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Jan 12 2006

Categories: anime, episodic review, shakugan no shana
Tagged: shakugan no shana

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From what I gather, the whole point of the previous arc wasn’t to show us twins swapping saliva. The real point, as hinted by the title, “Declaration of War Behind the School,” is that the battle for Yuji is the main deal, and it stickier now that the tomogara now know which mistes he’s holding. Yuji and Shana get lunch… by themselves, and Shana continues to mutter that she’s not going to lose. If this were a dating sim, Shana would be wearing her shobu pantsu, and Yoshida would be hiding in the bushes with a box cutter. But, alas. As the two blissfully enjoy some melon bread together, we are taken back to Shana’s training days, as the new arc that 14 begins deals with how she became the flame haze that she is today.

Shana’s shining days were in a floating castle that reminds me of World of Warcraft’s Northshire Abbey. Alastor is just a random bonfire, a skeleton is Shana’s sparring partner, and Wilhemina Carmel is taking care of Shana, much like Yuji’s mom in the present day. Nothing seems out of the ordinary for them until a tomogara, The Professor, appears and decides to intrude on their shining days. He manages to lure Carmel out to his trap while his accomplish, Domino, goes to Northshire for Shana. The episode’s ending, though, made no sense to me. Shana finally defeats her skeleton sparring partner, and he goes berserk, and I have no idea why. Then toss in random shots of Tenraku Ikko, the mistes with the Nietonono no Shana, and… that’s it. There’s a lot of tomogara/Flame Haze techno-baubble that’s very hard for me to understand. I’m hoping for some explanation next episode, because I’m confused.

I’m noticing a pattern where they toss in a fanservice episode between story arcs, much like episode 4 and episode 9. I guess 14 qualifies since the episode has a boatload of melonpan, Shana in a China dress, and, um, panty shots. I’m kinda disappointed how they decided to cut to the flashback arc just when Shana’s battle with Yoshida is heating up. That’s my favorite part of the show! Since it’s flashback, there’s no Yuji, no Yoshida, and I’m going to have to rely on melon bread, fanservice, and Wilhemina to get me through. Mmm… meido! Okay, maybe it’s not going to be that bad.

Next page for screens. ><