Shakugan no Shana

[animeman]

Is the 24-episode Shakugan no Shana good? How's the story and character development? I was wondering about this show but I read the blogs for this show and the story sounds pretty interesting and the artwork looks good? Is the animation quality fluid since the show is pretty recent from 2005. The first disc is set be released in September and was wondering if the show is recommneded?

[Fencedude]

Its awesome.

Get it.

[BluWacky]

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blee said:
Is the 24-episode Shakugan no Shana good? How's the story and character development? I was wondering about this show but I read the blogs for this show and the story sounds pretty interesting and the artwork looks good? Is the animation quality fluid since the show is pretty recent from 2005. The first disc is set be released in September and was wondering if the show is recommneded?

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It's a pretty decent show, but not without problems.

I'll presume you know the basic plot since you say you've read about the show already. Story-wise, the show breaks up into distinct arcs but there's decent development over the course of the series for the leads; perhaps not so much for the supporting cast but then that's not especially surprising.

You won't stick through the show though if you're just after character development and plot, however; it's okay, but nothing special (stick through the endless fantasybabble in the first couple of episodes and it improves a great deal). The show hangs basically on how much you like Shana, the lead character; she's prime loli fanboy bait, with a forceful personality and a bunch of quirks that'll either endear you to her or put you off. Fence, obviously, loves her, as do most others, but personally I found her annoying (I am in the VAST minority on this issue, however).

The show does have an advantage of a decent male lead, however; he's surprisingly pro-active given that this show is about Shana kicking ass.

Animation-wise, the show looks stylish and frequently well animated, especially in the battle scenes, but has some moments where it's rubbish; in one of the first episodes they didn't draw concave ears on the characters, which was a bit odd to say the least. Hopefully that'll get fixed up for the DVDs; JC Staff tend to do that sort of thing so it should be okay.

If you like the sound of what you've read about the show already I'd say go for it; it's a decent shounen/seinen/whatever action show, has a fair whack of fanservice but nothing too gratuitous (lots of characters with big boobs bobbing around, but it's not that big a deal) and fairly decent production values. I'm sure there'll be a trailer available on Geneon's website nearer the time; it might be best to get a flavour of the show "in motion" before committing.

[Njr Scrawl]

Its a shame Geneon have cut the R1 title down to just "Shana". Was that a Japanese decision, or the US company's alone?

Don't know if I'll get it. I like Mai-HiME, ZHiME, Fate/Stay Night. However Shana's character does not appeal to me so much.

[sawmill]

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Wrath of the Njr said:
Its a shame Geneon have cut the R1 title down to just "Shana". Was that a Japanese decision, or the US company's alone?

Don't know if I'll get it. I like Mai-HiME, ZHiME, Fate/Stay Night. However Shana's character does not appeal to me so much.

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I'd totally missed this solicitation because of the name change. Thanks to blee for starting this thread.

Does anybody know if V1 comes with any LE items? The more advance notice for the Geneon lottery, the better.

[TheGreenMan]

It's got a extremely cute, sword swinging loli. 'Nuff said. /images/graemlins/cool.gif /images/graemlins/noseblef.gif