灼眼のシャナたんtri
Shakukan no Shanatan 3Tri

Considering the tragic and non-comedic nature of episode 3 of Shakugan no Shana S, I really wondered about the corresponding Shana-tan episode. I needn’t have worried though as the Shana-tan writers come through just fine. ^_^

Since Shakugan no Shana S episode 3 is a prequel, the writers decided to do a humorous prequel of Sato and Tanaka in junior high school where they are shown to be yankee punks, but not very good ones as they apparently take a huge beating most every time they get into a fight with other delinquents. Ogata is along as the damsel in distress for the two lads to fight for, which seems unusual considering her normal tough girl attitude, but in a weird way, it adds to the humor of the situation. Of course, the rest of the regular cast not being interested in hearing this story (or Yuuji’s for that matter) got the humor aspects rolling off fine.

Most of the remaining part of the episode picked up the Shana-tan-sensei question and answer section. Considering the harsh way that Shana took out the Torch that was all that was left of the real Junko in Shakugan no Shana S episode 3, the explanation of that whole process came in. I laughed at the production team’s insertion through Shana-tan of how tough adapting the light novels into anime format is and their apparent concern that even the seiyuu can’t grasp everything that is going on. Naturally, all of the seiyuu, via their characters, swear they are able to follow everything quite easily. *lol*

As an aside, I suspect that the real adaption issue lies with finding a break-point for a 26-episode series. That’s also the issue with Full Metal Panic, in my opinion, as at some point, all of the remaining novels there could not be broken apart to make a good ending for an anime series. I’m guessing it is a similar issue for Shakugan no Shana from what little I know of the light novels. Still, I believe that at some point, J.C. Staff will want to do more Shakugan no Shana light novel adaptations.

While on the subject of J.C. Staff, they show their love for Toaru Kagaku no Railgun (A Certain Scientific Railgun) and Toaru Majutsu no Index (A Certain Magical Index).

Oh, something that surprised me was the episode mentioning Hirai-chan, whom Shana took over after Hirai became a Torch. I made a remark on her in my episode 3 review of Shakugan no Shana S, so it made her mention in the Shana-tan episode a “whoa” moment. I liked how J.C. Staff joke about how Hirai-chan has basically been forgotten even though Shana has her existence (meaning Hirai isn’t forgotten story-wise) as everyone treats Shana as “Shana.”

Finally, we had the same, weird ending as the Shana-tan Dos episode with Kazumi lying on her bed making a diary entry while some giant beetle is on the floor like the family dog. They had something (another bug I presume) running around the floor as Kazumi talked. Actually, watching this a second time, I think it is a fly buzzing around . *lol* Anyway, the whole scene was bizarre yet humorous at the same time.

Not sure why all the eye-catches had a samurai theme this time. Go figure. I also didn’t get the one song reference either.

So, an unusual Shana-tan episode to match the unusual Shakugan no Shana S episode it came with. While not the funniest Shana-tan episode, it was funny and enjoyable.