Shana: Shakugan no Shana

Things were looking up for Yuji Sakai. He had just started high school with his best friend and managed to bag a seat in class next to Hirai, your typical Japanese high school hottie. Unfortunately for Yuji, that’s about as good as it gets. On his way home from school his world is suddenly ripped to pieces as he’s caught between an inter-dimensional fight between the Denizens of the Crimson World, the bad guys who eat people’s existences for their own power and substance, and the Flame Hazes.

Sometime during the battle, Yuji is killed. The Flame Haze who saves him soon explains that everyone caught up in these battles are dead and their existence is replaced by a Torch. These torches take the person’s place and slowly fade away into nothing, to ease the strain on the people who are still alive. However, it turns out that Yuji is not your run of the mill Torch. He is in fact a Mystes, a Torch with special treasure inside him. This ultimately leads to him being a target of the Denizens, so Shana the Flame Haze sticks around for his protection.

Now that the synopsis is out of the way, let’s get on with the review.

I decided for this piece, and particularly this whole series to not do any pre-reading on the show, I wanted to see if it had enough substance and material to be a successful pick up and play DVD. And, to be honest, it does. Shana’s make up is one of those shows that can either go incredibly wrong, or turn out to be a very good watch. When you break it down we have a variety of genres here. We get a taste of everything from the high school romance, the action and fantasy roles come into play a lot in this first volume and there’s even a few timely pieces of comedy thrown in for good fun. As I said, with a smorgasbord of genres it’s easy for a show likes this to go wrong. But when it goes right, that shows just how good the production is.

The story starts off very strong, and I was impressed with the topic and how they conveyed Yuji handling it. One’s legacy, the memories that we leave behind after we pass away, is a very powerful topic. It was something I wasn’t expecting from a show like this. However, it’s not all serious and after episode two things start to take a lighter tone. At this moment it’s hard to say if it’s good or bad for the series as a whole, but for this single volume, it works.

The animation was average, and I can say with confidence that this will not be the shows strong point. Overall the character designs are okay, with enough distinction on Shana and a few other characters that makes them identifiable. The background art was decent, but there were some continuity errors such as signs on shops being reversed. CGI plays a small part in this show; it’s not overdone but it’s nothing amazing either.

Musically there is nothing on offer that you won’t find in any other show, the titles are distinctive but during fights and other important scenes you get the usual gubbins that comes with anime these days. It doesn’t add tension or create an atmosphere but it doesn’t spoil the show.

What I was most impressed with was the dub. The Ocean Group’s dub is populated by many Inuyasha second stringers; however they have used independent casting agencies to bring in a fresh new wave of artists. Kristian Ayre does a good job as Yuji, some of his speeches suffer from poor timing, but on the whole it’s a solid performance. The character I was most impressed with however was Tabitha St. Germain (Fllay in Mobile Suit Gundam Seed) as Shana. Her voice brought the character to life and the way in which she brings out the bluntness of Shana and her snappy tones makes for a refreshing entry into the dub scene. Dub casting overall is decent, the script isn’t amazing but it flows and compared to the original subs it doesn’t stray too far.

Extras on the DVD are limited to a few trailers and clean titles, but this is reflected in the price.

In Summary

On the whole I was impressed with Shana volume 1, while it’s too early in the series to tell if it’s any good or not. If it can keep up the pace shown in these first four episodes then we are onto a winner here. The good blend of genres and a solid dubbing have crafted a good foundation onto which a good series can be built. Shana herself is a great character, although her main enemy is described by one of the characters as “the pervert with the creepy doll fetish” (when you watch it, you’ll understand) If you are after something new, and have a few quid to burn, I would recommend this.