「神の夢」 (Kami no Yume)
“A God’s Dream”

After two whole seasons of twists and turns that have consistently lead to a direction that one may not have originally expected, this pre-finale episode in some strange fashion managed to wrap up almost every loose end in one go — something that I would have to chalk up to some good writing and a well disguised deus ex machina.

In terms of sheer ridiculousness, I was outright stumped when Sairei no Hebi revealed his ruse within a ruse. I mean, what was the whole point of inciting the fears of the entire world when he had the ability to do everything himself? Not only did each side lose many of their prized fighters (like my personal favorite) but other than trying to get gather his follower’s opinions, why call them together and risk getting them killed by the Flame Haze just waiting to obliterate them?

But you know what? I can forgive all of the ridiculousness that we all sat through because instead of trying to fix things with some omnipotent solution, the story actually gave every single action that sounded stupid at first a well-rounded and believable reason for happening. As this week revealed, Sairei no Hebi was just following what he honestly believed in and did what he needed to do — listen to the wishes his people. And while the insertion of another God could have been a cheap cop out, its absolute message didn’t give either side an unfair advantage, instead getting both sides to understand each other. Combined with all the sacrifices made by each and every Flame Haze and Tomogara who died through the course of the battle, everything culminated into a believable situation where the creation of Xanadu fulfilled both the wishes of the Tomogara and the Flame Haze.

And if you ignore how we still don’t know anything specific about the engage link, one big question remains — just what will Yuuji do now that he’s officially been separated from Sairei no Hebi? Seeing how there’s apparently no adverse side effects to having a God merge and separate from one’s body except for a huge drop in power level, I don’t understand why he needs to continue his fight against Shana! He’s finally just Sakai Yuuji, yet as the preview shows a big battle seems to be in store for us next week!

God forbid if the series ends without Shana and Yuuji finally doing something romantic together.

 

Preview

39 Comments

  1. “God forbid if the series ends without Shana and Yuuji finally doing something romantic together.”

    God, you couldn’t be more right, Takaii. It’s finally the last episode for Xanadu’s sake.
    Please, J.C.Staff, don’t make us watching 72+ episodes just for troll ending.

    Kusabi
  2. You realize that if he tried to do everything himself he would have failed badly right? How do you think he got sealed in the rift in the first place? Doing something flashy as creating a new world and expecting Flame Hazes to not notice is ridiculous. This whole war was necessary, a lot of preparation was needed for Xanadu to be created and the sacrifices were not in vain.
    Also Yuji’s plan also included creating as much disturbance and distortions as possible in order for the Reigi Maigo to spill out even more energy. There are so many fine details that are hard to miss in this show if you dont pay attention. But I love it this way.

    game8910
  3. yeah..i really dont understand the reason behind continuing to battle Shana

    why would Shana even continue to fight even if Yuji does?

    both goals accomplished, are they just having a battle for the simple fact that Yuji put her through all of this?

    maybe this is just a personal one, but I really dont get why it’s happening.

    acesoldia
    1. That would be great, because there is actually lots of novel content regarding the big war and the previous Hunter that the anime obviously never touched, because it’s a completely different story

      virox
  4. Umn, the battle at Misaki city wasn’t useless at all. The only thing he was able to do himself is write/create the new world, but it still needed all the preperation and Hecate as the world egg.

    virox
    1. The Flame Hazes never wanted to stop the creation of the new world, not after they were defeated in the first battle, at least. Their intention was to prevent the eating of humans in the new world, so it won’t collapse again. That’s why they tried to fix the new law into the spell structure, not knowing that this structure was just a decoy, because thanks to the Reiji Maigo, Sairei no Hebi was able to write the whole world by himself, after how the Tomogara imagined it.

      virox
    2. The other reason being that most flame hazes actually contracted out of a desire for vengeance against a particular denizen. For Margery it was the silver, so when they found out that the denizens would be leaving many had that freak out mid season because they were going to be left without their target to hunt.

      RickyMack
  5. RIP Khamsin (this time for real)

    He was there at the beginning (being one of the few Flame Hazes alive to have shoved Snake into that Eternal Prison back then), and he has witnessed the end (Snake coming back to create the Paradise that would take all Denizens away). Talk about coming full circle.

    For this “Child of Both Worlds” thingy, there is an entire prequel dedicated to that, involving Shana’s predecessor, Wilhemina, Sophia, Chiara’s predecessor, Lammy, Merihim and all that.

    In a nutshell: there was once this Crimson Lord who used to be contracted to a Flame Haze, and over time fell in love with her. When she got betrayed and killed by the humans she was protecting, he went berserk and decided in order to continue with her “legacy”, he went on a plan to “conceive” a being by splicing the Powers of Existence of him – a being from the Crimson World, and his Flame Haze – a being from our world, to create a hybrid – a “Child of Both Worlds”.

    To do so would require a complicated Unrestricted Spell powered by even more PoEs. Naturally, this led to war.

    Though with the creation of Xanadu, there would be no such problem to conceive and give birth to this “child” of Pheles and Johann’s, as there’ll be an abundant amount of PoEs there.

    That’s all I can conjecture, as I don’t yet have all the details from the novels. 🙂

    Kinny Riddle
    1. I was asking myself the same question. I didn’t end up with the big ugly cry, but I can’t say I wasn’t really really chocked up; moved big time. I think it’s because of the very profound effect Khamsin’s death had on Yoshida; he really made her feel like she was a part of something bigger than herself, and when she wept, I was moved. Compound this with both the Flame Haze and Behemoth saying goodbye to one another = deep emotions.

      theskylion
  6. I think it’s natural that they end the series with Yuji and Shana fighting. This entire season has been about them refusing to understand each other; Yuji repeatedly places Shana’s ultimate happiness over her stated wishes and his own lesser desires, and Shana doesn’t have enough faith in Yuji to let him create his paradise, no matter how many times he explains. She doesn’t trust him to act, and he doesn’t trust her to understand. The aggravating topic is gone now, but the underlying issue is still very present, and it needs to be resolved.

    Relationships are composed of two things: Love and trust. They have the former, but this entire season highlights their lack of the latter. As a writer once put it, they’re afraid that the moment they let go of the steering wheel, they’ll both crash. So they need to fight and resolve that issue, or else they’re utterly doomed as a couple.

    Einander
  7. Er…what? So, the God of Guidance just speakerphoned everyone to say “you can gattai with humans, go try it in the new world”, and everything works out? erm…ok….

    I lol’ed when Beetle-man gets together with Poison Bag Kid(Girl?).

  8. With fate of the world (heck, actually three of them! – our world, Guze and Xanadu) decided, there is the last, most important fight left to do – to decide who will wear the pants in the Yuji X Shana relationship!
    also, kudos to the Snake for his final, parting declaration… It can really help FH in transitting from their eternal war into new “civilian” life, giving them sense of victory and fulfillment (and Tomogara got heir Xanadu anyway)

    ewok40k
  9. Goodbye Hecate, we all love your tsundere-ness. (like when you tried to kill Shana)
    Once the tomogaras have a new wish, come back to us.
    Enjoy your well deserved long break.

    Mixed Milkshake
  10. I knew Khamsin was going to bite the dust. Called it. Somebody, a major character but not one of the main ones, had to die or the ending would be too “fairy tale”. Since Khamsin was so overpowered all the time he was the best candidate for maximum drama potential.

    Beckett
  11. if shana finish this season , then i would demand jc staff to prequel of shakugan no shana ( the fist red- hair hot eyes)!!! or a movie would do just like bakemonogatari ?kizunamonogatari

    shinkirou
  12. This episode is just wonderful and epic in terms of sheer magnitude or proportions. Finally Shakugan no Shana is ending, plenty of sacrifices have been made throughout its course but with the creation of the new world I think all the sacrifices is not in vain.

    As for the the main characters, I just hope it is a happy end for them, can’t wait for the next episode.

  13. The first episode of Shana had such a great impact because the Shana took away the “existence” of an likable and innocent character Hirai in a very surreal and kafkaesque way. At that time, Shana was angry about everything in life, and showed little sympathy towards the “victim.” Even though Shana gradually changed for the better later on, that incident still bugged me throughout the series. In the final episode, justice is finally served by restoring Hirai’s rightful existence. It is not the greatest ending of all time. But it is a good ending nonetheless.

    Matroid

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