Anime Review: Shana Vol. 3

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After a bit of a slow warm-up to get into the swing of things with its first volume, the second DVD instalment of Shana was a definite improvement, bringing both the characters and the action side of the series into sharper focus and thus using the story-telling tools at its disposal to much better effect.  With Friagne defeated and rival Flame Haze Margery Daw out of commission for the time being, just where is this series going to take us next?

To a swimming pool, that's where.  Yes, that's right, no anime series worth its salt would be complete without the obligatory swimming baths episode, and Shana doesn't disappoint by managing to shoehorn just such an event into its plot.  To be fair, although this isn't exactly the greatest episode of this series to grace my monitor, it is at least passable while also serving a far more important role in the context of the story as a whole.

Moving away from all of the action that preceded it, three of the four episodes on this disc are aimed squarely at building the relationship of Shana and Sakai Yuji, with all of the confused emotions and fraught misunderstandings that it entails.  To further complicate things, we soon find ourselves with what is basically a full-blown love triangle (well, love rectangle if we're taking everything into account), as another girl steps up to vie for Yuji's attentions in the form of Yoshida - Let it be noted that you have to hold a little admiration for anyone willing to stand up against Shana's fiery (with every pun intended) disposition.  Overall, these episodes succeed quite well at bringing another angle to this series away from just hacking and slashing with a big sword on Shana's part, and seeing a softening of her character towards Yuji as her feelings and emotions broaden is actually quite a rewarding experience from the viewer's perspective that at least brings us away from the cold, emotionless Flame Haze we knew at the start of the series.

Of course, there's only so far you can go with character development before the fans will start baying for more blood and guts action, and so after that time out from all the fighting the episodes on this DVD also bring us to the beginning of a new major action-oriented story arc, with the appearance of a pair of rather disturbing siblings with some serious public display of affection issues.  Tiriel and Sorath prove themselves to be a formidable opponent, but the battle is only beginning to warm up as we reach the cliff-hanger that leaves us all waiting for volume four.  Oh MVM, how you tease us so.

Perhaps I'm just a big old softie when it comes down to it, but if I'm honest the developing relationship between Yuji and Shana that spans much of the four episodes on this volume has entertained me far more than the arguably slightly generic action aspect of the series.  That's not to say that the latter is completely devoid of any entertainment value, as it proves to be pretty solid when it finally swings around in this volume, it's just that the transformation of Shana from cold-hearted killer into a more complicated and dare I say likeable character is the part that has drawn my attention over the three volumes of the series I've watched so far.

I'd be lying if I tried to pretend that Shana is trying to blaze any new trails for the genres it slots so neatly into, but even without being revolutionary it offers up a decent, well-realised story, and as I mentioned in my volume two review Shana herself does make for an increasingly watchable heroine in her own right.

- Andy Hanley

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Extras:

English and Japanese audio, English subtitles, production art gallery, Naze nani Shana (Ask Anything Question Box) video extra.

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