Shakugan No Shana Second

Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dum-dumb

In my noble quest to summarize the shows I’m blogging in as concise a way possible, there is no show that could possibly foil me as effectively as this one.

shana.jpg

Episode Blog Posts

Story

OK… no really, I’m gonna do this.

So there are these bad cats right, called Tomogara, and they eat human souls, causing them to disappear as if they never existed. But then there are these sorta good cats called Flame Haze, and they run around killing Tomogara and replacing the lost souls with substitute “torches,” so the disappearance is gradual and doesn’t cause some sort of reality warping… or something. The people still disappear. I don’t see the point. Flame Haze carry their bosses around with them as an object like a necklace or book.

Here’s where it gets “good.”

Some torches, called Mystes, carry around objects which I think are called Houges inside their empty shells that cause them to have powers in some cases. There’s one in particular called the Reiji Maigo that is apparently pretty sweet, and a group of especially bad Tomogaras called Balle Masque are after it. It lets the bearer use up all his torch’s power of existence, but replenishes nightly at midnight.

It seems so simple (retarded, even) when you boil it down, but there are about 124 terms and 47 main characters required for full enjoyment of this train wreck.

Characters

shana_yuji.jpgYuji Sakai
He’s a good kid, if unremarkable — your typical mop-headed protagonist — but one day he finds out he’s already dead. Somehow he entices a Flame Haze to hang out long enough until she realizes he’s got the Reiji Maigo inside him. By the time Second rolls around, Yuji has the Reiji Maigo, a guy called Johan, a mysterious non-Tomogara creature called the Silver, some binding spells, and God knows what else in his skinny chest. Good news is, somewhere midway through the season, he figured out he could convert all that angst into magical power, so now (as of episode 18) he’s training.

shana_shana.jpgShana, The Red-Haired Hunter or Some Shit
A Flame Haze and the definition of tsundere, not to mention slightly too young-looking to be in Yuji’s high school but she hangs out there nonetheless in order to protect him and creep the rest of us out. She carries a flaming sword and wears her boss, Alastor, around her neck as a pendant. Shana is predictably having a hard time coming to terms with the human emotions that she’s experiencing. Even more predictably, these feelings revolve around Yuji.

shana_kazumi.jpgKazumi Yoshida
Oh, Kazumi. A shallow action series’ concession to moe, she is but a normal big-breasted, self-esteem-lacking high school girl who is hopelessly infatuated with Yuji. She’s in the midst of a lukewarm love triangle with Shana, although Yuji (understandably) seems to be too worried about the multiple supernatural forces trying to kill him to care. She was given a Houge by Pheles (the creator of the Reiji Maigo) that can call her to wreck shit in order to save Yuji, but it will kill Kazumi to use it. Hence, I am constantly begging her to kill herself. Everything else you need to know can be summed up in a single stereotype: she makes good bentos.

shana_margery.jpgMargery Daw, the Interpreter of Condolence
Both Flame Haze and Tomogara have ridiculous names. It’s actually part of the fun. Margery is an American booze-hound (really? Go fucking figure, Japan) who’s in the Flame Haze game strictly for revenge on a creature called the Silver. It might be a Tomogara, some disagree, but one thing’s for sure: it’s inside the Reiji Maigo, so she’s sticking around. She has two henchmen from Yuji’s school, Satou and Tanaka. Her King of Guze is Marcosias, the Claw of Something or another, who appears as a book and gives her funny pet names. Margery and Marco can sometimes make a worthless episode (of which there are many) worth watching.

shana_wilhelmina.jpgWilhelmina Carmel, the Manipulator of Objects (”Ribbons” in the dub)
Fulfilling the Maid Fetish role for no fucking reason, she is the Flame Haze who trained Shana. Her King of Guze is Tiamat, the ribbon in her hair, whose dour attitude and single-word dialog lines tend to be either funny or annoying.

Hit or Miss.

Sort of like that. Anyway. Wilhelmina has bizarre speech patterns and has gone tsundere herself, in a weird milfy sort of way.

shana_satou.jpgSatou and Tanaka
Margery’s henchmen. Satou feels constantly inadequate compared to Yuji’s powers, though he’s an actual human with a real life and not a torch. He wants to work at Outlaw, the information center for Flame Haze. Tanaka, however, has quit the henchman game as of Second Episode 17. See, when, Margery’s insane wrath of revenge destroyed half the school, Tanaka saw the object of his affection, the cute and sprightly Ogata, brutally killed. So after Wilhelmina repaired the world, he dropped out of the Flame Hazing game and decided to date Ogata instead. Good for him.

Bal Masque
Three bad kids, the big guys on the Tomogara block. Sydonay, the Thousand Changes looks like an 80s cop show villain, but changes into a big monster. Hecate the Supreme Throne is basically an empty vessel who got a taste of experience from Yuji. During Second, she sent a vessel to Earth to collect experiences as a human. Bel Peol, the Arbiter of Paradox, is a three-eyed (but inexplicably eye-patched) woman who seems to run the show.

Dangers of Watching

  • Does not compare at all favorably to the first series
  • Painfully slow to develop and heavy on filler
  • Changes OPs every few episodes, each one shittier than the last
  • Two words: Kazumi Yoshida

Benefits of Watching

  • When there is action, it’s fun and often creative
  • Capable animation from JC Staff (Azumanga Daioh) that won’t offend your modern sensibilities
  • Margery!

In Short

This is a humongous time investment at this point for a payoff that you probably won’t find to be worth it. Initially, I thought the balance of stilted high school romance and rapid-fire action was well done, but Shana has devolved into a regular Shonen action sink with, ironically, not much action to speak of. But over time I’ve grown artificially attached to these ever-weakening characters, and I just can’t stop now.

Update as of Episode 24: If you’re into Shana at all already, the last few episodes of the season will really kick your ass. Great action, lots of fun. If you’re not, be prepared to skip a few episodes in the early-middle of Second and things will seem a lot faster and more fun.