「異邦人の夢」 (Ihoujin no Yume)
“Dream of the Stranger”

While I shouldn’t be surprised that there are series that can take months to progress the story less than one day, I was hoping for more than what this week’s Shana delivered.

That said it was probably the best the writers could do with the limited amount of time the series has left and with a couple different side stories going on at the same time I was pretty impressed with how well everything came together. Instead of focusing on the main storyline, I’m glad this episode opted to close up most of the loose ends before bringing our attention back to Yuuji and Shana’s gigantic fight.

Starting with Sale and The Professor, I couldn’t believe how anti-climatic The Professor’s death was. While throwing his own bomb at him was a little cliché, I almost choked when his emergency escape button failed. Somehow, I wasn’t expecting the professor who’s managed to escape death so many times to actually die — especially when he was fighting on his home turf!

Then you have Kazumi’s group who actually survived their near death experience. Sure the preview might have ruined the surprise by flashing Kazumi alive and well but it was still pretty entertaining watching just how they managed to survive the whole thing. For starters, how convenient is it to have an unrestricted spell that not only hides your presence but can also create identical clones of whatever you want? Second, I loved how “human” Khamsin was this week. Honestly it was probably the most emotion we’ve seen come out of him since he was introduced! Acting completely out of character, it was quite noble how he sacrificed his body to give his group the opportunity to escape and protect Pheles and Johan. But just like last week, it looks like even a huge disintegrating bomb can’t stop him!

Finally there’s Wilhelmina who’s been a little off ever since Pheles appeared. While I honestly haven’t been able to see any effects her wandering mind may have had on her fighting prowess, I won’t complain when we get to watch the normally quick and concise Tiamat and Wilhelmina hold a normal conversation together.

All in all everything seems to be wrapping up in a fairly nice manner. Everyone is accounted for and etheir actions have been given some sort of purpose. With everything on the ground finally done or locked in an equal stalemate all that’s left is to watch Yuuji and Shana go at it! Seeing how time has finally moved forward and the creation of Xanadu is finally underway, it looks like the only thing left is to see what changes Shana really made to Xanadu or if Yuuji had enough foresight to have a contingency plan for a situation like this.

I can’t wait.

 

Preview

36 Comments

    1. Hate to say this but SnS has been dull for me since season 2. But I still watch it. I dunno why I do. Probably the same reason as why i still watch Guilty crown. Whatever that is. Some hidden sub-conscious redeeming quality of the show??

      deafvader
      1. I actually think SnS got dull right after Season 1’s flashback sequence (Episode 12-14???). Before that it was very cool, since Yuuji was practically dying and he was OK sacrificing himself to save others. After that I only continued to watch it for the lolis.

        suff
    2. Yeah, I still think the show should have ended with the last episode of season 1. Show Spoiler ▼

      That would have been such a surprising and interesting way to end the show/story. Season 2 was largely painful to watch, and season 3 has just been kind of wtf to me.

      Even at the end if it kind of gets resolved we are going to have what Yuuji saying, “Whoops, I guess tons of people died on account of me making this decision that I didn’t really think out that well…my bad. Love you too Shana.”

      foofiebeast
    3. Best episode this season is the 4th episode. It got dull when the damn war begin begin it was so fucking boring until Decarabia showed up. It was a little interesting. 2 more episodes and it’s over I can’t wait for this shit to be done.

      I can not stand the flame haze and the boring dialogue mostly from flame haze this season except for the little guy who went up against Sabrac It’s better than season 2 the first half not the 2nd half I felt this season is the most inconsistent once again Yuji is saving this show from being total crap ever since Season 2 I been amazed with his character development.

      SS
  1. I glad something finally happened in that one of the main players finally died. However, Professor was definitely one of the more entertaining characters to watch. He does look freaky without his glasses in the eyecatch too.
    I guess Mammon also died, but I never really understood what his power was waving his glowey hands around. Seemed like telekinesis, I dunno.

    Yuuji’s enigmatic smile at the end seems to just signal some new twist coming.

  2. There is something I just don’t get, I hope novel readers can enlighten me.

    From what I understood, The creation of Xanadu can let the Tomogaras leave the world happily thus ending the rampant the consumption of human existence.

    But with the revelation of Shana’s plan, it sounded like there will be humans in Xanadu – which sounds plausible because Xanadu is a replica of the world after all, but to what extent?

    If there are replicated humans in Xanadu, heck it definitely sounds wrong. It’s like they only exist to be eaten, lol.

    Not only that, imagine – replicated Kazumi, Eita, Keisaku, et al for lunch. I don’t think the idea would sit well with Yuuji.

    Kabayongtao
    1. The spell will only replicate the humans with no knowledge of Guze, tomogaras and Flame Hazes and the objective is to let the tomogaras stay in that world without having to prey on humans, if they choose to eat them in the new world it´d be optional but not necesary to mantain their existance outside Guze. That´s the whole reason for the Purge conducted by Gods of the Earth and Shana´s little and crazy army.

      haseo0408
  3. The creation kills the creator, huh? That was nice, and at least the Prof was fun until the end. He does look creepy without his glasses, though.
    By the way, Takaii, Hyakki Yakou already used this illusion spell when they first appeared and took Yoshida and the Engage Link with them, so it’s not exactly something new and convenient. Also, poor Khamsin. It seems we are finally entering chapter 3 next week, I can’t wait. I hope they have it all paced out nicely, and don’t rush the last episode.

    virox
      1. It’s good they choose to develop these characters; at first it seemed like they had the spotlight just in an attempt to show that not all the Flame Haze gathered for battle were single dimensional. Slowly, they are getting to be much more than likeable. But hey, Moe kick ass girl with tall lanky bishonen is not a bad formula to start with….

        skylion
  4. 1.Professor, RIP – you were one of most entertaining Tomogara, and while being blown by own invention is pretty standard karma for the deranged scientists, bonus points for the Kazumi and her team turning off his evacuation route…
    2.Khamsin, while there is slight chance he will survive, will also be missed.
    3.LOL @ Shana “confessing” to Margery and all the implications.
    4.Now we know what exactly was sabotaged by Margery – Bel-Peol’s “contingency” spell somehow intended to safeguard the creation of Xanadu (backup copy?)
    5.And am I the only one to be glad to see Hekate back?

    ewok40k
  5. Things seem to be progressing underway enough, though at this point I’m more curious as to what Pheles and Johan is planning than anything else, seeing that whatever they’re doing will probably call forth the third God.

    Dammit, so the mad scientist finally dies but seem to take Khamshin with him. Well he’s not dead yet but for some reason I can’t see him surviving till the end, and I was just starting to like him.

    Oh Yuuji and his smirk. Seems he has something in hand even though the contingency plan failed. Note it was the Snake who revealed the backup system and Yuuji is still unmoved even though that was compromised as well. Does that mean he has a plan even the Snake’s not aware of? That piqued my interest.

    gungnir
  6. Khamsin’s left side was damaged so bad that his eye appears to have been destroyed and his skin dead (it turned black). But what’s really ironic about this is that his hair remains perfectly in tact, shine and all. It’s odd, but I think Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo had the right idea when parodying anime’s repeated fetish with hair. Idk, I guess I just want some form of realism to this. The left side of his head should have been hairless and burned, just like his face and body.

    Anyways, am I the only one who feels worn out from this war? So far, we’ve had 5 episodes, and little plot progression. The writers could have fit all this content in 2 episodes, but because they haven’t, instead dragging the war out to 5 episodes and counting, the series has been repeating itself: the same bombing of the tower, clashing of swords, disintegration of Tomogara, ect… There are only 2 more episodes, though, so thankfully SnS won’t be continuing this repetitive charade anymore. Just hoping the ending is good :]

    DovahkiinGGGGG
    1. It may seem repetitive, but that’s war. Things don’t always go as you plan them to, and things need to be tried again, that’s just the way things work. War is battle, with little in concern for dialogue, and in this place, plot progression. Although plot-wise what you are suggesting may have been possible, but having a war that only went on for two episodes? That’s unbelievably unrealistic, even for anime. SnS may not have the best pacing at times, but I believe that 5 episodes isn’t bad for a full-scale war. I just think they could have used a few more episodes to make it a little smoother, but they are doing fine with what they have.

      zero
  7. Let me also comment on the great animation we get lately. I guess J.C.Staff really went all out towards the end. We had a few nice episodes in the middle, but also some really bad ones, but the end seems to be animated with lots of effort put into it. Now if they don’t fuck up the pacing, that’ll redeem them for a lot of stuff they did in the past (for me)

    virox
  8. My expression over Dantalian’s death was quite different that the status quo here. I, for one, am glad to see that screetchy, annoying, plot induced dumb-ass go. Perfect that he got hoisted by his own petard (look up that phrase, so very apt).

    But, my expression over Khamsin’s “death” is a far sight from the above. He’s been around so much longer than the rest, and that kind of Flame Haze just doesn’t die that easily. Yeah, burnt to a crisp down one side, still taking on all comers, enveloped in weird vacuumy robot death explosions should be a walk in the park for this total shota bad ass. Just sayin’

    skylion
  9. https://randomc.net/image/Shakugan%20no%20Shana/Shakugan%20no%20Shana%20III%20Final%20-%2022%20-%20Large%2033.jpg

    Professor’s reaction here reminds me of Gary Oldman’s in that scene in Leon when he discovered he’s about to be blown up: “Shit”
    http://youtu.be/4IERGQCdsgk

    Who would’ve thought that of the group, it would be Khamsin the millenia-walking boy-looking badass that dies a heroic death in order to save the mortal that is Kazumi? His death had far more impact for me than Samuel or CenterHill, since the audience has been familiar with him since his introduction in Season 1.

    In fact, it would have been more powerful had author Takahashi decided to kill off either Wilhelmina or Margery in that battle instead of Samuel or CenterHill. So Khamsin’s death is probably a compensation for that.

    Kinny Riddle
      1. I didn’t downvote you, actually.
        Show Spoiler ▼

        virox
      2. I’ve been following the Taiwanese translated version since like volume 1, and being an anal perfectionist, I wanted to stick to that version of volume 22 when it comes out rather than jump straight into the original Japanese version, despite my Japanese language having since improved vastly over the years.

        Is it now so difficult for people to tell whether people are genuinely not aware of the plot or are spoiling? Or in this case “misspoiling” to throw people off.

        Next time if you suspect people of “misspoiling”, perhaps you should just have given them the benefit of the doubt, as “misspoilers” are much harmless compared to spoiling trolls. It could just be a genuine wrong guess, much like my post. 😉

        Kinny Riddle
  10. So whats the point of this fight continuing anyway. The flame hazes should just mind their own business. Its not like their fighting for their world or anything. If they want to leave more power too them and the faster the better.

    Zero
    1. Yes, that would the same as given a nuclear bomb to nihilistic man, if they don´t draw the line now the tomgara´s actions in the Xanadu might as well destroy the three worlds all together. Yuuji´s plan is best solution but it has some flaws and that´s where Shana and the rest come in.

      haseo0408
  11. I can´t belive they actually managed to kill Dantalion, the guy had more lives than cat. With him out of the picture the new world can rest easy. This finale is getting better and better by the minute.

    haseo0408

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