First Impressions / Shakugan no Shana

Summary:

In telling the story of Yuri to Keisaku and Eita, Margery asks them what they would do if they were Flames Hazes who had been told not to follow her, but she was in danger. The two aren’t entirely sure, so Margery continues her story. Back then, she had faced off against Annaberg at the Empire State Building and had turned into her werewolf form. Annaberg’s special characteristic was that he used steam to obscure presence, and he traded places with Sydonay who was waiting at the top of the building. In response to Sydonay joining the fray, Margery multiplied her werewolf form and counterattacks. Sydonay dived towards Annaberg before the explosion went off, and afterwards, Annaberg launched into a speech about the acceleration of civilization and the power of it that changes the world. Margery had then heard Yuri warn her, but she turned around too late and got slashed through her shoulder by Sydonay. Yuri had been communicating with her from outside the fuuzetsu via a moth, but Sydonay promptly destroyed it. Knowing that Margery was in trouble, Yuri summoned all the moths in the city to mix with his flame and surrounded himself with a giant mass of energy.

Having reverted back to her human form because of her injury, Margery was about to be finished off by Sydonay when Yuri suddenly flew in and cut Sydonay in half. This didn’t stop Sydonay though, so Margery chased him while Yuri attacked Annaberg. Valac had warned Yuri that he couldn’t keep this up for long because of the extreme power consumption, but Yuri nevertheless found this wonderful and thought about all the people he could save with it. When Annaberg tried to shoot him in an air battle, Yuri turned around and met Annaberg head-on, destroying the Tomogara with his power. Afterwards, Valac urged Yuri to leave Sydonay to Margery because he had run out of power, but he went anyway. Margery and Sydonay had reached a bit of a standoff, and Sydonay was feeling that there was no point in continuing this since Annaberg was dead. Both of them notice Yuri approaching, and Marchosias proposed a pincer attack to Margery, but he noted that it would require her to risk her life. Margery knew that she couldn’t do that until she got revenge on the Tomogara from her past, and she watched as Sydonay cut through Yuri. Sydonay followed this up with an energy blast, so Margery fired one too, and the combination vaporized Yuri, leaving only his glasses behind. After that battle, Margery had visited East Edge to give him the glasses, and she had reflected on how she didn’t hesitate.

Back in the present, Marchosias explains that if Yuri hadn’t come, Margery and Sydonay would have continued fighting until one of them died. It was thanks to Yuri that they were able to bring a halt to the battle. Yuuji meanwhile is still training and eventually succeeds in creating a fuuzetsu. However, Shana and Alastor are shocked to see that the color of Yuuji’s flame is silver – the same silver that Margery vows to kill no matter who or what gets sacrificed.

Preview:

I guess the ultimate lesson in all this is that Margery will stop at nothing until she has her revenge, no matter what she has to do. I’m glad that they immediately made that relevant by having Yuuji’s flame be silver because now we know that some sort of showdown is probably coming when Margery finds out. It’s not clear yet though whether the silver is an indicator that Yuuji holds what Margery is after or if the color is just a coincidence. Regardless, I imagine some big things will probably happen now.

Having said that, next week doesn’t seem to be a direct continuation of this cliffhanger (if you could call it that). It appears to be about the return of Yuuji’s father instead, which is interesting in its own right, but it remains to be seen if he plays a significant part in the story or is only there for moral support. Unfortunately, the preview indicates that there’ll be an animation quality drop, but given how good these past couple of episodes have looked with all the battles, that’s not too surprising.

33 Comments

  6. .. Yuuji has a father? 😉

    Man, the return of the long-missing male contributor who was married (or is married) to his mother. I can feel the hate rising already. 😉

    And I rather like this younger, more serious (and less drunken) Margery Daw. But yes, it does look like she wears those glasses in memory of that young boy who got killed on her watch (Yuri). And now… back to School Days no Shana, or Shakugan Days no Shana, depending on how you want to look at it. 😛

    Haesslich
    Reply

  9. Woohoo! Things are finally moving along. Can’t wait til Margery finds out Yuuji’s color though.

    Light novel spoiler: Show Spoiler ▼

    Meh
    Reply

  14. OMG, he has silver flame?

    He is gonna rape.

    I always though Chigusa was mysterious, but it all falls into place now. Yuuji’s dad was the silver flamed tomogara. And he passed on his legacy to his son (along with Reiji Maigo that he somehow got). His mom was probably a Tomogara as well (probably why Wilhelmina hates her so much instinctively).

    It makes perfect sense.

    Makall
    Reply

  20. @Makall
    how sure are u tat , sakai yuji father is the silver tomogara?? and sakai mother too??
    Show Spoiler ▼

    furinyue
    Reply

  21. Show Spoiler ▼

    Rinkun
    Reply

  22. What, there are books of Shakugan no Shana!? Where, where? I tought there would be, but I never found anything when I was trying to look some time ago.
    Are the episodes pased on them? And are these books the originals?

    Tuuli
    Reply

  24. I think I just really needed this set of episodes to renew confidence that J.C.Staff can come through with good animation when it really counts. I’m also hoping now there’s not too many school life episodes so that they can retain some of the momentum they have coming out of this week.

    Omni
    Reply

  30. um about the books for shakugan no shana…..there are only 3 volumes in english i believe and 17 volumes in japanese…..when it comes to the english volumes the anime is a lot father…but the japanese folumes feel like there 2 seasons ahead of us also there are 0 translation groups working on it from what i can tell as i spent 3 hours searching xD and the raws are nearly impossible to find as well o.o…but i have all the way to 15 on my comp =D

    Daiske
    Reply

  33. well, is the hatred and revenge stronger than will to protect innocent? Keisaku and Eita are becoming more aware of what being Flame Haze is like, I see Eita backing down for probable matchup with Ogata, but Keisaku is pretty serious about following Margery…
    and Yuuji has some connection with silver Tomogara? big bada boom incoming?

    ewok
    Reply

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