As I’ve embarked on my Shakugan no Shana experience over the past few months my will to go on has become very weary. It’s not that the show doesn’t have some very cool aspects, it’s just that a lot of these idea’s are derived from a pick-a-part collection of idea’s from other anime. I think that if you’re an occasional viewer of anime titles you probably aren’t going to care that much. The show is bizarre in all the right ways with a very cool core concept and your average knock em’ down drag em’ out type battles. For me, an anime fan that consumes anime titles by the dozen per month, well, you start to get bored of the same old, same old idea’s hashed out in select anime titles, Shakugan no Shana being a prime example.

Girl falls from sky and saves boy, boy and girl begin awkward relationship, add more girls, increase naivety and courage in boy, a few love triangles (or other more pointy shapes), add a slew of baddies, light sexual jokes, and fights. A lot of fights. Wrap it in a dark little blanket of malice and vague but slowly evolving evil and there you go. I’ve described nearly fifty anime titles in less then a paragraph.

It’s true that Shakugan No Shana doesn’t bring the most original idea to the table but it has it’s moments, they’re just few and far between and mostly uninspiring. If memory serves correctly I jotted down several alternative anime series with the same concept in my first review for Season One of this series. I wish I could add more to the pro’s but I’m at a loss for words with this title.

PICTURE QUALITY:
Like the previous releases for Shakugan no Shana the picture quality is pretty poor. This installment seems just a bit more vibrant when it comes to the color scheme of the series but that’s not saying much. Probably a step up from the original material but not by much.

BONUS FEATURES:
~Textless Songs
~1 Episode Commentary
~Nazi Nani Shana II
~Shakugan no Shana-tan Revenge