The Wizard of Oz? He doesn't have anything on us!!
Last week I spent three whole days watching nothing but Shakugan no Shana. And waiting for Megavideo to let me continue my Shana marathon. It was a good way to spend the week when my husband was away and I wasn’t allowed to play Pokémon just yet (probably why this post is a bit after the fact, Pokémon has taken over my life).
I blogged the first episode and my thoughts on how I thought things were going to turn out. Now it is time to talk about season 1 and 2 as a whole. And maybe the movie. DON’T SEE THE MOVIE! XD Or maybe just the second part of the movie.
This post will have spoilers. A lot of spoilers. And my honest opinion on the storylines, characters, and overall series. So if you have watched this series and want to read someone else’s take on it this post is for you. Or maybe if you are okay with totally spoiling a series for yourself to see if it’s worth watching at all. It is not for those who have not seen the series and want to be totally surprised.
You have been warned! XD
Credits for the screenies go to Random Curiosity and a random website that got lost in the shuffle. Also a bit sad that Random Curiosity is going to stop blogging but real life comes first. :(
Despite Shana's ability to cut you down she is super cute! Bring on the sweet treats!
Shana was exactly how I thought she was going to be during the first season. She was very cold towards Yuji and just saw him as a special Torch/Mystes. She didn’t seem to care about the other Torches that were going to die and saw them only as objects. But she warmed up to Yuji, a little faster than I thought she was going to. She wormed her way into Yuji’s life under the excuse she was just guarding the Hougu within him but soon she was hanging out with Yuji’s friends and becoming jealous of a certain girl. Being as she was raised a little differently than most girls so it was hard for her to recognize what she was feeling was love. She became stronger throughout the first season with her resolve to protect Yuji and by the last episode she was able to admit to Yuji she loved him. Season One Shana was great.
You better pick me after all we have gone through!
Season Two Shana took a major step back from all the progress she had made in Season One. Due to the powers that be Yuji did not hear Shana’s love confession. Because durp durp, what fun would it be without a love triangle/square for Season Two! How dare those Season One people not know that Shakugan no Shana was going to be beyond popular and they needed to make more material for Season Two. So Shana spent most of this season pissed off at Yuji and unable to express herself to him. Why I am not sure. She said it once why couldn’t she say it again? Especially with more competition around. X_X Everything Yuji did pissed her off and there were multiple misunderstandings. Season Two Shana was not as cool or awesome as Season One. It was nice seeing her smile and having fun but her focus wasn’t really on the mission but on how Yuji needed to love her.
Yuji was a bit different than I was expecting him to be. I thought his pity party would last a little longer than…5 minutes? But since he went into damage control right away with his classmate being a nearly dead Torch he didn’t have much me time. Yuji was more of a “gotta help people out” kind of guy. He did think about how weird it would be once he was gone but most of the focus was him trying to spend his time left wisely. Then when he found out he wasn’t ever going to disappear he decided to shift his focus on how he could help out Shana. Maybe Yuji should have shown his vulnerable side a little bit more but overall Season One Yuji was pretty great. A little dense when it comes to a girls and their feelings but pretty good.
Yeah....stop looking at her before you get killed...
Season Two Yuji had some ups and downs. He was very focus on training and becoming stronger. Which I liked. Maybe he got stronger a little faster than I thought he would be I am glad he wasn’t connect on being dead weight/the cheerleader. But Yuji sucked when it came to Kazumi and Konoe (Hecate). I When Kazumi confessed to Yuji he should have been honest with her instead of stringing her along. Yuji should not have trusted/protected Konoe to the extent he did. I am not blaming him for not knowing that Konoe was Hecate but he should have trusted Shana’s judgment more. I think that when Shana got made at Yuji for his reasons for wanting to leave town that was a bit iffy. I chalk that up to being a boy and usually saying the wrong things. But Yuji shined in the last episode. Without his powers he was able to help Shana out proving without his Hougu he is still a strong person. So Season Two Yuji grew in some areas but acted slow in others. Like a normal teenager.
Sucks to be you!
Kazumi was bleh in both seasons. She always felt like the sixth wheel and waste of space. XD But I suppose a series needs two love interests right? Whatever would we do if two people liked each other without someone on the sides plotting to destroy their happiness! That being said Kazumi sucked as a love rival. She never really had a chance, what with Shana and Yuji sharing something so special and life altering. I wish she would have backed off when she realized that she was never going to be a part of their world but then I would have hated her for being a giver upper. I don’t know why Khamsin choose her out of a city of people to do whatever it was she did but now Kazumi has a reason to be in the know. I doubt if she uses the Hougu that Pheles she will die. She might nearly die but she is far too important (not my opinion, just observing) to the series to kill off. Although I wish she would XD
I think he knows that something is up but doesn't know how to bring it up.
I feel bad for Ike. He and Ogata are the only ones out their little group that don’t know about the Torch/Guze world. I think Ike tries very hard to maintain his relationship with his friend despite them growing farther a part due to the world being in danger. I do wish he did a better job at trying to court Kazumi so she would be out of Yuji’s hair. Ike suffers from best friend during peaceful times syndrome. He will be left behind eventually and it is no one’s fault.
Ogata doesn’t have it quite as bad as Ike as Eita eventually chooses her. She does seem to know something is going on in her town but trusts things will work out. Perhaps part of her doesn’t want to dig any deeper as a way of protecting her own understanding of the world. But I found her to be a cheerful and fun character. She was necessary for the plot in my eyes.
Love is a funny thing...
Satou was a bit all over the place with me. According to Wiki his character was really changed from the manga to the anime so maybe that is why I have mixed feelings about him. I do think it was odd that Margery randomly picked two people getting beat up to be her henchmen. I myself would go with the stronger ones but that is just me. His one-sided rivalry with Yuji made no sense but that’s fine. At least Satou was trying to be useful to his drunken Flame Haze. It was weird watching him interact with all his other classmates as he did not seem the type to care about outings and stuff. But since apparently he was supposed to be more friendly in the manga that could explain the discrepancy. I do like how he was so affected when Margery left them and I am sure there is a love issue that will happen between the two of them in season two.
I support his decision. He is protecting what is most important to him the best he can.
Tanaka was a bit unnecessary at times. It was almost like he and Satou could have been one person and the results would have been the same. But who wants to skip school alone? It is good he had a friend. However in season two it became apparently why he was around. He was there to show us that not everyone is down for saving the world after learning the truth about Torches and stuff. He and Satou experienced the same events and yet both of them reacted differently to them. Satou choose to stay with Margery while Tanaka pulled back and wanted to go back and try to experience a normal life. It was understandable that after seeing Margery nearly kill his girl he wasn’t onboard the Margery train anymore but it is also understandable why Satou wanted to stay and help prevent that from happening again. Tanaka is necessary to show us that some people aren’t up for saving the world and that is perfectly okay.
Chigusa and Kantaro only exist to make Shana feel more a part of the family and to show Shana what it is like to be human. Chigusa was very harsh on her son at times but took a lot of crap from others which confused me. Also the confession after Chigusa reveals she is pregnant makes me go X_X. The fact that Yuji is a twin makes me wonder if the “real” Yuji didn’t die at birth as well and that Yuji has always been a Torch thus he has always been real. Also I wonder about the other baby and if somehow that fact won’t reveal itself later in the next season to be important.
Everyone's favorite drunk woohoo!
Margery was a bit hit and miss with me at times. But I realize most of the time she annoyed me was when she was being used for fanservice so that is a bit unfair. I wish she didn’t get drunk all the time but if I had a crappy past I might drink away my blues too. Margery is a little similar to Shana in the fact she doesn’t really care about humans/Torches as much as she cares about the Balance. And even then she was more concerned about killing the baddies and finding Silver. In the second season when she goes insane I think that was a bit much given how she had progressed during both seasons but again she has been put through a lot. She could have been more apologetic to Tanaka after she squished hid girlfriend though. I am glad she stayed in town even though this ruins the whole Flame Haze’s work alone deal. Naturally that means everyone gathers in the same place and somehow lives in peace.
Even though Wilhelmina hates her boyfriend she will never stop protecting Shana.
Wilhelmina was a bit harsh at times. Again that comes from the fact that she has been around for a long time and has become jaded to the plight of humans. They are not there to save lives, they are there to keep the balance in check. That being said she didn’t need to be that gunho about killing Yuji. I get that he is major danger but let’s work towards a solution that keeps people alive. But I guess killing him would be the easiest way to solve the problem right? I liked Wilhelmina’s funny antics and cooking disasters. A little more expression when she got the crap beat out of her would have been nice but meh.
I am still a little bit confused on what exactly the Crimson Lords were supposed to be. Are they baddies with a conscious or simply beings from the same world as the baddies who wish to work towards peace? Never could get whole was a monster and who was a Flame Haze down. This series wasn’t great at explaining things at times.
Alastor was annoying at times but I chalk that up to him being around forever and being harsh sometimes gets results. Save many at the expense of a few. His hatred towards Yuji is only kept at bay due to Shana. I don’t doubt for a second if he could he would off Yuji. Marchosias entertained me the entire way through. He snarked Margery when she deserved it and helped her out when she needed it. And dude he was a magic carpet! Tiamat who? Yeah she was boring. Nothing to see here.
This is the mood for most of Season two. Yay?
I think Season one was stronger than Season two. Season two was almost a set up for Season Three while Season one was made to be stand alone. Season two didn’t end with anything resolved except that Yuji might have picked Shana (if he understood what it meant to truly pick one of the girls). There was also more danger and to the point action in Season one than two. But it was nice to see the characters have fun in Season two and not worry every second of the day. Sometimes that was overshadowed by the Shana angry at Yuji for being a dumb boy plot though.
Creepiest baddies were the brother and sister team. They were making out all the time and looked like small children which made the incest factor even more X_X. They were also not flushed out well as characters. Like what were they after? Sorath wants a sword? Tiriel will help her brother get a sword even if that causes her death? Yeah they sucked as baddies.
Friagne was killed way too soon. I thought he was going to be a big part of the series and he was killed off by the 6th/7th episode. I think he had more potential than that. He had the bad guy thing down and I thought maybe there was a spark of hope in him. But he was smushed off rather easily. I wonder what happened to all the Hougu has had.
More of them next time please!
I think my favorite baddie from Season two was Pheles. That being said she wasn’t very bad. XD Funny how that works. I understand the reasoning behind her wanting to kill Yuji but she will be considered by the rest of the group to be a potential danger. I hope there is more of her later in Season three as she and Johan brought something fresh (briefly though) to the series.
Truly I will get everyone killed.
I am not considering the Bal Masque as they were all over the place and still baddies. Or maybe we still don’t know what they were up to and the events we have seen are tiny little pieces in their big plans. Hecate will probably be their downfall when that happens while Bel Peol will be killed without fanfare. More details are needed on these people before I make my final opinion about them
Overall I thought the art was great. I don’t remember thinking um, ew someone took the day off when it came to that scene. The music was also pretty spot on towards whatever mood they were trying to set at the time.
This series was not perfect for me but then again nothing ever is perfect. XD I do think that Season two could have been stronger had they actually been focusing on that season instead of how to milk more money from this franchise.
Shana has flame wings. The only way this series could reach more people is if there were mechas involved.
But the characters were pretty likeable, the plot (from what I could understand of it, stupid terms) made sense most of the time, and the silly antics were enjoyable. You could see where most of the characters were coming from most of the time so it was hard to categorize them as a baddie or a unfriendly comrade. They simply were themselves. I also think this series did a great job focusing on the emotional aspect of all the drama going on instead of just AWESOME FIGHT SCENES.
We have each other and that's all that matters.
In closing this series is for anyone and everyone. There is magic, hot girls, PLOT, romance, action, and real human emotions. Yes it takes a while for all the terms to make sense and at times you want to scream when characters make wrong decisions but overall the experience was very positive. Maybe not so much the movie which reminded me of Endless Eight. But I would recommend this series to anyone as it works well with all audiences. Shakugan no Shana was a great way to spend three days alone with no Pokémon! So if you find yourself bored anytime in the near future you should take the time and invest in this series. Shana and her crew are worth the time and effort.
Rating: 9/10.
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