Since I’m kind of bored, I shall proceed to blog about a series none of my readers care about, that being 『灼眼のシャナ』.
So, what’s there to blog about? Well, of course, there is the issue of the second season to consider. However, before I proceed, I would like to publicly complain about the fact that no one has yet released raw scans for the third volume of the manga. Now don’t you get started on that “why don’t you just buy it yourself?” crap because I will in good time. Hell, I already own the first two volumes so you damn well better believe that I’m going to get the third. Shipping ain’t cheap so I haven’t done so yet, but rest assured that once my cousin lays down another order through Amazon.co.jp that I’ll be asking him to add this one to his cart. I’ve actually considered asking my dad to just buy it for me in Hong Kong and getting it mailed here, but eh, I’m not sure if I want to do that or not although the wait is getting quite unbearable.
Now where was I? Oh yes, I wanted to talk about the second season. Due to the events that have unfolded in the fourteenth novel, I have reason to believe that the series is about to end. At least…ideally…let’s hope that happens. I mean, 『ああっ女神さまっ』 is on its 34th volume in the manga and it doesn’t look like it’s going to end anytime soon, so I can only hope. Then again, that series doesn’t really have a plot, so I guess it’s not fair to compare the two.
Anyway, from the information I’ve gathered, the fifteenth novel will be a “flashback” novel, so I’m going to bank on it concluding on the sixteenth (a nice round number) or the seventeenth (a slightly more awkward number to end on but not one completely unfit for the conclusion of a series on) novel.
Now how will this all play out with the second season? Let us first consider whether J.C.Staff will produce a show that runs for one seaon or two seasons (season in the chronological sense, of course). If it is the former, there is no way for them to conclude the story properly (and if they tried it will likely be an utter disaster so let’s hope they don’t), so I will just dismiss that outright. Now if they’re going for the latter, can they conclude the series on time?
I think it is quite possible. The first season essentially covered material from the novels as high up as the ninth one. Thus, asking them to cover another seven or eight novels for the second season shouldn’t be too much to ask. The tenth novel actually tells of the events that occurred in the 16th century with the previous generation’s “Slayer with Flaming Hair and Burning Eyes” (the translation in question was taken from Wikipedia, since I don’t own the R1 DVDs, I do not know what the official translation is). I think this is actually a great way to kick off the second season and do hope this is what they’ll give us.
If we take a look at the “coordination” of things, the fourteenth novel was released on February. Now on average, there is about a three-month gap between releases with the maximum being five, and since Amazon has not listed the fifteenth novel for sale yet, we can only assume that it’s going to be released in June or July. In the extreme case that the sixteenth and seventeeth (if applicable) novels are also going to take five months before they are released, the series will conclude in May of 2008. With the second season being targetted for this fall, a six-month rotation from October will mean that the show will end on March, implying that they will either make up an ending or have it end in animated form “prematurely” prior to the last novel’s release.
Things will work out quite nicely if there was a shorter time gap between releases as the loyal and eager novel fans will know how the series will conclude prior to the TV series’ conclusion. This is no different than the events of the twenty-fourth episode from the first season when Shana used Tenpa Jyousai (which had me on my seat since I thought she was really going to die) as the novel reading bunch already knew she wouldn’t die per the events of the first novel (as Shana actually uses Tenpa Jyousai in her battle against Friagne in the novel). I guess you could argue that J.C.Staff could’ve killed her off in the anime adaptation, but I’m not sure if the original author would’ve approved of this.
The whole analysis of how they’re going to align (well, if they even bother to) the events of the novel and the anime is even more intriguing when you consider the fact that the novel is being serialized. Those that are following the events monthly will get a healthy dosage of four episodes’ creeping up on the novel’s storyline every month. It’s undoubtedly a fascinating experience to read something and then get a chance to see it in animated form in a very short time thereafter. I am regrettably not in this category, but I guess if I were I might die from excitement.
In short, to sum things up, J.C.Staff can (if the novel really ends on the sixteenth or seventeenth novel) and should (why not, really) conclude the second season properly by faithfully adapting the events of the novel into the TV animation series.
