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Old 2011-10-07, 21:41   Link #21
Triple_R
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
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That was an excellent first episode, that did a good job of giving some screen-time to almost every major character.

Good mix of expository dialogue and flashy action scenes, to bring the viewer up to speed with the plot while also being entertaining.

Good mix of "moe" Shana with serious Shana.

The visuals were extremely nice. Animation is as good as ever, and character designs seem a bit more finely detailed now, which is a plus.


My only criticism is that, even with all of the references (visual and otherwise) to the end of Shana Season 2, the transition from that to this Shana Season 3 first episode does feel a bit jarring to me.

This is primarily due to how, in the anime, the last we saw of Sakai Yuji he was in a life-and-death struggle with Bal Masque, which him and Shana seemingly emerged victorious in.

Now, all of a sudden, and for no apparent reason (other than the simple fact he apparently disappeared), he's leading Bal Masque.

Now I know why this is, and so light novel readers probably won't have much issue here, but I have to wonder how jarring this sudden change in Sakai Yuji's character seems to a lot of anime-only viewers.


Still, 9/10 for an almost flawless Episode 1.
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