Shakugan no Shana

I'm really happy to see you guys using my suggestions button!! I spent a long time making that so I'm glad it's getting some use. Keep them coming guys!

Has any one read my 11 eyes review? Because Shakugan no Shana has a really similar idea. Any one who has seen both would probably agree with me there. Shakugan no Shana is also about the idea of parallel worlds, but the monsters escape into our world. It's kind of hard to explain, but basically the idea is that these monsters come to our world but humans just can't perceive it. These monsters are called Guze no Tomogara and they feed off of the 'power of existence'. Fighting the Tomogara are the flames haze. The result of a human making a contract with a god to keep the two worlds in balance. Obviously the flame haze can't protect every one- people are still eaten- but the sudden disappearance of a person could disrupt the world balance so people are replaced with 'torches', replicas of the humans with a much shorter lifespan. They are slowly forgotten until they just disappear, which is a rather horrible thought really. So you can imagine how freaky it must of been when Yuji Sakai was told that he, in fact, was a torch. But unlike any other torch Yuji can see the battles against the Tomogara, he can remember those who are forgotten and he can tell who's a torch. Because he's a Mistes, a special kind of torch who contains a power with in him. A bit like a lucky dip, there's no way to tell what kind of power he has, it's all a bit weird.
Anyway, obviously Yuji didn't just know all of this he was told by a flame haze. When he was about to be swallowed up by a Tomogara a girl dressed in black with red hot hair and red hot eyes saved him. Un-fazed by the whole experience Yuji done the most logical thing any one could do in the situation, befriend the girl and give her a name (Shana). Now Yuji lives (well technically he's dead, but you know) trying to make his existence as meaningful as he can by helping Shana. The curious thing about this anime is that the start of every episode has a bit of narration from Yuji, but it's always in past tense so it's like thee whole thing is a flashback for Yuji. So yeah, although it's not unique, Shakugan no Shana has a nice plot to it, a few unexpected points, nothing I need to particularly complain about.
But who cares about the plot anyway, the main character is a tsundere! Yup, Shana is all types of tsundere. The fact is because she's so used to being alone suddenly having a friendly face around her confuses her, a lot. She can't concentrate and starts losing fights and blames Yuji for it. She even tries to kill him because she can't understand it! I did mention that humans become flame haze through a contract with a god. But I didn't explain how each flame haze has his/her own god within them and some object that they communicate through. For Shana, her God is Alastor and they communicate through a giant necklace. He's all boring and matter-of-factly though. Yuji is quite boring too, albeit his ability to not really care that he's dead (a kind of creepy ability in my opinion). He's quite sweet and his sense of justice is admirable, but he's just too boring! The exciting character is Margery Dow, another flame Haze. An older women who is in it for a good time. She love drinking and fighting and that's all there is too her! And her God is in the form of a book, her weapon is book! How awesome is that?
The opening animation is stunning! All those shiny things and 3D cogs! Obviously the actual anime isn't as stunning, in fact the majority of it is just standard school animation. But there's one thing I don't get: why does Shana's hair glitter so? Margery (the other flame haze) doesn't look special at all but Shana's hair and eyes turn red! Well, regardless of the reason why, she definitely looks pretty, even with the weird glittery hair! Margery just becomes a giant bear when she's fighting! Yuji always looks the same, infact, I haven't even seen him wear anything other than his school uniform. What's with all these boring leading males recently? I need to find a good romance story.
So I'm having some Deja Vu other the plot. But I think I see a love line forming, and you've got to love a love line with a tsundere! Also, it's got some pretty epic fight scenes with super awesome powers which are well animated. Although I haven't mentioned it (got to be careful of spoilers) the bad guy is pretty pathetic, it is only the first story arc, but if they don't improve their villains I may get bored!

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