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Shakugan no Shana II
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Animation - 9.0 |
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Sound - 8.3 |
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Story - 6.0 |
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Character - 7.3 |
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Value - 6.4 |
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Enjoyment - 7.0 |
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Average - 7.3 |
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| Average |
7.0 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| The second season of Shakugan no Shana is quite difficult to review. On the one hand, SnS II is objectively not that great of an anime. The first half is very slow, and the story is not very complex despite all the crazy things that happen to Yuji. However, on the other hand, I really enjoyed watching SnS II, despite all its perceived bad qualities. I can only explain this by my interest in SnS II's characters. Although I do not remember much from what happened in the first season, I was able to comfortably watch this mixture of action, romance, and tsundere fun. Furthermore, I found Wilhelmina to be a really interesting character with her incompetent maid yet superb fighting abilities, therefore improving my enjoyment factor.
First of all, you cannot take SnS II very seriously. I came in expecting the worst, but it ended up making me want a third season! The reason being that despite the 'eventless' first season, SnS II maintains a very good pacing. For me, the school drama never stooped to a level of pure boredom, and finally when Tomogara showed up, I was very engaged in the fight scenes as Yuji powers up with determination. Perhaps this is why I enjoyed SnS II so much, Yuji - the love object of tsundere Shana - isn't that weak. Although he begins powerless, a series of events unfolds such that you genuinely understand his desire to protect Misaki City, his family and friends. While unassumingly enjoying this anime, I felt that there was a good mix between love-romance (you kind of knew they both had feelings for each other, therefore it didn't bother me that much that they weren't lovey-dovey) and very engaging fight scenes.
Recently, I've seen a lot of animes that have great fluid animation (Kurenai), but don't really use it to its full potential. Shakugan no Shana is a little different... despite its old-school drawing style, I felt like the action was very well done! Furthermore, for key events and fighting scenes, the studio did not skimp out on long fight scenes that span up to two-episodes! I believe that if it wasn't for this aspect, SnS II would be unbalanced and not watachable. Thankfully, the action scenes in the latter half are very full of life and purpose.
Story/character wise, I didn't expect much and wasn't too disappointed as there weren't any real gaping flaws. The first half is spent trying to figure out what's going on with Bal Masque, the supreme Tomogara organization. Meanwhile, as the gears turn, our friends go to amusement parks, school festivals, train, etc... In the latter half, they fight a whole slough of different Tomogara, and we get to see Yuji flex his 'commanding general abilities'. Nevertheless, there were really many key moments where you can't fathom while they occurred, which is why I gave the story a 6.
What also made SnS II quite rich was the nice support cast. While each individual character did not really evolve that much alone, as a whole, you could sense change in many of the characters as they each decided upon their own path. Tanaka and his path of taking up a girlfriend. Satou and his path of working for Outlaw, a group of informants for Flame Haze. Yuji's realization of how he can fully utilize his abilities. Shana's feelings for Yuji. Kazumi's semi-resignation yet fighting spirit in love. Ike's resignation, yet determination as a third party. We even get to see Hecate's splitting image... in softspoken schoolgirl form. Nevertheless, I rated characters a mere 7 because despite a good overall feel, individually they're not very interesting.
If there were to be a third season, I certainly hope that they graduate high school and move on to college life/non-standard daily life...as I feel like they've really brought the characters very close to their maximum potential. I may be wrong, as SnS is supposedly based off of novels? Either way, it is very difficult to judge whether someone will ENJOY this or not. Objectively, SnS II isn't the best, but subjectively if you feel Shana is cute, Wilhelmina kicks ass, and aren't too irked by Kazumi and Konoe, then watch this through until the end! Episode 20-21 have some really awesome action scenes.
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Zhoumaster |
(2009-01-01 23:43:39) 2009-01-01 23:42:57 |
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| Average |
7.2 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Shakugan no Shana II continues the story of Shana and Yuji. Highly anticipated, its flaws undermine a pretty good story.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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No
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| Average |
7.3 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Shakugan no Shana 2 takes place directly following the end of the first season where Yuji and the gang successfully fend off an attack made by Bal Masque.
Due to the fact that Shakugan no Shana is a sequel, the initial introduction to the entire world and the main characters is very brief. The series instead focuses on pure plot progression as Yuji learns more about the mysteries of the Reiji Maigo and its origins, as well as some complications.
SNS2 does a decent attempt at furthering the story but fails at capturing the uphill-battle feel of the original series. By the end of the series, I did not feel that the series had progressed as much as I had expected for something of this length. However, it makes up for some of this by having a lot of action sequences with a fairly good level of intensity.
If you watched and loved the first SNS, go ahead and dive into this. If you liked the first season for the character development, be warned that the overall development is not at the same level as that in the first season. If you liked the first season for the action, this season will suit you just fine.
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| Average |
7.8 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Shakugan no Shana Second is the sequel or rather a continuation of Shakugan no Shana. The story takes place in the second semester of the school year that started in the first season. After Bel Maske with it's powerfull tomogara leaders vanished after disturbing the balance of the world, peace is returning to the town Yuji and Shana with all other heroes are inhabiting. But not for long...
It seems that tomogras are still close and are eager to fight for souls of humans, their existence energy and the mysterious artefact still sealed in Yuji. That's not all... A girl looking like the one of the leaders of Bel Maske appears out of nowhere and is about to close herself to Yuji. Not to mention that Shana and Yoshida Kazumi are fighting for Yuji's heart atention.
That's the overall of the story. Not mentioning all other side plots still remaining to be resolved.
To be honest the animation is not improved in my eyes, well slightly. So the main heroes and the overall view of the surrounding is not changed. Since the first season is from 2005, and second from 2007 You may be wondering why there is no better lines, but they are good, and the lines are one of the elements that make Shana the fan-making series. So I give high values for that.
But the sound is not as good at it was in the first season. The seryu is good, but not better, if you watched Shana first series it was astonishing to hear perfect voices in perfect lips of good characters... now it is just normal. And the music is not as good, for me I remember song from the first series but no idea now what are the ones in second one (the one I'm reviewing).
Coming closer to the story... As You have already seen it is a continue of the last one, but unfortunately it is. While Shana in first one was nice, original and developing. In this anime at the beginning we have no crucial fights, no martial encounters and no big mean tomogaras to eliminate. At first You ask what is this? a battle anime or a romance drama? It is boring in the start, looking at girls finding spirit in their hearts to say they love Yuji, and are jealous one over another... I like it, but it could be better in fights, so there is nice and good action, but no... we have to watch it to over 1/3 of the series. But the second halve is nicer, much better with new heroes and new love problems as well.
The main issue with the story is that it is foreseeable. I was able to see clearly what is about to come in the next and next episode. Plus, after I watched the whole anime I founded that it is similar to the first one in the way it developed. It was not the same, but still stereotype. If the third series is about to come and will be as that I will give it even lower grades, even if I like the heroes.
Characters are still on good and well done level, they are developing, slow but still. Yuji is learning and training, Shana finds new emotions, Ike loves... Unfortunately they are not evolving as fast as I like it to be. It may bore some people.
Humour is still a plus, no big and drastic tricks played on the viewer, but only nice and well balanced gags making You smile from time to time.
The value of the entire series is still quite high. Maybe I'm a little to good for it, cause, I like Shana - and I'm her great fun. Anyway watching this one was a nice experience after all, dispate that I was aware of who and what is about to come in the near future in the anime.
To be even nicer I hope the year 2009 will give us all the third series of Shana, well is seams J.C.STAFF is making it a exchange with 'Zero no Tsukaima'.
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
4.2 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
1 |
| Character |
4 |
| Value |
3 |
| Enjoyment |
1 |
| Love Triangle/Rectangles + Flashy & Predictable Fight scenes = Shakugan no Shana II
Maybe it has been too long since I watched the first season but when did this series become so long-winded, predictable and love drenched.
Another Honest Review
Animation
This is definitely where this series has always shone. When it comes to action scenes this series can deliver some beautiful colours and some memorable attacks. Unfortunately they use cute-ish type character designs which often makes it hard to take some battles seriously, yes blood is included but its always left to the most brutal attacks which is often few and far between. Still animation on a whole is impressive for a cute-ish style.
Sound
Sound is pretty good no bad points here. Opening & Ending credits have decent songs not much to say really.
Story
One thing you will find consistent with all the reviews so far regarding this anime is the story has the lowest rating of all, why..because instead of bringing the story together and adding more pieces for understanding we get the exact opposite, MORE questions MORE lovey-duvey love rectangles and the icing on the cake NO resolution to any of these what-so-ever!
The First quarter of this anime was like a totally different love shojo anime.
The second quarter threw in some new twists/questions/random battles
The third quarter was a mixture of the first and second
The Last was a pointless built up bad guy which seemed like filler for Shana 3?
Finally you have what seems like a rushed and unresolved ending…seesh!
Character
Characters are somewhat interesting and do have potential. I liked the fact that you found out more about some of the other characters in this series which gave them more depth.
I felt that most of the characters got more development and gained a little smudge of depth but a lot of it was tied up with love problems and figuring out their feelings for each other which made this series go off-balance genre wise.
Enjoyment
Enjoyment…..honestly……..very little
Value
If you enjoyed the flashy fighting scenes that made shana lovable the first time around you will get more of the same but i personally feel that this second series was a big drag-on with an extra added layer of love shojo theme which brought the potential shana had down quite a few notches, I mean there was many times I hit the fast-forward button just to see if my predictions of how things would turn out where true and on a episode by episode basis i was unpleasantly NOT surprised.
4/10
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0 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
7.8 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Shakugan no Shana Second is more or less a sequel of the same intensity and drive as its first season, and despite a better paced plot, is balanced by a frontal third of nonsense and an above average story idea. SnSs also seems to make a great advancement to its budget, riding on the cash that flowed from the first season. And thus with improved aesthetics and an established background, this worthy sequel delivers more of the same, for new fans and old fans alike.
Like most sequels and to the fans of said franchises, the background information completely dismisses all suspensions of disbeliefs, so this time around SnSs is well defined as a shounen/romance anime; the wasted potential from the first season is forgotten for more love triangles, more fights, and more character development. However, also like most sequels, it needs a new idea. This comes in the form of new character motives and the introduction of Pheles and Silver, their presence testing the relationships of our beloved characters as well as providing a reason for all the flashy fighting. The idea is sort of weak, as it is mostly put aside near the ending episodes, but nevertheless a decent fuel to not run out of steam.
While most of SnSs is enjoyable, the first 8-9 episodes are not. The reintroduction to the world of SnS does not start with a bang... instead, it starts out with a school-life romance theme that builds/wrecks the love triangle veeeeery slooooowly. This nonsense involving a Hecate-lookalike lasts for an entire third of the season, making most people forget there was even a SnS sequel to begin with. I recommend either fast-forwarding through this or skipping it entirely, as it does not have much of an effect later on (it does build SOME relationships, but in a very slooooow fashion). Yet for some reason, this arc was crucial only to the FINAL EPISODE. Yep, filler.
The story finally picks up at around episode 11, when the villains are introduced/come back and the characters get more episodes devoted to them. Shana is still an awesome sword-swinging flat-chested red-haired flame-eyed Flame Haze, and her annoyance has toned down since last season. Wilhelmia and Margery play a bigger role along with the rest of Yuji's classmates. Yuji himself also significantly improves and by the end turns into a pretty cool guy, eh kills Tomaguras and doesn't afraid of anything. The only thing keeping this from getting any higher is that most relationships are stagnant. Even the villains' relationships are stagnant.
The one thing that's for sure improved in SnSs over SnS is the budget. My gosh the animation improved DRASTICALLY from what was a medium-budgeted first season. There is barely any QUALITY, the fight scenes flow with thousands of frames per, the action is sleek and beautiful, the flames feel more alive, and the overall tone is perfectly colored. Along with animation is the better audio output. The background music is dramatic as always, though instead of a choir they used this weird happy/dramatic 4-second track for the eyecatches. Kawada Mami is back to sing the first set of songs "JOINT" and "triangle", both great songs except that JOINT's intro promised a metal song but turned into a generic pop-rock song. She also sings the last ending theme "sense" in the final episode. KOTOKO also comes back to sing for the second set of song, "BLAZE" and "Sociometry", also a great pair of songs. Both are great J-pop/rock singers (too bad about the niche market).
Overall, I enjoyed SnSs as much as I did the first season, but without the feeling of wasted potential. A great addition for fans of the first season. Just be wary of the boring first 8 episodes.
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2 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
8.5 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Shana is back and in action. Not as good as the first season, but still pretty good in my opinion. After watching the second season of Zero, I wanted to hear more of Rie Kugimiya and Satoshi Hino. And I was delighted to see Shakugan no Shana II on the Fall lineup list. (Perfect, because Zero was ending) While slow at some parts and more dedicated to romance instead of action. Shana has been a fun ride though the pacing was sort of bad just like the second season of Zero. But I still love J.C. Staff.
The animations are better than the first season that's to say for sure. Though I was a little hesitant, because comparing it to Zero no Tsukaima series. There was no improvement between the first season of Zero and the second season of Zero. But this is Shana and you can totally tell that the animations has been turned up a few notches and it works fine.
The OP/ED are better this season that last season ... I would say. Mami Kawada does both the first OP and ED songs and they were both good. And just to top it off they hire KOTOKO to do the second OP/ED when we're already in the two-thirds part of the anime. I can see their budget was high enough to include two opening and three ending songs. Background music was really good and you could hear the piano music of some of the opening songs if you listen carefully enough. Voice acting is excellent due to Rie Kugimiya and Satoshi Hino and the rest of the cast is fairly well done as well. Sound had to be Shana's best point.
The story is not paced well. Instead of seeing Shana burst into action like the first season. The first half of the series was all romance and lovey dovey. Sometimes I would forget Shana was an action show and think to myself that this was a romance show. The romance comes at a little slower pace and this totally threw off some viewers, because they wanted to watch fight scenes not kiss scenes. But as you can see most of the animes that I watch or romance shows, so I didn't mind the lovey dovey one bit, even though it was a slow and a little corny at times. The second half brings you the action bit that the previous half was missing and there it corporates all the character development from the first half and makes it all worthwhile for the second half. Of course some people just want to see the action, so they probably will just skip all the romance scenes.
A step back in characters was because after all that happened in the first season. It felt like Shana and Yuji never got anywhere from the first season. That was a little frustrating. So we had to see the romance tension between all the characters again. It wasn't bad. It was just a little slow for my taste. At least the animations were fairly well done for the romance episodes sometimes. All the side characters were just the same as the first season, so I won't mention them.
For fans of the first season, I totally recommend this sequel for you, because you just can't get enough of Shana. But then again some of those fans of the first season will find this show lacking in action and more focused on the romance side of things. I didn't mind this one bit and I just thought of it as something to keep you waiting until the action comes. The ending leaves it for a third season and I will totally watch that when it ever comes out.
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2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
8.7 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| (This review is based on watching 14 eps of the series, ratings might change after completion)
After watching many different genres of anime, Shakugan no Shana II stands out between all of them, with great sound, story and I must say I've enjoyed the journey watching this series. It's one that is able to captivate it's viewers with its intricate storyline, but what stands it out from the rest is the dynamic interaction between the characters.
Firstly, this franchise encompasses many different genres, school-life, love-romance and fantasy. Despite this wide myriad of genres, the directors have apparently managed to piece it nicely such that viewers have a smooth rollercoaster ride through this series. You just can't help but understand their situations and empathise with the characters, and the ending always leaves the viewers asking for more. The developing relationship between Yuji and Shana, with many competitors (Kazumi and Konoe) thickens the plot, and the twists and turns in the storyline regarding the Reigi Maigo and Yuji is able to intertwine nicely into it. This is also much more interaction between the characters as compared with the first season, together with more action and new characters introduced.
For those who have watced "Zero no Tsukaima" can notably realise that the lead characters (Shana and Yuji vs. Louise and Saito) comprises of the same seiyuus (Rie Kugimiya and Satoshi Hino), which have done a great job in the latter. In Shakugan no Shana II, it is no wonder that they have such great chemistry. The other voice overs are also able to invoke emotions in viewers, and are also matching to the animation.
The characters also have a dynamic interaction between one another. You'll rarely have the feeling that a certain character is left out during this anime, for every episode involves almost all main characters, which is rare in animes nowadays. This might be confusing at first, but after knowing the characters well, you'll enjoy the closeness and the bonds each character has with another. Also, characters had their distinctive personalities, which is rather apparent in each of them. Each of them had their own lingos and style. I felt it was effective that each character is able to tell their side of the story from different points of view, which allows you to have a more comprehensive understanding of the plot.
This anime has a lot of rewatch capability in the sense that certain scenes are rather funny and witty, yet some are able to touch people's hearts. The fight scenes in this anime are of course the highlight, where the transformation from Shana to Red-Haired-Flamed-Eyed Flame Haze is quite an enjoyable sight, and the background music does go well with the anime.
On the whole, this anime has the works of becoming one of the better ones of 2007, and deep into 2008, one that viewers will remember for it's dynamism, characters and also the emotional ride that they've been through. I am awaiting to complete this series and have high expectations of future episodes, because it is one anime that is able to capture viewers hearts, leaving question marks and making us ask for more.
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3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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