Some More Thoughts on Shakugan No Shana
Wednesday, April 25th, 2007This is going to end up being largely below the fold and even then, in blackout, because there’s just too much here that is spoiler-ish. For those with no prior exposure to this series, it is a 26 episode horror/teen angst show that aired in Japain in 2005, and is currently being released in the US on DVD. The 5th DVD will be out in May.
I can’t do a rundown of the major character without turning this into a full write-up, which I just don’t have time to do tonight. (OK, I suck, I’m playing too much WOW, but come on, those Alliance bastards deserve to die!) So I’m just going to cover the gist, and play off of some comments by Steven in our recent exchange of letters, and in his posts.
Earth is being preyed upon by beings from another dimension, called the “Crimson World.” From there, “Denizens” and their assistants “Rinne” cross over, freeze a piece of reality (the Japanese word used for this is “fuzetsu”), and devour humans — not their bodies, but their very existence. If a person is eaten in this fashion, it is as if they never existed. Everyone forgets them, and all evidence that they existed is erased. It’s terribly disruptive to reality, and has the potential to destroy our world. Some entities, called “kings” or “Lords” (although they rule nothing like a kingdom) oppose this, and cross over to our reality, partner with a human, who becomes known as a “Flame Haze,” and try to kill the Denizens. Whenever they can, they replace the destroyed existences with “Torches.” These are a simulacrum which burns out after a while; it serves to buffer the shock of the person’s destroyed existence and lessens the strain on reality. Some torches are special, and have powers or magical items, seemingly at random. They’re known as Mystes.
This show unexpectedly mixes two genres that seem to be oil and water: horror, and teen angst. I think it would have been a far better show if they’d stuck with only the horror, but on the other hand, it might have simply faded into the pack as “just another horror show.” Shana (a Flame Haze) and Yuiji (a Mystes) are both high-school age, and they’re caught in a very terrible sort of war, as Steven puts it “one in which it’s a victory when only a hundred people are destroyed and replaced by torches.” Shana chose it, but Yuiji was dragged into it, only to find out he had already been a victim, without knowing it.
Everything else starts getting into spoilers, so below the fold it goes… don’t go there if you don’t want some major plot developments to be given away, and some deep speculation. The worst stuff is also blacked out.