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Originally Posted by Triple_R
In my view, Shakugan no Shana Season 1 had a refreshingly genuinely competitive love triangle (Kazumi/Yuji/Shana) which I honestly could have seen going either way, but which I now tend to view Shana as the winner of.
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I can't really agree here. To me, Kazumi never really stood a chance and seemed to be more of an interference. The problem with her was that they never bothered to give her any depth. The only thing of interest from her was that she was a normal person that felt out of place when she became aware of the supernatural events that were occuring. But they didn't really touch on that besides the looking glass. They made her regurgitate the same lines over and over again for the most part.
That being said, I don't even hate the character. In fact, I feel sorry for her because I want them to do more with her to make this part of the triangle more relevant and convincing. They really did get somewhere when she blurted it out, and thus proving she was more certain about things than the other two, but I was disappointed that the impact fizzled.
A character that is a satellite of the another character cannot survive on that alone if you want them to be relevant to the story. Surely, this is not a problem unique to the show. A lot of them have this problem (Hi, Key, I love your works but...) and Shana is far from being the worst, but it sure is annoying.
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I liked this love conflict more than most in anime because...
1) As others have mentioned, Kazumi and Shana are friendly sane rivals instead of insane competitors (as you tend to see in harem-esque love conflicts).
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That, I could see. It's nice to see that rivals don't always have to be enemies.
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I also felt that the Yuji/Shana romance development returned back to the classic approach to tsundere characters; an approach I much prefer to the modern day approach that has rendered the term 'tsundere' virtually meaningless by overuse and a very broad definition. Classically, tsunderes used to be characters that would start out very 'tsuntsun'; either as an ice queen or as a fiery quick tempered girl, and over time the charms and strengths of the male protagonist would melt through the ice or soothe the flames, and the tsundere would become 'deredere'. This, for me, makes for nice character development interwoven with romantic development; the two happen in a synergistic fashion, which I think reflects the reality that people often grow as individuals while the romances they are in grow as well - each growth being a cause and an effect of the other growth.
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Being someone that absolutely hates tsundere characters, as I often find tsundere characters reverting (and negating character development) to maintain the gimmick, Shana's the undisputed tsundere queen. She is the best tsundere character I've ever seen, without peer. Often times, you'll have a tsundere character act nice for a little and immediately turn mean again at the end of an episode to get some cheap laughs. The tsun side is always emphasized because it is more funny. A good example of this is Akane from Ranma.
However, Shana doesn't do this. She eventually matures out of this and acts less bad-tempered and bitchy. By season 2, her outbursts are minimal and actually more meaningful if she reverts. In other words, Shana is the only character I can think of that is labeled tsundere and exhibits this great development that you just described. The difference between Shana and Shana II's personalities is so different that I consider it one of Shana II's highlights.
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This, for me, is how the Yuji/Shana romance flowed in Season 1, as Yuji's gentlemanly approach, largely admirable character, and caring for Shana eventually lead the 'tsuntsun' Shana to become more 'deredere' ultimately resulting in Shana's confession of "I love you, Yuji" to Yuji in the last episode of Season 1. In Season 1, Shana grew a great deal as an individual due to Yuji's influence on her.
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Hmm, I saw this in everything that didn't involve romance. They did grow emotionally, however, when it cames to matters of romance they always got dumb again. The key exception is the famous example you just noted in epsiode 24 of season 1. Of all honesty, I can see their relationship being really strong, but once romance comes in...
There is no doubt that Yuji's own search for identity had a profound effect on Shana. But we get kinda muddled here.
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However, after Konoe was removed from the equation, the romance began to get back on track. And, personally, I found the Yuji/Shana romance bits in the final arc to be quite touching. I really liked how Shana was racing wildly off to save Yuji, and how she dramatically leaped at him when she finally found him. Then she lay snuggly on top of him, refusing to let him go for a second, as she desperately didn't want him to fade away. A very touching scene that perfectly shows how a tsundere should display her 'deredere' side, imo. It very much reflects my view of Shana as a Warrior Princess of sorts.
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That definitely is one of the high points of the series.
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One other thing I liked about the romance aspect in Season II is how it was Yuji that grew because of it, this time. Simply put, in the second half of this season, Yuji became a man, and Shana played a big role in that; both in how she trained him, and also in how Yuji wanted to protect her and prove to her that he could make meaningful contributions to the struggle with the tomogara as well.
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Yuji snapping that poor goon's neck and during the fight with Sabrac grew and became a much more confident person. However, there seemed to be some degeneration right after it, to the point where I was like "Did you just forget everything??"
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And it's only at the very end of S2 that the Yuji/Shana romance fully gets back on track. Of course, if you disliked the final episode conflict itself (whereas I mostly liked it) then you might not have been as moved by the romance aspects either. Basically, you had to really feel like Yuji and Shana were seriously on the ropes here in order for their softer moments to come across well.
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In addition to the above, I just felt like the last part was a step backwards. As I said in my review post, I would have easily given the series an 8 or a 9 if they wrapped it up after Sabrac. It felt so tacked on that I felt absolutely no tension. Did they really have to have Sabrac survive? And the Bal Masque, despite being powerful, just don't have much charisma as villains. Only Hecate is of any interest.
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Overall, I think that the Yuji/Shana romance is getting a very bad rap on this thread. I think it's been handled wonderfully, with the one awful exception I mentioned above. And one thing I liked about it is how, in both seasons, you actually do get the romance pretty much established by the end. Of course, JC Staff could very well pull another annoying retcon of sorts on us, but hopefully they won't this time...
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The foundation is there, because both seasons have done a spectacular job in making Yuji and Shana very interesting and likable characters. Except in the area of romance. I feel that there's a general unwillingness to move past the status quo, but that's natural in any long running series. If they (writers, as well as Yuji and Shana) want to take the risks involved, we might see something interesting. Currently I see them both as very likable characters and would like to see something happening, but I don't see anything happening.
But in any case, romance isn't really mandatory anyways. I enjoyed both seasons without dwelling too far into it. Certainly Shana has many other interesting themes to think about and even if I think poorly of the way romance is handled, it is unfair to dwell on it too.
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