Final Impressions / First Impressions / Shakugan no Shana

Summary:

With Dantalion’s creation on the verge of being fully awakened, Shana is concentrating on getting the Reiji Maigo back to save Yuuji. However, she and Wilhelmina have to go through Hecate and Sydonay first, and though the two get a little injured, Shana notices that their opponents are avoiding attack them when they are by giant Tomogara. The two Flame Haze use this to their advantage to keep Sydonay and Hecate at bay, but as Alastor points out, their goal is still to prevent the creation of this Tomogara, so they can’t be doing things to prolong the battle. Believing that Yuuji is still inside, Shana decides to try to go into the giant Tomogara. Yuuji is indeed still alive in there after having picked himself up from the earlier fall, and he continues to forge on ahead despite being pursued by Dantalion’s robot guards. Meanwhile, outside the blue field, Kazumi is thinking about using the Hougu that Pheles gave her, but she also remembers what Shana had said about redoing having Yuuji choose between them, so she decides to believe in them by waiting and welcoming them back when they return.

Back inside the giant Tomogara, Yuuji uses some more power of existence to destroy more robot guards, but he realizes that he’s not scared because his mind is on protecting his family, everyone in the city, and especially Shana. Right around the time that he reaches the Blutsauger that he had dropped earlier, Shana and Wilhelmina manage to blow an opening into the giant Tomogara, and Shana flies in. Able to sense Yuuji, she rushes towards him and dives into his arms when she finds him. With Yuuji turning translucent in appearance, Alastor reasons that, given what Dantalion said about the Reiji Maigo being the giant Tomogara’s heart, Yuuji is likely being consumed as the power of that heart. The gravity of their situation prompts the two to quickly head off to the spot where Yuuji thinks the Reiji Maigo currently is. Outside, however, Hecate chooses this moment to awaken the giant Tomogara, and doing so lowers the blue field around it, revealing it to the city. People start running in panic, but they are soon frozen in place by a fuuzetsu courtesy of the still injured – but alive – Margery.

Dantalion is prepared for this and activates the Tomogara’s giant wings, causing Wilhelmina to realize that it’s going to try to fly out of the fuuzetsu. Inside of it, Shana and Yuuji reach the room where the silver armor is, and Yuuji senses the Reiji Maigo inside of it. Shana manages to plunge her sword into its chest, but when it counterattacks with a blast of power, Yuuji has to save her by throwing a blast of his own. Recalling about what Alastor had said earlier, he directs Shana to attack the mechanism behind the silver armor that connects the Reiji Maigo to the giant Tomogara. Before she can do so though, the silver armor knocks her off her feet, and this time Yuuji doesn’t have the power to help. The silver armor is then about to shoot Yuuji, but under Hecate’s control, it misses. Shana uses this opportunity to strike, and as she watches Shana rise into the air with her wings out, Hecate is reminded of the birds she saw some time ago. This leads to the silver armor stretching out to Shana instead of attacking her, giving Shana the opening she needs to destroy the machinery behind it. Yuuji follows this up by stabbing the silver armor’s chest with the Blutsauger, and he successfully retrieves the Reiji Maigo.

With their objectives complete, the two escape the giant Tomogara which is now crumbling. Hecate doesn’t understand what happened, and she’s surprised a few moments later when she notices herself crying. Nevertheless, she leaves with Sydonay and Dantalion back to Seireiden. In the aftermath, Kazumi finds Shana and Yuuji and welcomes them back. Once everything is restored back to normal, Yuuji is once again faced with the choice between Shana and Kazumi. After deciding, he thinks about how, on this night that the city was protected, he greatly advanced his everyday life, and he believes in what lies ahead.

Epilogue:

I didn’t think this was such a bad ending – it beat my expectations anyway. That’s not to say that it was fantastic because it definitely felt rushed at times, but it was much better than, for example, Zero no Tsukaima S2’s ending. The action here was generally pretty exciting to watch, and they gave Konoe’s existence some additional meaning since it appears that her memories are what caused Hecate and the plan to ultimately fail. That still doesn’t quite justify all the time they spent on Konoe in the beginning of the series, but it does help. Plus, the ending even implied that Yuuji finally chose Shana over Kazumi, though we’ll never truly see the results of that unless they animate another sequel. Speaking of which, the one angle that I wish they had developed better was Kazumi and the Hougu that Pheles gave her. I kept wondering if there was some big plot point coming given how much she was shown agonizing over it, but in the end, it was just used to give her marginally more character development. Since it’s technically still in her possession, maybe this will come up again if there’s another series.

Final Thoughts: While I did enjoy the ending, it still didn’t really change my view of the series as a whole. They shouldn’t have structured the series to spend so much time on Konoe Fumina in the beginning and could have thus left more time at the end for the showdown between the Bal Masqué and Yuuji’s group. What’s more, although several of the characters underwent changes (Yuuji being the best example), I wish that the writers had done more to also change the status quo instead of having practically all the bad guys survive. That just makes this second series feel like it’s filling time until the final showdown happens in the next series or whenever. And of course there’s invariably going to be a third series – it’s really just a matter of time. For all my complaints though, I still find Shana a good series and would probably commit to watching another sequel – more than I can say for the next Zero no Tsukaima series. Regardless, at this point, what I’m most pumped up about is the show that is replacing Shana in its late-night timeslot, Macross F.

115 Comments

  11. @guest: the appearance of snh/sof or……dark yuuji is the most pivotal point in shakugan no shana’s story, you could even say that snh/sof is the only reason why the fans of shakugan no shana keep waiting and watching the season 2.

    whatever
    Reply

  12. now i think they could not show sof here as if they showed him here they had to cut a lot of important events from the story line such as
    1.ike being a mystes and disappearing.
    2.there is a scene where Yuji retaliates and nearly kills Wilhelmina with the Blutsauger in a wild rage, for she tried to make Shana give up on Yuji by force.
    well,but again they could at least give us a glimpse of him.the thing i wonder, is there enough material to produce another 24b ep. 3rd season? they may have to use a lot of filler episodes.

    so guys,see all of you again in the 3rd season.^_^

    mit
    Reply

  14. so, how are they going to fit in the stuff which occur in the later novels for a potential 3rd season if they moved off the source material this much?

    or will the anime do a hagaren and do it’s own thing from now on?

    benihime
    Reply

  15. @benihime-i don’t think so.i think they may follow the same formula they used in the 1 and 2nd season like some filler episodes,some episodes from novel and an anime original ending.

    mit
    Reply

  19. Ha JC Staff dont have much time and have to end it abruptly making the only 3 mins moment of epilogue though it was like nothing other than what seem like Yuji going to Shana and even the way it ended is to make it so that there will be a possible way to make a 3rd season. The action was good but the story is quite meaningless which is why most people is waiting for the original story continuation from vol.16 onwards (which is a long way i’m sure of it)

    setsuke
    Reply

  20. Let’s just hope if there’s a third season they don’t reset things to bring the Yuuji-Shana-Yoshida triangle back into play. That’s the weakest part of the story, if that’s finally done for with Yuuji picking Shana, a third season could be really good.

    suguru
    Reply

  21. This serie slightly makes the passing mark. I would rather them filler the serie with chigusa than the stupid triangle relationship. But well, there are also some cool fighting scents so yeah whatever =.=

    mysterious
    Reply

  24. @all those sadly mistaken fellows who believe this is the end of that annoying triangle business
    Have you already forgotten what happened at the beginning of this season? The magical word is retcon. Yuuji making a decision? S03E01 will say: “Sorry, never happened.”

    When will anime directors finally realize that trying to separate a series into several stand-alone seasons ends in utter crap nine times out of ten? It’s the same everytime with whether it’s based on a manga or a novel.

    bearzerger
    Reply

  26. @Dan, sorry even tho she may look charming , but her personality has out done her cuteness for me. In fact, i dont like any of those lolis in this show. Only chigusa FTW!

    mysterious
    Reply

  44. @ Zakall: Zero no Tsukaima is going on its 3rd season…

    @ itsnot myrealname: Love to some people is not about looks. Shana has saved Yugi alot and even showed SOME of her feelings to him a bit (she hasn’t said her true feelings). While Yoshida confessed to Yugi and did him some lunch favors. Plus there is the thing about Shana and maybe Yuji being able to live forever due to Shana being a Flame Haze and Yuji being a Myste of the item he is carrying (not sure if he got it back this episode).

    Snufflupagus
    Reply

  45. @itsnot myrealname

    Yoshida has been a fangirl since day 1 of her crush. Its like those really bad shoujos where the male lead gets chocolates and bentos from his fanclub.-_- Shes not a bad character but since shes the rival of Shana I cant help but be all like :K HATEEE when shes talking to Yuji.X_X

    Kona
    Reply

  46. I don’t even know how there would be 3rd season… they screwed up WAY TOO BADLY.

    I thought ANIME was better then NOVEL and was more interesting at the beginning, but it keep screw up a original story.

    Originally Yuji become one with Sairei no Hebi and become one entity known as Seirei no Hebi “Sakai Yuji” doesn’t show up to promised place for either of Shana and Kazumi.

    Later Yuji return as the Leader of the Balmasque and told Shana that he chose her and he talks about rebellion so he can end battle between Flamehaze and Guze no Tomogara. (Yuji also delete himself so other then does who involved in Flamehaze stuff, no one remembers him and now his not torch nor mystes but God of Guzen no Tomogara)

    Yuji easily defeat Shana, Wilhelmina, Majory and kidnap Shana, tell Kazumi that he choose Shana and took off to Seirei-Dan.

    (Story from Shakugan no SHANA Vol.14 & Vol.16 since Vol.15 is past story)

    Next novel is known as Shakugan no SHANA M (not Vol.17 Sadly) and date available is unknown.

    I think it would be better to make episode 24 mix of vol.14 and vol.16 such as yuji become leader of balmasque talk about his master plan defeat shana and take her to seirei-dan and put sign like to be continued would been better. (it would been too fast)

    P.S.
    Oh, I don’t think they try to rush, since they made all those original, filler episode in the first couple episode.

    Anonymous
    Reply

  48. i wonder how the 3rd season will start i mean in the novel he chose Shana after he become Seirei no Hebi Sakai Yuji here he chose her before he become SnH so how should the 3rd season start? either way they say it never happend or something happens on their way back home from the meeting point i dont see other possibilities it would be strange
    man why do they change it so much?????

    defki
    Reply

  51. Funny that last night I dreamed of Shana and Yuji hooking up, no idea where that came from X___X

    In any case, I liked the entire series, but then I haven’t read the light novels since I dont know where a translation would be. I’m looking forward to a 3rd season 😀

    skins T
    Reply

  54. I would far rather have a third season of a show with a Mean Entertainment Index © anywhere near as high as this one does than have a blatantly rushed ending, no matter how wtfpwn Yuji may become.

    Eirias
    Reply

  60. Another season. Well, at least the action is FINALLY picking up even though no one important died and all the players in the previous season are still alive (Don’t know about Margery though). I just hope to God that SnS Season 3 won’t be another take School Days. I think we’ve had about enough of that.

    Shut up ~Desu.
    Reply

  61. @Snufflupagus
    Yuji should have picked Yoshida first coz Shana will still look like that in 50 yrs while yoshida will get old….. hehehe

    You should think that the creators want to have a conclusion for season ending in case they don’t have funds for the next. They were probably just thinking about the fans would feel if the season is left hanging. Maybe just maybe in the third season they will put the snake and the Hebi. And as usual, they will end the whole Snake and Hebi Saga/Arc in the same season.

    I wish I could see a clip or something about Zero no Tsukaima: Rise of the Triangle Mage… anyway, it’s just a wishful thinking..

    itsnot myrealname
    Reply

  64. Lol~~~ Third season will definitely come! I am sure and had that faith for that! Yay, more Kawada Mami and KOTOKO songs in future! LOL~~~ Kawada Mami is getting way better than before! She’s grown a lot through Hishoku no sora and JOINT!!! ^^

    KOTOKO is getting into top 20 of Oricon daily singles chart these days! Happy for KOTOKO!!! Hopefully she will score her first no.1 someday.

    C
    Reply

  65. Besides, glad to hear that Yuji may have chosen Shana! Man, it took seasons for them both to get together. Except the sad fact Yuji may become Sairei no Hebi Sakai Yuji maybe the bad, defeats Shana and kept her in Seireidan.

    I dunno. I do hope the director would not put something tragic on Yuji at the end.

    I’m waiting forward for Gonzo’s Druaga no To: Aegis of Uruk. Think this anime is interesting because of its name title I guess…..

    C
    Reply

  69. Hmmm… Was it ever explicitly shown that Yuuji chose Shana? I didn’t see one. They just showed Shana with a blush and a smile in the end. That was not a clear indication. I am going to laugh hard if you conclusive guys are proven wrong by the 3rd season.

    The Final Pairing?
    Reply

  70. @The Final Pairing?

    Shana said, that they will restart the fight between Shana and Yoshida after the Hecate-Thing is done…
    In the last 50 seconds of that epi you can see Yuji walking down the same street as in 22, then he stopped, closed his eyes for a second and walked ahead, when you can see Yoshida starting to cry and in the next scene you can see Shana, first noding and looking away, then turning her head and getting “a blush and a smile”

    virox
    Reply

  71. First off, I love this show, but I haven’t touched the novels, so Iono what’s been planned and all…

    I was hoping Yuji would go with Shana, definitely, leaving Kazumi for Ike. Dunno. I feel like his confession might’ve made it too awkward now…

    I know this is a couple episodes back, but I did cry for Ike, first I’ve cried over pixels in years. But I don’t hate Kazumi. Crush or not, her position is too… relatable? Whatever the word is. I still hope (or wish, at least) she’ll go with Ike if Yuji really did pick Shana.

    Darn it. Ignoring the novels, the first season had a much more fan-friendly ending, it seems. Dx Well, for some fans, anyway…

    Perhaps I’m just one of the few people who liked the pairings more than the action.
    Well… hooray for Tanaka/Ogata~

    Papersak
    Reply

  72. So chances are that there’s a third season, right? =\

    I almost died waiting for yuuji to say he chose shana… They delayed till like the last 5 to 10 minutes of the episode? I think that the fact that Hecate didn’t attack shana cause she resembled a bird was really interesting. =)

    Cant wait for season 3! >

    tomoko
    Reply

  73. The fact yuuji has now chosen shana puts the Anime back on track. which means Season 3 ( early season 3 ) we should finally be seeing what we have all been waiting for since that puts it at the start of chapter 16 !! ZOMG NICE. but oh next season sadly i feel wont be here to late 09 at best 🙁

    Andrew
    Reply

  74. I still can’t wait too for seeing Shana side by side with Yuji… let’s hope that the third season will come soon 🙂
    Meanwhile we can watch Znt3, writing fanfics with Shana broking her promise and kissing Yuji 😉
    Can’t wait to see this =)
    Yuji will definitly ick Shana, okay, he’s too stupid to realize that Shana loves him during two Seasons, but if booth of the girls write a letter to him that they have to say something to him and he has to choose one of the girls… I think even Yuji isn’t to stupid to realize what’s going on 😉

    Sry for my english-mistakes

    ShanaxYuji forever

    virox
    Reply

  75. Yes! A million times YES! He chose Shana! Woohooo! XD I think the series could have ended a little better, it was still awesome! Now I win the bet that I had with my brother. Yeah! I hope there is a third season, that way we can see a development in Yuji and Shana’s relationship.

    Jemi_Rose
    Reply

  76. whoo! looks like a great episode. yuuji finaly chose shana. they should defintly be a season 3 and hopefuly will be much better than this one. well see you all when it comes out!

    Master of Elements
    Reply

  77. i was told that season 3 is coming this fall..
    but im not sure if thats true or not…

    but yea 2nd season was SLOW at the start, but then it got into the excitting bits…
    but i know what ya mean by rushing…

    but yea season 2 ended with a good opening for season 3..
    lets just hope ^^

    Sesshys Lover
    Reply

  81. Yoshida whas very annoying in this whole story i’m just happy that he picked up shana
    and not yoshida. Hopefully there will be a third story and this time with much action and less love dovey stuff with annoying yoshida.

    mayid
    Reply

  84. This show does indeed have lots of dead-time involving Yoshida, but some of the fight scenes are just incredible – the fights in episodes 13, 19, 21 and this last episode were amazing enough for it to be worth watching the show 🙂
    I certainly hope they will make a season three as Yoshida’s most likely pretty much out of the picture, but it’d be agonizing if they waited 1,5 years just as they did between season 1 and 2. Also, it would be sad if Yuji after this had lost his large capacity of power of existence as the Reiji Maigo was pouring it out without being in his body which might affect its functionality, but hopefully this won’t happen and they’ll swiftly make a third season with Yuji actually growing strong, lots of fighting scenes and as little Yoshida as possible 😛

    shanaftw
    Reply

  86. Well i just watched to the last episode and T.T sigh… what a waste. There were so many good points in this show, but nothing came to a resolution yet. I hate such kind anime that betray fan’s (mine) expectation like this!

    Yoshida, who is so hated cause she’s in the middle between Shana and Yuuji served well her role till the very last episode. She struggled for being close and all to Yuuji without the necessary power, but she was given a tremendous choice: sacrifice for her true love, willingly as becoming the new Link for the Eternal Lovers.
    I really longed for Pheles and Joahn to come back, but eventually that arc was long ended 🙁
    So this carachter was dragged along for 24 episodes with a high expectation of meeting a spectacular and dramatic fate, and at the end? What was she useful for, if at the very end she says: “fuck it i’ll just wait them?” i lol’ed :X Useless girl Kazumi!!

    Kazumi or Shana could have been picked up and it would have been fair enough. But nothin happened. Yes nothing, you can’t tell nothing from the last scene. You must wait now ages to make sure Shana met Yuuji and not all the nice friends or whatever… bad indeed…

    Well… just a love triangle… that’s all about this serie really was. Boring indeed. No final confrontation, no total war. No villain was defeated, Marjery’s archenemy the Silver was there, she already bothered us long for 48 episodes and at wtf the end? She was left out of the play half dead! Useless Marjery. Lol @ her
    And Bel-peol? The master villain didn’t even show up in the final battle… Useless Bel-peol too 🙁

    Oo-ok! This wasn’t really a love triangle, but quadriangle indeed. Don’t forget Hecate! The Hecate’s false vessel, Konoe was around for 1/3 (one third) of the total show for what? We’d expect some development in Hecate’s carachter, but yet nothing but a single tear. Maybe a glance of change in her empty heart, that i really long to see in the next season, if it will air… But still, for this season, another useless char. Useless Hecate as well 🙁

    Let’s hope all stories will be resolved somehow in the future. But for the time being, i’ll search for the manga. Thank to the anon user in this thread that revealed some of the manga’s happenings. It intrigued me a lot 😉

    Solaris
    Reply

  92. GO GO SHANAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
    wouldnt it be better if there wasnt kazumi??? i mean like, no love rival~
    so shana could go lovey dovey with yuji withought this rivalry thingy
    😛

    klinc
    Reply

  93. hmmm they might start one but theres still a possibility that the project would be dropped u kno 🙁
    well gotta hope they drop it if their actually makin another season or movie then
    AND HEY WHY DID MY COMMENT GET CUT OFF?!

    klinc
    Reply

  94. no cos ppl in japan like the idea of choices especially if its a case where its 1 boy 2 girls, BTW i think i realise why wilhelmina cant cook, its cos of all the hits on hear head causin amnesia. But then again i’m sure this is the epesode where she shows off the most skin, no REALLY

    Cloud910
    Reply

  97. well i watch most animes that shana’s voice actress is in lolz
    i only watched rental magica coz she was mikan in it or i wouldnt hav even watched to the 2nd ep……………………………………………………………………..

    klinc
    Reply

  98. @ klinc
    lol same here. I LOVE Rie Kugimiya. I’m gonna be straining my schedule by downloading Nabari no Ou just cus shes in it. And I watched Potemayo cus she was in it too using her Shana-tan sounding voice. Ayako Kawasumi was Mikan in Potemayo and she wasnt annoying just cus she provided lulz and wasnt completely wussy like Yoshida.=_=

    I need to rant about Yoshida not using the hougu. Why spend like 10+ min in the whole series about her emoing about using it and just let her “wait for them” and be a totally pointless character? I dont HATE HATTEEEEE her like some of her who wanted her to die…. But having her not throw away her life for 1 person, Yuji, pisses me off. Shana has sacrificed her life more than once to protect the world balance. Hell if it was me I would have been like screw this I’m not gonna be a slave to mankind.

    Kona
    Reply

  100. Me pros? Lol @ Cloud910 and Klinc.

    Klinc> wouldnt it be better if there wasnt kazumi???
    Wouldn’t it be boring if there wasn’t any love rival? Kazumi WAS necessary for the plot. think about Ike. He was un necessary and was easily thrown off the stage.
    Kazumi and Shana are the symbols that still keep Yuuji in some place between the Human world and the Crimson world. To choose one of the 2, means to loose humanity or superpowers for Yuuji. Doesn’t Kazumi’s role appear more interesting now? Kazumi gives many opportunities for the plot to advance. But the mistake was just limit her to be the witness of the relationship between Yuuji and Shana. It seems she’s been given a loser role, while Shana was blessed with the director’s benevolence. That was unfair for poor Kazumi.

    Furthermore, there’s the Giralda thing. Pheles’ cross. That also was a good opportunity to develop furthermore the plot. Kazumi’s use for the cross could have dramatically enhanced the story. And it doesn’t mean she had to disappear for sure, as Shana didn’t disappear herself after we were told that summoning Alastor would destroy the vessel (=Shana). At that point I imagine an universe of possibilities, but the director chose not to play this card and save it for later. Pity!

    Solaris
    Reply

  102. The director is probably biased to Shana. He even gave her a changing scene is season 1 and plenty of sneaky fanservice throughout the season (and sometimes not so sneaky…)

    @kako
    someone posted a reply saying what is was when the 1st person asked. I think its on pg 1 or 2.

    LunarEclipse
    Reply

  104. Lovely~ Now that’s what I call neutrality. I salute you, Omni.

    In any case, SnS II had their fair amount of flaws (yes, pessimism first since it seems rife nowadays) and pluses. Technically it can be watched as a serious show from a certain viewpoint.Now that you’ve mentioned it, the endingdid indeed feel somewhat like a decent set-up for a possible next season. I’m currently hopelessly optmistic that J.C.Staff would be able to learn from their mistakes made here after certain evaluation from some and make Season III better.

    More than that, since I’m an ignorant little brat, I’d like to follow up on Macross F, since I had completely no prior knowledge to it and am curious as to why so many people are excited about it all over the Internet.

    Owaranai Destiny
    Reply

  105. *sigh*

    It overall felt very mediocre to me. I mean, during the first 6 episodes I was ironically defending the series, one of the few people doing so. I didn’t need shounen if the slice of life episodes were good. They started to were on, and then they got into the Pheles episodes…and I don’t know. The only thing that excited me this series was Yuuji getting stronger and fighting. EVERYTHING felt rushed and…I don’t know, I just didn’t get into it as much as the first series. There was some sense of drama that was missing or something, I can’t explain it.

    I’d definitely be down for watching a third series, but I wouldn’t be super excited like I was coming into the second. I’d hope that they would at least end all the crappy status quo bull that we had going on. It really invalidates any sense of drama, since by the end everything is the same. Everything was for naught. At the end of the first series, I was ok with the bad guys not dying. It showed how powerful they were. This time…not so much. It’s just annoying at this point. And the phony relationship 3 way, jesus, end it one way or another. I’m glad he chose shana, NOW LET IT STICK.

    Tensaiga
    Reply

  106. Great ending to a not-bad show. I’m glad they went back to what they did best, which is well-paced, interesting action. The love triangle is so anemic and stupid, so what if Kazumi is cute and has some boobs — she’s boring, whiny, and doesn’t seem to have any perspective about the fact that Yuji is constantly under threat of 1,000 kinds of death.

    Maybe season 3 will cut some of the insulting amount of filler from this series.

    Mike
    Reply

  113. well,babae aq ha!baka akalain niyo na boy aq pro hindi…hay sa tingin q yuuji♥shana at ike♥kazumi tapos sato♥me…hehehehehehehehehe…..hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha……=)

    anime_addict
    Reply

  114. Well…. i hope there is a third season…
    Since i was curious about the hougo that Yoshida holding….
    Then…the bad guy still alive……
    it’s uncompleted…
    I think…..
    He really chose over Shana…,It’s the best….
    I hope if there is third season…..Yuuji will be stronger than Shana.
    >.<

    Dota_showtime
    Reply

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