Review -- Shakugan no Shana

For a show that started out so abysmally, I sure do love it. There's nothing all that special about Shakugan no Shana, but it's a nice kind of ordinary show. I like to think of it as comfort food.

My first impression of Shakugan no Shana was that it was another run-of-the-mill shonen series. The only reason I watched episode 2 was because of a plot point thrown out at the end of the episode--Yuji is actually dead. This intrigued me, and I watched again. Episode 2 was too much high school for my taste, but also caught my interest at the very end of the episode. Plus, if he's dead and going to disappear soon, how does this show keep going?

I continued to watch, and while it didn't pack a punch, it did pay off. Shakugan no Shana fit into most shonen tropes, but had little variations here and there that were enough to make for a good watch. Cool Big Sis antagonist showed up right on schedule in episode 4, but her partner was a very unique character, and in the form of a book, of all things. Cool Big Sis, Margery, has a decidedly stereotypical past, but has a unique relationship with a couple of Yuji's classmates, earning the "Big Sis" part of her TV trope. Yuji wants to learn how to fight partway through the series, but he never gets good enough to come close to being as useful as Shana or any other Flame Haze. The show stays decidedly in the genre mold, but there's a reason that mold exists. It works. The most unique concept is the nature of people in the series. Yuji himself is a "torch", a replacement for a person who's been killed. Allowing the person to disappear would upset the balance of the world, so whenever a denizen or rinne kills a person, a torch replaces them and it gradually disappears. Torches are not human. They are only things, a fact that Yuji, Shana, and most characters in the show struggle with. These struggles are not enough to overpower the standard fighting-comedy-romance-drama of the series, but add a nice flavor.

The characters are almost all likable, and that helps a lot. Yuji defines himself in episode 2 when he insists that both he and the Flaming Haired, Blazing Eyed hunter are not "only" a torch and a flame haze. Shana is a good fighter and witty right off the bat, and develops a more human side as the series wears on. Yuji, in turn, makes himself more useful, but is always in the realm of everyman that can be related to. Together, they make a good main character duo.

The supporting cast is fairly good. Margery and Marco, Eita and Keisaku, and Ogata are the best. Kazumi is just to make the love triangle, and Ike, though seeming to be important, eventually only exists to make it a love square. The aforementioned five make up for those two, but it would still be nice to have a less annoying love triangle.

The blond denizen siblings whose names I forget are some of the creepiest villains I've seen in a long while. Their distinctiveness is good for making the series stand out, but man, were they weird. Names are the most unique part of characters. All Flame Hazes and Crimson Denizens and Lords have unique names like "Flaming Haired, Blazing Eyed Hunter"; "Chanter of Elegies"; "Thousand Changes"; "Judge of Paradoxes". Those were pretty darned cool.

Animation is standard, except for the cool cinders effect on Shana's hair. That's a nice touch. Voice acting was fine in English. Wilhelmina's "indeed"s are not at all the meaning of her Japanese speech pattern, "de arimasu" (the full form of "desu", "to be"), but the only other way to translate it would to have her never speak in contractions, which wouldn't have the same effect because Japanese Wilhelmina uses "de arimasu" at the end of every sentence. I'm fine with the overused "indeed" translation. It's her name that I'm more annoyed by, the same way I dislike "Kallen" in Code Geass. There is an actual name "Wilhelmina", with an L, but it's translated as Wirhelmina, with an R. I also am not very fond of her voice, but I don't like her character AT ALL, so that's probably why. I can't entirely explain why I dislike her, but I do. The rest of the voice acting is good. Tabitha St. Germian nails Shana's "shut up, shut up, shut up!".

There's really not much else to say about Shakugan no Shana. Overall, a very average series, but in a good way. Not a show I would normally like, but since it followed bizarre shows like Durarara, Baccano!, and especially Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, anything looks good after season 3 of THAT, it was a nice change, and exactly what I wanted to watch. It may not be outstanding, but it's entertaining if you've got the time.

Rating: C+/B-

+ Good example of a shonen. Uses standard character tropes and plot devices, but does all the right things with them. Shana and Yuji make a good pair.

- Standard shonen-high-school-fighting-drama-romance-comedy. Doesn't really break the mold. Final villains need more introduction. Shana's backstory arc was obtrusive, too long, and left more questions than it answered. I hate Wilhelmina, Kazumi, and Ike.