Shakugan no Shana… I feel that this anime had an enormous amount of potential. With a story revolving around the competing ’existences’, i.e. Flame Hazes vs. Crimson Denizens, who reside on different planes of reality, the show hit’s the ground running with a really cool premise. Think about it, battles going on in an unseen world that you’ll never know about, yet the outcomes of which could and does effect your life in unimaginable ways. So much so that you could just be written out of existence! This was going to be the tragic fate of our protagonist, however, as it just so happens he’s not your everyday human. The story continues with his adventures trying to figure out his place now that this whole new unseen reality has been revealed to him. To me, that’s a goldmine of possibilities set up to work with.
Earning 4 points
However, the ending of this anime decides to throw all that in the garbage. Nearly the entirety of the last season is a mess of epic proportions. Instead of continuing with all the good things the first seasons had built up, the last season goes on its own into the wilderness of horrible endings. By introducing practically a whole new cast of characters, creating nonsensical plot drivers, and just plain ridiculous reasoning by the characters in terms of their decision making faculties, Shakugan no Shana goes out in a pyre of infamy. Frankly, I’m going to be watching it to appear on some top ten list of “Most Unexpected Anime Endings”, because I found it hard to swallow that something so good could become so bad.
Deduction: -1.5 points
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As for the dialogue and character development, I was quite pleased for the most part. The interactions and relationship between the protagonist and Shana were well executed and all in all, the characters were enjoyable. The romantic elements were handled to my liking, and, the protagonist does grow throughout the story as a character (as does Shana). There are some characters (especially towards the end) that are left high and dry in the character development department, but, all main characters have enough in my humble opinion to allow the story to progress relatively unhindered.
Earning 2 points
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Technicals are solid. I truly enjoyed the entire OST of this anime, the style and animation were good too. No complaints.
Earning 2 points
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Bonus points award goes to… having some really cool Flame Hazes out there! And some cool powers to come with them!
Earning 1 point.
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Add it all up and we have a score of 7.5! If you want my advice, just watch the first two seasons only, then let your imagination make up what’s going to happen next. It’ll be better that way. Trust me, if I had done that, this anime would have been an 8.5 easy.
As always, since I’m a critic, I’ll round down my score to a 7 because that’s just the way it goes. That way it’ll be better than expected when you watch it! Till next time
