Yeah, it’s the body-switching OVA of lulz and Shana dere-dere.

No, seriously, look at all the shots of dere-dere Shana they put in. Granted most of them are Yuuji-Shana.

Anyways, the plot of the OVA is that Shana and Yuuji inadvertently switch bodies when he activates the Unrestricted Spell Reshuffle. Alastor quickly realizes and warns them that they should change back before anyone notices, else there will be dire consequences for the both. Unfortunately, the item is lost in all the junk they were sifting through and they decide to bring it all somewhere quiet to search through.

The first place they think of is a karaoke box, but Margery is sitting right in front of it, so they decide to head to school. Unfortunately for them, something is going on at school on that day and they keep bumping in to their friends (and ecchi situations). Shana-Yuuji is not pleased.

Yuuji-Shana… comments like “Skirts are breezy but the panties sure fit tight” are not needed.

The next obstacle comes in the form of Wilhemina, to which Yuuji-Shana fends off with…

Wilhelmina Daaaaaaaaai~suki

dokyun~~!

… giving them enough time to escape.

Oh god, am I the only one who thinks that Yuuji-Shana is so much more feminine that normal Shana? This part where she fiddles with the high heels is—–

Yuuji-Shana, it’s not the time to think about a bath!!!!

Note that in the above shots, both of them haven’t changed back yet. But damn, imagine kissing your unconscious body. Oh god.

Finally back to normal…. but Shana has a bit of a surprise for Yuuji, in the form of explosive diarrhea after gorging on ice-cream non-stop.

Oh, Shana, you bully!

Alastor finally explains that Reshuffle does not have any effect on people who have walls around each other… basically meaning that both of them must’ve opened their hearts to each other enough for the effect to activate, bringing on another dere-Shana.

Overall, this was a pretty enjoyable OVA and I quite liked seeing Yuuji-Shana trying to adapt to her new body. It’s not a trap if it doesn’t have a penis right? Seeing Shana-Yuuji was refreshing too and hearing him go Urusai! x3 was pretty much hilarious. And the Mami Kawada theme songs are really nice to hear as well… can’t wait for the single to be released.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Wow, in just a preview of about 3 minutes, Shana just expressed more emotions that she did throughout TWO seasons of TVA. This Shana S OVA may be pretty enjoyable.

Even dear old Alastor’s surprised at this sudden wealth of emotions.

Wilhelmina’s clearly unhappy though….

Seriously… did Shana ever manage such a happy smile in the TV series?

I am quite liking the two Mami Kawada songs being used in the OVA. They bring a really…. soothing feel.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Cliffhanger ending episode for the win?

The battle to stop Ball Masque continues, with Wilhelmina and Shana both having a hard time against Hecate and Sydonay. While they’re desperately fighting outside, Yuji regains consciousness and spots Wilhelmina, and he slowly climbs up to retrieve Blutsauger, all the while fighting off the robots and getting his existence slowly absorbed.

Outside, the Flame Hazes gain some reprieve when they discover both Hecate and Sydonay are unable to attack the Statue of Pride. Taking the chance, they use it as a shield, fighting them with their backs towards it. Meanwhile, Yuji has retrieved back Blutsauger and he trudges up ahead to look for the Reiji Maigo. Shana and Wilhelmina continue to fight, and taking a chance, Shana feints an attack to Hecate, punching a hole in to the Statue.

She rushes in and regroups up with Yuji, and they continue onwards to the center of the statue, while it starts to move and break out of the blue shell that has been protecting it. Margery recovers in time to set up a fuzetsu to prevent the city from being damaged as well, and saves Yoshida as well.

Inside, Yuji and Shana finally reach the heart of the statue, and they’re confronted with the Silver armor. They face off with some difficulties, until finally, Yuji figures out that they’ll have to destroy the control mechanism to stop it. Shana immediately aims for it, and she’s helped further when the Silver, who’s being controlled by Hecate, suddenly stops and pauses, apparently because Konoe’s personality emerged from it. While Shana destroys the controls, Yuji stabs the Silver armor and finally retrieves the Reiji Maigo, and they both escape right afterwards. The Ball Masque trio can only watch in disbelief as their plans are foiled yet again.

In the epilogue, the city is repaired, and the Yuji is forced to continue with his choice between Yoshida and Shana. It’s implied he chose Shana, but the final scene of the episode closes with ominous scene of footsteps (probably Yuji’s) disappearing halfway…

They’re soooo making this in to a third season. I’m glad they learned some lessons and didn’t did a half-ass “life goes on” ending, but instead chose to end it in this ominous way. Makes the fans (me included) lust for a third season.

About the final battle, not as awesome as the two major battles before this, but at the least Yuji finally did show some skill of his own, instead of relying solely on Shana. The final part where Konoe’s feelings suddenly burst forth was kinda forced though, but meh, I guess they were trying to make her character of some use.

Kinda sad about Yoshida too, but it’s been expected. I really wanted the stupid love triangle arc to end, since it’s just so one-dimensional, plus they didn’t really develop on it at all, mainly using it as a plot crutch of sorts.

Otherwise… I will say Shana II has been a good season, with the terrible start made up with the awesome second half of the series, marked by awesome Flame Haze fighting and some real plot developments.

Now, we only have to wait till they officially announce Season 4 3.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Ball Masque’s ultimate plan; To create a huge replica of Rodin’s The Thinker.

Ball Masque’s plan is finally set in to motion, with the retrieval of the Reiji Maigo, that is then placed inside the Silver armor back in Seireiden.

The Flame Hazes arrive at the scene, with Margery setting up a fuzetsu to contain the blue hemisphere, which resists their initial attempts to break through. Finally, thanks to Satou, they discover a weak point in it, and Margery acts as the vanguard to punch through it.

Meanwhile, Yuji is left inside the hemisphere, with his Reiji Maigo gone. He quickly figures out the situation and decides to retrieve back the Reiji Maigo, or at least hold them off until Shana and co. arrive. He gets attacked by the robot guardians but manages to drive them back.

The Flame Hazes successfully break through, but Margery takes the full brunt of Sydonay’s ambush, and gets taken out instantly. Shana and Wilhelmina face off Sydonay, Hecate and Dandankyukyu, while the clock tower is slowly reformed in to a humanoid shape. Yuji, inside the structure, loses his footing and falls off.

Can’t really provide the specifics, too much jargon, but safe to say, the whole plan is to revive back the SIlver Tomogara, in a gigantic proportion, at the least. That was some good usage of the ending animation time there, with Sociometry fitting in very well. I have to say that the song is pretty awesome.

The action scenes were kinda short, but this episode being a primer to the ending, was done pretty well. I can’t wait for next week already, since it’s promising epic Flame Haze battles and I wonder if Shana will use her ultimate move at the end.

Poor Yoshida is getting left out as usual, and it’s been well-hinted she will sacrifice herself to summon Pheles to save Yuji, but I still think it won’t come down to her having to do that, yet. I’m kinda surprised that Margery got knocked out so fast in the game, she definitely took that hit from Sydonay way more terrible that one expects from such. Hopefully, she’ll be able to recover back to help. It looks like it’s gonna be a handful for both Shana and Wilhelmina to handle themselves as well.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Saved by the bell?

Okay, so Sabrac didn’t die. Guess that’s expected anyways.

On to this episode, it serves more as a “calm before the storm” episode than another “angst-ridden romance” drama episode.

Kantarou returns again, to drop “Yuji-niisan” a nice bombshell of a future addition to the Sakai household. I personally hope for a girl. It also made Shana curious about how to “make” children, and she shamelessly asks the question to the Sakai household, as well as Alastor, who all dodge the question, until Yoshida tells her how embarrassing that question is.

After that though, Shana decides to end their romantic rivalry once and for all, by having both of them write love letters to Yuji inviting him to the different locations at the same time during Christmas Eve. Kinda puts him in a bind heh. Ike-kun alss realizes that all his friends has changed and he decides to change as well, finally confessing to Yoshida on the same Christmas Eve, telling her that she doesn’t have to answer it yet. That scene was much more epic in the first opening animation though.

Unfortunately, before Yuji can decide where to head to, he is ‘conveniently’ attacked by Hecate. I swear he looked relieved for a moment there. Hecate summons out the Reiji Maigo from within Yuji and separates it from him, ending in another cliffhanger.

So another chance to resolve the romance battle is foiled yet again by impeccable timing from Hecate and her gang. I’m kinda surprised though with the development of Chigusa’s pregnancy, even if I was prepared for it already. Still, it’s good news. Gotta love how Shana was innocently asking everyone how to make babies after knowing of that .

Anyways, back to the main story with the next episode, and will we see Yuji fading in to sparks or will he join the Dark side?

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Wow, this season of Shana is definitely shaping up to be pretty epic.

The fight against Sabrac continues, and Yuji theorizes that Sabrac’s actually the whole city itself, and the form that Wilhelmina’s been fighting is only part of it. He proceeds to lay out a plan for Margery and Shana to execute, and with Wilhelmina’s secret trump card, the Unrestricted Method to counter Stigma made by Johann, Margery lays out the trap, while Shana and Wilhelmina deal with Sabrac.

Shana retreats in the middle of the fight, to conserve energy, while Margery finishes up the trap, just in time to take over from the tired-out Wilhelmina. Sabrac is lured in the trap, which is basically Margery lifting a whole portion of the city upwards, cutting Sabrac’s links off, and Shana deals the final blow, in a pretty epic manner.

The plan works and Sabrac is finally vanquished, and peace returns back to Misaki city. Yoshida and Shana’s relationship with Yuji is back to normal, and for the first time in a while, we get to hear Shana’s trademark “Urusai, urusai, urusai!” line.

Really awesome action scenes this time around again, and they even inserted JOINT in at the final moments of the battle. This episode is what we all really are looking out for in the Shana franchise. Girls with fiery swords kicking up massive whoopass, yeah!

However, it’s not all smooth sailing, and I must say the repeat of what happened last season where Shana tries but hesitates to say her feelings to Yuji strikes me off as a bit cheesy, and so was the ending portion of this episode, with everyone in a happy situation. Considering the series is going to reach an end soon, it feels kinda… weird.

What’s more, next episode preview seems to hint that the show will head back in to the romance drama angle…. not exactly the part I like about the series the most.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Sabrac shows himself with a bang, using his Unrestricted Method, Stigma, which causes wounds that continue to open over time. He immediately aims for Wilhelmina and Yuji, and even Wilhelmina has a hard time fighting off Sabrac, who seems to be truly invincible, taking all of Wilhelmina’s attacks without a scratch. Wilhelmina’s explanation of Sabrac’s abilities combined with Yuji’s weird feeling that he felt earlier leads him to realize something, and he takes off to confirm it out while Wilhelmina baits Sabrac.

Meanwhile, Shana and Margery are both injured by Stigma as well. Yoshida finds Shana and helps bandage her wounds, and Keisaku does the same, as they watch the ensuing battle.

Wow, a solid full episode of Wilhelmina fighting. That was pretty freaking awesome. It’s just too bad that Wilhelmina takes on a serious handicap against Sabrac, with his hax Stigma spell, combined with his invincibility. Truly Sabrac is a frightening opponent, and I’ve gained a new understanding of Wilhelmina’s skills, as she had to take him on like this every time.

Yuji gets demoted back to “damsel-in-distress” but at the least he seems to have caught on to Sabrac’s weakness. I sure hope he’ll pull out something brilliant next week.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Badass Yuji?! Surely you jest!!

Yuji is confronted and threatened by Zarobi, who leads him over a city-wide walk. While Yuji desperately tries to figure out Zarobi’s plan, he passes by Ooga and Tanaka, who are on a date, and purposely makes a commotion to attract their attention. His little idea works, and Tanaka, after some deliberation decides to inform Margery about it, and afterwards, apologizes for leaving.

Back to Yuji, based on information on Zarobi he has obtained from Outlaw, he finally figures out Zarobi’s plan of luring him to a crowded area, then setting up a fuzetsu as a target for his partner, Bandela, who will shoot at it. He takes the initiative and sets up a city-wide fuzetsu, and easily disposes of Zarobi, finally realizing why Yoshida and Shana are mad at him. Shana and Wilhelmina arrive on the scene soon after, and they finish off Bandela. Yuji tries to apologize for the matter earlier, but a sudden explosion distracts them.

So, for the first time in the series, Yuji has finally participated in the real fighting and I must say it’s surprising on how angry he can get, especially when he breaks the neck of the red Zarobi, who I must say, is a rather weak Tomogara.

Next episode will finally see the appearance of Sabrac, the infamous assassin, and it looks set to be another action-packed episode. Finally, this show is getting things done right.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Making up for the lack of Valentine mood in the episode :P

More drama again, with Yuji losing himself in his “training”, with Margery even helping out now by teaching him to use jizaishiki. However Shana and Kazumi start to feel that Yuji is not himself ever since, not surprising as Yuji perceives himself as not human anymore and he already belongs to the other side.

Things come to a boiling point soon after Chigusa falls ill and Yuji decides to reject Yoshida’s meals and apologize for the trouble he’s caused. This brings the opposite effect instead, making both Yoshida and Shana angry. Soon thereafter… Yuji, on a walk, is confronted by a Tomogara sent by the Ball Masque.

Well… Yuji continues to be as dense as usual, even after the upheaval of the Seishuu Festival. Really, I’m surprised how he finally manages to notice something, yet manages to bungle it. Well… it’s not like he’s trying to be a bastard or something.

Quite shocked to see Chigusa-san collapsing though… she didn’t look too sick thankfully. I loved how Shana was worried sick about her and rushed to visit her, she was really cute when describing on how Wilhelmina nursed her when she was sick.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Just as the title and the previous episode preview implies, this episode has Eita finally making a decision to part ways from Satou and Margery, for his love towards Ooga-chan.

Meanwhile, Satou, continuously frustrated with his inability to help out, asks to join Outlaw, since humans also work in it as information agents. His request is given some serious dissuasion by Margery, who tells him that Outlaw bases worldwide have been attacked by Tomogara, which is shown to be Sydonay.

Yuuji also finally decides to get serious on his training, and actually manages to disarm Shana for the first time. Good to see he’s not going remain useless as usual.

There was also a short flashback on Wilhelmina’s part when she was targeted by Sabrac and how Pheles and Johann saved her from imminent defeat. I sure hope we see it animated fully :).

Next episode preview shows a bunch of new baddies, apparently forming an organization confronting the cast. I dunno why, but it sounds filler-ish to me. Has anyone who has read the novels confirm it’s a canon arc or anime original?

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.