[TheChaos0]

Wilhelmina Y U NO give me melon pan?!

Shakugan no Shana the Second

Genre: Supernatural, Action, Romance, Slice of life

Episodes: 24 (~23 min each)

Year: 2007 - 2008

So what did we learn in the previous season? A nameless (not so much anymore) flame haze (these people who burn stuff with their pure awesomeness) bent on protecting melon pan everywhere saves a useless male lead (we can only assume to buy her more melon pan), who is destined for endless urusai x3 and non harem ending. Somewhere along the way we discover that the useless male lead is not so useless but that’s all mostly thanks to RNG (that’s random number generator for you) and hundreds years of experience not teaching you a damn thing about strategy.

So where are we now? Incidentally, where we started the first season and after a while we realise (with a sigh of relief) that we not watching season 1 all over again. And after the initial arc we realise another thing – the focus of the season is much more different than the first. There’s a lot more emphasis on school life and character’s human lives. We have Ike trying to win Kazumi’s heart, the gang getting ready for culture festival, Keisaku and Eita trying to keep up with Yuji, Shana and Kazumi getting jelous of each other and Wilhelmina getting parenting advise from Yuji’s mother. So don’t expect the same level of action from season 2, which is why most people get disappointed by this season. Season 2 is a one big calm before the storm (season 3) and there’s plenty of action near the end of the season anyways. It’s kind fo necessary evil that sets the stage for the future.

I be trollin'

And while I talk about evil, season 2 is in no way bad, it’s just not the same as season 1, contentwise. Aside from the first arc, it’s mostly about the Bal Masque’s plan that stretches across the season. Now to stop repeating myself and get on with it.

There’s not much else to talk about the story, we get a new transfer student at the school, who looks conspicuously like Hecate and a bit of Margery’s past revealed through a two episode flashback, on top of that we learn of more surprises hidden by Reiji Maigo, when it’s creator shows up and Yuji’s badass level goes up a notch. Everything else that was written for season 1 still stands true, which is a good thing.

The art makes a good transition into HD, which what season 1 lacked. I also felt that the animation was more fluid apart from that it looked as good as it’s predecessor. The same could be said about the sound and once again the piano pieces were beautiful.

To the melon-pan mobile, Robin!

Summary: So we get more slice-of-life here, stop being such whiners and enjoy the show, there’s still plenty of epic action, urusai goodness and much needed backstory. Still don’t like it? Go take one star off then!

Language watched in: Japanese

Language recommendations: I didn’t even bother trying to sit through few episodes of English dub, my ears were still recovering from whoever was dubbing Shana. Japanese all the way here.

Rating: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
Margery is Patchouli's idol but she gets out of breath when trying to catch up with her to learn a new spell card!

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[EternalRain]

While slice of life isn't bad, in general, there was no point to the first 14 episodes of the show. The Hecate transferring in had little significance in the novels (from what I know I'm not sure if it was even mentioned much at all), and it definitely didn't need to get exaggerated to the extent that it did. It's like JC Staff was like "oh crap we're at 14 episodes already? Quick add in some 10 episodes that somewhat pertain to the novels in case we're making a Season 3 so we don't completely give someone an complete aneurysm transitioning from S2 to S3 and hurt our sales".
>Art makes a good transition into HD. Animation is more fluid.
Seriously? There's a reason why I'd take Eclipse's subs on TV-rip MKVs over official sub rips from the "higher-quality" DVDs that came out later for Season 1. Subs > Video Quality. In this case, instead of subs, I'm going to go with Storyline > Video Quality.
The storyline of Season 1 actually made more sense than Season 2. If Season 2 wasn't destroyed by the Slice of Life arc in the beginning, it wouldn't have been so difficult for a lot of viewers to transition from Season 2 to 3. With Season 2, yes, you could reason out the transition, but it's not as black and white as it should have been. It's far too implicit.

[Mikurus Boobs]

This might sound strange but where can I get a soundtrack to season 2?? Not the OP & ED themes - but the actual score? I love that weird "Angry Love Tornado" theme music that was often played. It was sort of Ominous and sounds like a choral it's played when the Shana is in the Dorothy costume and that "Love women"?? shows up like a Tornado. There is no words to it - just music.

[TheChaos0]

The storyline of Season 1 actually made more sense than Season 2. If Season 2 wasn't destroyed by the Slice of Life arc in the beginning, it wouldn't have been so difficult for a lot of viewers to transition from Season 2 to 3. With Season 2, yes, you could reason out the transition, but it's not as black and white as it should have been. It's far too implicit.

Season 2 is inconsistent with the content in its first half, there are flaws but the story hardly was "destroyed"

Originally Posted by Mikurus Boobs

This might sound strange but where can I get a soundtrack to season 2?? Not the OP & ED themes - but the actual score? I love that weird "Angry Love Tornado" theme music that was often played. It was sort of Ominous and sounds like a choral it's played when the Shana is in the Dorothy costume and that "Love women"?? shows up like a Tornado. There is no words to it - just music.

You mean Pheles' theme?



Or maybe you mean this? It's the music often played during battles.