灼眼のシャナS (review) Ep. 03
Shakugan no Shana S episode 03 – Overture Part 1

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

OOGAMI Junko departs from a cake shop on her way home one late afternoon, pausing to look at the view before heading up a staircase on a hill. She’s met by Nietono no Shana and is afraid by the encounter as Shana introduces herself and states that Junko is a Torch. With that, Shana takes the existence from the Torch and becomes Junko as far as the world knows. With that, Shana goes to the Oogami home, where she and Alastor set up camp to look for a Tomogara in the area, specifically the one who consumed the real Junko and is somehow connected to an American that went missing ten years earlier, only to show up in Joushi Park with no memories of the last ten years.

Shana’s investigation is somewhat hampered by her lack of knowledge and odd way of having to ask questions she should already know the answer to. Shana learns that something happened between Junko and her mother and the name Hamaguchi comes up. At school, Junko’s friends are all a twitter about Junko and Hamaguchi being in love so when Hamaguchi arrives at class, Shana drags him out of school to learn more. Hamaguchi apologizes for the problems caused by Junko’s parents finding out what they did at Joushi Park. Hamaguchi further reveals that after Junko went to the bathroom, he went to look for her and nearly didn’t recognize her as she stood there spaced out.

As Shana digests these facts, Junko’s mother buys a new cake and is waiting when Shana comes home. Eating the cake makes Shana happy and as Junko’s mother speaks, she apologizes and hands over a small bag to Shana. Shana opens it and sees a gem necklace. Shana is then able to see the fight that Junko and her mother had, resulting in the necklace being destroyed. Junko’s mother gathered the pieces save for one missing one which a tearful Junko took but when Shana extinguished her, the gem got dropped. Shana is touched to see that Junko’s mother put in a replacement bead and smiles.

Thoughts/Review:

The second Junko came out of the cake shop with a smile on her face, I just knew something bad would happen to her. I didn’t expect for that bad thing to be Shana extinguishing the Junko Torch and taking over her life, but then isn’t that pretty much how Shana got involved with Yuuji to begin with? The difference there was that Hirai-chan was almost gone when Shana removed what was left of her and assumed her existence. Junko was still very active and so Shana assuming her existence was more horrifying.

Thus began one of the most different Shakugan no Shana episodes I’ve ever seen and certainly the one tinged with the most sadness. Clearly, this story is supposed to be a prequel of some kind before Shana meets Yuuji and company. Because the story is a tragedy rather than a comedy, there isn’t a stitch of the normal humor we might normally find. Then again, being that this is a prequel and that Shana hasn’t met Yuuji or the others yet, it stands to reason that there would be no humor.

I wonder if this story is based on anything from the light novels or not. The main reason I’d like it to be, at least in part, from the light novels is that we get to see how a Flame Haze can see the “trails” of the person who’s existence the Flame Haze has taken over interacted in the past. I found that to be rather interesting.

As to the story itself, I can’t help but think that Junko’s mother will remember Junko even after Shana moves on. Just a feeling I have based on the necklace but we’ll see if I’m right or not.

I get the feeling that Junko and Hamaguchi were having sex in Joushi Park and were seen by Junko’s mother. It is possible that it wasn’t sex but they may have simply been making out rather heavily. Whatever it was, it caused the fight between mother and daughter, which is even more tragic considering Junko is actually dead.

I mentioned liking Shana’s ability to see paths taken by Junko. That added to the whole mystery aspect of the episode. Shana had to not only learn about Junko but attempt to learn when Junko had been consumed by a Tomogara. How all this relates to the American found in the park remains to be seen though. It is interesting that the whole episode was basically setting the stage for the eventual confrontation between Shana and the Tomogara, whomever that is. While I do expect there to be a bit of action in the next episode, I also expect that this will continue to be a character episode and that the lessons Shana learns here are what led her to be somewhat different with Yuuji.

So, an interesting but very unusual Shakugan no Shana episode that was mystery, tragedy, and no comedy. I liked it just the same. ^_^