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View Poll Results: Shakugan no Shana III (Final) - Episode 1 Rating
Perfect 10 37 32.46%
9 out of 10 : Excellent 16 14.04%
8 out of 10 : Very Good 24 21.05%
7 out of 10 : Good 19 16.67%
6 out of 10 : Average 15 13.16%
5 out of 10 : Below Average 2 1.75%
4 out of 10 : Poor 0 0%
3 out of 10 : Bad 0 0%
2 out of 10 : Very Bad 1 0.88%
1 out of 10 : Painful 0 0%
Voters: 114. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 2011-10-11, 06:19   Link #141
redflame
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Wait, are you talking about the christmas eve parts where Yuji was serious before disappearing and another scene where it shows him smiling before disappearing too?

I'm confused at those scenes too
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Old 2011-10-11, 13:15   Link #142
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Yes, you are right. I was indeed referring to those two Christmas Eve scenes.
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Old 2011-10-11, 13:38   Link #143
Kirito
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I really enjoyed the first episode fo Shakugan no Shana III, and it was definitely worth the wait.

Before III, I watched the S series and at the end of it we see a deserted Misaki City with no signs of Saito, Kazumi, Marjorie, and Yuji. It got me wondering if Yuji perished or was capture by the enemy.

I haven't read the novels, but it really shocked me that Yuji purposely decides to leave and join and lead the forces of evil. I mean what happened to make him do this?

Like I previously stated, I haven't read the novels, but so far it's got me hooked and I really want to see more, and how Shana is going to save Yuji.

I give the series an obvious 9/10. It doesn't get a perfect because they didn't bring Mami Kawada back for the opening or ending, which sucked
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Old 2011-10-11, 20:21   Link #144
Senshigeia
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Hello everyone! I m happy to finally post my review of the first episode of the final season!

At first, I was surprised because the episode didn't begin with the glimpse we had at the end of Sns S. I was like "WTF?!", but then I thought the constant back and forward through flashbacks and the "present" was quite interesting, and kept me attached till the last minute.
Also, the was the ending theme was put into it was fantastic. As for the OP, I am not sure I like the song... I think the OPs of season I and II were better.

Spoiler for Episode details:


I gave it a 8/10 and I am looking forward for the next episode!
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Old 2011-10-12, 05:10   Link #145
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For a first episode i give this 2/10 IT WAS SO BORING!!!!!!!!

That being said i know this series is gonna get 300% better at the very least!!! so im really looking forward to the next eps
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Old 2011-10-12, 05:33   Link #146
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Well, if I were expecting to go for action, since I read the summaries of the novels, then it was kind of boring.

But then again, if I want to know what really happened from scratch, then it was an interesting episode. I didn't mention it before, but I liked to see how they connected the final scene of SnS II with Yuji's going missing.
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Old 2011-10-12, 05:41   Link #147
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yeah true that, when i found out what happened in the novels i was so bloody dissappointed since i just saw the ending to shana II, i was like they cant do a SIII now!!!
But that was easily solved in the first 5mins...........and now i know i got no creativity lol
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Old 2011-10-12, 22:00   Link #148
Guido
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Watching the starting episode, the very Final installment in the Shakugan no Shana series evoked within me that nostalgic feeling from back to six years ago.

I came by random to watch the first Shana anime with no so much of expectations what the story was about, when the prologue to the first episode ran and visually struck me as one of most fantastic and best mind-blowing experiences.

It was precisely in this spooky season six years ago when I first watched Yuuji getting literally thrown into another world of sorts within his own and almost ending as Rinne fodder when the red-eyes, flaming hair slayer unexpectedly came down into the battlefield without presentations.
From that moment Shana struck in my heart as one amongst the strongest and best female warriors in anime, and being voiced by Kugimiya Rie added lots of layers to the character.

The thing is that since with the original route that most of the last arc (+ last episode included) for season two took off I got to say that the continuation of the appointed meeting at the Christmas tree felt within me out of place.

No. I know that's how happens in the novel, but season two's ending messed up the pacing and flow of events; they should had let novels' events adapted for a natural pacing in the anime.

Well, the thing is that Yuuji isn't entirely gone, since both Shana and Kazumi got back their letters addressed to him at the time before his disappearance.

Spoiler:
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Old 2011-10-12, 23:12   Link #149
mangatron
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The final episode 01 :p

Ah, how long has it been, after so long I finally see... Margery whoohoo there you are girl, totally my favorite girl for this series That ponytail, those pantyhose covered legs, those glasses, if that book had a female trait I'd take it too lol. Make that 3 already for the pantyhose season of Fall

Ahem yes this series is Shana. The start of the episode...Uhm... it's nice to see you too! Look at you girl, all growed up! But you're still fla- *gets sliced by a burning sword*

*cough* yes, it has been a long time for me, mainly because I have to confess, I totally missed most of season II, save for the first 2 eps. My question: have I comitted a serious erreur in not resuming Season II? During it's run I heard things about how bad it was [compared to S1], although now I'm thinking that must have been yet another joke as I instead finished Zero no Tsukaima S2 and found that enjoyable, despite the naysaying.

So should I resume S2, or are those little flashbacks here and there in this ep good enough for me?
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Old 2011-10-12, 23:19   Link #150
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mangatron View Post
Ah, how long has it been, after so long I finally see... Margery whoohoo there you are girl, totally my favorite girl for this series That ponytail, those pantyhose covered legs, those glasses, if that book had a female trait I'd take it too lol. Make that 3 already for the pantyhose season of Fall

Ahem yes this series is Shana. The start of the episode...Uhm... it's nice to see you too! Look at you girl, all growed up! But you're still fla- *gets sliced by a burning sword*

*cough* yes, it has been a long time for me, mainly because I have to confess, I totally missed most of season II, save for the first 2 eps. My question: have I comitted a serious erreur in not resuming Season II? During it's run I heard things about how bad it was [compared to S1], although now I'm thinking that must have been yet another joke as I instead finished Zero no Tsukaima S2 and found that enjoyable, despite the naysaying.

So should I resume S2, or are those little flashbacks here and there in this ep good enough for me?
In my opinnion, Season 2 is a must watch to understand the Season 3 completely, I don't know exactly what happens (regarding details) since my novel knowledge is restricted to the LN's thread. But there is a lot of things appart from fanservice and original anime on season 2 that connects directly to season 3, and there is even very important characters that will pop out at any time and you will have no clue of who he/she is and I doubt that J.C. takes the time to re-introduce them. So yes, you should really watch it if you don't want to get confussed later.
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Old 2011-10-13, 18:50   Link #151
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Quote:
Originally posted by mangatron

*cough* yes, it has been a long time for me, mainly because I have to confess, I totally missed most of season II, save for the first 2 eps. My question: have I comitted a serious erreur in not resuming Season II? During it's run I heard things about how bad it was [compared to S1], although now I'm thinking that must have been yet another joke as I instead finished Zero no Tsukaima S2 and found that enjoyable, despite the naysaying.

So should I resume S2, or are those little flashbacks here and there in this ep good enough for me?
I liked season 2... I mean, not half as much as I liked season 1, but I liked it. And I think, like SkyFlames it is important to understand most of the story's details.
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Old 2011-10-13, 20:58   Link #152
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Figured I could post my impressions about this episode while I'm awake.

So, Shana is back. Personally, while I've never been a huge fan, this franchise had always had a soft spot with me. Looking back at what I about how ''Shana is that it's certainly not the most ambitious, good looking or intense action anime, but it manages to balance the good with the bad for an all-around decent watch'', I think that turned out to accurately sum up how I felt about this episode, if not the majority of episode of this series. There were good parts to it, and certainly bad ones, but at the end I felt pretty satisfied at it.

To start off with, the score is once again by Koh Otani. Once one of my all time favorite of music, even at one point beyond anime, even though I still think that he had lost his touch after Shadow of the Colossus , which I consider his magnum opus and my absolute personal favorite game OST, that doesn't mean the stuff he makes is by any means bad. Even if I had been disillusioned by his Hyouge Mono score for being far too zany from what I like to hear from him (aside from the few notable pieces when Oda Nobunaga shows up) I could still count on him bring out the good stuff when it comes to this show. Nothing that I could call his best, but even what I rank as good is already miles ahead of a lot of other anime related OST's. Always a pleasure hearing his music again.

The animation and art style is solid for the series, looking like it usual does, even though I never particularly cared for JCStaff's set template for character designs that make all their shows look like they are set in the same universe, but nothing worth losing sleep over.

Not much to talk about the fights (since there isn't any to talk about other than that apparent fast forward at the beginning) so the story. I have to say, looking at it, this does feel more like it's intended to be watched back to back with the past season, even though that would cause an issue (but I'll get to that in a bit) since without watching it, I feel very disconnected from the casts suffering over what happened to Yuji. Had I been with them for 24 episodes recently, I feel like I could've felt more for them, but regardless I do think that the way a lot of the characters handled the situation by channeling their frustrations down a more constructive path was very nice. Also it does seem that, going by the fast forward, there is going to be a battle to end all coming soon, so I'm guessing we are going to be having a bit of setting up to do while everyone gets ready for the up coming war, which I personally don't mind since I'm not watching this show on weekly bases but rather in bulk so that works nicely with me.

And of course, the big elephant in the room, how this episode connects with the last one.

I will admit, watching this episode at first did cause me to cringe a bit at how badly the transition between the last episode of season 2 and the start of this one had been handled, and reading the thread I see that the case had been made and discussed already so I won't go deeply into that ... but I want to point out that I don't actually think that the events that had happened here (mainly Yuji switching sides) could be described as illogical going by what happened in the past season. If anything, I think that it's a natural progression for his character (and the story) to take, just that the problem was that the note the second season concluded on made what happened here seem to be out nowhere.

In short, I think that the problem is the way the content had been shown, with the end of the past season trying to paint things in a positive light and the start of this one saying that it was actually a more depressing ending than we were told. Of course, having a direct continuation being tonally different is not a good thing at all, but at the same time, I can understand why, and am partially glad, that the animation staff had went with this route.

To put it simply, they were going to pick between the lesser of two evils. On one hand, they could've had ended the past season on a more bittersweet/downer note with Yuji disappearing or making it seem like something ominous is about to happen, making the move to the third season much smother ... but at the cost of leaving the second season open ended, with a possibility of a sequel somewhere down the line after 3 years, and leaving the viewers (in particular, the anime only watchers such as myself) with a sense that they ended up with a rather horrible ending and they had to wait for the next season that might be coming in 3 years time (if not longer, or if nothing happens that prevented a sequel being made in the first place). On the other hand, they could end the second season on a more uplifting tone, making it seem like a complete series on it's own, and in case a continuation wasn't possible in the near future, it would give anime-only watchers peace of mind. And that was at the cost of the next season starting out looking like it's contradicting the previous ones end (even when it really isn't).

In that sense, I can't fault the staff too much. This could have been fixed had they made sure the writing had been tighter or planned thing in advance better of heck, even paced the material in a better manner, but oh well...

Overall, decent start.

Yay, I didn't mention how they included Shana's panties once in my post! I'm proud of myself.
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Old 2011-10-14, 00:25   Link #153
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These are what I wanted to say.. for the first episode

Spoiler:
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Old 2011-10-14, 04:53   Link #154
Senshigeia
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genjichan: I agree.

Spoiler for starting scene, first episode:
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Old 2011-10-14, 08:39   Link #155
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Okay people they aren't aliens they are demons.
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Old 2011-10-14, 08:41   Link #156
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Okay people they aren't aliens they are demons.
They still look like Metal Slug Martians....
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Old 2011-10-14, 12:16   Link #157
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Hm. Having watched the preview at first, I knew that opening scene was there - but it still comes as a huge shock that Yuuji had become that person (and considering his transformation takes place at the end of Ep 1, hardly surprising to see his new 'form' in the OP).

I remember back when I marathoned the original SnS - I thought the idea of people forgetting a Torch that vanished as if they never existed was extremely harsh (though admittedly, the idea has stuck with me over time - still seems cruel, mind). So thus, when it's Yuji's turn to be forgotten by all but those involved with Shana and the Flame Haze's, it felt awful to me - though that can only mean that JC Staff did a brilliant job portraying it).

Glad Yuji is still alive, mind - course I would be, he's been the main focus of the series (and Shana, naturally) for 52 episodes (inc. OVAs). Killing him off in Ep '53' of SnS would be warranting protests in the streets . However, not sure where his allegiance switch to Bal Masque will lead - though that can only be a good thing.

Love the OP and ED.
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Old 2011-10-15, 22:03   Link #158
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arabesque View Post

I will admit, watching this episode at first did cause me to cringe a bit at how badly the transition between the last episode of season 2 and the start of this one had been handled, and reading the thread I see that the case had been made and discussed already so I won't go deeply into that ... but I want to point out that I don't actually think that the events that had happened here (mainly Yuji switching sides) could be described as illogical going by what happened in the past season. If anything, I think that it's a natural progression for his character (and the story) to take, just that the problem was that the note the second season concluded on made what happened here seem to be out nowhere.

In short, I think that the problem is the way the content had been shown, with the end of the past season trying to paint things in a positive light and the start of this one saying that it was actually a more depressing ending than we were told. Of course, having a direct continuation being tonally different is not a good thing at all,
Precisely. This is exactly what I (and probably some other posters as well) meant by jarring transition.


Quote:

To put it simply, they were going to pick between the lesser of two evils.
Here is where I disagree with you. You forget that there is a third option here: Create a partially-anime original bridge to more smoothly transition from anime original Season 2 ending back into faithful source material adaptation.

Where I differ with Reckoner is I honestly had no real problem with how Shakugan no Shana Season 2 ended. In fact, after the slow-paced first half, I think that JC Staff owed it to Shana viewers to give us a whizbang! action-packed second half, and I'm glad that they did. If going with an anime-original ending was needed to achieve that, then so be it.

But once you insert a significant amount of anime original content into your adaptation, your anime narrative is altered by that. And for the anime narrative to feel coherent and smooth, what comes after that anime original content should flow believably from it.

But JC Staff decided to veer hard right, and to go totally faithful in its adaptation work right from the first minute of the first episode of Shana III. Fidelity to the source material is usually for the better, but not for the purposes of this Episode 1. For the purposes of this Episode 1, they should have built a bridge, imo.


However, I'm not going to hold that against future Shana III episodes, just this first one, so it's not a big deal for the anime season as a whole.
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Old 2011-10-16, 03:56   Link #159
Dr. Casey
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Originally Posted by mangatron View Post
Ah, how long has it been, after so long I finally see... Margery whoohoo there you are girl, totally my favorite girl for this series That ponytail, those pantyhose covered legs, those glasses, if that book had a female trait I'd take it too lol. Make that 3 already for the pantyhose season of Fall

Ahem yes this series is Shana. The start of the episode...Uhm... it's nice to see you too! Look at you girl, all growed up! But you're still fla- *gets sliced by a burning sword*

*cough* yes, it has been a long time for me, mainly because I have to confess, I totally missed most of season II, save for the first 2 eps. My question: have I comitted a serious erreur in not resuming Season II? During it's run I heard things about how bad it was [compared to S1], although now I'm thinking that must have been yet another joke as I instead finished Zero no Tsukaima S2 and found that enjoyable, despite the naysaying.

So should I resume S2, or are those little flashbacks here and there in this ep good enough for me?
Yeah, I think you should resume the second season. You'll miss out on some important things if you skip over it, namely character development. To name a couple of examples, Season 2 is where Shana's relationship with Yoshida transforms from a hateful rivalry into a warm friendship, and Shana also develops a lot, losing much of her edge and changing from a super intense tsundere to an easygoing, deredere girl that's very protective of Yuji (Granted, much of this development happens during the first season, but there's still a marked difference between the Shana of late Season 1 and the Shana of Season 2).

And, of course, I don't think you'd dislike the second season anyway. The 4-5 episodes of down-to-earth romance stuff doesn't seem like something you'd hate, and the rest of the season past that has some badass fights and a story on par with the first series'. I'll never get the rampant hate for Shana II, I always enjoyed it more than the original.
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Old 2011-10-16, 21:25   Link #160
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Transition seemed exceedingly sudden, but I'm willing to bet all will be explained in a few episodes. It appeared to me as if Yuji didn't have much chose in his disappointing right before seeing Shana. I say that because it's the only thing that would make since to me given the suddenness of the transition. I suppose we'll find out.

Past the sudden "wtf Yuji" aspect all else was good as expected.
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