First Impressions / Shakugan no Shana

Summary:

As the preparations continue for the upcoming school festival, Yuuji’s thoughts remain on his silver flame color. Eita and Keisaku spend their time wondering if Margery will come to the festival since she wasn’t very enthusiastic when she heard there wouldn’t be alcohol served. Shana meanwhile is working on a map of the city and is thinking about the advice Yuuji’s mother and father gave her. The girls in the class, with the exception of Konoe, even stay the night at school so that they can continue working. Both Shana and Kazumi are unable to fall asleep though, so Kazumi takes the chance to thank Shana for standing up for her earlier when she insisted that Yuuji stick to his Romeo role. Shana isn’t against Kazumi being with Yuuji, but she reiterates that she’s not going to lose. Kazumi in turns says that she won’t be sad and cites how Yuuji had looked at only Shana when he glanced in their direction a few hours earlier. This doesn’t bother her because she knows that the two have been fighting side-by-side up until now, though Kazumi now also affirms that she won’t lose.

With only two days left until the festival, the preparations are almost complete, and Yuuji helps Shana put photographs up on the map that she’s working on. By coincidence, the photos are of locations of past battles, bringing back memories for Shana of the time she’s spent with Yuuji, and she vows to continue fighting together with Yuuji. Ogata is meanwhile trying to get Kazumi to try on her Juliet costume, and Konoe impresses everyone by reciting one of Romeo’s lines. What she says about standing up against difficulty stays with Shana for the rest of the day, and Alastor tells Shana later that Flame Hazes can love people too. He advises the same thing Yuuji’s mother did – let her feelings show her what to do. Wilhelmina then appears on the school rooftop after having arrived back in town and gets Shana to bring Yuuji to see her that night. She reveals that while investigating the Reiji Maigo, she heard about a Crimson Lord named Pheles who created it. Pheles had an eternal lover name Johan who was the Reiji Maigo’s Mystes, and together they were known as the promised pair, Engage Link. She created the Reiji Maigo so that she could remain for all eternity with Johan, but the two were defeated in a fight. The Reiji Maigo is proof of the pair’s bonds.

The problem is that Pheles is alive, and Wilhelmina thinks that she’ll come for the memento of her lover and destroy Yuuji. This leads Yuuji to wonder if the silver flame color has something to do with this, but Wilhelmina hadn’t heard about the silver yet and can hardly believe it. Alastor concludes that the two are different problems, meaning that Yuuji has a double challenge. Shana then senses that there’s something else Wilhelmina isn’t telling them, but Wilhelmina keeps silent. The following day, Yuuji is deep in thought about the silver flame and Pheles when Shana asks him to vow to be resolved and to stand up for it. Looking determined, he vows to do that no matter what happens. Wilhelmina meanwhile wishes that Pheles doesn’t come because she doesn’t want to fight her.

Preview:

I think the first nine or so minutes of this episode had pretty much nothing of consequence to the story or to character development. It was mostly reflecting on last episode and a bunch of festival preparation, and honestly it felt rather wasted to me. Fortunately, the rest of the episode was a lot better (relatively speaking), and it looks like Pheles might show up next week during the festival. The very last line of the episode has her calling out to Johan, and the credits list her as being voiced by Inoue Marina, so I’m looking forward to her appearance. It also would appear that the Konoe story is getting sidelined for now (probably until the last arc of this second series), but the double challenge will hopefully make up for it because it potentially gives Yuuji two things to face at once, and that’d be a lot more action than we’re seeing now.

40 Comments

  8. they seem to be going half episode filler and half episode for the main storyline.
    Next week will be the same. they also show the main plot on the previews. At this rate the show will end at the end of the pheles arc.

    golthin
    Reply

  21. Well, if they plan to go beyond Pheles they need to make room for 2 unknown within yuuchi instead of one, they only have one unknown listed. Only if they will place the Unknown within Bal Masque then it might work. they might use the material from the novels that don’t actualy have arcs but I doubt they will go as far as Volume 16. If they go as far as 16 they will either have an original ending or a Cliffhanger.

    golthin
    Reply

  22. Well, if they plan to go beyond Pheles they need to make room for 2 unknown within yuuchi instead of one, they only have one unknown listed.

    Eh? You talking about the box that Yuji is in? That one’s for mystes. Last season it had Tenmoku Ikko in it.

    Tokkan
    Reply

  23. i think golthin was refering to the novels and i think he was refering to the fact that
    Show Spoiler ▼

    i would love to see this develope in this season but i very much doubt they will.

    Cranmer
    Reply

  25. No no Cranmer, I know all about that. golthin was actually more specifically talking about the character page on the official website in reply to me on the previous page of comments. Though to bring attention to the Silver flame so much in this season and not end up covering that material is completely idiotic. Aside from that, the arc that starts on novel 16 is probably the final arc, so leaving it for another season is a no-no because then more than half of that season would have to be anime original material.

    Tokkan
    Reply

  27. I would also like to know if shana confesses to yuji in the novels and if so does he pick her or kazumi?
    I actually dont’t like Kazumi, shes nicer in contrast to Shana but thats only because Shana still not used to understand her feeling or the emotions of others but I just find her incredibly weak and annoying and in someways spiteful (only in season1 when she called Shana a cheater for being closer to Yuji). I like the idea of yuji and Shana being together but at the same time I see them being together romantically.

    Anyway I hope they cover this sitaution in the anime but I hope they don’t let it drag on, both of them keep saying they won’t lose but none of them do anything.

    Nicole
    Reply

  34. The anime already did anime original stuff with the final arc in the first season as well as the Konoe arc (eps 3-6) in this season. As for where it is in the novels now, it’s currently around novel 11 here, which is a small exposition before the Pheles arc. Please note that most of the early exposition in the novels was downplayed in the anime and even sometimes left unadapted. The arcs are normally adapted as 2-3 episodes for arcs spanning 1 novel and 4-5 episodes for arcs spanning 2 novels. The exception the rule is the first 8 episodes of the first season, which re-adapted and reconfigured the 2 separate stories from the first 2 novels so that they could overlap and run at the same time, essentially slowing down the pace by doing 2 arcs at once. The movie is a much closer adaptation of the first novel.

    Tokkan
    Reply

  35. Who wants spoilers on Pheles?

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Saif
    Reply

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