First Impressions / Shakugan no Shana

Summary:

Having gone through the city’s sewer system, Yuuji manages to find his way to Shana and Kazumi and gives them some of Wilhelmina’s ribbons to use as bandages. Shana wants to join the fight, but Yuuji instructs her to go to Margery instead because he has a plan. A short while later, Shana enters the battle right as Sabrac is about to try to deliver a finishing blow against Wilhelmina. Sabrac is at first confused because he thinks that his Stigma should have an effect on Shana too, but he then notices the bandages around her wounds have unrestricted method markings. As it turns out, Wilhelmina had been prepared all along thanks to a Stigma-breaking jizaishiki created by Johan that completely rids them of their wounds. This allows Shana to strike at Sabrac at full power, and she then passes Wilhelmina a slip of imbued paper that lets her talk with Yuuji. Earlier, he, Shana, and Margery had decided on a plan that stemmed from how Yuuji has been feeling strange all day. He had sensed something from the entire city, particularly when he was underground, and based on that, he theorized that Sabrac is the entire city. In other words, the Sabrac that Wilhelmina has been fighting is only a fragment of the real Sabrac.

Yuuji had been looking for a plan to defeat Sabrac without reducing the city to ashes, and using what Wilhelmina had told him earlier, he had realized that their opponent’s existence was at an individual level even if it is spread all over the city. He believed that the part of Sabrac that is fighting is in control, and so the strategy thus is to separate that part from the rest of Sabrac’s body. His plan involves Wilhelmina keeping Sabrac at bay while Shana gathers her powers and Margery goes around the city casting spells at certain spots. It is during the execution of this plan that Keisaku finally gives his answer to Margery’s earlier question of what he’d do if she died: he can’t think of that, and he’s willing to risk everything to keep her alive. Meanwhile, Sabrac starts getting suspicious about why Shana suddenly left the fight after saving Wilhelmina earlier. He attempts to finish off an exhausted Wilhelmina once again, but it is at this moment that Margery finishes her preparations and unleashes a massive spell that uproots the entire chunk of the city that the battle is taking place on. As the mass rises into the air, the various strands of existence that are connecting Sabrac to the rest of the city are snapped one by one.

Before rejoining the fight, Shana pauses as if she wants to say something to Yuuji, but after thinking for a moment she decides not to. As Shana flies off, Alastor suggests that she should have said it, and he cites all of the incredible things that Yuuji has done in this fight, from destroying Zarovee all the way to coming up with a plan to foil Sabrac. Shana then puts everything into one ultimate attack combo that finally finishes Sabrac off, and this time, he doesn’t come back. In the aftermath, everything is restored back to normal, and even Chigusa is feeling better. When Yuuji apologizes to Kazumi and admits that he was wrong about what he said to her before all this began, she explains that he went back to being the Yuuji that she knew when he talked of protecting the city during the battle. Yuuji also asks Shana about what she had intended to say to him right before the conclusion of the battle, but Shana just gets embarrassed and uses her trademark urusai, urusai, urusai line.

Preview:

I think that in many ways, this could have been a good final episode. It finished a critical battle against an opponent that’s been alluded to since at least halfway through this series, it featured good animation quality and even had the first OP as an insert song during the most important moment, and by the end, it reset everything in terms of character relationships that can still be developed later in a future series. That last point is arguable, but my point is that there was enough closure here to satisfy me if I knew there was more coming eventually. Of course, that’s all null and void since this wasn’t a final episode – there are still three more left. Because of that, I can’t help but wonder what they can possibly develop and conclude story-wise in that relatively short amount of time without leaving things to-be-continued for a third Shana TV series. Next week’s episode doesn’t look particularly exciting, but I’ve heard that big things happen during the Christmas Eve time-frame that it will take place in.

On a random side note, I found this comparison to this past week’s Gundam 00 episode rather amusing.

55 Comments

  5. Alot of rumors floating around that she will use the amulet to summon Pelles (sp) and sacrifice her life. But INSTEAD of that happening, It will then make her a Flame Haze and Pelles will be her Guardian. Being willing to sacrifice her life to save another (Yuuji) is the catalist to turning her into a Flame Haze like Shana. Guess we will see if the rumors are true or not.

    Splash
    Reply

  13. Yea! Now this episode looks really exciting. ^_^
    And I’m kinda wondering… are these eps in anyway related to the manga or novels? Because if they are, we’ll probably get more seasons like ZnT.

    Jenn-Jen
    Reply

  16. “And the item she got will has also still it’s role to play in the story.”

    With luck she will die, this would be the first (and the last ^_^) time she would be useful

    Algent
    Reply

  22. the gundam 00 comparison was nice omni. are we going to c yuuji die at the last episode or love pairings in the end?. the ending better be memorable like a kiss from shana x yuuji.

    bitch-mode
    Reply

  24. eww, season 3 for sure then….., since there always a reason they try to make yuji stronger. remember, the title of the anime is not about yuji, but about shana haha. right now yuji is still the narrator, so guess there will be a time that shana will be the narrator of the story.

    whatever
    Reply

  38. This really felt like a last episode.. The whole opening playing thing, and I thought Sabrac would last more than 2 episodes..

    OH! I’ve missed Urusai urusai urusai! Shana is cute 😛

    jns
    Reply

  39. I see a 3rd season coming. The 16th novel was released in November and I think there are 18 planned. Probably like Bleach, Shana is getting too close and they need time for the final 2 novels to finish in order to finish the series as well.

    Kit-Tsukasa
    Reply

  41. Well, the christmas eve event and all of that is part also of Novel 14 and part of Novel 15.
    The interesting part is that they have been doing 5 and now with the next 6 episodes around Novel 14 Story, and Novel 14 Finishes with Yuuji becoming Zairei no Hebi.
    I wonder how are they going to end this Season, because if they do some original ending it’s going to be very dificult to make a next season or a sequel because of the events of novel 16.

    DBZLuisD
    Reply

  42. It’s been bothering me for a while now, and maybe someone else has asked, but it seems as though the summaries for SnS II are usually arriving a little late, or not up at all.

    Does that have anything to do with being unable to juggle too many shows at one go?

    Owaranai Destiny
    Reply

  43. Im thinking someone else does the blogging for this show now because it use to always be done in a 1 day. But its still alot faster then the current Fansubs for the last 5 eps which seem to slowly be pushing back to Tues/Wed release rather then Sun/Mon.

    Andrew
    Reply

  44. guys,sabrac is not dead he is just wounded and escaped to serei den using an unrestricted method named “Gordian Knot “.
    check out this info i found in wikipedia about bal masque-

    Bal Masqué

    An organization of Denizens who moved into the human world　millenniums ago under the Grand Master and the God of Creation, the Sairei no Hebi (｢祭礼｣の蛇, Sairei no Hebi? “Snake of Festival”). After his defeat by Flame Hazes, it is currently led under three powerful figures called the Trinity. Since then, the Bal Masqué stayed low and became an organaization to support Denizens, like Outlaws does with Flame Hazes. Their goal is to accomplish the “Grand Order” which the details are yet unknown, and the Unresticted Method called the “Psalm of Grand Order” and Reiji Maigo, which resides in Yuji, are the keys vital to their plot.

    what the hell is this “Psalm of Grand Order”? any ideas?

    Mit
    Reply

  46. Come on, Japanese animations are ALWAYS low on budget, maybe except for Miyazaki’s ones.
    And I like this episode much. A lot of action, nice music selection, powerful voice acting, and nifty ending. A piece of great entertainment.

    calde
    Reply

  54. Hopefully the real final episode is as good as this one. But now that the fight is over, I sort of hope they go back to focusing on the relationships between the characters. I think a lot of people didn’t like that this season didn’t have as much action as last season, but I rather enjoyed the lack of action.

    Neo Horizon
    Reply

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