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.
