Shakugan no Shana
Synopsis:
We all knew this was going to show up eventually. Yuji Sakai was expecting his regular everyday life to go on it's never ending path however on his way home from school he suddenly finds the entire world around him frozen in time. Yuji can still move about freely though which seems to have attracted the attention two monsters that are in the same stasis field as him one which looks like a gigantic ravenous baby and the other, an orb of faces. Before Yuji is consumed a sword wielding girl in a black outfit with firey red hair protects him and disposes of the monsters. She then explains to Yuji that she is a "Flame Haze" and it's her duty to hunt Tomogara which is what the monsters were called that attacked Yuji as they try to tip the balance of existence by consuming life that hasn't run it's course in attempt to gain power. The Flame Haze is puzzled by Yuji's ability to move within the time-stop (fuzetsu) and continues to tell Yuji that alot of people around him are already prematurely dead and have been replaced by "torches" that burn from existence to lessen the burden of death as they will be forgotten instead of torn from reality. Yuji learns that he to is a torch but a special kind called a "Mystes" but during his conversation with the Flame Haze, Yuji gets frustrated with being called an "it" and says his name is Yuji then asks for her name, with some reluctance she claims she doesn't have a name nor needs one. Yuji then dubs her Shana named after the sword she carries, Shana decides to stay and protect Yuji to find out why he is so different from other torches.
Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 24 + 1 OVA
Shakugan no Shana is hands down one of my favorite animes. From the fluid animation to the epic battles with a variety of unique enemies from mad scientists and shape shifters to insecticidal twins (creepy) and a cast of amazing characters to match, the telling of this story is remarkable. Every angle in the story is covered leaving no plot holes and questions that arise are answered through the unraveling of the overall story. The main story itself is stretched throughout all 24 episodes which leads to one epic finale that doesn't use quick solutions. The character development is quite deep as you'll learn everything from Shana's training to how she obtained her sword and learning about individuality to watching Yuji get fed up with being a spectator and trying to take part in battles through training and coming to terms with the fact that he's already dead.
This show has so much variety that I was hooked from the first episode. You have action, fantasy, intense story, fantastic animation, some drama and a little bit of romance is even thrown in which makes for one great adventure. I really can't recommend this series enough.
Recommendation: |Extremely High!|
*Note - Since Shana II was already reviewed, I figured I'd go grave dig season one... HUZZAH!!! Typos (hopefully) fixed. FUNimation went after this series since Geneon is DOA so grab it while you can and be careful. Hell, if they do a DVD box set on this I'd buy it... yeah, I liked it that much.
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Originally Posted by 1080p
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