Shakugan no Shana III - Episode 1 Discussion / Poll

[Triple_R]

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.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Hooves

Whichever helps you catch back up to the series

Mah it varies for people though- I was able to pick up alot of minor plot points from this episode....Mostly relationship-wise; the main story of Shana isn't difficult to follow it's just that the terminologies and titles can throw people off.

[Hooves]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

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.

This sorta resembles the first episode for Majikoi. Where the Visual Novel players were easily able to determine and separate the characters from the rest, while the anime-only viewers just got blown away by the massive amount of character introductions that was planted before their eyes.

Well, the transition also startled me. It's still going perfectly well with the light novels, and the pace hasn't changed at all. But this is what makes a great opening to a season. Some mysterious reason for Yuji's turnabout in character, while the Flame Hazes stumble to find out what happened since the letters haven't disappeared. But starting it off like that may bring about some criticism. But other then that, I do agree with you in this case

[relentlessflame]

I think the transition is jarring for anime-only viewers (like myself), but given that it's been so long since the last season, it doesn't make too big of a difference. You sort of assume that they're going to explain it going forward. Also, this development was hinted in the scene at the end of the fourth OVA episode, though the path to get there was unknown. Didn't expect it to come up so quickly, but as was said, it at least starts the season with a bang straight into the plot. I get the sense that they have a lot to cover in these 24 episodes.

And that aside... please, don't ruin the show for me, novel readers. No hints, no teases, no suggestions, no "things will get better when so-and-so-happens", no explanations of what to expect inside spoiler tags, etc. etc. Please allow anime-only viewers like myself be surprised at the developments in the story. If you're not sure, please go to the Spoiler & Speculation thread instead.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Hooves

This sorta resembles the first episode for Majikoi. Where the Visual Novel players were easily able to determine and separate the characters from the rest, while the anime-only viewers just got blown away by the massive amount of character introductions that was planted before their eyes.

In my opinion, the difference between this and say Majikoi/Persona/Horizon is that this is the third season of the Anime already, by now the only people that should be left are pretty much devout followers

[ars89]

Lol Yuji couldn't make a decision between the 2, so he chose to ditch both of them. Was he talking to Reiji Maigo or the Silver i couldn't understand. So i though the memories of him aren't lost if his flame hasn't gone out, but just cause he left town his stuff disappears? Feel bad for his mom if she forgot him.

The opening scene was so awesome. Yuii looked bad-ass for a change. So Yuji was in some kind of training or some place where he was cut off from the world getting stronger. WTF is he doing not only with Bal Masque but now is their leader. i'll find it funny if its him vs Shana in the end.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Hooves

Oh no, you misunderstand relentlessflame. I have no intentions whatsoever to spoil this for people who have waited years for this moment and kept themselves spoiler-free from the novels. I'm just trying to converse myself into taking their viewpoint of the scenes that transpire in the anime.

Oh no it wasn't directed at anyone in particular... just a general comment. I'm really hoping that we'll be able to avoid being spoiled on the plot and endings in this final season, so I have my fingers crossed.

[Hooves]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

Oh no it wasn't directed at anyone in particular... just a general comment. I'm really hoping that we'll be able to avoid being spoiled on the plot and endings in this final season, so I have my fingers crossed.

I'll be the personal police then to prevent any other Shanite member from spoiling everyone then

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Hooves

I'll be the personal police then to prevent any other Shanite member from spoiling everyone then

Well, I certainly appreciate everyone's help to report any posts that are problematic -- as novel readers, you'll know best if something crosses the line. I still hope that novel readers will enjoy discussing the show too, and have good discussions in Spoilers & Speculation. Hopefully it'll be fun for you to watch us "first-timers" be confused and lost... just don't give us hints... let us flounder around in ignorance.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

And that aside... please, don't ruin the show for me, novel readers. No hints, no teases, no suggestions, no "things will get better when so-and-so-happens", no explanations of what to expect inside spoiler tags, etc. etc. Please allow anime-only viewers like myself be surprised at the developments in the story. If you're not sure, please go to the Spoiler & Speculation thread instead.

I had been spoiled on Yuji's change - The one we saw displayed in this Episode 1 - but that's all. So you don't have to worry about spoilers from me anyway.

[Marcus H.]

I shall step aside myself.
Damn, all those knowledge as a major contributor for the Shakugan no Shana Wiki make me a walking posting spoiler threat. Better keep my lips sealed.


EDIT: Some people say that Snake is voiced by Gosick's Leviathan and Bleach's Aizen Sousuke. Can someone confirm this?

[Reckoner]

If I took this episode in a vacuum I'd actually rate it pretty good. However, since when did we ever consider things like that? I give it a 5/10.

We come into this third season after quite the atrocious season II. While not all of season 2 was bad, there were some good parts, there were some REALLY bad fuck ups, particularly with the ending that makes no sense. So JC staff clumsily puts together a third season where they quite nearly broke the story completely and delivers this episode to us.

Here's just some of the stuff they force fed us this episode that came off really badly.

• Yuiji disappears for some reason with a complete and utter lack of foreshadowing. Shana up to this point was the titular character, but she wasn't exactly the main protagonist.
• Yuiji has changed appearance and is with Ball Masque at the end. Didn't they defeat them at the end of season 2 in some craptacular anime original arc? Why would he suddenly join forces with them? Explaining this later means very little really since this comes off (To anime viewers, mind you i know the novels are different) as completely random.
• They throw us into a situation of emotional turmoil and expect us to care when this show hasn't aired in a couple years or more now.
• The Silver showed up and was killed or something in S2.... Or so we thought? Now he's still alive? Ok....?
• I remember vaguely Ball Masque attacking Outlaw or what not in S2 at some point, but with the meshing of anime original material this gets a bit convoluted in details, and they certainly don't help us anime viewers in trying to understand what's going on exactly too well.
• The anime original episodes disgraced the villains so badly, that I cannot even take them seriously anymore.

I'm sorry, but it's just plain insulting to me to deliver a story, that I actually very much like and enjoy, in such a manner. Their inability to write anything properly in S2 has really destroyed this show's true potential. There are so many inconsistencies in the plot details now simply because they chose to break them for no good reason.

This really felt like an episode I should be enjoying more than I did, so it's quite unfortunate to see this happen to what I thought was a pretty good series.

[Kyuu]

So. Is it safe to watch this series without watching the previous 2 seasons? Eh, nevermind. I'll watch it anyways.

[Triple_R]

While my overall take is far less negative than Reck's, I don't like how JC Staff is kind of trying to pretend that the anime original ending for Season 2 didn't happen (this is a big part of what I mean by jarring transition).

Like it or not, JC Staff, you wrote that anime original ending for Season 2, and now you're stuck with it. That means the start of Season 3 should flow reasonably well from it. This in turn means that you shouldn't go back to 100% faithful source material adaptation right away, imo. No, first you should make a bridge that can tie anime original material back to faithful adaptation.

But there's practically no bridge here.

Now, this probably won't be a big factor going forward, but I do think that JC Staff is being a bit too cute here.

Sorry JC Staff, but it's a little bit late for you to be pretending to be KyoAni-esque when it comes to source material faithfulness.

[creb]

I realized, as this episode finished, that I hardly remember a thing from season two. Which left me mostly lost. Looks like I'll be re-watching it before next Friday, since outside of not remembering anything, the episode itself was solid enough to catch my interest to keep watching.

Also, ever since 2006, when Gintama came out, I have forever since strongly associated Rie Kugimiya with Kagura. It makes it difficult for me to view Shana as her own character as I just keep thinking of Kagura every time Shana opens her mouth, which is kind of distracting. :/

My only hope for this season is that we get a conclusive...er...conclusion to the fight against Bal Masque, and we don't end in some corny let's all be friends love and peace ending.

[Om Nerabdator]

One question to this spoiler rule.... If someone makes a guess at whats gonna happen next and they get it right will you delete that post aswell??

Anyway nice episode im gonna love this series i cant wait for the next ep

[Hooves]

That has been a scary situation during Steins;Gate airing. Nobody could tell what was a spoiler or not, since they emphasize it as a question..

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by matty543

One question to this spoiler rule.... If someone makes a guess at whats gonna happen next and they get it right will you delete that post aswell??

Anyway nice episode im gonna love this series i cant wait for the next ep

As long as people don't open their big mouth and identify it as a spoiler (Hidan no Aria much?).... But even then it would be those people who's posts will be deleted.

[EroKing]

Better to just make a thread for speculations for 1st time anime viewers instead of posting them here.

Anyways rather than confusing it was shocking to see Yuuji join Bal Masque. His outfit made him look like an old chinese war general =_=

Also now whenever I see Shana with her flame sword I keep expecting her to shout "GETSUGA TENSHOU!" too much Bleach >.>

[larethian]

if anyone is convinced that a post is a spoiler but may not be apparent, just report or pm. don't go posting below, "that sounds like a spoiler", "isn't that a spoiler", blah blah blah.