Dreameater Merry: Shakugan no Shana III. Merry=Shana, Yumeji=Yuuji, Yui=Yoshida. About half the show consisted of battles in dreams, and the fighting was quite well done. Except most of the battles were two people talking about how they believed in themselves and explaining their attacks. I shouldn’t be surprised by this though, considering the track record of all shounen fighting shows ever created. The other half of the show consisted of people looking beyond the camera from one side of the screen and tilting their necks with the wind blowing through their hair. Sure, it’s a nice pose, but when it’s the only pose in your show there’s an issue.

With that said, I largely enjoyed Yumekui Merry overall. Sure, it doesn’t have the most original plot or the best dialogue, but its excellent execution helps to make up for that. The visuals and music are both fantastic, especially for the scenes in the dream world.

• Plot / Script – 7 / 10 – Fairly predictable plot, dialogue is often overly sentimental and preachy.
• Characters – 7 / 10 – Yumeji and Merry struck me poorly because their main pastime seems to looking cool and posing. The two main antagonists didn’t really do much except laugh evilly too.
• Production – 9 / 10 – Gorgeous visuals and the music fits very well.
• Overall – C-

Recommendations – Shakugan no Shana, Pandora Hearts