Type: TV series - 24 episodes.
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Shounen
Plot synopsis
Sakai Yuuji, a high school student who expected his normal life to last forever, is dead. When he was on his way home he witnessed a shocking view as the world suddenly froze: people were engulfed by blue flames and a monster resembling a large doll swallowed them. Just as the monster prepared to consume Yuuji, a sword-wielding girl in black attire with flaming red eyes and hair that burns like embers saved him from the monster. The girl called herself a "Flame Haze" who hunts the "Guze no Tomogara", creatures from another world. As Yuuji noticed a blue flame in his chest, she called him a "Torch", a temporary replacement, saying that the "real" Yuuji's existence had already ended. Unfazed, Yuuji befriended the strange girl, named her "Shana", and joined her fight against Tomogara and other Flame Hazes.
Story (8/10)
I thought the story was very intense, original, and very compelling. I've never heard or seen anything like this before.
Characters (9/10)
Shana... the main girl, the main love interest, the most kick-butt character in the whole series. Always accompanied by Alastor.
And Yuuji, just a quiet, average kid, but able to accomplish so much, despite the fact that he has so many problems to overcome.
All the other characters are as equally developed throughout the story, but since they are secondary characters, I decided to leave them out.
Art/animation (9/10)
Not going to lie, quite possibly the best art and animation in an anime that I've seen. Still wasnt perfect though, thus the 9.
Voice acting, music (7/10)
Perhaps it was just the files I got, the ADR was so erratic... Sometimes it was as if, during a quiet scene, they would turn the volume of the ADR file so there was a lot of fuzzy background noise. It's hardly noticeable, but since I work with audio a lot, I notice it right away.
Overall (9/10)
Amazing. Quite possibly my favorite anime series now.
The same could be said about the Shakugan no Shana II series, since it's just a second season.
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