So chances are, if you're a senior reading this, you're probably taking AP Literature, which most people complain is a pain in the ass. Especially since recently, AP Lit students would have to read and analyze a book called Beloved, the main target of "fuck you's" and "suck my dick's". Why? Well from what I understand, the book's confusing as all hell. Different metaphors and symbolism make this book virtually impossible to read, unless you're in a group.
Now why the hell am I talking about this? Well, as much as I'd hate to say it, the level of confusion generated from reading a copy of Beloved very nearly matches the amount of confusion that results in watching Shakugan No Shana.
Don't get me wrong, I didn't say it was a bad series, unless your idea of bad is confusing. I will admit it's hard to get into and stay into for the first few episodes.
So what's all this? Shakugan No Shana has 2 seasons, which I'm going to combine into one review. Both are around 26 episodes and the 2nd season is pretty much a continuation of the first, which just makes it a super long story.
Oh, by the way, I might stop doing character roll call, because the character descriptions and plot description overlap which makes stuff redundant. So let's just jump into the story.
Sakai Yuji is a normal boy. Or so he thinks. On his way home from school, he is entrapped in a space frozen in time and dislocated from the rest of the world. And then a monster appears and starts eating all the humans in sight. While everyone is frozen in the space, Yuji is still able to move around, but he still doesn't, because, of course, he's scared out of his ass. The monster notices that he isn't like the other humans and begins to attack him, and now he's really fucked up the ass...until...BAM. A red haired and red eyed girl with a blazing sword cuts off the monsters arm and gives it what for.
Ok pause right here. See why it's so difficult to get into at first? If you were already at this point in the anime, you'd most definitely be like WTF. And it doesn't help that they throw out some weird words like, Flame Haze, Tomogara, and Rinne. But I'll get to those as they come by. Back to the story.
So this girl rips apart this monster, which is called a Rinne. The girl is called a Flame Haze, and the job of the Flame Haze is to keep order in the world by stopping any Tomogara from disrupting anything. Tomogara disrupt the world order by consuming "power of existence." Power of existence is what allows humans to exist in the world. If a human's power of existence gets eaten, they no longer exist, and anything that ever had to do with them also vanishes, leaving behind no clue that they ever walked the earth. However, this causes a lot of disruption so the job of the Flame Haze is to replace the dead humans with replacements called Torches. Torches are fake humans that replace the dead ones and gradually fizzle out and don't exist. This minimizes the chaos caused.
Wait that wasn't story, that was explanation. HERE'S the story.
So after the girl rips apart the monster, she explains all of what I just explained to Yuji. And then she drops the bomb: she tells Yuji that his real body was eaten long ago by Tomogara and he is a Torch himself. He can't believe that he was really dead. However, the Flame Haze seems to be indifferent about it. Alarmed and upset, he tells her that this is a huge deal to him, but she doesn't care. All she cares about is her job as a Flame Haze. Yuji asks for her name, but she claimed that a person who's "just" a Flame Haze doesn't need a name. Yuji, desperate to prove that he is real names her Shana so she doesn't have to be "just" a Flame Haze. In the same way, he vowed to live for the rest of his life to prove that he wasn't "just" a Torch.
So that's pretty much what happens in the beginning. There are a WHOLE lot of more concepts to grasp in this anime, and that may turn some people off. But stick it through and you'll find that Shakugan No Shana delivers a whole bunch of entertaining story.
Even though I gave you a basic plot, the actual story of Shakugan No Shana and Shakugan No Shana Second is even more complicated than that. For one thing, it makes use of the story-arc style. In most short animes like this, there would just be one main storyline and that would be it. Instead, it adapts the style of animes like One Piece, Naruto, and other on-going anime series. There is no one main enemy, but each story arc introduces a new villain and the character's tactics to defeat him/her. But in between this story-arc style storyline, there is one main storyline that takes place at school and at home. This is the drama that Yuji faces in his life involving his friend Yoshida Kazumi and Shana. Both Yoshida and Shana fight each other for Yuji's love. It's the most stereotypical idea in modern animes, but it's surprisingly interesting to watch because it just makes you wonder, which one of them will Yuji choose?
I know I didn't introduce a whole lot of characters, but there is a very big character list for this series. Sigh...ok next time I'll include a character roll call, because this review is very lacking in a character descrption. But I'm too lazy to change it for this one :D
For an anime that's classified as action, fantasy, and romance, it actually satisfies in all three areas. The complexity of the plot just ties in all of these elements into one package. It just really amazes me how there's such a perfect balance of these things.
Oh and by the way, the opening and ending songs rock your face off.
Did I miss anything? I'm not sure. It's been a while since I've reviewed anime but I'm gonna change that. Overall, both series were very original and stunning in their design and I'm gonna have to give this one high marks. Cuz it deserves it. But only give it a watch if you really have the time, as it takes a while to get used to all these weird ideas thrown at you.
Storyline: 9/10
Characters: 8/10
Art/Animation: 7/10
Uniqueness: 10/10
Overall: 8.5/10
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