Gekijouban Shakugan no Shana

Initially, I thought this was going to be a sequel to the original TV series, so I was a tad disappointed to learn that this was just a remake of the first six (or so) episodes of Shakugan no Shana and that my sequel would come in the form of a 2nd TV series. Yay for that.

Since it had been a long while since I last saw Shakugan no Shana, I didn't remember all the details of the story. That was fine because the movie compressed down the first story arc of that series, and in doing so removed a few things for time's sake. As such, the battles between the Flame Haze's Margery Daw and Shana (which I always thought were pointless and stupid) are gone in favor of them working together right away, even if forced to do so. The other Flame Haze that Margery was tracking is also removed and this results in a tighter focus on the story with the Tomogara Friagne. Since this is a movie, the extracted stuff isn't really missed. Don't get me wrong, the extracted stuff worked great in the TV series where there was plenty of time to deal with it and I wouldn't want it removed from there. However, the writers for the movie took everything required to get us were we need to go and used it effectively.

There's not really a lot more to say. From an art and animation perspective, things were fine I thought. There was once scene where Shana and Yuji are talking and Shana's face, seen from a short distance away, looked bad. Otherwise, no complaints.

Bottom line: if you've seen the first TV series, you don't need to see this because it is just a retelling. However, if you are a fan of Shakugan no Shana, you may as well watch it just to see the differences if nothing else. If I already owned the TV series, I doubt I'd ever re-watch the movie, not because it was bad, but I'd have seen the story there. As such, I'll give this movie a Rent solely on rewatchability.

Last updated Wednesday, October 10 2007. Created Wednesday, October 10 2007.