Well, this episode certainly didn’t do much to advance the plot, if at all. We had a few good laughs here and there but that was really about it. I also enjoyed the scenes we had with Wilhelmina and Chigusa. It seems that my hopes were a little too high though since I was actually expecting the dish to turn out half decent…but that didn’t happen.

It’s a little surprising to see that Yuji still hadn’t caught on to what’s been bugging Shana and Yoshida even after Ike tried to hint the problem to him. I wouldn’t really have bought this density if I didn’t consider the fact that Ike had to have Yuji talk to him before he realized that he had feelings for Yoshida. I guess people are just more shrewd about things that concerns others over those that concerns themselves.

From the preview, it seems like the next episode should spell the end of this jealousy business. While things have been going rather slow this season in comparison to the first one, we are after all still only five episodes in, so I can tolerate this. I’ve watched quite a few shows that did nothing of interest until the episode count rolled into the double digits so…meh, whatever.

Sorry, I said that this was going to go up yesterday but…yeah, that didn’t happen.

We didn’t get to see much real plot development here although there was some character development. It seems that Shana and Yoshida does have some control over their emotions unlike a certain someone with her “jealousy storm” (Belldandy). Another character of note in this episode is Satou. Comic relief aside with regards to his duel against Yuji, we can see that he’s still very eager to make himself useful for Margery. Of course, since he can’t even lift up the Blutsauger unlike Yuji, one has to wonder if he’ll ever be useful in combat.

I am still eagerly anticipating the disappearance of Fumina Konoe. I don’t like her personality or her looks. I really hope that this arc isn’t going to hook up with the main plot because this arc was completely fabricated outside of the events of the novel and would probably seem rather forced if they did link the two together.

As a whole, the episode was about average. While it fit the episode’s name of 『憂いの少女たち』 perfectly, I kind of wished that there was more to it. The dip in art quality amongst the various scenes didn’t really help its case either. The next episode should be good though as it seems like Wilhelmina is going to have a chit chat with Chigusa. ;)

Well, the details are now up on the official site. The first volume is going to include the first three episodes but only the first episode is going to have an audio commentary track.

If the title of this blog post isn’t obvious enough, I’m going to restate now that the details that follows is unconfirmed because it has not yet been verified or even announced on shakugan.com.

Basically, the deal here is that we now have some online shopping links for the first DVD volume of 『灼眼のシャナ II』. I will use my limited Japanese skills to translate the text in question.

• 発売日: 2008/01/25
• 価格: 6825円(税込)
• 収録時間: 72分
• 商品番号: GNBA-7550

• DVD片面2層 組枚数2 リージョン2
• 16:9 カラー MPEG-2 日本語ステレオ

＜初回限定版特典＞
●いとうのいぢ描き下ろしＤＶＤ収納ボックスI（1巻〜4巻＋特典ディスクの５枚組収納）
●特典ディスク
1新作ミニアニメ「灼眼のシャナたんII」
2特典映像「劇場版灼眼のシャナ：蔵出し映像」
3ノンクレジットＯＰ・ＥＤ
4特別ラジオ「かりもふ！スペシャル」
5プロモーション映像
6ＣＭ集
7アニマックス特別番組再録
8インタビュー映像
●差し替えジャケット１〜４（原作版権）
●完全再録小冊子「ゾートロープ　第１章〜第４章」
著／高橋弥七郎、イラスト／いとうのいぢ、漫画／笹倉綾人
「電撃hp」＆「電撃大王」のコラボ企画として集中掲載された原作小説＆コミックを、特製冊子で先行収録！全４章から成る中編ストーリー！
●スクールカレンダー（ケース＋４、５月）
●スティックポスター

＜通常版共通特典＞
●映像特典：なぜなにシャナIIその１（フリアグネとマリアンヌ）
●音声特典：オーディオコメンタリー（第１話のみ）釘宮理恵・日野聡
●ピクチャーレーベル仕様

• Release date: 2008/01/25
• Cost: 6825円 (with tax)
• Recording time: 72分
• DVD serial number: GNBA-7550

• DVD dual layer with two discs, region 2
• 16:9 colour MPEG-2 Japanese stereo

First press limited edition contents

• Illustrated DVD box by Noizi Ito (for volumes 1 to 4 and the special disc, fitting 5 discs)
• Special disc
1. New animation production “Shakugan no Shanatan II”
2. Special video “Hidden scenes from Shakugan no Shana movie”
3. Creditless OP / ED sequences
4. Special radio “Karimofu! Special”
5. Promotion videos
6. Commercial collection
7. Animax special rerecording (translation is sketchy)
8. Interview videos
• Replacement jackets 1-4 (original copyright)
• Complete miniguide “Zotrope 1-4″ (I really don’t know what that means

Work by Yashichiro Takahashi, illustrations by Noizi Ito, manga by Ayato Sasakura
Dengeki hp and Dengeki Daioh’s special collaboration, revealing details of the original novels and manga! All four chapters into one story! (very sketchy translation)

• School calendar (case + April / May)
• Stick poster (what the hell is a “stick” poster?)

Regular edition content (that comes with the limited edition)

• Theatrical feature: Naze Nani Shana II, part 1 (Friagne and Marianne)
• Audio feature: Audio commentary (for episode 1) by Rie Kugimiya and Satoshi Hino
• Picture label

What’s most shocking here is that they only mention the first episode in the product description. Does that mean that the first volume will only include the first episode? It’s quite possible, other shows have done it before. BLOOD+ ran for 50 episodes and its first volume only had two episodes on it. Given the amount of specials that’s coming with this DVD, it’s a “fair deal”, per se. I mean, it’s kind of like buying an OVA when you think about it. You could also argue that only the first episode is mentioned because that’s the only episode that is going to have audio commentary track on it, I’ll take that I guess. The running time is listed as 72 minutes, so assuming they’re not counting the bonus stuff, it could very well be three episodes except that it’s not listed because the full details have not been revealed to the stores. Anyway, I’ll report back as soon as I get more information.

This episode was alright. It had some good laughs and kept you interested until the end of the episode. Unsurprisingly, nothing firm was settled with regards to just what exactly is Fumina doing here. I knew they wouldn’t just settle it in one go although I do hope that it’ll get resolved quickly though since I’m for some novel material here.

The fight in this episode was “rather” one sided. While we only saw a glance of him in the last episode, he seemed to have come off as someone that would pose as half a challenge…but I guess not. I’m pretty sure that the show isn’t going to degenerate into something like『地獄少女』, though.

Personally, I don’t think that Fumina is affiliated with the bad guys. They drop a pretty obvious hint at the end of the episode with Bel-Peol noting that all is well but I don’t buy it. At least, I don’t buy the fact that she’s referring to this incident anyway.

I’d say that this episode was pretty good. There wasn’t anything groundbreaking although it did follow the usual SNS formula which was good enough for me for the most parts. There were quite a few good laughs to be had in this episode too for additional bonus points. I had seriously thought that Shana would’ve made a real lunch (even if it was all just eggs like Nerine from Shuffle!)…but I guess not.

Being true to the Shana formula, the fights weren’t anything to call home about. However, the training bit with Wilhelmina was quite cool if you ask me. I don’t know if that’s sad or not, having the “fake” fighting be cooler than the actual fighting. ;) Let’s hope the opening sequence isn’t a total fake and that there’ll be some decent action scenes when Pheles shows up.

From this episode’s preview, it seems that the series is still not changing course to align itself back with the novels. I really don’t know what they’re planning to pull here but I guess I’m cool with it as long as they get back on course later.

So, the second season is finally on. I’ve been browsing around online for the past couple of days and it seems that the general consensus is that this first episode is either a work of art or a lame attempt of putting some story behind a recap of the first season. Being the diplomat that I am, I’d have to put myself between these two extremes. There is, without a doubt, no question about the fact that the opening and ending songs and sequences are a work of art. I’ve watched them countless times and am eagerly awaiting its CD release and creditless versions of the videos. I didn’t buy any of the CDs from the first season but I’ll probably at least buy this season’s CD single, at least this first one anyway if the second one isn’t that hot. The best part is that both songs are on the same CD, which helps cut costs tremendously.

The art in question during the actual episode, unfortunately, wasn’t really something to call home about. I think that the fight scenes were improved but a lot of the scenes in the first half of the episode were a little iffy. I felt that practically everyone but Yuji’s face was a little too circular and wide. Maybe it was because it was an illusionary world (ahaha, what a sad excuse), I don’t know, but things just didn’t look very proportional to me for the most part.

I don’t really have any qualms about the story personally. Since I’ve actually played through the game on the NDS, the events that have transpired thus far are kind of like what did happen in the game. I’ll admit that it’s not exactly the same which caught me off guard a little but it’s close enough. I mean, the main idea is there, and that’s what counts. Anyway, here’s to hoping that we’ll get some good fighting next episode or the one after (depending on when Shana will actually fight Mea). I mean, given the art production of this episode, I can only hope that they’re saving their budget for some key scenes. :P

I just finished watching the first episode’s raw a little while ago. I do not plan on writing full episode reviews until subtitled releases appear but I just wanted to get my first impressions down for starters.

Looking at the opening sequence, if it can be taken as an indicator of what will happen during the first half of this season’s episodes (unlike Fate/stay night that betrayed us all with that Archer fight in the second opening sequence), I think that the chances of the anime series ending with the light novels is very high. I’ve brought the issue up before but the fact that the opening included the scene of Ike confessing to Yoshida (which occurs in the 14th novel if I remember correctly) really helps reinforce my prediction.

I like the new art style and the new theme songs although there were some hiccups here and there in the art department. Regrettably, my mental preparation from having seen screenshots of the episode didn’t really help. I am hoping that these will get fixed in the DVD release. From the preview, it seems that Mea’s arc will likely end by the second or third episode. This is fine with me because I’d like to get going with the original source material as soon as possible.

The site has been renewed although it seems to be loading very slowly. I mean, I’m on the school network right now and it’s still not done loading. Anyway, more details to follow if I identify anything interesting on the website that needs to be reported about.

Seriously, what happened here, J.C.Staff? Did you guys use up your whole budget on the movie or something (which is somewhat understandable because the movie was amazing)?

This is really quite disturbing. I pray that these aren’t caps of the first episode because that would be pretty unacceptable if you ask me…and let’s not forget that I’m a hardcore fan. I can tolerate dips in quality a “little” further down the line (I mean, sola and StrikerS hit the gutter quite early on in the third episode or so), but you really shouldn’t be airing something like this on the first episode.