Director: Takashi Watanabe
Starring: Rie Kugimiya, Tabitha St. Germain, Satoshi Hino, Kristian Ayre, Ayako Kawasumi, Paul Dobson, Hitomi Nabatame, Alistair Abell, Kenji Nojima,
Running Time: 288 minutes
Certificate: 12
SHANA is yet another anime that deals with blade wielding highschoolers with mystical powers fighting supernatural creatures. That’s not an automatic negative against the series, but it’s hardly enough to grab the attention of casual or dedicated anime viewers. We follow Yuji, a young man who, in the previous series, was set upon by Rinnes. Rinnes are servants to Crimson Lords or Denizens. Anyway, Yuji was eventually saved by Shana, a Flame Haze, whose job it is to destroy such creatures.
If some of the terminology in that last paragraphed caused question marks to appear above your head, then don’t worry, you are not alone. In fact, one of the extras has two characters explaining individual pieces of terminology for 4 minutes at a time. I understand creating a world that makes your fans feel as though they are part of some fantastic universe away from the prying eyes of normal folk, but surely such lexicon should flow organically within the series itself.
Despite the generic plot and convoluted mythology, SHANA shines in terms of its characterisation. This isn’t the first time that an anime has dealt with a supernatural (but human looking) entity beginning to fall for a human, but unlike many other series, it explores the relationship in a complex and slightly dark manner. Shana is clearly quite obsessed and possessive over Yuji, and the series isn’t shy of making her unlikable at times. This brave step makes the, possible, romance between them realistic but also volatile.
The animation is fairly simplistic in both its motion and details. The designs of human characters are rather bland, and the settings lack much texture. There are times that the colouring leaps from the screen with a naturalistic feel, but this is mostly during battle scenes and sunsets.
The best thing SHANA has going for it is its charm and characters. But that will only take the series so far in the future. Many of the story arcs explored here are hard to get involved with and there’s too much mystery at this point to see how these stories will connect into a cohesive whole. Enjoyable in small doses, but I doubt it will rival your favourite series.
SHANA SEASON 2 PART 1 is released on DVD 4th March 2013.
