Now that Shana III is coming, I might as well remind myself of this series.
When I voted on this poll last year, I had given it a 5 with in retrospect was a bit too harsh. It was more of a knee jerk reaction due to rage and disappointment. But surely if something is below average to me, I wouldn't go back and rewatch parts of it? To me, it's a very mixed series and thus hard to rate.
The first two episodes were filler but still very entertaining. It had a nice "welcome back" feeling to them. Unfortunately, Kazumi for some reason got more and more annoying, and she didn't really seem to grow as a character. It just got really repetitious with the triangle stuff and we just got constantly reminded over and over again that Yuji is indecisive (At least Ike has the good sense to call him out on it), Shana's kinda just herself, and it became impossible to give a damn.
I won't complain too much about the Konoe arc just because it's a dead horse by now. They really could have drew her a little more diffrent though.
Then we skip to Margery's little flashback, which was kind of cool. Though I was wondering what the hell was the point of this story? Well, we learn why Margery prefers to be a loner. Nice, though maybe a bit aimless at times.
So the series randomly flies around for a bit as "The Melancholy of Shana" But eventually we got to the moment everyone was waiting for-- Pheles. This part was very well done not just because of the very cool music, but because Pheles being so weak was actually part of a plot twist. She really showed herself to be a cold-hearted selfish bitch and that made her one of the most interesting villains that showed up. Even Yoshida gets a bit less annoying as she contemplates more interesting things like her role in the story instead of whatever the heck she was babbling about before.
The series cools down into more slice of life, but unlike the Konoe Arc, this part remains very intresting. Keisaku wants to stay with Margery while Eita wants to live a normal life away from all these dangers especially since he has fallen in love. I mean if you were an ordinary person stuck in a situation like this, how would you react? The exploring of these two side characters is excellent. It's great when the story stops taking itself for granted and explores how people should react.
Shana II raises the bar for character development even more, as Yuji stops being less idiotic and snaps someone's neck. That in itself is enough to redeem his character as he finally makes a decision. Everyone drops the BS and moves on to what they want to do. I consider the part between Pheles and Sabrac to be the best part of the series.
Not that the fight against Sabrac wasn't cool, as Wilhelmina gives one of the best fights ever. For some reason I didn't like the part when Joint played. The song is great, but made it kind of cheesy since that makes it predictible. But still, a great fight where every major character is utilized is hard to find these days. None of this "leave him to me" 1v1 BS. He's a threat, and kick his ass!
Now if the series just ended here, I might have just given it 8-9 (I think season 1 is an 8) Unfortunately the episodes after this were lackluster with the annoying triangle thing coming back and nobody seeming to learn anything. Sabrac's not really dead, making the last part entirely pointless, but whatever. Though the moment when Shana asks Yoshida about a baby is funny as hell. The Bal Masque crew for some reason just seems horribly not intimidating in the last part and the fights were pretty anticlimatic. It also seemed too similar to last season's ending but even less cool. And then it just ends. The part when "sense" plays is nice to wrap the series up
Overall: 6/10 ---> Horrid start and extremely unsteady near the end, Shana II is not a trainwreck. After all, the best fights in this season were more exciting than the ones in the first. Shana II at its best is dramatic and exciting, helping advance character development. At its worst, it's extremely boring and aimless. I'm not really sure if it's that much worse than the first season as I had orignally thought as I feel these problems were always there, but they just get triggered more here. I would recommend skimming the first 12 episodes to get the gist of it, and enjoy the second half.