Shana, Sakai Yuuji, Alastor, Yoshida Kazumi, Wilhemina Carmel, Margery Daw
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「涯てより開く」 (Hateyori Hiraku)
“The End Over the Horizon”
After watching the finale a few times, I must say that I’m satisfied with what J.C. Staff has given us. While it may not have been exactly what I wanted, there was just enough nostalgia to tip this final episode from good to great.
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「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.
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「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.
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「一つの理」 (Hitotsu no Ri)
“One Truth”
Somehow, in the span of one episode, the story went from borderline boring to amazingly intricate. Honestly, would you have been satisfied with Shana just destroying that huge egg that’s going to form Xanadu?
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「世界の卵」 (Sekai no Tamago)
“World Egg”
I’ll gladly admit that I enjoy Shana a lot more when there’s a lot of flashy action to keep my mind occupied. And instead of getting bombarded with explanations, the talking was kept to a minimum this week.
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「彩飄が呼ぶもの」 (Kaze ga Yobumono)
“What the Wind Brings”
While I loved the beginning of the episode, I could have done without the ending.
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「闘争の渦」 (Tousou no Uzu)
“Maelstrom of Warfare”
As the task of writing about Shana slowly becomes more difficult with less and less to talk about, I did think it was pretty interesting to get a good look at what’s going on behind the scenes for the bad guys for once. While there was still enough dialogue to write a small but fairly lengthy book, it did put some logic behind Yuuji’s plan.
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「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.
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「再び、戦いへ」 (Futatabi, Tatakai e)
“To Battle, Once More”
It’s that time during the second-cour that everyone dreads — the moment everything starts to slow down and nothing makes sense.
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「雨中の敗走」 (Ochuu no Haisou)
“Rout in the Rain”
After watching Yuuji’s rise to power and the subsequent mental breakdown of roughly ninety percent of the Flame Haze throughout the world, I was afraid that this episode would be a big pity party for the Flame Haze. Thankfully, with people like Centerhill and Margery finally stepping up (or showing up) this episode did not disappoint.