Shakugan no Shana (灼眼のシャナ,
Shakugan no Shana? lit.
Shana of the Burning Eyes), also known simply as
Shana, is a series of
Japanese light novels and related media works written by
Japanese novelist Yashichiro Takahashi and illustrated by
Noizi Itocentering around Yuji Sakai, an ordinary Japanese high school boy who
inadvertently becomes involved in a perpetual war between forces of
balance and imbalance in existence. In the process, he befriends the
title character: a fighter for the balancing force, whom he takes to
calling "Shana". The series incorporates
science fiction,
fantasy, and
slice-of-life "school days" elements into its tale.
Shakugan no Shana began as a light novel series first serialized under the
seinen label
Dengeki Bunko published by
MediaWorks with the first complete novel released on November 10, 2002 in Japan. In time, a
manga series was created with art by
Ayato Sasakura first serialized in the manga magazine
Dengeki Daioh,
in February 2005. Both the light novel and manga are currently being
released in Japan. So far, there have been eighteen light novels and
three manga volumes. The most recent light novel, book SII, was
released in Japan on June 10, 2008. An
anime version was adapted by the animation studio
J.C.Staff and contained twenty-four episodes. A
Playstation 2 video game released in March 2006 followed and a second video game for the
Nintendo DS was released in March 2007. Additional anime adaptations include a thirty-minute
Original Video Animation and a movie that was shown in theaters in April 2007. A second anime series was announced with the title
Shakugan no Shana Second, which started airing in Japan on October 5, 2007.
PLOT
Yuji Sakai, a high school student, expected his very normal life to
last forever. However, this expectation is quickly shattered one day
while on his way home.
The world suddenly freezes in time, leaving Yuji to watch in horror
as blue flames engulf the people around him. Soon a monster resembling
a large doll appears and begins sucking the flames into its mouth,
until it notices Yuji. Surprised with Yuji's insusceptibility to the
time-stop (fuzetsu), it jumps with glee.
Just as the monster prepares to consume Yuji, a sword-wielding girl
in black attire with flaming red eyes and hair appears, swiftly and
confidently destroys the monster, before noticing Yuji moving freely.
The girl calls herself a "Flame Haze" who hunts the "Denizens of the
Crimson Realm" and the "Rinne" they send to do their bidding. When Yuji
notices a blue flame in his chest, the Flame Haze tells him that the
"real" Yuji died some time ago, and that he is a "Torch", a temporary
replacement for erased humans. Torches take on the forms of those
erased persons, but after a period of time, they will vanish from
existence and the memories of the living. Unfazed by his apparent
death, Yuji befriends the strange girl and names her "Shana" after her
sword. The reason Yuji was able to move in the fuzetsu is that he is
not a normal Torch, but instead a special kind called a "Mystes": he
has a treasure inside him, known as a "Hougu", a device possessing
special abilities of sorts, and an extremely powerful and valuable one
at that. The hougo inside Yuji allows him to remain in existence rather
than fading away like other torches. Shana resolves to protect Yuji
from the Denizens, who would use the treasure to disrupt the balance of
the world, and Yuji decides to join Shana in her fight.
Shana's fight is actually a long-standing struggle between the Lords
and Denizens of Guze. The Denizens steal Power of Existence, the energy
that forms the basis of the world, from living people and utilize it
for their own selfish ambitions. Some Lords inhabit humans creating
Flame Hazes in an attempt to retain balance by hunting renegades from
Guze. Flame Hazes create Torches in place of the consumed to save the
world the disruption of many existences being lost at once, allowing
the Torches to gradually burn out over the course of time.
CHARACTERS
Yuji Sakai (坂井悠二,
Sakai Yūji?) (Mystes) - Yuji, the main character of the story, is just an average high
school student. However, his world is turned upside down when he
discovers that he is already dead and does not have much time before he
disappears. Fortunately, Yuji is a Mystes who contains a treasure known
as the
Reiji Maigo (零時迷子,
Reiji Maigo? "Midnight Stray Child").
Unlike normal torches, the treasure inside him restores his Power of
Existence every night at midnight. With the Reiji Maigo, Yuji has the
possibility to live on like an average human as long as he makes sure
that his Power of Existence does not run out before midnight. Later, he
begins to learn to use the yet untapped potential of the treasure kept
within him. He cares deeply about Shana, but has yet to reveal if he
truly has feelings of love for her; also in the first season anime
leading up to the final episode, he starts to see Shana as her old view
of the world, where he is just a Torch and she is just a Flame Haze.
With this going on, he distanced himself from the closeness than the
two originally shared, leaving Shana hurt with the new feelings of love
she has developed but cannot explain. However, Yuji and Shana have
since repaired the damage to their relationship.
Shana (シャナ,
Shana?) /
"Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter" (「炎髪灼眼の討ち手」,
"Enpatsu Shakugan no Uchite"?) (Flame Haze) - The female lead of the show and a Flame Haze. Initially she is
concentrated solely on her duty as a Flame Haze, going as far as to not
bearing even a name. She sees Yuji only as a Torch, an object,
marginally interesting because of his status as a Mystes. However, she
slowly opens up to Yuji, coming to think of him as a person, despite
being a Torch, and eventually comes to love him. Until she met Yuji,
she was identified by only her Flame Haze title "Flame-Haired
Burning-Eyed Hunter," or her
katana,
Nietono no Shana (贄殿遮那,
Nietono no Shana? "
Vairocana of the Offering Room").
Yuji, in his need to humanize her, chose to name her "Shana" after her
katana. Shana has a habit of saying "Urusai!" which means "Shut up!"
three times in a row whenever Yuji asks her questions or makes remarks
that disturb her original point of view. But in reality they really
care for each other. She has a great fondness for
melon bread.
Shana later comes to the startling conclusion that she loves Yuji, and
even confesses it to him in the last episode of the first anime series
when she thought she was going to die, but he does not hear what she
said. Shana is continually torn between her mission to protect the
balance, and her love for Yuji. Due to a decision she made near the end
of the first season of the anime version, the closeness they once had
began to erode as Yuji kept a distance from her because of it. However,
it seems that Shana and Yuji have repaired the damage from their
previous relationship.
Alastor (アラストール,
Arasutōru?) / "Flame of Heavens" (「天壌の劫火」,
"Tenjō no Gōka"?) (Lord of the Crimson Realm) - He is the Lord of the Crimson Realm to whom Shana is bound. He
expresses his will through a divine vessel called the Cocytus, which
(in Shana's case) takes the form of a pendant. His name is actually the
name of a
demon in mythology. Alastor is considered to be one of the strongest of all Lords or Denizens; in fact being one of the
true Gods of the Crimson Realm. But even so, he tries to keep the Denizens from consuming Power of Existence.
Margery Daw (マージョリー・ドー,
Mājorī Dō?) /
"Chanter of Elegies/Interpreter of Condolence" (「弔詞の詠み手」,
"Chōshi no Yomite"?) - Margery is a tall, well-endowed and mature blond Flame Haze with a drinking habit. She uses the book
Grimoire,
which is the divine vessel through which Marcosius, to whom she is
bound, expresses his will. Her main powers focus around chanting spells
and turning into a werewolf. She casts spells by chanting an
"Improvisational Poem of Slaughter" (屠殺の即興詩,
Tosatsu no Sokkyōshi?). Her name comes from
Mother Goose,
as does what she chants. Eita and Keisaku look up to her because she
saved their lives once, and act as her subordinates. She holds a
vendetta against a Crimson Denizen with a silver flame. She is also
known as the Interpreter of Condolence, a title synonymous to her name
as a Flame Haze.
Marcosias (マルコシアス,
Marukoshiasu?) / "Claw and Fangs of Violation" (「蹂躙の爪牙」,
"Jūrin no Sōga"?) (Lord of the Crimson Realm) - The Crimson Lord to whom Margery Daw is bound. He expresses his
will through the divine vessel Grimoire, which takes the form of a
book. His name is actually the name of a
demon.
He talks wildly, makes comments without remorse, and often teases
Margery, often earning a retaliatory punch. He does genuinely care
about her, however, perhaps not in the form of friendship but as a
companion in battle. The dynamic of their relationship is quite
different than that between Shana and Alastor; Marchosias will serve as
Margery's vehicle from time to time and occasionally suffers physical
abuse at her hands, but they seem to be equals in their quest.
Kazumi Yoshida (吉田一美,
Yoshida Kazumi?) - Yuji's classmate. She has a crush on him, but is a bit too shy to
tell him directly. When Shana becomes her love-rival, she vows to tell
Yuji her feelings and to let him decide between her and Shana. She is a
shy but kind and pure person, who later finds out about Torches and
Flame Hazes.
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