「聞こえる、想い」 (Kikoeru, Omoi)
“Affections Reach”

After episodes full of action and big battles, I was pleasantly surprised when the story decided to bring Margery back into the fray. In all honesty, I was afraid that all the momentum that’s been building up was going to be destroyed the moment I saw Keisaku is last week’s preview. That being said, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Ever since his introduction, Keisaku has left an unfavorable impression on me. Labeled as a troublemaker, it didn’t help his image when he became Margery’s henchman. As things progressed and his unreciprocated feelings for Margery became fairly obvious, I wasn’t sure how this week’s episode would make use of him. Amazingly, not only did Keisaku instantly become one of my new favorite characters after showing a little backbone, his actions marked the cornerstone of a new and improved Margery Daw.

In a show where the main characters still haven’t managed to express their feelings for each other after two whole seasons, I was amazed that Keisaku would be the one to beat everyone to the chase. In one of the most unlikely pairings (in my eyes), I found myself absolutely loving every second of it. From Margery revealing why she made Keisaku wait so long to the two finally showing some intimacy with each other, it was so cute and honest that I wish it had happened sooner!

After such a touching scene, I was a little taken back with how easily things shifted back to the fray. In true Gurren Lagann fashion, it’s clear why Sophie is the Supreme Commander of the Flame Haze army. Her scary combination of wits, skill, and finesse left me speechless after watching her unleash her fury on Decarabia.

As I’ve said week after week, the third season of Shana has just been superb. With things moving along at a smooth pace, I can’t wait to see what J.C. Staff has in store for us in the upcoming weeks.

 

Preview

74 Comments

      1. Margery is about a few hundreds years old, giving the setting of which she first became a Flame Haze. Her physical body is like 20-30, though!

        But I guess the same can be said about Shana. She has been around for probably a couple of hundreds of years, too.

        suff
      2. Shana is a mere infant by Flame Haze standards. It’s only been less than 4-5 years since she started her contract with Alastor and stopped growing when she was 12-13. She’s probably the same age as Yuuji now (16-17).

        Kinny Riddle
      3. Mann I was going to pick up this season, but something about this pairing just doesn’t sit with me. I guess I still have a huge bias of him being an annoying minor character in season 1 =\

        okgo
    1. This reminds me of that question/argument that goes: “Will you do it with a 500year old loli vampire (saaay rachel from blazblue) or a hot 16 year old chick who happens to only be 3 years old biologically?” lol

      Yeah really awesome to see that some men are taking some initiative and really it fits keisaku’s character as opposed to yuuji’s (so oblivious it took him lol number of eps to realize it)

  1. When did Shana get the “Judgment Eye” thingy…

    And if they’re 3rd year high school students… then they’d be 17/18 already…

    As for the old ladys “I-SEE-YOU-HEAVEN-PARTING-KICK”, I literally LOLed. It was a WTF moment ;0

    Sad to see that the bad guys are dropping left and right, first with the Magenta-dude… then the fish-Decarabia-dude… 🙁 If the Blade Breaker ends up eating the dust… I’d be all the more sad. The good guys should lose “strong people” as well, me thinks..

    Ddadain
  2. Oh no, my newly found favorite character Decarabia already hit the dust 🙁
    Now I really don’t like Sophie Sawallisch.

    Don’t they dare to kill off Sabrac – he is also one of my favs.

    zuuuul
  3. Well, it seems Bal Masque – i can’t label them as mere bad guys anymore – has been thoroughly mauled lately… maybe newly arrived reinforcements will make the difference.
    Gratz Keisaku! Good job!
    lol @ Marchosias “not wanting to peek” and everybody else just “moving out of the way”…
    Shana is thoroughly epic now… can’t wait for the final duel with Yuji obviously is setting up…
    Sophie is so kickass granma that she can kick ass of ane eel that technically doesn’t have one…

    ewok40k
  4. Sad to see Decarabia go (and it seems like Sabrac will follow him next episode), I’m liking the Tomogara much more than the Flame Hazes so far. At least it seems that the tide of battle has shifted to the Tomogara’s side, as they still have four powerful generals who have yet to come to Seirei-Den in addition to Stolas and the two-headed guy, while Sophie and that American-looking old man are the only heavy hitters of the Flame Hazes. Oh, right, and Margery, too.

    SingerOfW
    1. What American-looking old man? If you’re talking about Sophie’s deputy commander Samuel Demantius, the guy in the military uniform, he’s actually Czech, or at least hails from around that region, as his nickname “Sirotci” means “The Orphan” in Czech.

      Kinny Riddle
      1. Ah, you mean that Four Gods of Earth guy. As part of a quartet of powerful but elusively hermit Flame Haze, he’s only here as an “observer” and remaining neutral until he assesses that Snake’s actions really do need intervening. As a result, Sophie only considers enlisting his help as a last resort.

        Kinny Riddle
  5. I nearly sprayed my tea on my screen when it showed the “morning after” scene of Satou and Margery waking up from whatever it was they did the night before. (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more)
    https://randomc.net/image/Shakugan%20no%20Shana/Shakugan%20no%20Shana%20III%20Final%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2025.jpg

    I knew the novel said they kissed and spent the night together, but I must have been too naive to think Satou wouldn’t go that extra step. lol

    Sophie shows why she is a badass on par with her lieutenant Demantius (the army uniform guy). Katsuki Masako seems to have a knack of voicing badass old “hags”, most notably as Tsunade from Naruto.

    Let us have a moment’s silence for Decarabia, sacrificing himself in order to buy time for reinforcements to arrive. The novel goes into more detail of his tactical brilliance, though time seems to be running short for the anime adaptation to show it in its entirety.

    Kinny Riddle
    1. “I knew the novel said they kissed and spent the night together, but I must have been too naive to think Satou wouldn’t go that extra step. lol”

      haha yeah, spending the night together usually implies that activity that we all know and love yet must not be named! =D

      RickyMack
      1. hehe, I don’t understand why that is such a taboo. The scene does look wired though. It meant to look mature, like to grown ups doing what they are supposed to be doing; yet it felt like you just added sex content for a primary school production of Snow White.

        hoh
    2. Sophie´s power is at the same level of Kamsin, which something really unusual considering Sophie is around a mellenium old and Kamsin is 10 milleniuns old. No wonder everyone around her respect or fear her her.

      haseo0408
  6. I’m a little unclear on the spell that Margery placed on Satou that made him glow like that. She said something about giving him temporary power? Novel-readers is this something that will make him useful in the battle, or just an amp to boost his stamina while they were in the sack? ;P

    Eclipse
    1. Useful in battle? As far as I know the spell is explined in the novels to upgrade his streangh to that of a rookie and very weak Flame Hazes. It´s enough to keep him from being devour by weak tomogaras but a King of Guze could kill him with just a finger.

      haseo0408
    2. The power is there so Margery doesn’t accidentally kill Keisaku while they are having rough sex. Do you remember the Man with the Claw from GunXSword? Every time he hugs someone, he accidentally kills them because his hands are claws. Well imagine the spell make the person invulnerable to claws so they don’t get killed when being hugged.

      Suppa Tenko
  7. This episode was great. I do wonder what Shana and her group plan to do when they find Yuuji. It seems like he is the only guy with a plan, which is why even the orgol guy is helping him out. Looking at people like sophie who are content to unleash their barbarian powers on the other side definitely has me agreeing with yuuji that somethings gotta change.

    Shin
  8. Now that the one thing I was still watching shakugan no shana for happened I’m droping it, I mean even if Yuji finally became a man, Shana still just a overpowered loud bitch, if Keysaku and Marjory where the main chars this would be a awesome show, right now it’s just an standard one with an excuse of a main char.

    K
    1. Agreed, I think she’s like the second cute Flame Haze to be KIA this season since the war began. (Oh, and include that hawt Chinese Flame Haze that got pwned by Sydonay in Shanghai earlier)

      Kinny Riddle
      1. Her name was Yu Xuan and she was one of the most powerful oldest of the Flame Hazes, she was in carge of the protection of the headquarters of Outlaw in China. Syadonai kill her thanks to her being overconfident; if she were to be serious from the start Syadonai might been killed in the battle, at least that´s how it was explained in the novels.

        haseo0408
      2. Yu Xuan’s been around since time immemorial. In fact, her Crimson Lord Di Hung is just another name for the Yellow Emperor, the mythological founder of Chinese civilization.

        It’s apparent Yu Xuan is acquainted with Sydonay as she referred to him as “Chi You” the mythological demon supposedly vanquished by the Yellow Emperor. It’s a pity such a millenia old grudge was finished off in mere minutes.

        This leads to a minor gripe I have with author Takahashi: He’s made Sydonay too ridiculously powerful (almost Aizen-like) that so far Margery is the only Flame Haze to have managed to survive more than one skirmish with him. Let’s hope Margery’s recovery will set up an ultimate showdown with him.

        (Shana would probably pwn him (albeit with some difficulty), but Shana has a much bigger fish to fry – Yuuji. )

        Kinny Riddle
  9. Wow this is the first time i’ve been routing for the Tomogara. Hope they pawn those flame hazes. So did margery place that spell on saitou so she wouldn’t accidentally kill him while having sex?

    Zero

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