Are you Fired Up?! The Anime Review for Shakugan no Shana is HERE!!!

Hi, readers. I've always wanted to do this review, REALLY wanted to do this. Yeah, a long story that leads to this post and now, here is it. FINALLY!!!!! You might ask, "Why took you so long to do this review if you really wanted to do it?" I would say, "One, it is a REALLY long one as it spans THREE SEASONS. Two, I found numerous anime to watch and review on way to finally review this anime."

The two identities of Shana...

NOW, I would like to finish this post before Chinese New Year and post it during Chinese New Year Eve. Then, I will be taking a short break from this blog. OK, enough of the background stories for this blog post, let's not waste our time. Let the story begins...

The classic Shana Urusai...

WARNING:-
SPOILER ALERT!!! If you haven't watched it and plan to watch it without anyone being the spoiler, please DON'T CONTINUE READING!!!

P.S. If you want to be spoiled, well, go ahead and read it. You have been warned.

Shakugan no Shana!!!

灼眼のシャナ!!!

灼眼のシャナ II Second!!!

灼眼のシャナ III Final!!!

So here it comes...one of my favourite anime. This post will be A ONE-SHOT THREE SEASON ANIME REVIEWING TIME!!! OK, let's get started!!! Before that, I would like to mention that this anime is an adaption of a 26 volume Japanese light novel series under Dengeki Bunko, written by Yashichiro Takahashi with illustrations by Noizi Ito. As for the anime, the animation is done by J.C.Staff. Of course, there are many other parties involved BUT I'm only gonna mention the prominent ones. OK, now, let's START!!!

The light novel cover of the FIRST volume

The first season starts with an ordinary high school student, who will be our main character for the rest of our lives...JUST JOKING! Come on! This high school student is a boy named Sakai Yuji. When he is walking back home, he is thrown into the middle of an age-old conflict between the inhabitants of the Crimson Realm, which is a parallel universe to the human world. Oh yeah, the inhabitants of the Crimson Realm are collectively known as the Crimson Denizen. To cut the long story short, he encounters a red-haired girl wielding a katana and fights the incoming monster. This girl calls herself a Flame Haze, tells him that he died some time ago and he is NOW a Torch, a human with greatly diminished Power of Existence that will slowly run out. AND, AND...he was also being told that he is a Mystes, a special kind of Torch who contains a Treasure Tool, a magical object created by Denizens that can provide special abilities or even Powers of Unrestraint (in Japanese,自在法), which is basically powerful magic spells.

Yuji normal life...

A Rinne...swallowing up Power of Existence

Shana

WOW...that was a lot of information. It is gonna be quite a ride...so hold on tight. After that revelation, he was shocked obviously BUT the weird thing is the fact that he is unfazed by his apparent death and the fact that the girl has NO name!!! What?! Anyway, he befriends her and names her "Shana" after her sword, which is named Nietono no Shana (贄殿遮那, lit. Vairocana of the Offering Room). Soon enough, they discover the Treasure Tool that Yuji holds, the Reiji Maigo (零時迷子, lit. Midnight Lost Child), which restores his Power of Existence every night at midnight. Oh yeah, BTW, Flame Haze is a human being that is contracted with a Crimson Lord, whose duty is to maintain world balance by destroying any Denizens disrupting it. Sorry for the WHOLE LOAD of terminology. It requires you to know a WHOLE LOAD of the terminology of its universe. You will learn and get used to them as you continue watching it (or reading it, well, in case you are reading the light novel)

Yuji shocked while Shana and Alastor are talking...

The unnamed Flame Haze was named...Shana

With that, Yuji starts a completely different life from that day onwards with the encounter with several other Flame Haze such as Margery Daw and Wilhelmina Carmel, and Denizens in Misaki City and a Denizen organisation called Bal Masqué, which is led by three Lords called the Trinity: Hecate, Sydonay, and Bel Peol. They serve a Crimson God who is known as the Snake of the Festival (in Japanese, 祭礼の蛇), who was trapped by the Flame Haze inside a realm between two worlds in a VERY LONG TIME AGO. BTW, they discover that Yuji possesses the Reiji Maigo and attempt to use it on two separate occasions to bring back their master, which had occurred during Season 1 and Season 2.

Margery Daw

Wilhelmina

Bal Masque's trinity. BTW, this screenshot is from season 3.

Well, season 2 is pretty much a continuation after Shana used her hidden skill, Tenpa Josai (天破壌砕, lit. Heaven Destruction Earth Break) together with Sakai Yuji. Well, we were told Yuji and Shana are supposed to die BUT well, they survived as Shana is able to host Alastor full form and Yuji has the anti flame ring with him. So, well, they continue their daily lives fighting the Denizens that disrupts the balance of the world and the Bal Masqué. Of course, they DO. BTW, same old same BUT it ends with a cliffhanger, which I will talk about in the next paragraph. One more thing, one of the characters that they fought was a SUPER OP character, Sabrac. You can see his picture in the screenshot section.

Shana and Yuji fighting together...

OK, here comes Season 3. This season is VERY different from the previous season. There is a TWIST to the WHOLE story. Well, this story continues RIGHT after Yuji's disappearance RIGHT after an incident surrounding Reiji Maigo AGAIN... And then, all of a sudden, Yuji reappear again all of the sudden. Well, that's a story between him and the Snake of the Festival. To cut the long story short, he had contracted with the Snake of the Festival and merges its consciousness with Yuji's conscious. He starts to assume the command over Bal Masqué, and together they formulate an elaborate plan to create a parallel world called Xanadu, which will serve as a paradise for Denizens with unlimited Power of Existence. Shana, together with the other Flame Haze around the world opposes of the creation of Xanadu as they are afraid that it would cause a large-scale disruption in ALL OF THE UNIVERSE.

Yuji disappeared...

Shana and Yoshida are watching Yuji's disappearance...

Yuji reappeared...this time as Shana's adversary

Well, THAT is a LONG story. So, let cut the story short...to save time. In the end, Xanadu was created with a single law, that is the Denizens are not allowed to eat humans anymore. Then, the Snake of Festival frees Yuji from their contract and leaves his body to leave for Xanadu, together with Bel Peol. It's then followed by Sydonay death in a fight with Margery Daw AND Yuji losing to Shana in a fight. After that, Yuji accepts Shana's feelings and the two of them kissed each other, activating a spell left to Yuji by Crimson Lord Lamia that restores his existence so that Yuji is no longer a Torch. With the help of another spell from Lamia, Yuji successfully restores all humans in Misaki City whose existence was absorbed by the Denizens before he and Shana depart for Xanadu together.

Snake of Festival 'break' free from his contract with Yuji

Shana and Yuji go to Xanadu together...aw...

Well, the end...I might spoil a little bit too much. Never mind, I left A LOT of missing pieces for you to watch this whole series yourself. Anyways, there is definitely NO MORE next season for this anime. Why? The light novel had finished and the anime finished at that exact point where the light novel ended. So..oh yeah, I've forgotten to mention about the OVA, Shakugan no Shana S. Well, there is a Shakugan no Shana-tan series, which is basically random scenes from the Shakugan no Shana series with a twist than an actual story so I won't discuss it. Oh yeah, it seemed that there are a lot more than OVAs than I thought BUT I will focus one of the OVA, that is Shakugan no Shana S. Shana S is just basically some extra events (and it occurred during the first season) in the first 2 episodes and a story prior to Yuji's meeting with Shana in the last 2 episodes.

Shana blushing...so cute!!!

Shana tracing back a torch's past

This anime is worth the watch BUT there is a catch. For many, season 3 is difficult to comprehend and a bad season, as the main character suddenly changes sides and opposes the Flame Haze. As for me, it was a good twist to give it a proper ending. Although it was hard for me to comprehend Yuji's motivation at first, I got to understand after some time to know that ultimately Yuji is driven by love. To me, love is unselfish and at times requires sacrifices, even at times to be the 'bad guy'. He is trying to find a way out for Shana, which indirectly also trying to end the ancient dispute between the Flame Haze and Crimson Denizens. I understand that it is not easy to comprehend BUT that doesn't mean that season is bad! Sorry, for the long post, here is the usual 'service', the screenshots and the PV.

Finally, they kiss!!! TOOK THEM LONG ENOUGH!

Screenshots

Season 1

Margery Daw vs Shana

Yuji meeting the corpse retriever, Lamis.

Sydonay with Sorath and Tiriel

Shana contracting with Alastor and becomes the Flame Haze

The fountain of existence

Shana's hidden skill, Tenpa Josai

Season 2

Mare, the Crimson Denizen that traps Shana, Yuji and Yoshida in a dream.

Konoe's attachment to Yuji...shown by Konoe grabbing Yuji's shirt

Yuri Chvojka died during a fight between Sydonay and Margery Daw.

Crimson Lord Pheles and Johann kissing...

Zarovee...another bad guy.

Sabrac...the MOST OP character in the WHOLE SERIES.

Season 3

Yuji and Shana meet again. This time as adversaries. BTW, this angle is much better, ain't it?

Shana was taken by Yuji after being defeated.

The divine gate that leads to the Snake of Festival's true body.

Xanadu, the denizens' paradise, in its egg form.

The stairway to Xanadu

Justus, Pheles and Johann's child.