Shakugan no Shana III - Episode 3 Discussion / Poll

[klare]

a bit slow and some recap scenes (for new viewers?)

but it was a nice build up for the reunion of Shana and Yuji, also good to see the team is back and working together

looking forward to the next eps

[liquidblueocean]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

How did this episode in the recap moments teach us anything we didn't already know? Most of the recap was of season 1 material at that. Sorry, but this isn't what I was asking for exactly.

Watch it again There are so many unanswered questions about Yuji joining the bad guys and this episode gives a whole heap of answers:

- Since Yuji is now with the bad guys, how is he feeling about it all? Didn't know that...
- Is he total bad guy? We would have been assuming that until now.
- Is he still pining about not wanting to leave, his mom being alone? Nope. She'll have a bubba to replace him too.
- Does he know nobody remembers him? Now he does, and he's okay with it.
- Does he feel sorry in any way to Shana/Yoshida for dumping them? Yep.

Plus, it looks like Yuji and Shana are about to have a good-team vs evil-team fight. It's super important to know some of this stuff since Yuji has changed... if it's not important to you then maybe UFC would be a better watch?

[Reckoner]

Originally Posted by liquidblueocean

Watch it again There are so many unanswered questions about Yuji joining the bad guys and this episode gives a whole heap of answers:

- Since Yuji is now with the bad guys, how is he feeling about it all? Didn't know that...

No they showed us his thoughts about things in previous seasons, nothing new.

Originally Posted by liquidblueocean

- Is he total bad guy? We would have been assuming that until now.

We still don't know.

Originally Posted by liquidblueocean

- Is he still pining about not wanting to leave, his mom being alone? Nope. She'll have a bubba to replace him too.

Uhm Ok.

Originally Posted by liquidblueocean

- Does he know nobody remembers him? Now he does, and he's okay with it.

We already knew that, and Yuiji merely confirmed that, but that had nothing ot do with the recap portions.

Originally Posted by liquidblueocean

- Does he feel sorry in any way to Shana/Yoshida for dumping them? Yep.

Plus, it looks like Yuji and Shana are about to have a good-team vs evil-team fight. It's super important to know some of this stuff since Yuji has changed... if it's not important to you then maybe UFC would be a better watch?

Does he feel sorry? I don't know. He's a tough read at the moment. All we understand is that he has something important to do, and we still don't know what that is. That's fine, that can be explained later. However, the recap portions did little to nothing.

[Squire James]

Yugi acts like he has a Master Plan to "save Shana from eternal warfare" that involves making the Bad Guys do something. The very ambiguous Other Soul may or may not cooperate (we still know nearly zero about it). The Bad Lady with the Eyepatch seems to small a rat, and I'd find it hard to believe her and the other major figures are going to go along with Yugi's plan.

That being said, the series would be about 1.5 seasons shorter if the main characters just got together at some point and had an unambiguous talk about their feelings and plans... it's like the characters are required to be stupid for the series to continue! A common trope, to be sure, but one I'm getting a bit tired of.

[Deathscyther]

Nice episode. 8/10

This episode shows how Yuji grew during the first two seasons. It also shows the bond that Yuji and Shana built up. It felt quite heartwarming.

Good to see what's going on in Yuji's mind as well. He wants to him and Shana to walk hand in hand with smiles on their faces. In order to make Shana happy and to be with her in the end, he is willing to do anything, even if it means giving up his existence and siding with the creatures that tried to kill him multiple times.

Now it all starts.

[alvinkhorfire]

Originally Posted by Deathscyther

This episode shows how Yuji grew during the first two seasons.

In term of strength as well, not shown in this episode, but in Episode 2 especially.

From now on, I believe that we would not going to hear any more "wimpy Yuji" comment, that was quite commonly heard during Season 1 and Season 2. After all, back then, Yuji was a mere mystes, and it is reasonable for him, and even any of us humans, to be terrified of Tomogaras.

With him being the commander of Bal Masqué, there should not be any further dispute about his strength and bravery.

[MeoTwister5]

Only managed to watch it now.

A better flashback than expected. Mosts shows just insert flashbacks here and there and sometimes at random. It's cliched to visiting the hometown and reminiscing as a form of flashback, but here it works and at least provides most of the inner monologue of Yuji's mind to help bridge the gap between both seasons. It managed to achieve that, for the most part, though I still think they could have used some of the time where he just walks around better.

Also Yuji vs Shana. Everyone knew it was coming someday, and now we're getting it.

[Aquifina]

Perhaps it could have been paced a little quicker, but I thought this was more than just a recap and was very nicely done. I also liked how they Yuji's feelings for Shana clear, without overdoing it. There was even a halfway-decent explanation for Yuji's sometimes annoying indecisiveness during the first two seasons on making a choice between the two girls--that it took him a long time to accept that he could fall in love.

[NoemiChan]

Since the first episode of this season, I patiently waited to know when Shana and Yuuji will meet... in a romantic way, but this? What is this? Lover's quarrel in a bigger scale? I was hoping Shana might get a little soft on their reunion, but .... ok, fine.. just waiting for the next episode..

I missed this anime...

[Senshigeia]

Genjichan: I mean, Yuji joined the bad guys and Shana doesn't know why. If I were her I would have the same reaction. Furthermore, he is not only a bad guy, but their chief.

I really liked the recap, and like Aquifina said, it was not only nicely done, but we finally have Yuji's point of view over the whole story. Also, didn't you get the feeling Yuji started telling us the story at the point he returned Misaki city? The first flash back has the same sentences he says in the first episode...

[~Yami~]

Originally Posted by elleinad00

I liked it.......

Spoiler for especially:

the holding hands of yuuji and shana!! it was sooo cute!!

but I need englsih sub!! but still it's cute!!

can't wait for the next episode!!!

same..... love that scene too

especially when Yuji admits he loves Shana....

I don't see any problem about recapping... they're playing with your feelings

hopefully in ep 4 they will show us a full epic battle just like when they fought against Sabrac

[Klashikari]

I can't help but second people's "not so positive" response to this episode.
On its own, the episode isn't that bad of a recap, considering how it wasn't a complete mess of consecutive old sequences stitched together. However, I see little need for such things, especially how JC staff went to "great details" in recycling S1 scenes this way.
Whilst Yuuji's reminiscence was needed, I can't help but think they used that as a cheap trick to fill 10 minutes of this episode, especially considering we are still left in the dark regarding his motivations. On the whole picture (as part of the franchise and THIRD season), it is just underwhelming, especially it doesn't really expand Yuuji that much.

Honestly, Recap shouldn't even be considered, since nothing stop people to refresh their memories themselves with the said past seasons and/or summaries, regardless how many years it has passed.
But the main problem is how this episode contributes way too little despite how long it was, and could potentially be more compact in fact. Which leaves the whole twist of Episode 1 being unresolved for 3 episodes, which is far too long.
Of course, the audience shouldn't be spoonfed all the time, but when you start a season with a retcon (christmas event) and then beating around the bush instead of going to the core of the issue, something is really wrong in the writing. This is why I think many people "didn't get what happened" since instead of using a smooth transition, we have a dumped retcon, then situation moving on without letting the audience computing what's going on.

I don't expect Yuji to say "I do this because..." 1 liner at the very beginning of the first episode whatsoever. But dragging the plot this way is just questionable at best, and nostalgia effect won't make the scripters earn any point for this.

[Guido]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

I can't help but second people's "not so positive" response to this episode.
On its own, the episode isn't that bad of a recap, considering how it wasn't a complete mess of consecutive old sequences stitched together. However, I see little need for such things, especially how JC staff went to "great details" in recycling S1 scenes this way.
Whilst Yuuji's reminiscence was needed, I can't help but think they used that as a cheap trick to fill 10 minutes of this episode, especially considering we are still left in the dark regarding his motivations. On the whole picture (as part of the franchise and THIRD season), it is just underwhelming, especially it doesn't really expand Yuuji that much.

Honestly, Recap shouldn't even be considered, since nothing stop people to refresh their memories themselves with the said past seasons and/or summaries, regardless how many years it has passed.
But the main problem is how this episode contributes way too little despite how long it was, and could potentially be more compact in fact. Which leaves the whole twist of Episode 1 being unresolved for 3 episodes, which is far too long.
Of course, the audience shouldn't be spoonfed all the time, but when you start a season with a retcon (christmas event) and then beating around the bush instead of going to the core of the issue, something is really wrong in the writing. This is why I think many people "didn't get what happened" since instead of using a smooth transition, we have a dumped retcon, then situation moving on without letting the audience computing what's going on.

I don't expect Yuji to say "I do this because..." 1 liner at the very beginning of the first episode whatsoever. But dragging the plot this way is just questionable at best, and nostalgia effect won't make the scripters earn any point for this.

After watching the episode at last, in no way I felt bothered at all with Yuujis' reminiscence flashbacks from the day he met Shana until the current turn of events. However, KlashiKari, I do agree with you on the following:
- When Yuuji's flashback reminiscenced again about the Christmas Incident, all the confused and disjointed feelings I got at the start of this serie's first episode were triggered; the pain of a thorn stuck on my spine that I did not want to recall.

It felt gorgeous watching Yuuji climbing the ladder on the bridge, and once climbed on the top facing Shana, standing on the opposite bridge. The ending music starting to play in the background heightened the atmosphere around the cliffhanger for the end of the episode. A note to tell the audience that things have changed, hence, Yuuji and Shana can no longer go back to those days.

It feels good watching time to time those kinds of setups, but the relief is only temporary because as an audience member I'm left inside the box trying to figure out what made Yuuji to realize to explain his recent course of actions, and speaking for all the frustrated fans out there I would want some answers soon and not midway.