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Sakai Yuji was a normal student, but one day his normal life was gone. He was assaulted by a monster, �??Kuze no Togara�?�. It was a monster which came from another world, and was able to turn a human turn into a light to eat. It was a girl with red hair and red eyes that saved him, who was too surprised to move. Then, that girl said to him �??You don�??t exist anymore�?�. What she meant was...

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Fansubbed by:
Anime-Future
Eclipse Productions
Eval Powar Fansubs ( Dropped )
Flamehaze LJ
Inuyasha 4ever Fansubs & Shakugan
The other fansubbers are either Spanish or Brazilian.

Characters:
The way the characters are drawn can be hated or loved by people. In the end, it will depend on your taste. On the note on character personality, I found Shana really arrogant, and sometimes her arrogance just pissed me off. But maybe that is what the creator intended, and if it was, the job was done well. She likes melon bread, as a side note. I find this rather... cute.. I found the main character, Sakai Yuji, a bit of a wuss, but he seems to have a caring personality that redeems himself. Maybe I am judging the characters a bit too harshly since this series has just started. Time will only tell if my view will change or not.

In terms of villains, there are some very unique ones here. I won't spoil anything, but you will find yourself going;
"What the..?" most of the time. Either that is a good thing or bad, is up to you.

Story:
Based on the manga by Takahashi Yashichirou. A fantasy anime that tells of how the normal life of Sakai Yuji went on a complete collision course when he found out that he wasn't really what he thought he was. There are action in the first episodes, but there are some story telling too. So far, the anime seems to go on a serious route, not wasting time for silly comedic antics. Characters are still on the verge of being introduced throughout the story, so don't expect much interaction.

Animation:
Eclipse Productions was kind enough to release two versions of the anime. One is the normal version, and the other in h264 format. For the HQ version, you might need to download some kind of codec, particularly something that allows you to play matroska (.mkv). The girl characters, especially Shana are pretty cutely drawn. The male characters has this serious look in them. Battle scenes are pretty highlighted here, and could be the one that attracts your attention. But it is nothing too grandiose.

Music:
To be honest with you, this is one of the very few anime that I actually listen to the OP and ED all the way through. It just doesn't seem to get old with me. The OP has this techno rock-ish feel to it and doesn't waste any time. Sometimes, I find myself watching the OP over and over before watching the anime. The ED starts off slow with a voice singing then eventually speeds up with some techno beat. Both are a definite choice to listen to.

Verdict:
As far as the anime goes, it has been 3 episodes since release. They don't seem to waste anytime for action, because you see quite a bit of it in the first episode. As far as storylines go, guy meets girl; girl protects guy from bad guys; they grow fond of each other; etc. I just have this feeling it will end up that way. Don't get me wrong, I will follow this anime to the end, with hopes that more and more things will show up. My final take on it? Give it a chance. There has been animes that start slowly and very cliched, and end up doing rather well. Don't let me stop you from watching this. After all, it is one of the newer animes out there.

8/10

Update: November 12, 2005

After seeing the 6th episode, this anime is turning out to be more than I expected. The action was really fast paced, and things seem to be picking up. I really hope that things go by like this. I am now expecting a lot more from this as time passes. I hope that I won't be disappointed!

9/10

Update: January 18, 2006
The OP and ED of Shana will be/has been changed.

Previous OP and ED:
"Hishoku no Sora" by Mami Kawada, "Yowake Umare Kuru Shoujo" by Takahashi Yoko

New OP and ED:
"being" by KOTOKO, "Aka no seijaku" by Yoko Ishida


Screens!

Review added to Anime Review Directory

Added Eval Powar Fansubs to the fansub group list.

For those who might be interested, Eclipse is the best choice for relative translation accuracy. EPF has too many mistranslations.

According to Anidb, Eval Powar dropped Shana. I am not sure how true this is, but when I checked their site, it was unavailable at that moment, so I can't get a confirmation on this.

Well, if they did drop SnS, then just add in the word (DROPPED) beside the fansub group's name.

Yeah EP dropped it specifically due to TL errors. eclipse is the only good one that's subbing it in english right now, and they're doing a decent job. and i'm lovin what i've seen so far ^^

Even though Eval Powar dropped the anime version, they are still scanlating the manga... very slowly..
This is one of the few shows that I really like the OP/ED the first time I heard it.

That's right, give it a chance...

Maybe is me, but I love this anime, because have a little bit of everything, drama, action, suspense, romance (jejeje I want to see Shana falling in love with Yuuji). I nned more episodes to see how far they keep Shana in the deepest of her heart, and then, the fights with other Flame Haze.

Anyway, there are Shakugan for a very long time.

I like the animation although when shana starts telling people to shut up it gets a bit annoying

Very fynny... or when Shama kicks the P: E. teacher becasue Yuuji tell her.
Shana is a very interesting character...

One thing I like about SnH is how it is able to set itself apart from other animes of the same genre. The idea of being physically present and yet having no existence both in the world that you grew up in as well in the mind of others is a really refreshing. I guess the anime's theme is that it is scarier and more painful to be forgotten once you are gone than death itself.

I love the animation designs. It has that cute and yet serious touch that kinds of grab your attention.

At 26 episodes, I feel that the events taking place as at episode 5 is a bit too early but I am expecting a larger plot to unfold like Mai-Hime's. Anyway, I'm expecting more good stuff from this title in future since it is able to keep me wishing for more episodes.

Verdict: 9.00 / 10.00

HI All
I got Shana's raws and was watching it just now, eps 1-6
What can i say about it?
I liked animation, i love music so much! and storyline is getting more interesting :) Im expecting a lot from Shana, im looking forward for it >_> Most likely Shana will become one of my favorites! :neko:

Lol gotta love this anime lol im like hooked on it.... gotta get more lol i also heard flame haze picked it up but sumtimes when reencoded their audio is off =/ o well for us psp users lol hmmmmm yeah dunno why its comin out so slow tho..... xP lol i love the story line its unique and well as far as i can tell a basically new story line

I was watchin this series until like episode 3.. but it didnt seem that interesting to me.. it didnt hook me and made me feel like to keep watchin it.. i dont kno.. if i hear good stuff about it.. then ill get back to it.. but if not.. not really sure

Hmmmm... maybe ill check it out.. thanks for info

"urusai urusai urusai!" as the great loli Shana would say.

I'm enjoying this for what it is so far lol, I can see it being based more on dialog type drama, which I havent seen too much of lately, so it should be good for me.