Shakugan No Shana

[Raptor Jesus]

Little girl + Big sword + FLAMES = Win.

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NOTE: This introduction is essentially a spoiler for the first half of the first episode, although, the show itself shows a mini-spoiler of what happens in this time frame, so it's more like I'm explaining that first 3 minute spoiler the show has. Nothing ultimately important is spoiled. Oh wait, telling you that is in itself a spoiler about the spoiler which was spoiled, so you got spoiled and so suck it up and watch this show.
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Sakai Yuji is your everyday average high school freshman. But one day, on his way home, the world around him freezes. People are turned into blue flames and get devoured by two monsters. The monsters soon notice Yuji is still moving despite time being frozen and grab him.

Just as he's about to be eaten, the monster's arm is cut down by a a mysterious girl in a black coat. With crimson eyes, flaming hair, and a sword almost as large as she is tall, she defeats the two rampaging monsters. But one changes to the form of a woman and Yuji tries to stop the girl's finishing blow. Instead, the woman reaches into Yuji's body, but is stopped when the girl cleaves him, essentially cutting the woman as well and driving her away.

With himself split open, he panics, but the girl restores him, the damaged world around them, and the people. He demands an explanation. She tells him the truth- the real Sakai Yuji is dead and he is merely his replacement called a Torch, the last remnants of the original. Those who were just eaten were also turned into Torches and were put in place to act as a 'shock-absorber' for the world balance and that eventually his time will run out and they will cease to exist altogether.

[Talon87]

Oh wait, telling you that is in itself a spoiler about the spoiler which was spoiled, so you got spoiled and so suck it up and watch this show.
Not if I've already seen the first episode before you it doesn't. :roll: Paraphrased,

Loki: I play Arrogant Egotist!
Talon: Activate Trap Card -- Windbag Jammer!

As for Shana, I watched the first episode and the first five minutes of the second episode months ago. Then I put it down because it looked a lot less worth my time (at the time) than either Kanon or Geass. Kanon remains kickass in my book (more on that later), and the jury's still out on Geass, but as for SnS, I intend to give it a second try some time in the next few months. Probably after I read Book 1 which comes out next month. :mrgreen: If the entire anime is based off of that one book, then, well, suck. :o But if it's based off Books 1 & 2 (which I is what I think I remember hearing), then loving or hating the book should be a good indicator for loving or hating the series.

This is possibly a stupid question for as big a Shana fanatic as Loki's become, but ... Loki, have you seen Shakugan no Shana-tan? There are three omakes that should be watched at various points in the show, or so I'm told. You can easily find them on YouTube if you didn't torrent them.

[Raptor Jesus]

I found the first Shakugan No Shana-tan; I didn't know there was more then one. It's pretty silly and cute, especially when Shana-tan does something horrible to Yuji.

I do know that there is another omake special episode (not Shan-tan) that happens somewhere in the middle. That one is pretty much for jokes, as it has nothing to do with the main story.

[Talon87]

I should clarify. I've been told that there are three omakes. I've been told this because I have Shakugan no Shana-tan #2 and was told, "That's the 2nd omake."

So ... you may be right that not all of the omakes are Shana-tan, but I'm pretty confident the one in the middle is Shana-tan #1 because mine (Shana-tan #2) was made when the series wrapped up, and Shana-tan #3 only came out recently (in the past few months or so). So I'm told. Could be being told (or remembering) wrong.

[Raptor Jesus]

Thus far I have found:

Shakugan no Shana Special- Yuji & Friends go to a temple and hot springs. Gay jokes and talks of love abound. It's set somewhere around episode 13.
Shakugan no Shana-tan- Chibi-Shana does stuff. Not part of the story at all.
Shakugan no Shana-tan 2: Return of Shana-tan- More Chibi-Shana stuff. Not part of the story at all.

All the Shana-tan jokes are self-references so it's quite amusing.

I did see another possible Shana-tan video, but it wasn't fansubed nor was it labeled in English, so I don't know if it was or not.

[Doppleganger]

Shana is/was a great show; I had a good time watching it, primarily because the music was great and the atmosphere was simply stunning (that is, there's no souls or life after death, just "existence", which is as fragile as a candle in the wind). Yuuji is inherently tragic but his plot-nerfed stupidity sort of annoyed me a LOT; like Emiya Shirou he starts getting training under his female counterpart, but shows off less awesome in the show than Shirou (WELL, technically Yuuji picking up that huge-arse sword was more impressive than Shirou's cheap arse broken skills, but I'm counting Archer as well >.>).

The weakest part of all anime like this seems to be the middle stretch, episodes 14~18. Shana's flashback felt forced, though it was interesting. Once Talon watches this in full I've got a hillarious picture to show him. The ending of this show sucked, though.

I think I gave it an 8.6 when I first saw it, which holds while most of my other shows fell down ranks as I watch more anime. Shana really is a worth-while title.

Loki, have you seen FSN and Ouran? If so, watch Zero no Tsukaima immediately (if you would)!

[Raptor Jesus]

I might watch Zero. You need to remember I'm still on the 'classic connection speed'-56k. So unless someone gives it to me, it won't be seen by me for a while.

Anyway, I always felt the whole 'torch' situation to be very frightening simply because you won't be remembered. Like death isn't scary enough, but after you die, there is no legacy you leave behind, you just vanish.

[Raptor Jesus]

40% off sale on Geneon (http://www.discountanimedvd.com/product_list_category.asp?cate=3036) means 40% off Shakugan no Shana ^^!

That makes it $18 a DVD, which isn't horribly bad since Geneon is known to be expensive in general. I'll likely be buying them really soon.

Novel in Stock TODAY! (http://www.discountanimedvd.com/detail.asp?dvdno=24414&cateName=Shakugan+no+Shana)

Awesome.

[Talon87]

The book came out really early! It's not due out until April 17th, last I checked. Man. Now I'm a bit miffed. :) By the time I get my hands on a copy through Borders, you'll have already read it!

[Raptor Jesus]

lol. Distributors and stores tend to have things in stock early, but don't sell it until the release date. This site likes to say, "Screw release dates, let's sell-sell-sell!"

But sometimes they also receive stuff late, but that's a much rarer and usually depends on what company. i.e. Del Rey is a bit slow to send to them sometimes, but Viz is usually early.

[Doppleganger]

As soon as my libraries get this the pirate in me is going to come out and spread the love. Illegally. If you know what I mean.

[Talon87]

Are you kidding me? :lol: :P It's $10. Don't be such a cheapskate and help to send the message to Viz, "YES! 8O WE WANT MORE LIKE THIS! WE WANT MORE LIGHT NOVELS IN ENGLISH! :D 8O :D"

(Notice the happy look of the smilies after the criticism, though. I am amused at the fact that you're going to do what could be such a major donation to the English-speaking anime community. It makes me smile to realize what a prime mover you could become. And yet, pfft, somebody like Loki has probably already beaten you to it. :lol: )

[Doppleganger]

Are you kidding me? :lol: :P It's $10. Don't be such a cheapskate and help to send the message to Viz, "YES! 8O WE WANT MORE LIKE THIS! WE WANT MORE LIGHT NOVELS IN ENGLISH! :D 8O :D"


It's not about being cheap, it's about my feud with VIZ Media and how I despise virtually everything they do nowadays. Once I can find a programmer and get a blog/website going, I'll be able to finally dump all of my annoyances into coherent passages, but until then it's just seething hatred illuminating a choice few paragraphs.


(Notice the happy look of the smilies after the criticism, though. I am amused at the fact that you're going to do what could be such a major donation to the English-speaking anime community. It makes me smile to realize what a prime mover you could become. And yet, pfft, somebody like Loki has probably already beaten you to it. :lol: )


Normally I'd be against the spread of VIZ translations (not because it's illegal, but because their stuff sucks) but this case IS special because Shana is one of the few novels people care about that hasn't been picked up by groups like at BT. There shouldn't be anything exceptionally new in this volume, but it'll be a fun diversion nonetheless.

I'll see if I can get a leg-up at a Border's on Friday.

[Raptor Jesus]

Jeez Dopple, do you hate something/someone in everything?

[big bad birtha]

Speaking of illegal actions, the movie is coming in Jap. theatres this month isn't it? If it is, I'd greatly appreciate info to when I can go and download that som' bitch.

[Doppleganger]

Jeez Dopple, do you hate something/someone in everything?


I'm really anal about corporate privilege/discrimination, for moral and rationale reasons; any company with a parent in Japan is guilty of this to some degree, but VIZ Media reigns king among those companies and so it earns my ire most of all. That's one of the reasons I'm so interested in anti-trust legislation.

At that, I don't really hate Wendee Lee, Johnny Yong Bosch or Crispin Freeman, but I DO hate their fanbases and the club good they are part of.

[Raptor Jesus]

[attachment=0:2242b]Shana no Yuutsu!.jpg[/attachment:2242b]
This made me laugh.

[Raptor Jesus]

So anyway, double-posting and all, I read the first chapter of the Shakugan No Shana novel and there are some differences. Mostly in character's personalities, but for the most part there's small thing. I skimmed the rest cuz I don't want to stop reading Three Kingdoms, and I'll probably get to actually reading it later on, but it seems like it's a more extended version of the show's first arc that includes Frigane and Marianne and such.

Thus far it's an okay read. It seems a bit wordy for a book, but I guess suppose that's how modern novels are supposed to be.

[Talon87]

^ NOT A MANGA. :roll: ;)

[Raptor Jesus]

Thanks for pointing out the fact that I said NOVEL not GRAPHIC NOVEL[b] or [b]MANGA.

[Talon87]

No shit you said "novel." And then you complained that it had "lots of big words." :roll: :lol: :P Fail.

[Raptor Jesus]

No shit you said "novel." And then you complained that it had "lots of big words." :roll: :lol: :P Fail.

No. I said it was WORDY. As in, they said it in one sentence, but then continued with useless texts about the same thing the first sentence finished.

And I said, "but that's how novels are," so shut your face.

[Doppleganger]

I listened to the new OP of the second season, will watch episode one.

OP fails hard, one of the worst of the year. So generic and underwhelming, it does nothing for the series at all. =/

The "mysticism" of the first two OPs is totally lost.

[Raptor Jesus]

Pfft. It's epic. And insulting Shana in this thread will not be tolerated.

[big bad birtha]

I thought the OP for SnS II was the best of the three OPs. It had the intensity that the others needed, but somewhat lacked. I just wish the second season itself was that intense and action-packed. All it has been so far is a bunch of drama, and with Clannad, Ef ~ a tale of memories, Da Capo II, and Myself;Yourself, I was hoping for a nice action title to somewhat balance it out. Here's to hoping that it picks up in the next few episodes.

[Doppleganger]

It's epic.

...

I thought the OP for SnS II was the best of the three OPs. It had the intensity that the others needed, but somewhat lacked. I just wish the second season itself was that intense and action-packed.

We seem to be at an impasse, so let me clarify.

I consider the OP's song to be a let-down, probably the worst since Geass' second. The OP's animation/look is great, none of the lower budget that that first season was subjected to is evident, though there are copiously more spoilers in SII's OP.

[big bad birtha]

Umm...I'm talking about the song too ^_^; However, don't put it on the same level as Geass OP 2. God that was difficult on the ears (that high pitched dude/girl almost killed my hearing).

You can stab at the ED all you want though (I liked the song, but the animations were the same manga inserts over and over again).

EDIT: I don't know if it's a guy or girl. The song is kind of vague in my head.

[Doppleganger]

I actually love the ED, not as good as the very first ED but far better than the second.

Not sure why people like that song, maybe that just didn't like the first two OP's? I though they fit the mood of the series rather well, and said so in my long-lost original review of Shana back in April 2006. There's nothing distinctive, let alone "epic" or "action-packed" about the third OP, as I said it's just a generic hard rock song, which isn't even appropriate for this kind of show that pools a lot of elements from fantasy lore, gothic victorian and Japanese tragedy.

As much as I like Maximum the Hormone, it was like putting "Ningen Fudger" as the second OP to Death Note. Totally unfit for the series, I'll be glad to see it go.

[big bad birtha]

I actually love the ED, not as good as the very first ED but far better than the second.

You mean the visuals for it? I just saw it as four manga images used over and over again. I liked the song for it

There's nothing distinctive, let alone "epic" or "action-packed" about the third OP, as I said it's just a generic hard rock song, which isn't even appropriate for this kind of show that pools a lot of elements from fantasy lore, gothic victorian and Japanese tragedy.

If you liked the animations, I don't see much reason to hate the song other than disliking that genre. I mean, the song and the animations fit together perfectly. Also it might not fit the fantasy part, but the song is appropriate for "Little girl kicks ass".

[Raptor Jesus]

bbb[/b]]the song is appropriate for "Little girl kicks ass".
Agreed.