Posted by  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
「誰が為に」 (Ta ga Tameni)
“For Who’s Sake”
With enough dialogue to write a small book, this week’s episode managed to fill in a lot of the holes that we were left with after Shana and Yuuji’s previous encounter. But if you brush aside the idea that the creation of Xanadu could create a catastrophic disaster sometime in the far future, Yuuji’s plan is essentially a ridiculously selfish (but cute) way to save Shana from living the long and often unrewarding life as a Flame Haze. But even though we’ve known this since the beginning of this season, his words take on a whole new light after finally getting a chance to hear them from his own perspective. More specifically, it gave me the impression that Yuuji’s emotions might be slowly leaking out and overcoming whatever nonsense that Sairei no Hebi might have fed him. While it remains to be seen whether or not Yuuji will go through and actually create Xanadu, it’s nice to hear that he’s trying to protect the people he cares about.
But like most episode that try to push the story along as fast as possible, the rest was relatively boring or drawn out too quickly. Case in point, in what could have been a really dramatic scene between Shana and the other Gods of the Earth turned into a disappointing and uneventful discussion. Honestly, I thought it was almost a little ridiculous how easy the remaining Gods of the Earth caved to Shana’s demands — especially after they gave Shana a difficult time for being so formal with them! Basically going from “Convince us to help you” to “SURE, WE’LL HELP!” with no conversation in-between, it definitely felt like something was missing in-between.
Although this episode wasn’t as entertaining as it could have been, I’m glad that the writers are spooning out the dialogue sooner rather than later. Luckily, it looks like the action will pick back up next week which should mean less dialogue heavy scenes and lots more action!.
Preview
 |
 |
 |
Well, i felt the disappointed all along. The fighting seems dragged out, low budget. And the all the master plans are too simple.
Bad medium transition?
Regardless I like it for the story progression. The fighting scenes and talking scenes are getting too Long.
Unless I am very, very mistaken, Yuuji doesn’t know about Kazumi’s agreement with Pheles.
I have a feeling that this is going to turn around and bite someone on the ass really, really hard.
And now we know how Kazumi will end up in a position where summoning Pheles is a fairly reasonable decision on her part.
(BTW, Bel Peol still looks weird without her eyepatch)
I actually liked the part with the remaining gods of the earth.
But the whole thing with Yuji, Kazumi and Eita on the stairway felt really dragged out.
Not very entertaining.
Felt dragged with so much meaningless conversations going on. Even the supposed focus-of-the-episode audience with the 3 Gods-Of-Earth was dull, seeing how fast they agreed to the cause.
The best part to take away from this episode is some inner thoughts of current event from Yuuji’s angle, but even that felt dragged….
Look like the next is another build-up episode. =/
eh I liked the conversation between yuuji, eita and kazumi. this episode was great imo, helped clear things up and made it a bit more hard to think who’s right. im leaning on yuuji but there is the small chance that he only told selective truths or that he’s being told only some truths by the snake.
I want to believe them though, the snake is one of the few “evil” villains who actually seem to be genuine and is also knowledgeable so I dont think he’s just going head first with this plan of his. plus he did make the order of not feeding on the humans, and they did follow his orders so I dont really think he’s just fooling yuuji.
That last scene!
Show Spoiler ▼
Is that from the light novel?
No, just me trying to channel Dunsany. The final scene brought out feelings of bygone tales of wonder.
Notice how Yuuji emphasizes to Kazumi and Tanaka how inviting Kazumi is part of “Sakai Yuuji’s plans”, not Snake’s plans. Kazumi was also quick to pick that up, thus instantly agreeing to go with him to whatever he’s planning to do.
https://randomc.net/image/Shakugan%20no%20Shana/Shakugan%20no%20Shana%20III%20Final%20-%2017%20-%20Large%2003.jpg
Finally, this widow-looking hot Flame Haze, whom we’ve only seen in the OP but only gets a few token minutes in some scenes in the past few episodes gets to speak, albeit telepathically. In the novels, her role is slightly larger, as she was made the Commander of the Western Front in Europe, while Eric (the blonde Flame Haze) was Commander of the Eastern Front in Tokyo.
https://randomc.net/image/Shakugan%20no%20Shana/Shakugan%20no%20Shana%20III%20Final%20-%2017%20-%20Large%2008.jpg
Though she may be a hundred years or so older than Shana, I still get the feeling Chiara is best suited to be Shana’s BFF should they decide to roam the earth for eternity (much like how Wilhemina and Rebecca were), considering they both made their Flame Haze contracts at about the same age, so perhaps mentally they’re still the same age even though they’re immortal physcially.
How I would long to see a special spin-off OVA with Chiara and Sale as the main characters, as detailed in the novels.
I think Chiara is pretty special. Good character design, unique perspective. She has something that Wil cannot give to Shana, a youthful insight about growing up a Flame Haze. Plus her partner is pretty bad-ass looking. I can image entire Old West Flame Haze stories with him. Heck, it might be time for me to start up a Deadlands RPG with this setting in mind.
lets get to the fighting shall we?
Yuji made a fine addition to his roster list.
I really love how they end every episode giving you a feeling “Damn I want more” and the song really fits w/ the mood especially the ending
and as usual I can’t wait for the next episode
and wow the glasses boy is back >.>
https://randomc.net/image/Shakugan%20no%20Shana/Shakugan%20no%20Shana%20III%20Final%20-%2017%20-%20Large%2018.jpg
another one I feel like ….just a little bit and it gonna be “shaft style”
https://randomc.net/image/Shakugan%20no%20Shana/Shakugan%20no%20Shana%20III%20Final%20-%2017%20-%20Large%2027.jpg
Excellent episode!!!
And tezcatlipoca is the American God with more references that I have seen in animes. Is good to hear about our culture outside my countrie.
You might think the convincing was disappointing, but there was never any convincing to do to begin with.
Like Centerhill said, the decision to fight could be seen as the decision of all four gods of the earth, and they say so themselves, they would fight whether they went along with Shana or not. It’s clear from Westshore’s reaction that they greatly respect Centerhill, so his final words are all they need to hear to side with her.
It seemed kind of wierd for Kazumi to go with Yuuji, but given as she was the third most important character the past two seasons it was a good way to bring her back into the plot.
Even infodumps are epic in this season of Shana.
Kazumi still loves Yuji and will follow him wherever it takes her.
Remaining 3/4 Gods of the Earth seem to care more about what is right than what everybody agrees upon, hence their unusual take on the convincing.
One thing I wonder about is whether the Xanadu will eventually include humans too and end up with the same strife Tomogara created in the “our world”? It seems it depends much on the Snake and his perception of the wishes of the Tomogara…
And what about the Tomogara who decide to stay behind for whatever reasons? It seems at least some of them managed to integrate themselves into human society, with “life essence” draining kept in check to not harm humans, while others live for the hunt and probably will be major strain on the Tomogara army discipline given Yuji/Snake’s orders to stop feeding until Xanadu is completed…
“Yuuji’s plan is essentially a ridiculously selfish (but cute) way to save Shana from living the long and often unrewarding life”
While I guess I could agree that it is a bit “selfish” since he desires to save the one’s he loves, but so far it seems everyone is fighting for something they want so I wouldn’t consider his “ridiculous”. I mean Shana’s really just fighting for Yuji but Yuji’s fighting for her and an entire world that will live in peace.
Given the situation of the current world it actually seems like the only logical idea for the Tomogaras to take. The flame haze kill the Tomogara for just existing since they eat humans. Which is like us trying to kill all predators on the planet because they eat meat, or living creature… or sentient organisms. Even if they didn’t do it to said “excess” they are still taking away human lives that the flame haze are trying to protect. All fair but that’s just a messed up world, flame haze will always be protecting one’s they love from a race that fights them to exist. So no one seems right or wrong but as an idea at least the Tomogara are trying to create a world where they wont haven to take lives and fight flame haze. That doesn’t seem ridiculous to me but maybe naive.
And I can’t even call it naive because no one seems to really be sure if Yuuji’s wrong. It really just comes down to speculation on both’s part. What I do really find ridiculous is how most of the main lead characters for the flame haze all seem to be like Shana when Yuji said “Shana never approves of uncertain attempts based on hopeful wishes”. I mean if all goes to hell in thousands of years from now Yuji can just put things back as they are. So it doesn’t seem like a real risk, as much as a trial and error to see if this will work. And in the mean time thousands of years of peace.
And that’s why I’ve been having a hard time watching this show!!! lol. Even though lots of our wars in the world are based on people just not sitting down and talking with each other, it’s really annoying to watch it play out so obviously in this show. It seems like the only reason people are loosing their lives in this war, is because the flame haze are stuck on tradition and their unwillingness to listen.
But the action is entertaining 🙂
I hate Kazumi. Her reasons for following Yuuji’s plans is purely because it’s Yuuji’s plans. She seems to believe without a doubt that Yuuji is a nice person (even though this cannot be said accurately due to Snake of the Festival) so whatever he plans, she will follow. Maybe she should actually grow some brain and get both sides of the story before deciding to take a side.
At least her winter dress and boots look cute. LoL.
I wish that we could have been shown that Yoshida was going into this knowing that she can use the cross Hougu when/if things go sideways. However, the part of the ep with Yuuji ended up being more about convincing Tanaka and showing his thoughts on the matter.
As far as we know, if she uses the cross, she will die (she knows this as well). So basically she is going into this knowing that if things turn out badly, she will certainly die? Yet she wants to help Yuuji anyway even though Yuuji has Snake of the Festival in it?
It’s quite simple, if not a bit nihilistic. If she can’t be with Yuuji, she’d rather die secure in the knowledge that she did something to kill the monster that’s wearing Yuuji’s body.
I think he will destroy the denizens in the void after they’re all there
Show Spoiler ▼
man… now i dont know whom i should support…
didn’t mind this ep at all- the only disappointment was that they did agree pretty fast, but it didn’t really hit me hard or anything. I especially loved the talk b/w the three at the school too
This show is getting really ambiguous with regards to who we should be cheering for. As far as I can tell the Flame Hazes don’t actually know that any disaster will happen if he creates Xanadu, as someone else said all they have is speculation. From a certain perspective, it could be seen as them continuing to fight the Denizens simply because they don’t know what to do with themselves if there is no fighting to be done. It all really hinges on whether Yuji knows what the hell he is talking about and is giving us the whole story, or if the Snake of the Festival has only given him part of it and is misleading him. So far the Flame Hazes are seeming pretty hard to sympathize with though, it feels like they are fighting for it’s own sake without actually thinking about whether or not they SHOULD do so.
The only thing I’m 100% sure of at this point is that this show needs more Margery Daw.
I don’t know what to believe anymore to be honest! I thought that Yuji was the bad guy, but after hearing his intentions this episode, it really doesn’t sound so bad.
And it seems that everything is going to end in some kind of tragedy, rather then a happy ending.
I completely agree to a number of the comments above.
Like Beckett said, it’s getting really ambiguous, but like Pera said, there’s tragedy flags all over. Yes, each one have their own good reasons, but the way the anime is brought, assuming it’s the studio’s intentions, like Fencedude said, it hints that it’s gonna bite someone’s ass hard.. Neither has solid proof, but there’s something in the air, even with all the smiles (ehhh.. Bal Masque smiles..) and confidence, it feels like there’s something off, but maybe that’s because details from the light novel is left out +_+
I say it’s good in its own way. Not full of fighting like in season 1 and storytelling in season 2, more like trying to finish the story, without giving enough time for emotions to build up (roller coasters, mind you, but short rides – quick ups and downs)
BUT! This is how I’m feeling with Zero no Tsukaima final too… So!
People never like a good dialogue episode, I on the other hand liked it. It’s nice to know Yuuji’s plan before he takes it into action.
Mmm … delicious Chiara.
The dialogue episode was good. It strengthen my belief to support Yuuji and co. rather than Shana. I just can’t understand why the Flame Hazes are SO against Yuuji/Xanadu, other than it’s just their hurt pride that they’ve been fighting for (except for Shana, of course).