Shakugan no Shana

The world has become a slaughtering ground for the Crimson Denizens, mysterious beings from a parallel universe who thrive on the life energy of humans. These merciless murderers only leave behind scant remainders of souls called "Torches," which are mere residues that will eventually be destroyed, along with the very fact of the victims' existence from the minds of the living. In an ambitious endeavor to put an end to this invisible, hungry massacre, warriors called Flame Hazes relentlessly fight these monsters.

One fateful day, Yuuji Sakai ceases to be a regular high schooler—he becomes trapped in a crevice of time and is suddenly attacked by a Denizen. Coming to his rescue just in the nick of time is a nameless hunter who seems no different from an ordinary young girl except for her blazing eyes and burning crimson hair. However, before Yuuji can learn anything more about his situation, he discovers that he has already been reduced to a Torch—merely a scrap of memory waiting to be extinguished.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Shana Main

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Sakai, Yuuji Main

Hino, Satoshi Japanese

Yoshida, Kazumi Main

Kawasumi, Ayako Japanese

Carmel, Wilhelmina ing

Itou, Shizuka Japanese

Hecate ing

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Daw, Margery ing

Nabatame, Hitomi Japanese

Nbh'w, Khamsin ing

Minagawa, Junko Japanese

Alastor ing

Ebara, Masashi Japanese

Marchosias ing

Iwata, Mitsuo Japanese

Satou, Keisaku ing

Nojima, Kenji Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Nakayama, Nobuhiro Producer

Kawase, Kouhei Producer

Miki, Kazuma Producer

Reviews

Sep 25, 2008

KaminaKai

Recommended

"You are not a human. You are an object."

If you were told the above, what would your reaction be? Sakai Yuji, the male protagonist of Shakugan no Shana, was thrown precisely into this chaotic situation one day while walking home from school. At the same time, viewers were introduced to the main theme of the anime. What if no one will ever your existence in this world. Being dead is one thing, but if everything about you will be erased from this world when you die (that includes people's memory of you), the thought alone could be terrifying to many.

While at first glance Shakugan ... no Shana may seem like just another anime with the protagonist being thrown into a world he never thought existed. It really make itself standout from the rest if for no other reason than the spectacular introduction to the theme of the story. The story develop itself rather slowly midway through the series as the viewers were taken back in time for some background learning that lead us to understand certain characters better (more on that in the character section). Overall there was no rush to the story as events unfold themselves in a very elegant and comprehensive manner.

It should, however, be noted that since this is just an introductory season to the Shana saga (there is a season 2 to Shakugan no Shana and there will most likely be more in the future), not a lot of questions were answered ... but many were raised and leave people in confusion at the end.

Though it can't be considered a masterpiece in animation, it is in fact still pretty top notch, especially the battle effects (flames for example, were animated in great detail and looked very awesome). If there's anything to complain about, it would be the over-sized eyes on most characters. But once that's accepted, everything else about the animation should not hurt your eyes.

While the OP were very catchy, I didn't quite like the ED much (personal taste). Sound tracks were great as they match well with the intended scenes, some can even help drive your emotion a bit. In addition, the seiyu are quite famous:
Shana voiced by Rie Kugimiya whose famous for her role in Full Metal Alchemist as Alphonse Elric, Nena Trinity in Gundam 00, and Louise Françoise in Zero no Tsukaima. Kazumi Yoshida voiced by Ayako Kawasumi who voiced in Fate/stay night as Saber, Kanokon as Chizuru Minamoto, and Otoha Sakurano in Sky Girls.
Shakugan no Shana also stars Hitomi Nabatame, Shizuka Itou, Mamiko Noto, and many many more talented voice actors/actresses.

Characters are what make this anime shine like a star. Due to the "non-rushing" nature of the show, each character (even the ing casts) present their own background history and overtime we get to know their personality more and their "behind thoughts". This result in a very real and believable group of fantastically designed characters (both in of the "realism" and the "looks"). Definitely not something you see often in anime these days. The drawback is that some viewers may find it boring or made the stalled the story development.

While not quite a masterpiece level anime, Shakugan no Shana is still a show that is very successful in every single aspect. Personally, this show started out quite a bit like Busou Renkin and Bleach (while others say it is similar to Fate/stay night), but it ultimately delivered a much stronger impression on me than the ones mentioned.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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May 26, 2008

Bluesnow

Mixed Feelings

Shakugan no shana... An anime with alot of potential that overall felt like alot of regurgitated shounen/romance anime was a bit of a let down. The predictable uninspired story line, repetitiveness, cheesy humor, and mediocre character development left alot to be desired and is far from a masterpiece that is popularity would make you believe it is.

Story line:
The initial introduction of the story really got my hopes up; basically about a normal boy who gets pulled into a bizarre battle only to find after words he no longer really exists, and that his entire being will slowly fade away and be forgotten by ... all of his loved ones. While discovering mysterious powers of his own he is emersed into into the world of magic and battles along with the cute but stubborn Red haired girl Shana who fights off those that threaten humanity.

Despite having an interesting few episodes the plot it stale. It moves very slowly and is predictable for the most part. The anime could have easily been done in half the episodes they took. The battles slowly become tedious along with the story. Also the cheesy romance that develops made it almost unbearable to watch after a certain point. If I were to describe the enjoyment of the story line most of the middle episodes drop down to a 4-5 nearly killing the series...

Art:
It was... acceptable. As far as most main stream shows go the art was OK... but it was overall mediocre. It also feels very deceiving that the ments and Opening theme for the series has such beautiful animation because its really not that great overall. Some of the battle scenes were well done though.
Character animation wise the most attention is given to Shana; and they do a very good job with her. The rest of the characters on the other hand are uncreative and boring. The main character specifically lacks any real attracting traits that would set him apart from a side character...

Sound:
Opening and ending songs are pretty good, I especially enjoyed the first ending theme Yowake Umare Kuru Shoujo. The music in show overall was acceptable, but nothing really stands out about it.

Character:
The two main characters... try imagining Saber and Shirou from fate/stay night as middle schoolers and that should give you an idea; Although Shana is much more vocally stubborn that Saber ever was.
Shana is the predictable Tsundere character~ The stubborn easily ticked, but deep down shy emotional girl. Her character development is interesting since she doesn't really understand basic human interaction very well...
Yuji also is the predictable week but good hearted normal kid, who grows up to be more dependable courageous guy.
Perhaps what killed the character development was when they attempted to throw in romance... its just didn't work for this plot because of their age... and it split what the story really should have focused on.
There are actually alot of other characters in the story... but their development is mediocre or nonexistent...

Enjoyment/Overall
I don't really have much else to say about this series other than It was actually painful to put myself through the torture of watching this entire series; and I think anime fans that are looking for something deep, a moving story line, and/or epic battles will be very disappointed unless they have very low standards.

The reason its gets overall higher scores is because it was made for a large viewing audience~ incorporating humor, action, Romance, magical/fantasy and slice of life. They say the Jack of all trades is master of none, and this anime proves this point.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jan 4, 2012

ktulu007

Not Recommended

Shakugan no Shana started out as a light novel series written by Takahashi Yashichiro. It's been very successful, inspiring a radio drama, manga, anime, video game, and a movie. The question then becomes whether it's worthy of the hype, fails to meet it or is just over-rated tripe. I don't have time to look at everything related to Shakugan no Shana, so I'm just going to watch the first of the TV anime.

The story involves a young man named Sakai Yuji who comes to a frightening discovery when time stops around him and monsters appear and begin consuming people. He's saved by a girl with ... a sword who goes through a long exposition dump revealing that there are monsters called Tomogara who consume existence and she's a guardian of some sort called a Flame Haze. She fights the Tomogara and creates torches to act as a sort of buffer to gradually drain the existence of those eaten by the Tomogara and then disappear and be forgotten. Yuji soon learns that he's immune to the time stopping effect because he's a special kind of torch with a treasure inside. The concept could be interesting, but the execution is horrendous. Everything moves ridiculously slowly. The anime could be ten episodes long, at most, and lose nothing but it's twenty four episodes. That's fourteen episodes of filler and pointless padding. It makes the whole anime really boring and tedious to watch. That isn't the only issue. The dialogue is stilted, there are multiple plot holes and the characters all have competence levels that change substantially based on the power of plot contrivance. The fight scenes aren't even good since there's just a lot of padded build up and then they end really quickly. I will grant that the ending suits the series well since it's also incredibly stupid.

If the filler and padding were used for character development it wouldn't be filler or padding. The characters are just annoying. They're all complete and utter one-dimensional twits. The only character who develops at all is Shana who keeps accumulating obnoxious traits. She starts out as a typical tsundere. Then she becomes a typical tsundere and creepily co-dependent. If Yuji had any sense he'd get a restraining order at that point, but since he's dumber than a brick that doesn't happen. Then she adds whiny to the list and officially becomes one of the most annoying, unsympathetic characters ever written.

The art is lazy. The backgrounds are very undetailed and the characters are very plain. Sometimes their lips don't even move while they're talking. If the art is good for anything it's that it's so dull it makes a good sleep aid.They throw in fan service with the main protagonist randomly, which is disturbing since she looks to be about twelve and you get unnecessary scenes of her in the bath.

The voice acting is bad. Most of the voice actors are type cast and none of them seem to be putting any effort into their performances. Which is either really bad directing or actor apathy. The music is the best part of the anime and it's just stock and mediocre.

The yuri factor is a 1/10. The female characters rarely talk to each other except about guys. Seriously, this may be the only anime I've seen with a female protagonist and several female ing characters that fails the Bechdel test in all but a couple episodes.

My final rating for Shakugan no Shana is a 2/10. It's terrible. The characters are what really kill it. If they were better written it might just be a dreadfully dull anime, but they're so insipid and obnoxious that it becomes a real chore to watch. I can only recommend it to those people who are dreadfully dull or looking for a quick insomnia remedy.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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