Shakugan no Shana - Reviews

I love this show to bits, I have yet to find another anime that has touched me like this one, the perfect blend of cool action cute anime girls and some romance 

First i would like to inform you, that if you haven't watched the anime yet, this MIGHT give you some information you get later on in the series.

 

First of all i wanna talk about the overall feeling of the anime.
This anime caught me already after the first episode, it contains a huge amount of mystic,
we recieve a minimal amount of information about the main characters in the start, especially Shana (Red Flame Haired, Red Hot Eyes hunter) has some mystic over her, we also get to know that our other mainprotagonist is not just a "Torch" he is a "Mistes", and actually it takes several episodes before we get to know what makes him a mistes... this overall feeling of mystic caught me.

Overall i love the relationship between the mainprotagonists, its the way they slowly fall in love with eachother BUT they wont recognize it, im a huge fan of anime's like that,
(overall the same feeling as Zero no Tsukaima, which is made by the same producer, the mainprotagonists has the same voice actors too), but the anime wouldn't be worth much if it didn't have the mystic and the action, the relationship ain't enough.

 

lets continue to the story.

the story is good, actually i really like it, its original and new, a new way to look at the reality, who has ever tought of a world, with monsters (Guze no Tomogara), which devours people's existence, and the protectors of the worlds balance of existing (Flame Haze). in my opinion it is a great story with a more than great ending, overall a touching and great story.

 

Animation:
I was a fan of the animations in "Zero no Tsukaima", so how can i not be a fan of the animations on Shakugan no Shana.

 

Sound:
Cant complain here, its fine sounds and good quality.

 

Characters:
the Characters has some unique personalities, and the relationships made between them is unique too.. can't complain.

 

currently one of my alltime favorites.... cant wait till they release season III ;) (nearly done with season II)

 

I can only recommend this anime...!

I am usually generous when it comes to evaluations of anime I actually liked, but it is an extremely rare event for me to assign a 10 to something, could it be story, animation, overall, or whatever. But here... Here it deserves it all. But let's get into the specific.

Story - 10
Sakai Yuuiji, a guy whose only thoughts are directed to the new life awaiting him at the recently started high school.
A nameless tiny girl with red hairs and blazing eyes, with a mission that consist in defeating all the Tomogara that came on Earth from Guze (or Crimson Realm) with the intent of eating the power of the existence of the humans.
Two completely different worlds, two completely different worries, two different objectives. Until one day.
Suddendly, Yuuiji finds itself in an alternate time-space dimension in which time stops and space between Earth and Guze intermingles (that is a Fuzetsu), where those Tomogara bring all their victims in order to eat away their life. Strangely, of all the people carried along with Yuuiji in the Fuzetsu, Yuuiji is the only one whose time does not stop. Consequently, on the verge of being eaten, Yuuiji assists to the show up of the red-haired girl, that simply refers to herself as a "Flame Haze". She quickly disposes of the Rinne (the servants of a Tomogara), thus saving Yuuiji.
Having witnessed to this strife, Yuuiji cannot help but to ask her what's going on. Between the various explanations, one is quite a shock for Yuuiji: he's already been dead for a while, eaten by another invader from Guze, and his actual existence is nothing but a replacement that the Flame Haze create in order to avoid a too big blow in the balance of the worlds. However, these replacements, the "Torches", are not eternal, and when their time comes, they will disappear, along with all the memories of them. For the rest of the world it will be like if they never existed at all.
In a matter of 20 minutes, the worries of Yuuiji shifts from "what shall I eat for lunch?" to "what should I do of my remaining existence?"

Starting from the meeting of a guy whose time is running out with a seemingly feelingless girl, this beautiful story keeps growing each minute, in an escalation of feelings, concluding in a final apotheosis that is quite breathtaking, even while it can actually be foreseen by the viewer ever since various episodes before.

Never a minute of useless stuffs, fillers reduced to the minimum, this story is a direct trip, a coast to coast through all the 24 episodes.
Between the war between all the Flame Haze and the Guze no Tomogara, and the discovery, evolution and understanding of the feelings of the various characters, these two plots are so masterfully mixed together that I cannot really say which one should be considered the prevalent one.
It is a huge story of several intertwining plots skillfully handled in the whole for a result exceptionally balanced.

Animation - 10
There are a lot of anime out there where by naming the title, one could also name a color. To bring an example I could go with Elfen Lied and pale pink.
For Shakugan no Shana, we actually have two colors fighting for the stage. The fiery red and the deep blue that dominate the color pattern of this anime in a marvelous dance of burning hearts and cold thoughts are a perfectly fitted background for a story of strifes between swords and feelings.

Zooming in, the animations of the burning flames is a feast for the eyes, together with a very apt character design.
Especially Shana is a masterpiece. Those fiery hairs are really something mesmerizing, and also the eyes aren't to be underestimated.
Not to mention Alastor, the pendant that contains the essence of a King of Guze and acts as a mentor to Shana. The animation of the sparkles within the pendant, together with well chosen dialogues, could actually show the feelings of the pendant. Yes, feeling of a piece of jewelry.
Sorry I am perfectly aware that it is highly reductive to call Alastor "piece of jewelry"... In fact it's one of my favored characters, or better... one of my favored voices within the anime... But its just an attempt to explain how deep was the care for the design of the anime.

Sound - 9
Good yet not exceptional openings and ending songs. But in fact their weight on my evaluation is not so high.
Getting to the main content, I'd say the voices and the dialogues are really something.
The Kings of Guze, present in the form of objecs, have been so well voiced that, like said before, together with some animation goodies, all of their thoughts clearly reach the viewer, even while those Kings of Guze are usually of few words.
More generally, each single character had is own way of speaking, his own way of communicating. While I somehow appreciate this, sometimes I have the feeling that it has been pushed a little too far. In detail, the way Wilhelmina speaks (i'm referring to all the de arimasu) gets sometimes oppressive... Strangely, on the other site I really appreciated the voicing of Wilhelmina's partner, Tiamat.

But if you ever happen to watch this anime, what will remain in your head forever is Shana's "Urusai, urusai, urusai!"

Characters - 10
Where shall I start?
A wide cast of characters just by taking the "humanoid ones". This cast is further expanded by the voices of the Kings of Guze, whose presence is a genial little big trick to exalt the personalities of the characters.
Everyone of the actors is faced with its own personal challenge, sometimes they are successful, sometimes not, and in this mix of objectives, satisfactions, shattered hopes, burning feelings and a lot more, our heroes will reveal their own personality, that will then further evolve through the story.

Particularly appreciated is Margery Daw, whose initial bloodlust will drastically change after a sequence of events and then grows to become the hero that shows up every now and then to give a little yet decisive help to Yuuiji and Shana during their strifes. A very good way to show how someone's personality is forged from those around him/her as well, thus it is never definitive.

But the first prize goes to Shana. She initially appears as a stoic warrior, with a strong will, as well as a unmovable determination. But she literally crumbles when she's first struck with feeling she never felt before. A winning mix of strength and determination, together with insecurity and cuteness all mixed in a single character.
She's usually addressed as a tsundere character, but there is something different. A tsundere is usually a pesky character, whose behavior in fact is a mask to an extremely shy and sensible personality, but it's usually aware of the feelings he/she is feeling. Shana is... well, she is actually the pesky character, but unlike an usual tsundere, before meeting Yuuiji, she probably did not even know what does really mean "to love someone". She doesn't even know what she's really feeling, and because of this a whole world of uncertainties falls upon her.
Should she follow the well known path of a blazing "Flame Haze", or will it be better to listen to something that cannot be fully understood yet?
I won't go any deeper to avoid too heavy spoils, although I fear that I've already spoken too much.

Overall - 10
As stated at the beginning, a 10 from me is something extremely rare. By the time of this review, on more than 250 anime I've watched, only 11 actually got a 5-star evaluation, that is something like 4%.

I've already watched it three times, and I could watch it again and be equally satisfied.

24 episodes, divided into 3 nearly self-conclusive parts. "Nearly" because in fact even between one part and another there is absolutely no discontinuity, as every piece actually places the roots for the following one.

I actually do not know what else to say, if not that the skillfully handled mix of all the things mentioned above gave birth to a splendid anime, suited to nearly everyone.

It was a crazy story love the action, and the fuuny part too.

Story it it was all right vrey well done and not to many fillers it get down right to the point if you ask me 

Animation it was realy good love how nice and smooth it was there was no frame drops beside two that I saw, but in most of this show the lips of the Characters when before the English vocie actors said any which to me is know big deal, but if you are one of those people who look at there lips from time to tome you will be going crazy over it\

Sound well done on high or low spots on the show at all even when the music and attack and yelling was going on at the same time very nice job

Characters super cool Characters did not have a problem with any of them beside one, and that one I can easly tune her out at times if she was making me crazy ya know 

Story

Not original, but well executed. If you have watched a good few action anime then the plotline for this particular example will not surprise you in anyway. There are themes that are in similar animes as well. It is done rather well though. I wasn't bored even though some of the plot ideas I had seen many times before, which is to its credit.

 

Animation

Good, not great, not bad just good. The fight scenes work quite well and there are some nices touches here and there.

 

Sound

The music enhances the plot well but is nothing special, maybe a little overworked in places. The music almost seems to force some issues. The voices are an excellent fit for the characters. The vocal actors have done a great job in bringing some life to the characters. What they have to say isn't all that groundbreaking though. 

 

Characters

There is a nice depth to some, however some fell empty. There is a little bit of a change of tack from what you may be used to as an action anime fan. There is a lot less arrogance in the male lead than you would expect, which is nice. Also some of the characters are actually quite fun at times. Some still leave you wanting a little bit extra though. 

Overall

Well worth a watch. I enjoyed this. It could be described as a bit of a rip-off but if you disregard that it is actually quite good.