Cruel Angel Theses

I saw the Shakugan no Shana movie yesterday before starting on the first episode of Shakugan no Shana II, and I’m glad I did. Aside from refreshing my memory on the whole series and whatnot, it also proved to be a timely reminder on why I’ve always adored the Shana series so much, and no, it has nothing to do whatsoever with her being a tsundere, I swear.

while I don’t see this happening in the canon anytime soon, the catfights have been upped a notch from where we left it, which is always a plus for me (click for hi-res version)

The movie was good, for what it was worth. It’s based off the light novels instead of the original arrangement of the TV series, so aside from not pitting Margery and Shana against each other, there was the added bonus of there being a more mellow Shana, one who didn’t really snap out at Yuuji for every little thing he did, or spam “urusai urusai urusai” every 5 minutes.

It’s been said that the movie Shana is truer to the original text than the TV Shana is, I don’t really have a problem with either. The movie Shana naturally had to have some form of development, and while being cold and aloof for the length of one arc is acceptable in a run of 24 episodes, I’m guessing the same couldn’t have been true for the movie, hence Shana warming up to Yuuji towards the end.

While watching the movie, it occurred to me recently that Shana, alongside Claymore and other anime in the same vein, are basically immensely creative retellings of Tarzan. While “protagonists from different worlds” has always been a popular trope, the one thing that Claymore and Shana have, which other shounen or shoujo series out there don’t, is the humanisation process. It isn’t so much the character being alien as it is him or her not really behaving like a human.

Take for example how Shana hasn’t exactly been in the company of humans for a large part of her life. When she finally does meet Yuuji, like Alastor notes, she’s embarrassed to the point of being unable to change in front of him. Much like Tarzan learning about civilisation and falling in love when confronted with the real world and people of his own kind, so does Shana learn, when juxtaposed on her existing beliefs, about the sacredness of existence, in addition to being confronted with the fact that she’s in love with what she first regarded as a mere Torch, something she would’ve treated flippantly before.

By being forced to confront her beliefs that she’s held onto for most of her life, Shana grows as a character and regains her humanity as a result of interacting with Yuuji and his classmates, like Tarzan would by interacting with Jane and her companions. Much like Tarzan too, she learns what it’s like to be more than what she thinks she is (“I’m just a Flame Haze”, or “I’m just an odd-looking ape”), through discovering love, friendship, jealousy, and everything in-between.

If the Shana series then utilises this continuous stream of belief questioning as a means to an end, it works very well with respects to how Shana’s developed as a character, and would also explain the endless fascination people have with how she embodies “tsundere” as a concept so well. To rationalise: tsundere it isn’t the overdone archetype everyone thinks it is, because of how it has roots in reality. Her actions have the meaning of “tsundere” attached to them, but wouldn’t they also be considered a very real defence mechanism response to her vulnerability in ignorance?

This, I believe, is the true magic of Shana and what she means to her fans. Unfortunately, there’s the tendency for viewers to overlook this in the vast quantity of anime available, or, as Ori0n asked me, “Is it the loli + tsundere + flaming hair + melon pan + Kugumiya Rie combo that makes her awesome, or is she a genuinely interesting character?”

she makes every parody funny, that is why she is called Konata-chan

I’ve already outlined why I think Shana is a genuinely interesting character above — what about the character traits that she has? While I can argue that every character will be adored for superficial or meaningful reasons (sometimes both), then there’s the question of why does she have those traits, if not to attract people for superficial reasons in the first place?

This is what I’ve never got it when someone choose to play the jaded/cynic/been-watching-anime-for-years-and-I’m-sick-of-it card(s). Every character obviously has a superficial slant to it, like how Hei of Darker than Black, when broken down, is essentially GAR + bishie + glutton + Pikachu, but does every character have something beneath the surface? Technically, while people have a point in deciding to deride something based on a character’s exterior (big breasts/flat chest/osananajimi/nekomimi etc), they’re also missing it entirely — there just might be gold within its disgusting exterior.

Shana’s archetype structure, like many other successful characters, makes perfect business sense when seen in the larger picture. Fans really hover between two extremes: the moe-munching fan who thinks with his pants and opens his wallet on the slightest titillation, or the discerning fan, who actually cares about plot, characterisation, and all that jazz. Obviously alienating either faction would be unprofitable no matter what, so why not include both by making a character that’s both moe and with meaningful depth?

Another issue I have lies with what people call clich�s, which are nothing but tried and tested premises on which a character is built. Familiar ground, in other words. To take an example, while Kagami from Lucky Star might be presented initially as a tsundere type character, those who’ve since seen the anime should know that there’s more to her than just being tsuntsun or deredere. The initial presentation serves to pull the viewer in, much like how a Venus Flytrap lures its prey, if you will.

To sum things up, Shana is awesome in every sense of the word. Judging from the surface isn’t. Even if you discount everything I’ve said so far, there’s still a lot of things going for this show, like how almost every character’s been given significant development of some sort, whether through the OVA or 24 episodes of the first season. When I finally saw Yuuji and his classmates walking through the halls towards the end of episode 1, I realised how much I was attached to them, and felt a sense of nostalgia.

Shana II brings with it something the first season didn’t, I’ll admit — every character starts off from an pre-existing base of development. We now know that much more about the characters, and whatever happens to them, it’s going to be a good thing, because it’s something new and refreshing, if the first two episodes were anything to go by. Add to that the criminally catchy OP/ED, and we’re set for the other big hit of the Autumn season, Clannad aside.