Shakugan no Shana - Reviews

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. 

I came into Shakugan no Shana without much in the way of high hopes. I planned for it to be an "in-between" anime while I waited for the next volume of Code Geass to ship. To my great surprise, however, Shakugan no Shana turned out to be a decent anime.

Let me say this first: I'm a complete sucker for romances. Shakugan no Shana is a strange little show, almost "shounen" but not quite. The romance between Yuuji and Shana is a key element. There is action and fighting, but a distinct lack of named attacks or power-ups (though they are not absent entirely).

My main complaints in regards to the story were these: Yuuji is a relatively weak character, despite clear attempts by the writers to present him as otherwise, and the villains are equally unimpressive. The true star of the show is Shana herself. Her romance with Yuuji is intimately tied up in her character development.

The soundtrack was decent, nothing special. I particularly like the first opening song, Hishoku no Sora by Kawada Mami. I went out of my way to get it on my iPod. In the voice actors department, I found no problem. I watched the dubbed version, so I can't speak for their Japanese equivalents; however, it is typically the English-speakers who perform poorly.

Animation was simple and not particularly entertaining. It seemed fairly simplistic.

One last note: I thought the first episode was awful, particularly the first few minutes. Don't be turned away by the giant demonic baby or the floating head--it gets better from there.

Okay, one more thing...bear with me. For those of you are saying, "Well, why'd you give a 6.5?!" 6.5 is a good score on my mental scale. 5 is "average." You see?

Good luck and good viewing.

 

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 

When my friend first told me about this, I knew it may take me a while to get used to it, as I felt it may remind me of books I have read etc.... but after a few episodes I was hooked, I couldn't stop watching it!

The animation was sooooooo well done and close to perfect :) 

The fighting scenes in this were so good and amazing.

The main characters were well thought about and developed really nice and I loved the fact it was the main guy that was weak, and couldn't really protect himself or others. The ((English)) voice actors were good enough for my standards and I felt they were perfect for the characters they were voicing. 

I loved that even though this is magic, romance and action etc... There were also some funny moments that made me giggle.

Overall I loved the concept of this Anime and I couldn't wait to watch Shakugan no Shana 2.

I tried. I went into this with an open mind and got 19 episodes in. The beginning was so promising, and I really wanted to know more about the whole item soul thing... But I can't get past how boring this show is to watch. Shana is ridiculous. The show gives her random powers that she only suddenly can know how to use even though she's already regarded as so fearsome... blah. It's clear the writers don't have a great grasp of a story and were just throwing things at the wall until something sticks. 

To be fair, some scenes were great. They sustained me until I got to ep 19. I really liked that skele dude, but I'm tired of sifting through bullshit tsundere and filler writing to get to the real canon story. 

If you like driven story with good action and well written humor, just don't bother. If you have nothing else to watch and you have nothing to do, give it a try. Maybe you will like it more than I did.