First Impressions / Shakugan no Shana

「来たるべきもの」 (Kitarubeki Mono)
“What Must Come”

If it wasn’t already bad enough that people are having difficulties trying to remember what happened back during seasons one and two, these two concurrent stories aren’t making things any easier. Starting with Yuuji, there was a lot that the show explained this week. Even without a direct explanation, it’s clear that the current Yuuji is more than a single being. With the Sairei no Hebi (Snake of the Festival) not only powering up Yuuji but interjecting his own thoughts into him, it makes it a lot easier to think about how he was able to openly attack Shana in the first episode.

At the same time it also brings up an interesting point — Yuuji may or may not be in-control of his actions. After hearing Sairei no Hebi’s voice come out of Yuuji’s mouth, I started to question whether the person we saw on-screen was the Yuuji we’ve come to know and love or something completely different. As soon as Bel Peol started to have that small internal struggle over why their commander would take over a Mystes, it dawned on me that the Sairei no Hebi’s original goal might have been to completely devour Yuuji’s existence, essentially using Yuuji’s body as a shell.

Whether or not my assumptions are correct, things are so convoluted now that just about anything could happen. It, for a lack of better words sucks that Yuuji was the only person to get some decent face time. After leaving all the other prominent characters just enough time to bring up an interesting point, I get this strange feeling that these first handful of episodes are going to be very plot heavy. Not only is Shana developing a new power but we have Keisaku and his ambitions at Outlaw and a Yuuji that’s become the overpowered leader of the single biggest enemy Shana has. But if that wasn’t enough for you, a normal looking Yuuji is apparently returning to Misaki City next week!

However, I have faith that everything will eventually be tied up in the end. Unlike other shows where a build up like this eventually leads to a big letdown, I’m hoping that these plot heavy episodes provide a solid foundation for the series to go out on a bang on. Honestly, I’m just waiting to see crazy things get as the story leads up to that intense battle that they teased us with at the beginning of episode one.

PS. In the opening, did you notice how Yuuji is wearing Alastor right before Shana takes off with extra big and fiery wings? Makes you wonder just what’s going to happen…

ED Sequence

ED: 「I’ll believe」 by ALTIMA
Watch the ED!: Streaming ▼

 

Preview

42 Comments

  1. I’m pretty happy they’re giving us more plot than action right now, since as you said, things are really convoluted and thick.

    Now, is it just my imagination, or is Yuuji/Sairei no Hebi wearing the outfit that Mathilde, the previous Enpatsu Shakugan no Uchite, wore in some flashbacks? It looks very familiar, and I know I’d never seen a picture of Sairei no Hebi before SIII started…

    Eclipse
    Reply

  4. @takaii
    basically yuji current state now is like agito/arigo from air gear, where their thought (yuji and sebi) can interchange every once awhile seeing that older voice (sebi) and younger voice (yuji) keep changing. i wish jc staff to do it better because this interchange voice might lead the viewer to be confuse with who with who.

    shinkirou
    Reply

  6. What I really like is the fact that in this particular hero/villain combination, Yuuji is the aggressive and commanding one, while the Snake of the Festival is much more calm and friendly. Might change later on though.

    Logeres
    Reply

  7. You might actually be on to something; Hebi’s goal might as well be to devour Yuuji’s existence outright. But I sincerely hope that this isn’t the case- seems pretty predictable and uninnovative. It might makes things more interesting if he partnered up with Yuuji because he was somehow interested in Shana, and wanted to make use of his ties to her- there seems to be some indication of this…

    Zen
    Reply

  10. Yuuji speaks with two voices – literally.

    I feel the plot exposition this week left out a few stuff from the novel that requires further explanation (so I hope this is no longer counted as spoilers). I also hope other novel readers would help correct me if I’ve got some details wrong:

    Remember that Silver armoured guy residing inside Yuuji? Bel-Peol et al refers to it as “the Tyrant”, and that armour was supposed to be reserved as the future body of the Bal Masque Commander – Snake of the Festival.

    Once the “right conditions” were met, he was supposed to devour Yuuji’s outer Mystes shell and use the armour as his body instead, sustaining his Powers of Existence with the Reiji Maigo.

    Instead, our friend Snakey here is quite happy to continue residing inside Yuuji’s body, even to the extent of offering to collaborate with Yuuji. He’s been holed up inside Yuuji for so long that he has taken a liking to Yuuji. And in order to get Yuuji on board, perhaps he has enticed Yuuji with an opportunity too good to refuse: a chance to protect his fellow humans from further harm, as well as “change Shana’s fate” (as in the eternal battle between Denizens and Flame Hazes).

    That was why Bel-Peol is confused. Sometimes she’s just not sure whether the orders are actually Snake’s will or Yuuji’s will, though as long as Snake is not complaining, she and the rest would tolerate Yuuji for now.

    Of the new characters shown today, we only need to concern ourselves with Sophie, as we’ll be seeing this bad-ass nun quite a lot this season.

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

    1. Thanks again for week 2’s footnotes. I do hope you plan to continue this whenever you think the animation left something important out. I sort of gathered the bit on the armor body’s role, but your explanation cleared up something that Snake only alluded to in passing in the show. Your explanation is appreciated!

      Eclipse
      Reply

  12. Plot heavy is good. It feels like a build up for the future episodes where action comes in fast and furious, leaving less time for that.

    I can understand the confusion some viewers might have about Hebi and Yuuji. To me it seems like they are indeed both in the body of the Mystes and could essentially be one existence altogether, justifying why ‘Sakai Yuuji’ ceased to exist to some who knew nothing of his run-ins with the world of the Guze.

    Owaranai
    Reply

  14. i want to watch Shakugan No Shana from season 1
    but i was uncertain about watch season 2 because many people said season 2 is crap.
    can anyone can give me an advise
    is season 2 worth to watch if you want watch season 3?

    Shinratsu
    Reply

    2. There’s a period of time where episodes that were non-canon left most viewers with a bad impression, even prompting some to drop it…But ultimately I think season 2 is still enjoyable and it’s advisable to watch it if you wish to understand more about the motivations behind what the characters do, as well as the Reiji Maigo.

      Owaranai
      Reply

    1. Try to ignore those two occasions at the end of seasons 1 and 2 when Seireiden supposedly blew up.

      This is because IT IS NOT CANON! JC Staff merely created a convenient “end of season filler” in order to wrap up the show for those respective seasons.

      Now that we’re in the final season, everything ought to be following the novels very closely now. The final novel volume just came out earlier this month, in fact.

      Kinny Riddle
      Reply

  21. One more thing, also useful if any fansubbers are reading this, I’d like to point out that Bal-Masque has a specific term for their Master Plan: 大命 Taimei, as in Great Destiny.

    And they’ve “programmed” a series of spells in order to execute this complicated “algorithm”, naming it the 大命詩篇 Taimei Shihen (Literally the Psalms of Great Destiny).

    Hecate, being the organization’s priestess, in naturally in charge of overseeing that everything is going through smoothly. Hence why she intervened to shove the Silver guy back inside Yuuji in season 2.

    So far the novel revealed 3 phases of this “Great Destiny”

    Phase 1 – Create a body for their missing Commander (why he is “missing” will be explained in due time) – The Silver armour was inserted into the Reiji Maigo for this purpose, though in the end it was not needed, as Snake decided to “share” his existence with Yuuji. Nevertheless, this phase is now deemed successfully completed.

    Phases 2 and 3 are spoilers for now, so I will refrain from revealing them.

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

    1. Wasn’t the giant-silver-armour-tomogara plan at the end of Season 2 referred to as 大命詩編？ It’s curious to hear that phase one of the real taimei shihen vaguely resembles this anime-only event. Sometimes anime directors will try to fit the filler material with the original plot through retrospective explanation, and since the season finale of S2 was rather momentous, I’m curious to see what they [may choose to] come up with.

      Eclipse
      Reply

  22. Man.. All these footnotes.. They sound like spoilers but at the same time, not..
    Is this because they’re cramming too much contents into too short anime time?
    I hope the story moves and build up nicely. And hope no random throwing of contents and characters +_+ I can confidently say that as cool as this show is, and even though I watched season 1 and 2.. Whew.. Some cryptic stuff out there.

    And this episode 2 gotta be one of the most cryptic shows I am watching this season.
    Still wondering about Horizon too. XD

    acolyte
    Reply

      1. One thing I’ve noticed so far is that the director is really expecting his audience to have the first two seasons fresh in mind – he’s not taking any time to bring new or foggy viewers up to speed. I know it’s 48 episodes, but I think it’s definitely clearer if everything is fresh. So if you have the time, I’d recommend at least hitting the latter half of season two.

        Eclipse
        Reply

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