For the amount I complain about Rie Kugimiya and Shana clones, I often forget— the first season of Shakugan no Shana was actually pretty good. The second series was not, particularly the first half. But the third season looks like it’s off to a good start.
Most of the episode was recap. But that’s probably a good thing, considering how little of the second season I remember. The episode brought the audience back into the story by looking at how the characters have reacted to Yuuji’s departure. So we got the recap, but without it feeling like a straight-up retelling. New things happen, and we see the characters’ reactions to the events being retold.
So Yuuji is the leader of Bal Masque now? I must not have been paying attention to the last season’s ending at all. But I like where this is going. With that said, this is Shana. If you’re thinking about watching this, you should already know what you’re getting into.
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Yuuji’s hairstyle was definitely better before the transformation to be honest. :O
Yeah, although he does look more like a feudal lord now.
The biggest dissapointment for me is his hair.
I don’t like the whole genre too much, but ZnT and Toradora are much better than this. Shana is about 5x slower, with no comedy. Worst pacing ever…makes Clannad/Steins;Gate seem like TTGL/Baccano…
Rie Kugimiya is a good voice actress. It’s not her fault if the story and pacing are crap.
It does lack comedy, and it can be really slow. I thought this episode kept a decent pace though, hopefully the third season will continue to.
She is a good voice actress— I enjoyed her roles as Alphonse, Kagura and Nagi, to name a few. It’s not really the story and pacing that are the issue either: it’s the characters she’s cast as; the bratty pre-pubescent tsunderes. I would hate these characters just as much with any other voice actor.
The other good part about Shana/ZNT is that the little romantic progress they have is reset in the next season. These kind of shows troll like there’s no tomorrow.
I do remember the Christmas scene. But I can’t remember how did Yuji end up deciding to become Bal Masque? I was even suprise that he gave up his existance being human. I’m totally lost with you here. Maybe watching the Movie Recap would give us a better refresher? It’s only a few hours long compared to rewatching all of them.
Same here, I can’t remember it at all haha. Just the Christmas scene. I’m not going to bother rewatching since this episode managed to get me back up to speed though.