Ranked #422

Shakugan no Shana III (Final)

Relationships cannot exist without bumps along the road. There are always conflicting viewpoints between two individuals and it would not be a healthy relationship should both parties agree with each other every single time.

Shakugan no Shana III, the long awaited third and final season of Shakugan no Shana, has finally made its way into light. After a cliffhanger ending from Shakugan no Shana II, SnS III picks up some time after the cliffhanger and presents the audience some shocking details that have the possibility to make or break the conclusion to this beloved anime series.

The huge shift of Sakai Yuji's disappearance takes a toll on the romantic aspect of the story. In fact, it runs all through the season. No mushy lovey-dovey moments between Shana and Yuji that would be expected from the first two seasons. There are very few "urasai, urasai, urasai!" moments and the ones that exist do not resemble those of the previous seasons. The changes made to the story have deeply changed the relationship between the flame haze and the torch, and to some fans, it may be too much.

Not all is lost with the romance of the story, however; it simply took a different form. The conflicting views of a new world between Yuji and Shana separate the two, each unable to find a compromise. Shana yearns to discover Yuji's motives behind his actions while Yuji refrains from spilling the beans, claiming it is for the future of him and Shana.

While it sounds like the basis of the story would expand much further, it sadly does not. Shana having her most important person as an enemy is quite an intriguing situation, but it is crushed by the lack of common sense within the quarrel. Shana and Yuji go back and forth, with Yuji leaving Shana and the audience in the dark as to what is really going on. It's a disappointing flaw in the story, as the grounds of the plot had so much more potential to branch out. Instead, SnS III presents viewers a overly-complicated, unnecessarily dramatic lover's quarrel.

The reason why this story of love is so poorly executed is due to the fact that there is simply too much trying to go on all at once. There are a significant amount of new supporting characters as well as the return of a majority of the older supporting roles. Many of these supporting roles have intents that add spin to the already complicated storyline. There are numerous loose ends in the story, many of which go unsolved at the end. While the new cast is somewhat appealing, the focus on Shana and Yuji greatly overshadows the new crew which cuts the character development to a "hey, here's a new character; enjoy!" kind of deal.

The older cast proves to have developed more, but the time gap and little explanation other than a few scenes of recap make the changes a little shaky. Shana herself has become more powerful, able to use her flame haze powers to spawn wings, a giant fiery hand, and other flame tactics. It is said that Shana went through rigorous training to prepare for the return of the infamous Sakai Yuji. Speaking of which, Sakai Yuji has taken a new role as a villain, and a trashy one at that. It seems as if the old, incapable Yuji has grown a pair and comes up with an absurd idea that the world now is not cutting it. It truly is aggravating to watch these two dispute, and the ulterior motives of Yuji carry many degrees of ignorance.

The animation of SnS III is about as good as SnS I and II. The visuals and fight scenes (which were severely lackluster compared to Shana I and II) maintained a fluid and clear presentation. The details such as Shana's flames remain just like they did in the past. While the art and animation was nice, the big problem with this is that this season did not do a good job on capitalizing it. The season was dialogue-heavy and the dialogue was painfully boring. The fight scenes were few and not as suspenseful or long as Shana's previous feats.

Despite these glaring flaws, the music of SnS III does not disappoint. The excellent performances of Kotoko and Kawada Mami bring some nostalgic feeling to this foreign-feeling season. The OST remains constant to the previous seasons which still suits the mood well. The voice actors also brought their A-game this time around, showing a wide array of vocal range to differentiate the huge cast of supporting roles a bit better.

While SnS III's score was a delight, it is not something that can save the plot's execution. The notion of two lovers wanting to be together but holding their own pride between them is a probable situation, but completely irritating the way Shana III went about it. Throughout the whole season I was questioning the point of Yuji's motives while still holding hope that the explanation would be an acceptable one.

It wasn't.

The new face of Yuji does not mask the idiocy he already had within him. The excuse for Shana and Yuji to be together was one that simply could not cut it.

This final season of Shana III was not a very enjoyable one. There were too many irritants within the grand scheme of things that distracts from the great Shana fans have come to know and love. This whole season seemed very foreign when compared to the first two seasons. It's as if this season was all a dream. Many things were lacking or gone while many new things came into play. It certainly was a new world for Shana and co. and I can't exactly say I liked it.

The attempt to go very deep into a story was very possible for 24 episodes yet the writers refrained from adding the most crucial step: an explanation. Watching Yuji and Shana's plans unfold becomes dull and dry too quickly when viewers are left in the dark. A similar feeling would be watching a movie in a foreign language with no subtitles or ways to make out what the actors are saying other than through body language.

Shakugan no Shana III has finally made its course. It had a great pile of potential but that pile was sadly trampled on. Explanations to the vast number of changes could have easily been gifted, but they were held out until the very end. Shakugan no Shana III had multiple things going for it, but there were too many bumps along the road to bear. read more

First time writing a review, and it is for Shakugan no Shana III. Quite unexpected, but here we go! Will edit after watching more episodes.

Shakugan no Shana basically follows Sakai Yuuji, who met the Flame Haze Shana and learned that he's merely a Torch, a replacement of his former living self. He still possesses a power known as the "Reiji Maigo", which renews his power of existence every night. Along with fellow Flame Hazes, Yuuji and Shana continue their fight against Bal Masqué, a group of Crimson Denizens who aren’t concerned about the balance in the human world and wants to use the Reiji Maigo to disrupt it.

I had expected the third season to be resolving the love triangle first between Kazumi, Shana and Yuuji, since the last episode of the 2nd season clearly indicated that Yuuji had chosen Shana. Instead it starts off with a cold opening, with a newly changed "Yuuji" fighting against Shana with a cold smile on his face. Yuuji is now the leader of Bal Masqué, being a host.

Meanwhile in the real world Yuuji seems to have disappeared. Not even his friends remember him anymore except for Shana, Kazumi, and company. Starting to search for him, Shana believes that he is still alive.

It seems that this season will be mostly about Shana vs. Yuuji, which is making me really excited as I’ve never come across a plot twist this crazy before. Having shown that Yuuji has “turned evil” made me wonder how it will affect the others, especially Shana. How will Shana be able to turn her sword on the one she loves? The denizens also seemed to become more powerful than ever, making it even more difficult for the Flame Hazes even though Shana is also progressing in her powers. This will definitely be a tough challenge for her.

The art and animation was great. When Shana first appeared I was blown away at how beautiful her flaming red hair was. Yuuji also had a new character design, which would explain why I didn't even recognize him at first. With his long hair and armor, he somehow looks like a Chinese emperor.

I love the OP by Kotoko. It has a really nice rock beat, although I was also expecting Mami Kawada to sing it. Ryo from Supercell did the lyrics though, and it had awesome animations along with it, so I’m not complaining at all.

Shakugan no Shana III is off on a great start, with a mega plot twist that is no longer a spoiler. I have high hopes for this show!


Feedback is greatly appreciated, thanks! :)
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