Shameful Otaku Secret!

Everlasting Love

In spite of SNS’s often predictable storylines, or the way it tends to pile on incomprehensible lingo and convoluted lists of characters to make things artificially less clichéd, I keep giving the show credit — mostly for its believable characters and their realistic choices given the situations in which they’re placed. But the show is starting to burn its karma faster than it ever could with just some panning up to the sky (shades of Haruhi), thanks to the giant crack in its character-driven solidity: Kazumi.

Is love blind, or just retarded?

Don’t get me wrong: there are plenty of shy-human vs. magical-girl love triangles less involving or believable than this. And I (usually) enjoy the weird truce that Shana and Kazumi have going on. But the realism of most of the characters’ actions is exactly what gets the show in trouble here.

While the stilted, awkward anime-style non-romance in most shows like this is motivated strictly by “we’re a Japanese show,” “main character is a little thick,” or “just for the sake of drawing it out to the last episode,” I have zero problems believing Yuji’s lack of romantic awareness here. Let’s take a tally. There’s Pheles (who I really want to be Phyllis when I hear it, but the subbers disagree), the Silver, Hecate’s seal, Johan, Balle Masque, and Margery Daw’s murderous will to vengeance on the Silver, all living inside the Reiji Maigo. Any of those could kill him at any moment if it weren’t for the fact that he’s essentially already dead. I can one hundred percent forgive him for lacking the motivation to hug puppies and make out with Kazumi all day.

So her near-constant whingeing is really starting to chap my ass. Oooh, I’ll never be as close to him as Shana. Ooooh, if I want to participate in this deadly supernatural world and be of any benefit to Yuji I’ll have to kill myself using this Hougu from Pheles. There are things in this world that bigger breasts just cannot compete with, and magical powers or a big sword that help keep your would-be boyfriend alive… I think that’d do it.

The sad part is her transformation from ultra-shy to a little more confident in the first series was really winning. It didn’t seem to win over Yuji, no. But it was exemplary of just how decent these writers are at developing their characters, even through situations that are really silly at times. Sort of like how Margery went from the obligatory American drunkard to a scarred Flame Haze with a buried human soul somewhere underneath. Now is the time that I really hope they’re going to whip out one of their trademark little surprises that make me go “hey, now that’s real nice.” Because the show’s been in a holding pattern for a little while.

Recap?

In other news, Satou and Tanaka never really appeared to get over Margery’s berzerker rage. Tanaka has taken a sieze-the-moment approach by getting together in earnest with Ogata and mostly staying away from Satou’s house. Satou is still running errands for Margery, but he’s real sulky about it. I’d be surprised if something major wasn’t planned for him before too long.

Everyone’s forgotten Konoe, the vessel sent by Hecate to collect human experience. That makes Kazumi sad as well, and while that’s probably supposed to make us like her even more for her naive and unquestioning sense of caring, it just makes me think she grasps the weight of the situation even less than before. The final scene, however, has Hecate seeing a bird and contemplating it. Have her experiences as Konoe softened her? Is she now a wild card?

And Yuji, he’s stepping up to the plate to swing Blutsauger, the massive sword that Tanaka and Satou used to spend their days trying to lift. And watching him practice with it, Kazumi — about to throw the Hougu into the river — almost seems to get the selfish futility of her endless whine. But swordplay takes a backseat to paperwork when Wilhelmina makes him sort through endless useless reports from the Outlaw.

Yuji’s dad leaves again, to go… what the hell does that guy do anyway?

And what’s more…

If the horrendous new opening (they just don’t seem to get any better…) serves no other purpose, it at least seems to show us a lot of action that should be in store very soon. If I recall, the first series absolutely exploded at episode 17, culminating with the Seeking Researcher saying “Wow! This is really starting to get exciting!” or something humorously self-aware like that. Either 17 or 18 saw Kazumi declare her love, and apparently 20-some-odd episodes of non-reciprocation aren’t enough to deter her.

I’m ready for the explosion of rapid plot development, big action, and crazy realizations that marked the last series around now. Are we going to get them? I’m cautiously optimistic, but this show has a way of doing the unexpected just when I’m about to give up on it, so you can bet that I’ll at least be watching.

- otou-san out!

This entry was posted on Monday, February 4th, 2008 at 8:55 am and is filed under Shakugan No Shana, drama, fantasy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.