Retsgip’s Anime Blog

Rating: 9.6/10

A friend suggested I watch this series a few days ago, and boy am I glad I listened. I wanted to blog the episodes individually, but I just couldn’t stop watching and decided to do a huge one at the end. Finally, after spending almost 9 hours straight, I finished watching this series (sad its over). The only questions I asked myself when I was done was: “Where was I when this first came out in October, and how did it evade me all the way through its ending in March?”

I’m not gonna go over too much plot, and if you’re looking for that I’d suggest going and downloading series. I could never replace anything you might have gained by watching it for yourself.

The first thing I realized when I watched the first episode was how similar in appearance Shana and Haruhi look. I hope god doesn’t strike me down for this, but I like how Shana looks better than Haruhi (maybe it’s the long hair?). *cautiously looks up at the sky*

I found the main story to be straightforward and easily understandable, but it was the creatures and their powers that made this anime creative and enjoyable. I’ll even admit to squirming in my seat during some of the scenes (no not because I had been watching 8 hours straight and had to go to the bathroom).

What I enjoyed the most was how every side character had some inner development. It was definitely enjoyable watching relationships and personalities grow throughout the series. I never expected so much growth from so many different characters with only 24 episodes. I’ll just say that, I was impressed, surprised, and relatively satisfied.

Characters:

Yuuji Sakai - To me, he didn’t seem very special at all, at least in the first half of the series. He’s not one of my favorite characters, but I agree that he’s essential in order to help develop Shana’s character. I admire him though, for always trying to hard to fit into Shana’s life. It’s almost inspiring, until he does something stupid like go elope with that whore girl Yoshida. That’s what really drove me nuts the most. He’s got this awesome girl like Shana right there and he wastes it every time he allows Yoshida to get closer to him. Ticked me off a little bit towards the end. I guess you can’t love every character, although I’ll admit he wasn’t bad either. Him and Shana worked well together, somehow (that bastard).

Shana - I don’t think I could ever find the correct words that describe how awesome Shana is. I found myself constantly adding numbers to her age in order to justify my “high school crush” on her, even though I’m well past my high school years. AHH what a cruel, cruel world this is! Overall, I liked Shana’s character. She showed a huge amount of development throughout the story, and I was rather impressed that they were able to fit such a “cute” love story in the middle of all the action. She was always drawn well, which deserves an e-high-five from me. Some of her cutsie scenes just threw me over the edge, I felt like my nose was bleeding and I fell backwards out of my chair, it was horrible. I’m embarrassed with myself. OMG Shana with buns and a yukata almost killed me, seriously, I think my pants heart exploded. As for her hair, I like it black rather than red, and I like her with her black jacket on rather than school girl outfit. She just looks cooler that way.

Alastor - It was rather nice to see Alastor changing throughout the series alongside Shana. The big bad god of fire or whatever he was, learning to have feelings?? No way! Well, it was nice to see him support Shana in most everything she did. You could tell they had a good relationship prior to when the series introduced them. His form when he releases from the pendant is pretty massive. Maybe even a little excessive for my tastes, but I guess it helps close the loophole which always had me wonder why Alastor never did a damn thing except nag nag nag.

Margery Daw - My Beloved Goblet, Margery Daw! She is one of the best side character’s that I’ve seen in an anime so far. She got plenty of screen time, and they even developed her character a little bit as the series went on. Splendid! In fact, I really enjoyed watching her transform. She goes from being a noticeable superpower in the story, to the bottom rank. She starts drinking and never leaves the house. She seriously hits rock-bottom. It’s only when she realizes she has friends that she picks herself up and finally becomes a better woman than she was before. Awesome development of this character.

Marchosias - How could I say “My Beloved Goblet, Margery Daw” without mentioning Marchoias?? It’s impossible. Margery Daw’s sidekick and her bound Crimson Lord. It seems kind of unfair that he can float around but I guess it’s not as good as fire wings? Who knows. I absolute LOVE his voice though. Love it. Mitsuo Iwata did and awesome job voicing him, never sounding bland or unenthusiastic. I always found myself chuckling when Marchosais was featured in a scene.

Kazumi Yoshida - The whore slut girl that tried to steal Yuuji from Shana. At first you’d think, “Wow! That’s great! Now Shana is all mine!” but that’s not the case. In reality, when Yoshida confuses Yuuji and seduces him like the Succubus she is, Shana becomes jaded and miserable. So Yoshida flirting, confessing, making bento, whatever the hell she does for Yuuji, inversely reflects Shana’s behavior, which directly reflects mine. So backoff! Nah, I can see how she’d be a cute character, but I never gave her a chance from the beginning so it was hard for me to ever accept her. Towards the end I was just like *SIGH* *ROLL EYES*, Yoshida widdles her way into Yuuji’s life again. Give it a rest already, you’re not in his league. There’s my Yoshida rant, lol. (Btw she’s crying in the picture because that’s all I ever remember her doing)

Hayato Ike - I was kind of disappointed in this guy. He’s too damn nice. He needed to go after Yoshida like a real man. Screw the whole setting up your friend with the girl you’re in love with bull. Just take her for yourself. That’s what real men do. God, trying to pawn her off on Yuuji like some $50 watch at some alleyway thrift shop. I was somewhat disappointed they didn’t develop his much, but that would have been amazing considering how little time they already had.

Chigusa Sakai(mom) - MILF, anyone? Husband’s away on a business trip? Sounds good to me. She actually impressed me quite a bit. It seemed a little strange to me how she pushed Shana towards Yuuji so much, but I guess whats what loving mothers do. Help their kids get laid. That is, if they love their kids. Obviously she loves her son, and seems to be extremely understanding. She also has an unusually meaningful things to say, especially from a female character who isn’t featured much in the story. Very impressed by some of the things she said about love and whatnot throughout the story. Good stuff.

Wilhelmina Carmel - Wilhelmina, short for omg sexy maid outfit, was one of my favorite characters until the her reappearance at the end of the story. She was super cool in Shana’s flashbacks (btw shana is disturbingly even more cuter when she’s younger….wtf??? someone call the police i’m going pedophile here..) and I was instantly a fan of her quirky personality. But alas, she turned crazy in the end and unfortunately became one-track minded. That is, until she redeemed herself in the very last few scenes of the series. Overall, I enjoyed her character. Her skill reminded me of Read or Die (TV), when she manipulated her clothing. Of course, in ROD they manipulate paper, but it looks relatively similar and was kind of nostalgic.

Tenmoku Ikko - With all the build-up of this guy, I was kind of let down by how easily Shana killed him. Like….”what the hell just happened?” They fought for a good 10 seconds and Shana had already destroyed him and taken his blade. Total letdown. Total. He was a cool character though. I liked his armor.

Pairs:

My favorite pair between characters was Shana and Yuuji. Yeah yeah, I know they’re the obvious favorites, but I just couldn’t help myself. It seemed like the most unlikely couple in terms of personality, but was obviously the couple that we were supposed to watch. Yoshida was there mainly to create some drama as well as help Shana learn a little bit about love. Some of the scenes where Shana and Yuuji get more intimate were touching, and usually never overdone. That’s one good thing about this anime, all of the material was never so outrageous that I shook my head at it and sighed. Usually that’s hard to do when writing love scenes, but they managed to pull it off pretty well. The scene when Shana gave Yuuji a “present” I almost keeled over and died when they didn’t kiss.

Second Favorite pair would have to be Margery Daw and Marchosias. They were a good source of comic relief, especially in a series that features some seriousness. I loved the playful manner which they went about everything. It reminded me a little bit of myself, mostly because I tend to lack some “serious factor” but then end up trying really hard when the time comes (reminds me of Mugen in Samurai Champloo). They always had fun, and thats why I loved them so much.

Worst pairing ever goes to: Sorath and Tyrael. Seriously…Get room for god’s sake. I found these two to be rather over-the-top disgusting, which is what I think they wanted to portray. I was so glad when Shana finally kicked their ass, because I was at the point of stabbing them through my computer screen with the pair of scissors in my drawer. Thank God they didn’t show up in more appearances later, and they were killed off for good. The world is just, sometimes.

In General:

I enjoyed most of the fight scenes. They were well drawn and had a good amount of detail to them. It wasn’t like some anime’s (*cough* DBZ, I know there’s a huge time gap but still…) where the characters stand still and power-up or teleport when they move fast. The music was also well picked for all the scenes and set a pretty good atmosphere. I didn’t even realize there was an OST until I re-watched the episodes and noticed how absorbed the music made me during some of the scenes.

I’m really glad I picked up this anime. If I had waited too long, I might not have been able to grab it off the web, and would have had to buy the DVD set somehow. I’d suggest, if anyone has this on their “to watch” list, to definitely download it. I’m continually amazed at the quality of anime I’ve been able to watch recently. There’s always one or two good shows out there worth watching every season, and this one was definitely one of them.

If you say, nah I dont think I’ll watch it, it’s too late now. I say to you: “Urasai, Urasai, Urasai!…”