Minimum Tempo

There are slight, but negligible spoilers in this review.

This won’t be a long review and it will be very much to the point, because there isn’t a lot to say about Shakugan no Shana. Such an interesting concept, but where did it go wrong? Shakugan no Shana dangles the elements of a good show in front of the viewer but never really creates an exciting and entertaining product. After a sluggish first half, Shakugan no Shana only picks up after further pushing Yoshida’s love for Yuji and revealing a bit of Shana’s past.

Shakugan no Shana centers on Sakai Yuji, a high school freshman whose life gets flip-turned upside down. He believes he is living a peaceful life with little to worry about, until he is trapped inside a force field in which a giant monster attacks him. Saved by the Flame Haze known as Slayer with Flaming Hair and Burning Eyes who he later dubs “Shana,” Yuji learns that he is in fact, not alive; his “power of existence” was taken long ago, and it was replaced by a blue flame. Normally, a person with a blue flame would eventually fade out of existence, but Yuji’s flame is special because he is a “Mistes” that contains the “Reiji Maigo,” a special “Hougu” that replenishes Yuji’s flame. Confused? Don’t be; the show will introduce the terms to you slowly.

Go, Shana, go!

In the first half of the season, the show brings a lot of action and lame character development without a concrete storyline with a final problem in mind. The villains’ motives are never revealed, the characters Alastor and Wilhelmina Carmel are never truly elaborated in terms of background information, and the Flame Haze Margery Daw’s backstory could have been improved. One of the major problems was the introduction of the main villains so late into the show. At the beginning, viewers must assume that Friagne is the main antagonist when he is simply tossed out in a few episodes. Overall, the show failed to satisfy until Yoshida, Yuji and Shana’s classmate, vowed to earn Yuji’s feelings before Shana could do so. The romance is basically what saves this anime, even if it is minimal.

The very few redeeming qualities of Shakugan no Shana are mostly its aesthetics and audio. Both visually and musically, Shakugan no Shana is excellent: attractive art and clean animation topped off with a surprisingly phenomenal soundtrack. The show also manages to mix the comedy and action aspects quite well, although this isn’t saying much. Some of the cast is able to peak my interest as well. Tyrael and Sorath were quite an amusing pair, and Marchosias never failed to make me laugh.

This is from one of the Shakugan no Shana-tan specials. It was actually pretty funny.

Shakugan no Shana doesn’t break new ground, and I don’t see why some people are nuts for it. The second half, however, was a tremendous improvement so perhaps the second season will now actually be good. But it’s kind of sad when the specials and OVAs are more enjoyable than the series itself.

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Verdict: I could at least stand watching it; the latter half of the season, as stated before, is clearly much better. I would recommend reading episode summaries for the first twelve or so episodes, and then begin watching from there.

This post is tagged Anime & Manga, Review, Shakugan no Shana

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