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The second season of Shakugan no Shana aptly named Shakugan no Shana : Second, is one of the action titles on this seasons fall calendar. For all of the fans of the first season this is a return to the same tried and tested formula. Tsunderekko (seems to be my word of the month) Shana the kawaii little girl with a big flaming sword who’s catch-phrase is “urusai urusai urusai!” (or shut up x3) is back fighting “Denizens of the Crimson Realm”. The only real change this time around is the show is in HD, much like many of the new titles this season.

The new opener is catchy, not much different from the original, close ups of the main cast and the villains for the season cut with flames and a teeny bit of fan service i.e. the close up of Shana’s skirt. The opening song is “JOINT” by Mami Kawada. The ending is also pretty much the same but with different pictures of the characters mainly Shana by Ito Noizi and a different song “TRIANGLE” by Mami Kawada.

One word of warning before anyone starts watching this show unless you have seen the first season this season will make absolutely no sense at all. The show picks up exactly where it left off in 2005. From the outset it appears the theme for this season is “deja vu”. The opening shot with the camera travelling through the forest to where a lone figure stands shaking a bell saying “A transient and eternal dream” sets up the main theme of the first episode of the series. I am sure this would have looked spectacular in HD, it appears the J.C.Staff are taking full advantage of working in HD and I’m looking forward to some spectacular animation this season.

We then cut to “present” day, Yuji is walking to school, there is sakura in the air everything seems tranquil in the aftermath of the last season. Everyone seems happy and back to “normal”, Yuji then starts to have a strange sensation of deja vu while speaking to Ike also realising the sakura when it is in fact September. The day continues as usual, Ike has decided to “declare war” for the affections of Kazumi and the original cast are all back. Then an irritated voice is shouting, who else could it be but Shana. Shana then turns to see Yuji and runs to him the scene fads out into white, echoing the end of last season where her affections for Yuji became more prominent to the story line.

In the classroom we then have a recap of the end of last season with Yuji wondering what it was that Shana said to him, as it appears he didn’t hear her declaration. The viewer then should pick up on the sense of deja vu that Yuji is feeling as there is a repeat of Shana correcting the teaching regarding a poem in class as seen in the original series.

The first Denizen then appears “the doll master” who was slain by Shana in the first season. By this point the viewer may be questioning if they are watching the first season again or a recap episode but this simply isn’t the case. What is revealed as the episode progresses is that they are all within a dream, nothing can happen unless it has already happened and someone is controlling their dreaming and making the world repeat. Yuji is the only one aware that something isn’t quite right, he also keeps hearing bells ringing.

Once Yuji realises that this is all a dream the creator of all this chaos reveals herself to be the one ringing the bell at the beginning of the episode, an easy battle ensues (perhaps to easy). Everything returns back to normal and there is an extremely kawaii scene when Yuji questions Shana about what she said at the end of last season, turning a shade of strawberry she claims she doesn’t remember what she said to him. Which of course is a lie, she then uses her catch-phrase of “Urusai, Urusai, Urusai!” and walks off. Yuju then thinks it must be impossible for Shana to have feelings for him. Kazumi meets them both outside the school gates and Shana declares war for Yuji’s affections shouting “I won’t lose” after Kazumi say’s “she’s serious”, it looks like the love polygon is on this season, with Ike also being involved. The episode ends with a flash scene of an old enemy, ringing and giggling echoing throughout obviously this isn’t the end of the new nemesis they’ve encountered.

It’s nice to see Shana back and this new series definitely appears to be enough to keep Shana’s fans on board for a second season. For me the first episode was slightly confused due to the amount of “deja vu” and scene setting, possibly they have tried to fit too much in one episode too quickly to keep viewers interested. On a brighter note there definitely looks to be more progress on the “love triangle” front between Shana, Yuji and Kazumi, which may be the part of the plot-line to keep me watching. Also the first episode alone was worth a watch just to see Shana blush over her previous love declarations to Yuji. All in all SNS is worth a viewing, lets just hope the plot-line deepens and everything stays on track.

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