Current favourite Fall series – Shakugan no Shana second
I'm surprised myself. In a season where there's KyoAni's Clannad, Sunrise's Gundam and the Da Capo franchise vying for my love, I picked my not-so-favourite Kugimiya Rie tsundere. But having seen at least 2 eps of the 10 series I planned to follow and 3 eps of SnSs, it's clear that Shana would be my most anticipated weekly anime dosage.
Episode 01
I'm with Zyl and Kabtizin on this. Despite what some may put off as a fillerish recap, ep 01 is, imho, an excellent curtain-raiser to bring viewers up to date and to build momentum for the upcoming arc. Instead of just lamenting about the lack of new material, I believe we should enjoy the brilliant assimilation of a new plot into the foundation established in season 1. Btw Horn-chan is quite cute. I hope it's not the last we see of her.
Episode 02
Another great ep that re-establishes the relationship/rivalries of the various characters while introducing a new haremette at the end - the loliiiiiiiiicious Hecate (Heka-chan!!!) It's heartening to see how the characters/relationships have grown since season 1. Shana is less tsuntsun towards Yuji. Wilhelmina is feeling the heat of Chigusa taking over her maternal duties. Shana and Kazumi's rivalry deepens with Shana hitting under the belt by going "I have something with Yuji that you don't." While Kazumi replies immediately by getting directly involved in their next tangle with Tomogara, forcing Shana to relook at their positions in this love-battle. Yuji has also grown stronger as a mystes with well conceived justifications from season 1.
Episode 03
I. am. so. smitten. with. Hekachan. KAWAII!!! Ahem, well ultra, uber character charm aside, it's great to see SnSs keeping the pace up with story movement as we see the Bel Masque's plot succeed at the initial infiltration phase. Of course with ep 3, SnSs has been elevated to a harem series with 3 girls now vying for Yuji and I'm so torn between rooting for the womanly Kazumi and the girlish Hekachan. But if anyone can host a harem, it'd be Yuji with his replenishing fountain, the Reiji Maigo.
And so JC Staff does it again to give us endearing characters, great interaction and well paced plot - a potent combination that I've yet to see of significant measure in any other Fall series. Just hoping Hekachan survives this season.
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October 24th, 2007 - 00:26
I didn’t actually enjoy the first season very much, but I watched it all anyway because I found myself enraptured with Kazumi.
So far the second season has been significantly better, largely because it has been focusing more on the characters than on the plot and battles. However, even though I am looking forward to it each week, it doesn’t come close to topping the likes of Clannad, Da Capo II, or ef in my mind.
October 24th, 2007 - 04:56
I’m loving the second season. The character development is really progressing. The OP is very good and I’ve noticed some interesting scenes in the OP that I can’t wait to see.
By the way Stripey it’s not a harem yet! I call this stage the love square stage. If the series does add another girl, then it’ll progress to love pentagon.. If it reaches over that pentagon mark I’ll consider it a harem.
I really can’t wait for the next ep going to see alot of angst from the next ep… Hecate sure knows how to stir up trouble, in more ways than one lol.
October 24th, 2007 - 05:41
No matter what anyone or anything says CLANNAD will stay on top, if something tops it then that something has to be very very very excellent. Honestly nothing has captured me as well as CLANNAD did and Nagisa played by the talented Mai Nakahara (Again I know hee
) is just hard to better. Lots of solid shows this season, although ef and gundam seem to be coming closer (ef needs to lose some of its artsy gimmicks to be honest).
October 24th, 2007 - 06:27
J.C.Staff is bringing it this season – and that’s not even counting the equally awesome Kimikiss.
And they are going to add another girl to Yuji’s harem – Pheles, the green-haired grown-up woman from the opening, who has a strong connection to the Midnight Lost Child (Reiji Maigo) – specifically, to the person who used to be the Midnight Lost Child. Going further would be a spoiler.
But you know what show wins more? Shugo Chara. Sure it’s for girls, but cute makes right, and Shugo Chara is the cute.
October 24th, 2007 - 08:16
Kefit: You enjoy Shana for the same reasons I do – the characters, especially Kazumi. SnS’s battles aren’t anything groundbreaking. But the rivalry between Kazumi/Shana and growing relationship btw Shana/Yuji, those are lovely to watch.
holyman282: Heh, it’s just my very personal definition of harem – anything beyond 3 girls vying for a single lead = harem.
Mere semantics I’m sure which doesn’t detract from the fact that Hecate has just upped the ante for the race to Yuji’s affections and also our enjoyment of the haremic circumstances to follow. 
Ivy: I hope this wouldn’t cost me my KyoAni-Key fan membership
To be honest, while I’m a huge fan of KyoAni’s AIR and Kanon, I couldn’t get into Clannad even though I’ve seen 3 eps. I believe it’s because I didn’t connect with the characters like I did with the other 2. Agree with the ef visuals tone-down. Lots of clutter that distract from the storytelling. 
sixten: Ah the green hair bijin in the OP! Looking forward to her and the backstory on the reiji maigo. Kimikiss is also one of the other surprise this season. Instead of a harem series we got a nice romance on our hands. JCStaff never ceases to entertain.
October 24th, 2007 - 09:19
surprising i am enjoying a lot Clannad a lot then the other Leaf/KyoAni shows. I didn’t bother to finish Air and didn’t even start on Kanon. Clannd unlike both Kanon and Air just delve right into the story and didn’t bother to do the girl of week Eps. Which i fine very refreshing and storyline is setting up very nicely with characters that are minor being introduce but will probably play a big role later. While I like to see more of Tomoyo’s book and flying kick combo i like the way Clannad is setting up very nicely.
October 24th, 2007 - 09:23
forgot my impression of the Shana.
I like how it is setting up but they need to go back into the main storyline. As much as like potiential catfight between Yoshida, Shana and Hecate, I just hope the story doesn’t get bog down with the Harem aspect.
October 24th, 2007 - 09:29
Heh, I rather dislike the main storyline of Shana, so the more catfight drama the better for me.
October 24th, 2007 - 09:41
Though Shana second is far better than the first season, I have to disagree with it being the best show this fall. As said before, I also think that Clannad is on the top, and I’m pretty sure your opinion will change within the next episodes of Clannad.
If I were to rate the top-3 shows this season I would put Clannad on top. No explanation about that
Second would be Kodomo no Jikan, mostly because it executes the manga in a way that makes it even better than the original in some scenes, and equally well in others. Even though its censorship is random to say the least it definitely goes to second place.
In third I would like to place Shana second tied with ef – a tale of memories.
To repeat myself: Clannad > *!
October 24th, 2007 - 12:34
Xellos-_^: I suspect I’ve never been very into KEY scenarios. I’ve always been in for the well.. girls XD And AIR has some of the more interesting bishoujos with Kanon following close behind. Clannad has too many air-head-esque character. I have difficulty trying to tell the girls apart from each other in ep 1. Maybe more distinctiveness would help. Tomoyo remains my fav char in Clannad by a loooong shot.
Kefit: I’m ok with the plot as long as it supports the character growth.
Definitely looking forward to Hecate’s challenge and green haired bijin.
flaskis: Oh yes, Kodoji would have to be the series I enjoy most after Shana. I loved the first 2 eps. Yeah the censors were irritating but the cynical/dark bits of the series was so sobering. I recommend it to all who wants to or have children. Plenty of wisdom from the show to glean from.
October 24th, 2007 - 22:40
Clannad is undoubtedly good, but I feel Shana second season is good also.
Kefit: Really? You hate the whole premise, concerning flame hazes, torches, denizens ect? I find the concept to be quite fascinating as it explores the long standing philosophy of Existentialism, in an extremely easy to understand, yet engaging manner. The idea of representing torches as husks of the already departed, ties in greatly with the metaphor of life being like a flame, where death is a result of the subsequent snuffing out if you will of the flame.
Yuji’s determination that he’s him even though he knew he was a torch hit home in the concept how we create the meaning and essence of our own lives.. Really on the surface it might seem like a harem, action, romance anime but the show goes deeper then that by exploring some complex philosophies. Not to mention that they integrate the action and the romance nicely.
November 7th, 2007 - 15:37
To me, SnS II is a huge dissapointment. Shana and Yosida are just playing dead and regresseing while not Hecate is putting the lame moves on Yuji. Yuji’s being more of an idiot with his complete inability to see the feelings of others. Also we get a filler ep about cooking a cabage of love. *sigh* Not intresting at all, this seems like a generic harem show so far….
The top show this season for me has to be Clannad. The pace is much higher than SnS II and the characters are alot more enjoable to watch. I know it might be fanboyism be Clannad beats Shana in characters, animation, plot, action scenes (yeah that’s right, a Bishojo game adaptaion has better action scences than Shana as of ep 5), and everything. I hope Shana picks up later.