First Impressions / Shakugan no Shana

Summary:

Upon realizing that the new Konoe Fumina girl looks just like Hecate, Shana activates a fuuzetsu. She and Yuuji are initially surprised to find that Kazumi can move inside of this too now, though it turns out to be because of an item that Khamsin had given her. The more pressing concern for them is Konoe who has also been frozen in place. Explaining to Kazumi who Hecate is, Yuuji notes that it’s impossible for her not to be able to move in a fuuzetsu, but Shana thinks that this frozen still Konoe still looks too much like Hecate. After Shana draws her sword and points it Konoe, Yuuji tells her that he doesn’t feel the same atmosphere as when he was with Hecate. Shana still considers it impossible that her being here is a coincidence, but for the time being, she and Alastor decide just to keep an eye on Konoe. Once the fuuzetsu is gone, their teacher assigns Konoe to the seat in the back, however she stops at the seat beside Yuuji’s and insists on sitting there instead. Not wanting a scene, the teacher makes the girl that’s already sitting there switch seats, and all this makes Shana suspicious of how Konoe intentionally wanted to be close to Yuuji.

Even stranger is how Konoe appears unaccustomed to getting out her textbooks out of her bag on her own and how she spills them on the floor. Yuuji ends up helping her, and he finds that she even has a special cloth to cover her desk. During gym time, Ogata drags Konoe off to change, and Yuuji still doesn’t detect any signs of her being a Tomogara, though he has sensed that there is another Tomogara on the outskirts of town. Shana decides to leave this Tomogara alone for now, however she does compliment Yuuji on his perception. Meanwhile, Kazumi spends most of gym class thinking about how Konoe could potentially be a Tomogara that is after Yuuji. She had thought that they’d already returned to their normal lives, but she realizes that it’s not that easy. Because of all her thinking, Kazumi doesn’t see the volleyball coming straight at her and manages to get nailed in the face. Konoe seems genuinely concerned about her, and but when Kazumi tries to inquire into her feelings concerning Yuuji, Konoe falls asleep in her lap.

During lunchtime, Ogata takes Konoe to buy food, and Konoe at first grabs Yuuji’s shirt to get him come too. Yuuji already has the lunches that Shana and Kazumi made for him though, so he doesn’t go with her. It is around this time that Eita and Keisaku show up for class, and their arrival reminds Yuuji that they can contact Margery to get her help since she’s an unrestricted method specialist. Margery flies in and finds Konoe outside the school building watching some birds, but her own test turns up nothing. Still not ready to rest easy without positive proof that Konoe isn’t Hecate, Shana chases Konoe by herself after school and confronts her at a shrine. Shortly after Shana activates a fuuzetsu, the other Tomogara in town appears and identifies himself as Kasha. He attacks with his explosive rings, but Shana is unharmed by the explosions and cuts off his right arm as she tells him who she is. Needing power of existence for his wounds, Kasha crawls towards Konoe’s frozen body, and it’s at this moment that Yuuji rushes onto the scene. Shana stops him from getting any closer because she thinks that if Konoe is really Hecate, then she won’t let herself get eaten.

Believing that Konoe truly is human, Yuuji runs past Shana to help her, but Shana finishes off Kasha before Yuuji gets there by throwing her sword into the Tomogara. Yuuji dives towards Konoe to protect her from the ensuing explosion, and once the flames have died down, he notices that she has a scrape on her arm that’s bleeding – a sign that she’s human. In the aftermath, Yuuji learns that Shana had just been using the other Tomogara and that she had intended to help Konoe if she got eaten. Shana feels that she had to do all this so that they could train in peace, and their training today involves Wilhelmina again. At school the following day, Yuuji tells Kazumi that Konoe isn’t a Tomogara after all and just happens to look like Hecate. However, when he tries to remove a bird’s feather that’s stuck in Konoe’s hair, she clings to his shirt sleeve, and this attracts concerned looks from both Kazumi and Shana.

Preview:

I’m a little disappointed that the new Tomogara was basically a tool and met his end so easily, but the focus of this episode was all on Konoe. The more they show that she’s not Hecate, the more that I think that she really is, especially since Bel Peol seems so happy about the way things are going. Hecate could have had her memories suppressed and her powers taken away, and the goal is most likely to get her close to Yuuji. If that turns out to be true and she gets found out, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sydonay swoops in and saves her at the end. Interestingly enough though, the credits list Noto Mamiko voicing Konoe Fumina and not Hecate, so it’s possible she’s a clone or something. Whatever or whoever she is, all signs point to her having feelings for Yuuji, and that isn’t making Kazumi or Shana happy.

56 Comments

  10. Remember. The Boys spirit force raised because of Hecate? Now think that Hecate mixed with the human side of the Yuiji…

    Yuiji gains power up because of Hecate, and Hecate transfer to be a human because of Yuiji 🙂

    Germanguy
    Reply

  15. because its funny when a guy gets stabbed for multi timing and when his gf gets cut open to check if she really if pregnant and when the main gets his head chopped off and carried out to sea

    king
    Reply

  22. king at 6:04 pm on October 18th, 2007
    because its funny when a guy gets stabbed for multi timing and when his gf gets cut open to check if she really if pregnant and when the main gets his head chopped off and carried out to sea

    Don’t forget about the neck slicing!

    Flip
    Reply

  23. Seriously, please stop talking about the horrid (and completely unfunny) School Days, Shana is NOTHING like it.

    And just wait, first it was a love triangle, now a love square…maybe a love octagon by the end?

    AJ
    Reply

  42. Konoe Fumina sounds and acts way too much like Nodoka Miyazaki from Negima. But then again, Noto Mamiko did the voices for Nodoka, Hecate, and now the new girl Konoe Fumina.

    Still, I’m a big fan of Hecate anyways but a bit more reserved than the other fan boys.

    CapoExecutor
    Reply

  44. Guys, the School Day scenario probably won’t work well on Yuji, since Yuji isn’t human to begin with, he can just regenerate using the Reiji Maigo even after getting sliced or stabbed or whatever. 😀

    BTW, Omni, are you going to blog the movie and its Shana-tan special as well?

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

  46. clones?? switch up to love harem?? yikes!! is it mandatory that i see the first season to enjoy this or what?? cuz i think i’m sh!t outta luck then.. **intimdated to initiate download**

    BROOKLYN otaku
    Reply

  47. Konoe probably is Hecate somehow turned human, which would explain why she knows nothing about… being human. Her attachment to Yuji is probably due to her (very ecchi) synchro with Yuji and sharing his thoughts. Looks like she’s just being used by Bel Peol again, but I’m all for Hecate since she doesn’t seem at all inherently evil, if anything she just desires to be human and not be so empty. GOGO anxious girls next episode! 😀

    Zakarum
    Reply

  52. Geez…another weak Tomogara…

    This whole one-episode – one-enemy approach is starting to get old really fast. I miss Friagne. Next episode looks even worse – it’s going to be Shana and Yoshida getting jealous the whole time. Bring out the action and the mysteries already…grr!

    Speaking of mysteries, the new girl is either Hecate or some clone of her sent by Bel Peol. It’s too much of a coincidence for her to be just a normal girl and I am surprised that Shana and Yuuji accepted that at the end…even after seeing her blood. Remember what Alastor said…that even though he hasn’t heard about it, the probability of a Tomogara being able to resemble a human that much isn’t zero…and in anime if something isn’t zero it usually means it’s 100%.

    Oh, and I’m amazed that some people managed to compare even this anime to School Days. Seriously…this isn’t even the same genre. Whoever made that comparison obviously knows nothing about Shana. Next thing we know, people will start comparing Gundam to School Days.

    Darklord
    Reply

  56. @zakarum you said excatly what I was think yet some how I this if hecate know this was going to happen she might go along with it. I think (IMO) of all the members of Bal Masque her intentions are the lest evil. if she lives as a human she gets the memories she wants so much. afte all Yuuji told her take others memories well not make her, her. but we’ll see what happons ether way it’s going to be intresting

    vesper_nova
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *