SHAKUGAN NO SHANA (VOLUME 2)
September 25th 2008 01:38
Category: Videos
Original story by: Yashichiro Takashi.
Original art by: Noizi Ito.
Director: Takashi Watanabe.
Screenplay by: Yasuko Kobayashi.
Producer: Kouhei Kawase.
Starring: Tabitha St Germain (Shana), Kristian Ayre (Yuji Sakai), Matthew Erickson (Hayate Ike), Brad Swaile (Sato), Paul Dobson (Alastor), Nicole Bouma (Marianne), Ron Halder (The Corpse Collector), Trevor Devall (Friagne/Marcosius) & Janyse Jaud (Margery Daw).
Produced by: Red Eye Shana Committee, Toshiba Entertainment, Media Works, Geneon Entertainment & JC Staff
English Version produced by: Geneon Entertainment Inc.
Released by: Madman Entertainment.
Running Time: 100 minutes. Rating: PG.
Initially in the first part of this unusual tale which seems to combine the elements of high school romance, martials arts action and supernatural drama all into a tightly woven package Yuji Sakai the leading male protagonist found his entire world shifting around him; quite literally. An encounter with a feasting Crimson denizen and the legendary blazing eyes flaming haired flame haze known only as the Neitono no Shana completely shattered his somewhat idyllic view on life and the world in general. By the end of the first volume though he was not the only one whose view on things was about to be significantly and drastically changed.
To the rest of the world at large Shana has taken on the mantle of Yukari Hirai, a student at the high school which Yuji regularly attends and whose essence was effectively consumed by the denizen that he encountered. Before Yukari completely vanished and faded from existence leaving no trace that she had ever been their Shana absorbed some of the remaining flame of Yukari’s essence and thus worked herself into the girl’s space in reality. All sounds rather post modernist (or is it existentialist) doesn’t it? But this is all part of the efforts that flame hazes undertake in maintaining the balance between that of the human and crimson worlds, to many people disappear after their existences are consumed and bad, catastrophic things happen. Which is why those individuals are replace by torches, a copy that occupies the space and reality taken up by the former real person, before eventually burning out once they have served their purpose. Thus is the balance maintained; to some extent.
Of course even though torches burn out over time, some quickly others lasting for a considerable period, there are those who are able to make use of torches that in the final moments of their flickering existence. One such entity is an enigmatic figure known only as the Corpse Collector, wandering the streets of Misaki City the collector gathers up the essences of torches that are about to flickering out consolidating them via arcane means for reasons as yet unknown. Naturally someone like the Corpse Collector is bound to have enemies, and he has had the misfortune to draw the ire of one Margery Daw, the infamous Chanter of Elegies and her partner Marcosius, the Claws and Fangs of Violation. They have chased the Corpse Collector across half the world forcing him to flee from Europe to the Isles of the Rising Sun and Misaki City.
What effect does all this have on Yuji and the newly named Shana? How does all this effect the nefarious scheme of Crimson denizen Hunter Friagne? It seems that the presence of Shana and Friagne is the very reason for why the Corpse Collector has come to Misaki, with these two at large he is hoping that it will make it harder for the Chanter of Elegies to track him down, as well as assisting in his own agenda of capturing those essences that are on the verge of fading from the very fabric of existence. But Margery Daw is not one to be easily dissuaded from tracking down her target and the Corpse Collector comes to realise that through his own cleverness he has painted himself into something of a tight corner.
After recovering from her fight with Margery Daw Shana is in something of a state, not sure how to respond to all the strange emotions and feelings inside that she has never quite felt before, feelings that seemed to be focused on Yuji Sakai. Is this the result of his status as a mystes or the influence of the treasure that is kept inside him? No it’s a bit more prosaic, it’s what happens when a girl falls for a boy that has captured her attention and possibly her heart although she may not quite realise this or even deny it when confronted with the fact. For his particular perspective Yuji is completely oblivious to this development, though no doubt this is due to the fact that he has seemed to have attracted the attentions of another female classmate, Kasumi as well as being told some rather startling information by the Corpse Collector.
Even though he is new in town it seems that the Collector knows of Hunter Friagne and what his goals and intentions are in regards to Misaki City. Never one to do things halfway or half heartedly Friagne intends to consume all the essences within Misaki as well as the city itself in order to give his doll paramour Marianne an actual existence as a living breathing being. Love can move people and Crimson denizens to do the most atrocious of things and the devouring of an entire city has to top the list of atrocious things prompted by love, but even though he has the means to perform this feat and bring about his desire unfortunately Friagne has not thought the whole plan through. Rather than advancing the time table of his agenda he should have focused more on disposing of both of the flame hazes, a fact that in the end costs him dearly. Margery Daw puts an end to the immaculately clad hunter of treasures for her own reasons, not out of any regard to Shana, Yuji or the people of Misaki City. As result even though the crimson haired blazing eyes hunter is grudgingly grateful it only means that once again the two are locked in confrontation with each other. It seems flame hazes are very territorial and dislikes others of their kind interfering in their business or domains, much like dogs or bears.
Its also interesting in the fact that the title character even though is the primary protagonist is not the narrator of the series, or the person from whose perspective we the audience view the unfolding drama and action. We are getting the story from the point of view of Yuji Sakai, the secondary protagonist of the series, almost a sidekick of the primary title character. This was also a feature of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and its certainly an interesting way to tell the story as it leaves the audience wondering is their more to the story than there appears? All in all Shakugan no Shana volume 2 is filled with drama, quirkiness, hope, mystery, potential redemption and moments of total anime mayhem as flame hazes clash amidst the sealed confines of the Misaki City art museum, all the things that make up any good anime series.
Original art by: Noizi Ito.
Director: Takashi Watanabe.
Screenplay by: Yasuko Kobayashi.
Producer: Kouhei Kawase.
Starring: Tabitha St Germain (Shana), Kristian Ayre (Yuji Sakai), Matthew Erickson (Hayate Ike), Brad Swaile (Sato), Paul Dobson (Alastor), Nicole Bouma (Marianne), Ron Halder (The Corpse Collector), Trevor Devall (Friagne/Marcosius) & Janyse Jaud (Margery Daw).
Produced by: Red Eye Shana Committee, Toshiba Entertainment, Media Works, Geneon Entertainment & JC Staff
English Version produced by: Geneon Entertainment Inc.
Running Time: 100 minutes. Rating: PG.
Initially in the first part of this unusual tale which seems to combine the elements of high school romance, martials arts action and supernatural drama all into a tightly woven package Yuji Sakai the leading male protagonist found his entire world shifting around him; quite literally. An encounter with a feasting Crimson denizen and the legendary blazing eyes flaming haired flame haze known only as the Neitono no Shana completely shattered his somewhat idyllic view on life and the world in general. By the end of the first volume though he was not the only one whose view on things was about to be significantly and drastically changed.
To the rest of the world at large Shana has taken on the mantle of Yukari Hirai, a student at the high school which Yuji regularly attends and whose essence was effectively consumed by the denizen that he encountered. Before Yukari completely vanished and faded from existence leaving no trace that she had ever been their Shana absorbed some of the remaining flame of Yukari’s essence and thus worked herself into the girl’s space in reality. All sounds rather post modernist (or is it existentialist) doesn’t it? But this is all part of the efforts that flame hazes undertake in maintaining the balance between that of the human and crimson worlds, to many people disappear after their existences are consumed and bad, catastrophic things happen. Which is why those individuals are replace by torches, a copy that occupies the space and reality taken up by the former real person, before eventually burning out once they have served their purpose. Thus is the balance maintained; to some extent.
What effect does all this have on Yuji and the newly named Shana? How does all this effect the nefarious scheme of Crimson denizen Hunter Friagne? It seems that the presence of Shana and Friagne is the very reason for why the Corpse Collector has come to Misaki, with these two at large he is hoping that it will make it harder for the Chanter of Elegies to track him down, as well as assisting in his own agenda of capturing those essences that are on the verge of fading from the very fabric of existence. But Margery Daw is not one to be easily dissuaded from tracking down her target and the Corpse Collector comes to realise that through his own cleverness he has painted himself into something of a tight corner.
After recovering from her fight with Margery Daw Shana is in something of a state, not sure how to respond to all the strange emotions and feelings inside that she has never quite felt before, feelings that seemed to be focused on Yuji Sakai. Is this the result of his status as a mystes or the influence of the treasure that is kept inside him? No it’s a bit more prosaic, it’s what happens when a girl falls for a boy that has captured her attention and possibly her heart although she may not quite realise this or even deny it when confronted with the fact. For his particular perspective Yuji is completely oblivious to this development, though no doubt this is due to the fact that he has seemed to have attracted the attentions of another female classmate, Kasumi as well as being told some rather startling information by the Corpse Collector.
Even though he is new in town it seems that the Collector knows of Hunter Friagne and what his goals and intentions are in regards to Misaki City. Never one to do things halfway or half heartedly Friagne intends to consume all the essences within Misaki as well as the city itself in order to give his doll paramour Marianne an actual existence as a living breathing being. Love can move people and Crimson denizens to do the most atrocious of things and the devouring of an entire city has to top the list of atrocious things prompted by love, but even though he has the means to perform this feat and bring about his desire unfortunately Friagne has not thought the whole plan through. Rather than advancing the time table of his agenda he should have focused more on disposing of both of the flame hazes, a fact that in the end costs him dearly. Margery Daw puts an end to the immaculately clad hunter of treasures for her own reasons, not out of any regard to Shana, Yuji or the people of Misaki City. As result even though the crimson haired blazing eyes hunter is grudgingly grateful it only means that once again the two are locked in confrontation with each other. It seems flame hazes are very territorial and dislikes others of their kind interfering in their business or domains, much like dogs or bears.
Its also interesting in the fact that the title character even though is the primary protagonist is not the narrator of the series, or the person from whose perspective we the audience view the unfolding drama and action. We are getting the story from the point of view of Yuji Sakai, the secondary protagonist of the series, almost a sidekick of the primary title character. This was also a feature of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and its certainly an interesting way to tell the story as it leaves the audience wondering is their more to the story than there appears? All in all Shakugan no Shana volume 2 is filled with drama, quirkiness, hope, mystery, potential redemption and moments of total anime mayhem as flame hazes clash amidst the sealed confines of the Misaki City art museum, all the things that make up any good anime series.
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