulet Dia, she uses it once in ''Shugo Chara! Party!'', and can combine powers with Pure Feeling to strengthen it.

Trivia

 * Amu is the first character from Shugo Chara to be introduced in the AWA fics.
 * In the AWA fics, Amu is roommates with Madoka Kaname and Homura Akemi.
 * In the AWA fics, Madoka is aware that Amu is dating a 19 years old young man. Whether this is Ikuto Tsukiyomi is up to debate.


 * A running gag in the series is that whenever Amu is overly depressed, her soul will fly out of her mouth and her charas would try and persuade it to go back, which normally succeeds, seeing as Amu is fine in the next scene.
 * Her teacher, Yuu Nikaidou often calls her "Himamori". The replaced letters onto her name means 'leisure'. Hima also translates to "free".