starting Shakugan No Shana, and i'm confused

[acolyte_to_jippity]

I've sat through 5 episodes of this...thing. When can it be considered "good"? or, for that matter, even "decent"?

so far...it's really bad. the story is pretty confusing, the characters are a stereotypical Tsundere, and an annoying. fairly stupid kid.
the overall visual style is too...soft. almost as if they were trying for Moe, but managed to settle on a style that, somehow, ends up being worse.
The "fight" scenes are pure crap so far, boring and one-dimensional.

it's possibly just me being jaded by the awesomeness of guilty crown (i'm working through that atm as well) and hidan no aria (LOVED IT! just finished it), but I don't understand why so many people I know recommended SnS to me. it's not good. at all.


it seems like it should be awesome, something of a cross between Fate/Stay Night and Hidan no Aria...but it's not.



at least so far. please let me know when(if) it ever becomes alright, so I know if i'll be able to stop and not waste any more time on it.

[ZERO]

I have only seen the move which was all the material from the first season.

Even with the movie I am still not sure what people really love about this series. Your time would be better spent watching Ga-Rei Zero which I think it more what your looking for.

They key to understand here is that it is supposed to be a magical girl series of which for that genera this is pretty good. Obviously not Nanoha good but a good show for the genera.

[acolyte_to_jippity]

I have only seen the move which was all the material from the first season.

Even with the movie I am still not sure what people really love about this series. Your time would be better spent watching Ga-Rei Zero which I think it more what your looking for.

They key to understand here is that it is supposed to be a magical girl series of which for that genera this is pretty good. Obviously not Nanoha good but a good show for the genera.

it's definately not magical girl genre. it's much closer to whatever you'd call Fate/Stay Night. i'll look into this Ga-rei thingy though. wikipedia makes it seem like it's worth a look. honestly, i wish hidan no aria went on longer.

i also grabbed zero no tsukaima...and it's pretty bad as well. :sigh:

[blackmail242]

Honestly I haven't seen the anime but I read the manga and am up to date on it. It's not great but its not horrible... anything I don't get I go back re-read and try to develop a new understanding.

That aside Ga-rei is definitely worth your time

[Bane of Soldiers]

Well, I'd like to start off with the kinda-irrelevant note that since Shakugan no Shana came first, Aria H Kanzaki is commonly called the cheap knockoff of Shana, because she is the origin of the Rie-Kugimiya-tsundere-archetype XD

Edit: In addition to the above statement, I'd also say that SnS's male protagonist develops over the seasons (becomes less idiotic and not as slow) and argue that he is less flat and much more memorable than the male lead from Hidan no Aria. I think I forgot that guy's name in about three months after watching the anime, since the show likes to focuses more on fanservice and the title character.


@Zero,
The movie is not a summary of the first season. What she does at the end of the movie and the first season is the same, if I recall correctly, but the movie only covers the first antagonist's arc (Friagne the Hunter, or whatever his name was). So, around 8-12 episodes, if I recall. Bal Masque, Margery Daw, Hecate, and others are yet to enter the scene. Also, I wouldn't consider the show magical girl. In a broad and generalized definition, probably. But it just doesn't ring with the "magical girl" genre. Don't quote me, the only show I've seen closest to that genre is Madoka. Heh. Heh. Heheheh. So yeah... don't take my word for it xD




Personally, the moment I get into an anime with a negative mindset, it often doesn't change. Hate to be pessimistic and be generalizing all anime experiences, but if you're like that, where you can't change your mindset and you start nitpicking at anything, then it's best you stop watching if you can use that time for other things.


Despite that, I will try and post some encouraging-ish/insightful-ish (at least I hope) thoughts


I just finished the third season last weekend, and looking back, I had enjoyed all 72 episodes to the title, specials/ovas noninclusive. From what recall, all three seasons are pretty different.

• Season 1, you see a lot more tsundere; introducing characters, developing characters.
• Season 2, less tsundere, more "I can't tell him;" fights scale down, as this season focuses on a love triangle and "behind-the-scenes" plot development in preparation of season 3.
• Season 3 scales the fighting up a lot (still reminiscent of past seasons, but more in depth, just a lot more battling in general and the characters are more involved. Also switches from single/doubles battle to several battles going on at once). For a good portion of the third season, you don't see the main male lead. Reasons why... is a spoiler, until you reach season 3 episode 1. Although the plot gets way more confusing if you aren't a reader of the light novel. Confusing enough to bug you, but not enough to hinder progress. I looked up the stuff after I finished the season.

General stuff about season I
Because I loved the first season a lot, I purposely took my time between seasons (Season 1 in october of 2011, season 2 in april 2012, and season 3 in august-september 2012). Thus, I can only remember some of my thoughts, but I honestly couldn't tell you where it gets "good" because I loved the show from episode 1. Idk, I really liked the adaption of Noizi Itou's light novel art. I thought the art was fantastic for a show coming out of 2006, better than Fate/Stay Night's. Not as sharp as Hidan no Aria (2011) or redjuice's Guilty Crown (2011) (just because you mentioned them), but I didn't feel like the art was going for the moe appeal. Like, at all. Unlike shows today, old artwork doesn't radiate that "moe intent;" it just happens, as an origin of the moe phenomena (imo). The show is split into arcs, typically beginning after the end of a conclusive encounter, so if you can't take it any more, those could be good indicators to give up.




Other
I agree with you on Zero no Tsukaima. I personally felt that Louise... was one of the lesser forms of the tsundere type. The adaption did not create much diversity in the scenarios either.




About recommendations
The reason why people recommend this show to you is because you liked Hidan no Aria... a fair portion of these two shows' fans are fans of the voice actress, and the characters she voice get into a lot of the same scenes and character types, all as a result of this somewhat abnormal popularity. (Although that doesn't mean these fans ignore the other aspects of perfectly fine anime.) I forgot to mention this, but although I recommended all of those other shows because you liked Aria (Shakugan no Shana, Zero no Tsukaima, Toradora, etc.), I'd recommend that you don't watch these shows in a small period of time. Else you'd get a jaded and tired feeling on overused scenarios, character types, settings, situations, etc; you might even come to hate the voice behind the female lead if things get that bad. So, unless you absolutely don't mind the voice and absolutely love this specific tsundere type, I advise spacing the time between watching these related titles.

[ZERO]

Please keep in mind that Madoka is a deconstruction of the genera and not representative of the genera itself see: http://www.ibisgaming.com/content.ph...-Madoka-Magica