Ranked #943

Shakugan no Shana Movie

The best way to describe this movie is as an enhanced recap, its summarises the events of the first Shana novel/ the manga/ the first of arc of the anime with a few extras added here and there.

The story of Shana is a beacon of originality in a sea of cliches and genericness that make up the majority of the action genre. It explores coming to terms with the unimaginable and the value of human life. This freshness of the plot grabs the viewer's attention and the removal of the somewhat lame love interest in the anime only improves the experience. The story moves quickly and is very well paced, the film's eighty seven minute lifespan flies by as a consequence.

As expected from Shana, the animation is really top notch, beautiful backgrounds, awesome effects during the fighting scenes and excellent character designs from Noizi Ito. It'd be nice to see some of the other characters from the series make an appearance (characters who were clearly present at this point in the overall story) but it cant be helped due to the restrictions of the movie format and in fairness the characters are who are present, are done so majestically. It's also good to see the movie having superior animation to the TV series, unlike other movie adaptations such as Azumanga Daioh and Clannad.

The audio experience is also of the highest quality, as to be be expected of Shana, with none other than Ko Otani (provider of the music for the Shadow of the Colossus videogame) providing the musical score here, the music is dramatic and really helps to build up an atmosphere. The use of the insert song "Akai Namida" (performed by Mami Kawada) is a masterstroke and it really lets the viewer sypathize with the situation. The ending theme "Tenjou wo Kakeru Monotachi" by Love Planet Five showcases the talents of the members of I've Sound who are so often providing for the Shana franchise. It's a real treat as the credits roll. Voice acting is very solid, each character retains their seiyuu from the anime, giving the same high quality delivery of lines.

The characters in the movie are something of a double edged sword, the mains Shana and Yuji remain pretty much the same as their anime incarnations, not a bad thing at all. Friagne gets a LOT added to his character, he's represented as a genuine threat rather than an eccentric who is soon overshadowed and forgotton due to other villains. His character is really fleshed out and he's a lot more likeable as a character than his incarnation in the anime series. Unfortunately some of the other characters are completely unnecessary, Yoshida Kazumi and Margery Daw in particular, the movie format doesnt allow Kazumi's storyline to develop and Margery comes across a lot weaker than she is in the anime, plus her personality has been changed somewhat.

Nevertheless, this a very enjoyable movie, the unique concept of the plot keeps viewer interest then treats them to some awe-inspring fight scenes, with a particularly impressive final battle. Certainly one of the better recap films out there, though it is adviseable you try and watch it before checking out the anime/managa/novel because prior knowledge makes it a tad predictable. read more

If you have seen the Shakugan no Shana series then you have probably seen this movie and maybe thought to yourself...wait i've seen this before right?

Story: This movie was basically a remixed version of the first 6 episodes of the first season. Since it has to be compressed to 90 minutes or so, it was obvious it would not feel as great as the original series, but they still managed to get all important point across. The later minutes of the movie however, had the most alterations and where IMO the most enjoyable ones from the movie.

Art: Movies always tend to have a higher animation value than regular series and its no different here. Shana`s flaming hair and her eyes were absolutely gorgeous to look at and every character was very well drawn and animated, the later fighting scenes were REALLY well drawn...I already mentioned this but Shana in flame haze mode was really stunning, the animation quality matched that of Kyoto's IMO.

Sound: Its used most of the original series soundtrack and since I love that soundtrack i did not mind listening it again, they did add some extra movie only onces and they were great to listen too. 9/10 seems about right for this.

Character: Like I mentioned before, compressing 6 episodes into 90 minutes takes its toll also on the character development. It was well done but the series does it better (of course).

Enjoyment: I really liked this movie mainly because of the final minutes where the biggest changes were made, and its obvious since without them it would have been the same thing as rewatching something you've already seen before.

Overall this movie has some superb animation with some solid story and great sound, all fans of Shana should not miss this. read more