[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

I can't really agree here. To me, Kazumi never really stood a chance and seemed to be more of an interference. The problem with her was that they never bothered to give her any depth. The only thing of interest from her was that she was a normal person that felt out of place when she became aware of the supernatural events that were occuring. But they didn't really touch on that besides the looking glass. They made her regurgitate the same lines over and over again for the most part.

That being said, I don't even hate the character. In fact, I feel sorry for her because I want them to do more with her to make this part of the triangle more relevant and convincing. They really did get somewhere when she blurted it out, and thus proving she was more certain about things than the other two, but I was disappointed that the impact fizzled.

A character that is a satellite of the another character cannot survive on that alone if you want them to be relevant to the story. Surely, this is not a problem unique to the show. A lot of them have this problem (Hi, Key, I love your works but...) and Shana is far from being the worst, but it sure is annoying.

Well... I feel that the love triangle was genuinely competitive in Season 1, but it's pretty obvious that Kazumi is out of the running after the events of Season 2, barring an awful retcon of course. I will say that Kazumi did become a bit of a... periphery character, I'll say... during Season 2. Perhaps they should incorporate a bit of the personality of Shana-tan's Kazumi into canon Kazumi in order to make her a bit more interesting.

Being someone that absolutely hates tsundere characters, as I often find tsundere characters reverting (and negating character development) to maintain the gimmick, Shana's the undisputed tsundere queen. She is the best tsundere character I've ever seen, without peer. Often times, you'll have a tsundere character act nice for a little and immediately turn mean again at the end of an episode to get some cheap laughs. The tsun side is always emphasized because it is more funny. A good example of this is Akane from Ranma.

However, Shana doesn't do this. She eventually matures out of this and acts less bad-tempered and bitchy. By season 2, her outbursts are minimal and actually more meaningful if she reverts. In other words, Shana is the only character I can think of that is labeled tsundere and exhibits this great development that you just described. The difference between Shana and Shana II's personalities is so different that I consider it one of Shana II's highlights.

I totally agree with all of the above. Like you said, Shana is the undisputed tsundere queen. She is the character type at its best.

In addition to the above, I just felt like the last part was a step backwards. As I said in my review post, I would have easily given the series an 8 or a 9 if they wrapped it up after Sabrac. It felt so tacked on that I felt absolutely no tension. Did they really have to have Sabrac survive? And the Bal Masque, despite being powerful, just don't have much charisma as villains. Only Hecate is of any interest.

Hecate is my favorite Bal Masque character, I do agree with you there. And like yourself, I thought it was a bit cheap to have that huge, explosive Shana/Sabrac fight only to have Sabrac somehow get away alive at the end.

I do hope that Shana Season 3 either gives us brand new villains of note, or preferably...

Spoiler for Novel spoilers:

brings in "Snake of the Festival" Yuji from the Shana novels who hasn't been seen yet.

The foundation is there, because both seasons have done a spectacular job in making Yuji and Shana very interesting and likable characters. Except in the area of romance. I feel that there's a general unwillingness to move past the status quo, but that's natural in any long running series. If they (writers, as well as Yuji and Shana) want to take the risks involved, we might see something interesting. Currently I see them both as very likable characters and would like to see something happening, but I don't see anything happening.

But in any case, romance isn't really mandatory anyways. I enjoyed both seasons without dwelling too far into it. Certainly Shana has many other interesting themes to think about and even if I think poorly of the way romance is handled, it is unfair to dwell on it too.

It's funny... you see Yuji/Shana the way I see Kyon/Haruhi over in Haruhi's anime. Basically, where I see strongly implied romance with Yuji/Shana through much of their time together, you see strong friendship bonds and camaraderie and little else. It would be very hypocritical for me to fault you for that since I find the same thing with Kyon/Haruhi... where most Haruhi fans (here on Anime Suki anyway) see strongly implied romance, I just see strong friendship bonds and camaraderie and little else.

For me, I guess, the key line between romance and friendship is the line "I love you" explicitly stated (usually; even that line can be said in a platonic way, of course, but if it is platonic, it'll typically be made clear that it is). Since Shana has said that line to Yuji, I feel comfortable to view their relationship as a strongly implied romantic one. Although, in fairness, Yuji can be blind to his own feelings towards Shana at times.