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Feb 04 2006

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

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The episode leads off with a dip in the pool and recaps the soap opera that is Shakugan no Shana before meido hawtness interrupted the normal story flow. Yoshida’s and ShanaQ’s happy hormones are acting up, and both try to express their feelings towards Yuji in their special little ways.

(Mild spoilers upcoming. Don’t worry, though, Yoshida hasn’t gone Ers on us… yet.)

ShanaQ? She’s more child-like and rather than upfront confessing to Yuji, she is a bit sneakier. She dispatches Yuji and Alastor on “special training” (jogging) to get them out of the house. Really? Jogging is going to help you defeat tomogara? This exercise has to be the dumbest training since teaching stitching and make-up at Gaulderobe Academy. Anyway, Shana is secretly learning from Chigusa on how to make a bento while the men are away. Obviously, Chigusa must make awesome bentos since Yuji never takes one of hers to school. More realistically: (1) Yuji doesn’t like her bentos or (2) Even though she doesn’t seem to have a job, maybe she moonlights for a h-title and is secretly doing the mailman everyday so she doesn’t have time to make the bentos. Either way, I don’t see this cooking exercise as being promising. ShanaQ does royally mess up making eggs, and I can’t shake the “Shizuru looking at Natsuki” vibe I’m getting from Chigusa now when she looks at ShanaQ. Maybe Yuji’s mom is getting tired of the mailman or something. ShanaQ’s fallback plan is to go with Yuji to the upcoming festival and seduce him with a yukata.

Yoshida? She’s a bit more straightforward, and she launches the offensive by asking Yuji to the festival first. Sadly, I think being in a yukata will null out Yoshida’s cup size advantage slightly… unless she gets a little naughtly and leaves the top a bit loose. Am I thinking too much about this? Probably. Yuji ends up accepting Yoshida’s date, and there’s a lot of spooky bird figures around town. Of course, now Yoshida’s delighted, and she goes off shopping for shoes. Unfortunately, Yoshida can’t seem to catch a break because her joyful world is shattered by the plot.

The plot advances with the introduction of a male flame haze, Sagara (okay, new meme– Khamsin sounds close enough to Kashim, so I’m just going to call him Sagara from now on, and they both seem equally tactless with their woman… and if you’re wondering about ShanaQ, hint hint) who runs into Yoshida and reveals to her the true nature of the world. What a horrible thing to do to such a charming lassie. Sagara needs her cooperation to help heal (or destroy) the town, but Yoshida is rightly freaking about the whole torch business. I felt sorry for her… definitely winning me over with this episode. Go Mahoro! (Side note: everytime Saber swings her sword, she uses her Mahoro yell… Saber just needs to say “ecchi na no wa ikenai to omoimasu” during a mana replenishment session, and I may just quit watching anime. I mean, what else is there to see at that point?)

Watch for Yoshida to start admiring Sagara for his ability to be upfront and open, which she wishes she can accomplish with Yuji.

As for the other flame hazes, Shikijo-sensei is being helpful to ShanaQ and Yuji and offers to book the two some time at a local love hotel. Wilhelmina is looking for Reiji Maigo de arimasu. Have I mentioned that I’m absolutely estatic that Wilhelmina will now be participating in this final arc? I can’t wait for her to start disapproving of Reiji/Yuji as ShanaQ’s boyfriend. While Sagara and Wilhelmina are gathering in town, the episode concludes on a note that suggests both Shikijo-sensei and ShanaQ are thinking about leaving the town soon for their own reasons.

Of course, I don’t think this will happen as with the four members (the fourth is the leader, who may or may not make it into the anime) of the Balle Masque plotting for Reiji Maigo, and now four flame hazes have assembled, I’m guessing that it’ll be a Gun x Sword-type of showdown. If there happens to be a giant robot controlled by a stripper pole, all the merrier. It’ll probably be a Shuffle-type showdown for poor Yuji. If Yoshida ends up killing Shana-tan, all the merrier. Wait, what am I saying? If Yoshida ends up killing Yuji and ends up frenching ShanaQ as the series credits rolled for the final time, all the merrier. Much better.

A couple of awards to hand out…

Most Wasted H-Opportunity

Wait, so Suiseiseki and Souseiseki transferred their energy of existance between each other by kissing, which seems reasonable to me given the mana transfer protocols of FSN. So why does ShanaQ just hold Yuji’s hand?

Best Use of Wikipedia

Alastor
Behemoth
Marchosias
Tiamat

See a pattern?

Most In Need of Some Horie Yui Vocals

I fanboyed already about the new OP. Ai ya ai ya ai ya ya ya ya ya.

And… lastly… do you really want to know the truth between seiyuu-voice-hawtness and seiyuu-actual-hawtness? I don’t think it’s a good idea. Most seiyuu aren’t exactly bikini models:

Worst Seiyuu Publicity Photo

To Kugimiya Rie… who needs to fire her photographer and publicist, ASAP. There’s a limit to how much cheese I can handle on my pizza. This is waaaaay too much cheese.