Story & Characters

STORY SECTION:

The story,overall,was fantastic and this is probably some what an understatement.The Anime is filled with a load of terms like "Fuzetsu","Crimson Lords/King of Guze","Flame Hazes","Torch/Mystes' and more but the good thing is,their easy enough to understand since their being repeated several times through out the Anime.

Genre: Action,Romance,School.

Terms Dictionary:

Power of Existence: This is what keeps the humans alive and is the very embodiment of their existence.Once it runs out,all traces of that particular person will be wiped out,as though they have never lived in the first place.However,those who are non-human can remember those who "died".

Flame Haze: These are a special group of solitary warriors who hunt Tomogaras to balance the world's...balance.They are always contracted to a King of Guze.Flame Hazes are also said to be hostile towards each other at times.

Fuzetsu: Flame Hazes uses this as a "barrier" around their area before combat.Everything damaged within the Fuzetsu can be repaired,even lives (As long as their not eaten) but it requires a certain amount of Power of Existence depending on the damage.No normal humans nor normal Torches can move inside the Fuzetsu unless their given special equipment or Hougu.

King of Guze/Crimson Lord : These are special Tomogaras who intends on balancing the world of humans and Guze.They,unlike normal Tomogaras,hold great power.

Tomogara: They eat on the power of existence of humans to gain power or to survive.However,not all Tomogaras are evil and Tomogaras tend to look alot like Flame Haze and Humans.

Rinne: Their the servants of Tomogaras and they cannot survive without their Masters.They often collect Power of Existence for their Masters.

Trinity: A group of Tomogaras who hold great powers and their the main villains.

Mystes/Mistess : Their basically Torches with Hougu in them.

Hougu : A special object in Torches that holds great power or value.They teleport away when their host burns out but Yuji proved to be an exception...

Reiji Maigo : An object that regains power of existence once every midnight.There are many mysteries and secrets around this object.After a sequence of events,it continuously create the Power of Existence and no longer Yuji have to wait for Midnight for his energy to be recharged.

Torch: Humans who have been eaten by Tomogaras will be replaced by Torches which act as a "shock-absorber" so that the Humans around them would not suddenly notice some one vanishing and all.They will burn out one day.

World of Guze: The world parallel to the world of the humans.The two worlds need to be balanced so that both worlds will not fall into peril.The World is also described as "it is next to the human world but of which they cannot trespass." It is the job of Flame Hazes to balance these two worlds.The actions of Tomogaras usually upset this balance.

Characters: (For the sake of spoilers and all,I will only introduce Characters that appear often)

Sakai Yuji: Well,your typical saintly male.To put it straight,he places others before him.He have a very strong sense of responsibility and is very open-minded about things.He is also quite positive but also reserved.However,unlike your typical main character,his incapable of combat at first.However,he still proved to be an asset due to his strategic mind and quick thinking and saving the heroes with his skills in perception.He laters learns how to fight so he could defend himself and others as well.

Shana: She is cold and views all Torches as "objects" at first.However,after being with Yuji with quite some time,she slowly opens up.She proves to have a good character.However,she tends to abuse Yuji even after she became more "human" verbally and ocasionally,physically.Shana also uses a "nodachi" by the name Nieto no Shana,of which Yuji named her after since she doesn't have a name and is typically called by other Flame Hazes like herself as "Flaming Haired Burning Eyed Hunter".She also have a great liking of Melon Breads/Melon Pan.Just in case your interested,Melon Bread is a cheap and easy to come by bread that tastes sweet but it does not actually taste like a Melon.

Alastor: A seemingly harmless pendant that Shana wears.However,it contains the soul of a very powerful Crimson Lord/King of Guze by the name of Alastor.Like Shana,he can be quite cold towards Yuji (At first) .

Wilheminia Carmel : She's the guardian of Shana and she wears a maid uniform.She,too,have a very cold attitude but she actually cares alot about Shana.She uses bandages as a weapon of some sort.Either using it as a whip or composing them together to use as a weapon,which means she have multiple combat styles.She also carries a camping bag where ever she goes in the early part of the Anime and it is full of unexpected stuff. (Side Note: Despite wearing a Maid Uniform,she's a terrible cook)

Tiamet : The Contractor of Wilheminia (A King of Guze in short).She speaks hardly more than necessary and in fact,she hardly talks at all.She comes in the form of a tiara (Not really a tiara but something that maids wear on their head.I don't know the name of it however)

Margery Daw : A foreigner who came from the US.She is a battle freak and occasionaly crossed swords (Well,not swords really) with Shana when she first met her.After coming to Japan and after a certain sequence of events,she befriends the heroes and became an valuable ally.She is also adept in using ranged attacks but she can also transform into a bear-like Esper for melee combat.She also have a terrible past and she's actually much much older than she looks.She is also a drunkard.

Marco : The Contractor of Margery Daw.He takes the form of a Book and can often be used as a transport for Margery.He is often been subdued to his Contractor's abuse (Margery just love whacking him....hard,when he gets mouthy) but the dual are actually quite close to each other.He is actually quite mouthy at times and knows not when to shut up,which annoys Margery.

Keisaku : A normal Human.He is a delinquent but after meeting Margery,he started growing up and have a stronger sense of responsibility.He is also a good friend of Eita and later,Yuji and the rest of the heroes.He also occasionaly helps out the gang after a certain sequence of events... (Note:He is a rich kid as well but he turned out to be a delinquent since his parents doesn't care much for him)

Eita: A friend of Keisaku but he turns out to be much warmer and friendlier.Along with Keisaku,they decided to follow Margery Daw and both of them treated her as a subsitute parent of some sort.The two of them received a special talisman from Margery so they can move inside the Fuzetsu.

Kazumi: At first,she have no idea on what's going on but after a sequence of events,she too,joined the company.However,she doesn't actually contribute to any of the battles. (Even Keisaku and Eita is doing something!) Both her and Shana share a same sort of feeling towards Yuji...

Matake: A tomboyish girl and is one of those who have no idea on what's going on.

Hayato: He also have no idea on what's going on.He is also a top student and a good friend of Yuji.He also tends to turn out to be the comic relief of the Anime due to his motion sickness (Well,he pukes whenever his in...say,from a vehicle to a roller coaster)

Chigusa: Yuji's Mother.Kindly and warm,she provides valuable life lessons to the heroes.

Kentaro: Yuji's Father.He sometimes act eccentricaly but he is also a great source of comfort and lessons regarding life.

Sydonay: He appears as an middle aged old man.His actually a Tomogara who is capable of shape-shifting and is one of the Trinity.He also acts as a bodyguard as an interest.

Bel Peol: Another Tomogara and the strategist of Trinity.She uses a whip for combat and have 3 eyes.One of them is covered by an eye patch.

Hecate: The most innocent villain ever...and I'm not joking.Unlike most villains who are crazy or with "I want to destroy all" sort of attitude.She is actually quite soft spoken.She is also incredibly powerful,shooting lasers from her staff like a machine gun or something.She is actually more dangerous than she looks.

Dantalion: A Tomogara also known as the Seeking Reasearcher.He have a very eccentric personality and for the sake of "science" he did a bunch of things for Trinity.

Rating: 8

Art

Art Review:

Well,I don't have much to say for this...except...

The characters are highly detailed and the flames are awesome :D I also like how Shana goes into her "combat" mode where her hair turns red and there are flickers of flame around her and all.There is no sign of "laziness" in the artwork either,every thing is drawn to the finest detail.In short,their pleasent to the eyes.

Rating: 9

Sound

Sound Review:

Voices:
Overall,the voices fit the characters' personality well.

Music:
The Opening of each Season is awesome :D The Ending was good as well but the music in between (When the Anime is playing and all) is kinda below standards if you actually listened hard.They didn't make any form of music to fit the scenes well and all but...who needs it :P Most of the time you'll be too engrossed on the scenes to notice anything.Most of the Openings are Pop but the First Opening of Shakugan no Shana II is rock (light rock + pop).Of course,the music often received mixed reactions so you might not like some of it.

Rating: 8

Presentation

Review Presentation:

Overall,it's fairly enjoyable.Season I is action packed but Season II is 50% talking.There isn't much humour content either though it does occur once in a while.The love affair of Shana,Yuji and Kazumi drags on for quite a long time that it got on my nerves (Well,if your a Harem lover you'd probably not be as annoyed as me.But it's not really Harem.) There isn't much school stuff either.Most of it is Action and Romance and a bit of Slice of Life.However,it is definitely one of the best Anime I seen yet.

Enjoy Shakugan no Shana I & II :D *End of Review*

Rating: 8

Final Verdict

8.17 (good)

Reviewed by z827, 13wk 0d ago

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