[ Episode 24: What Must Be Protected ]

Like the first season’s finale, this one was pretty exciting. All of the action was a pleasure to the eyes and then some. Still, I felt some things could have been done better. The pacing seemed to be slightly rushed in various areas of the episode, particularly in the fights involving Wilhelmina, Shana, Hecate and Sydonay. If this scheme had taken place in, say, episode 21 or 22, I think things would have flowed much better. Even Margery was screwed in terms of battle time and spent most of the finale unable to move because she was getting healed. At least she was able to contribute by casting a Fuzetsu to help slow down Bal Masque’s plans.

Speaking of which even though the plans failed, Bel Peol doesn’t seem to be bothered at all. She’s one awesome woman to be able to keep so cool under those circumstances but I feel that she has a much larger plan on her finger tips and this was something that doesn’t even come close to messing those up. I found it funny though that the Silver went down because of Konoe’s memories of bird-watching. Poor Hecate. She didn’t understand what happened and even cried unexpectedly. Tracking back a bit, I really loved seeing Wilhelmina fight. I particularly loved when she revealed her flaming bandage sword. That looked so awesome! Also, she looked pretty sexy when she was charging up her bandage drill.

Anyway, at the end of the day…er…night, Yuuji manages to reclaim the Reiji Maigo and everything goes back to normal. Everyone is enjoying their night and we get to see Shana, Kazumi, and Yuuji continuing the ‘battle’ they were conducting prior to Bal Masque crashing the party. Given Shana’s reaction at the very end of the episode, I’m pretty sure Yuuji chose her. What a pity.

[ Final Thoughts ]

The second season of Shana was yet another enjoyable ride for me. While I could have done without some of the earlier episodes, in the end they served their purpose of setting up emotional problems between Shana, Kazumi, and Yuuji and forced each of them to reevaluate their views on their feelings and each other. Konoe also played a small role in the final episodes of being the “mind” of Bal Masque’s super Tomogara. This season is able to do what it did though thanks to having solid groundwork from the first season to build on. So to get the maximum enjoyment out of Shana Second, watching the first is a must.

If you were to ask me when this season really started to shine I will instantly reply that it began at the start of Margery’s flashback arc. There was some awesome stuff in there and also provided much needed background on her character that was practically begging for since the first season. Though I still feel bummed that she didn’t do much aside from getting drunk and doing stealth and recon roles.

Yuuji’s improvement was also a major highlight of the season. Seeing him finally stand up from behind Shana and take the initiative in fighting was admirable and really added some respect points to his overall character. Pheles’ character was one I instantly fell for and she was integrated into the plot rather well. I must say though that I was hoping she’d make an appearance in the final episodes. I think it goes without saying that Wilhelmina is officially the MVP of the second season. She kicked ass through and through, especially in the Sabrac fight and really upped her sexy appeal in various scenes and snapshots throughout the series.

Overall, Shana Second has been a great series and an even better sequel. The ending wasn’t anything spectacular but it was quite satisfying. The production values were high throughout the series as well and, according to my memory, didn’t dip to low levels even once. The soundtrack was wonderfully composed and it great to hear some of the old tunes again. The OPs/EDs this season were really good as I had expected but I found myself liking KOTOKO’s being in the first season more than this season’s BLAZE. Despite its flaws, Shana is one of the few shows that I can sit back and enjoy without having to worry about story progress because no matter how slow it starts up, once things get into gear the real ride begins and my favorite characters are all given the exposure and development that they need. I’m definitely looking forward to a third season and having more of the lovely Wilhelmina, Margery, Pheles, and Hecate (I’ll throw in Shana and Yuuji just so they won’t be left out ).

[Overall series review: 90/100]

[ Episode 23: Quickening of Peril ]

I consider this episode to be “Part 1″ of the final episode. It just gave me that kind of feeling from start to finish. The entire episode was fast-paced and switched between Yuuji, Bal Masque, Wilhelmina, Margery, Shana and the others. There wasn’t a boring moment for me and I was surprised to see that they animated straight throughout the entire ED and credits. That’s usually done in final episodes but it was put to great use here regardless. Things are getting more intense all over the place as well. Shana and Hecate are going at it. Wilhelmina will have to fight Sydonay after Margery was brutally struck by him after their breakthrough. Which reminds me, what was Wilhelmina and Shana thinking at just looking at the severely bloodied Margery and thanking her before dashing off? No quick first aid or bandages to help her out? Lol, gracious.

I’m interested in seeing how all of this will be handled in one remaining episode as well. It just seems to be so much especially since Bal Masque just revealed a big surprise they must’ve been planning since around the time of the end of the first season. Yuuji also has to get the Reiji Maigo back somehow. Well, all I can say now is: Bring it!

[ Episode 22: Christmas Eve ]

I was pretty surprised to see that Sabrac actually survived the previous battle. He didn’t even seem to have any wounds…which is beyond odd to me. I can only guess that he somehow switched his real self out at the very moment Shana was going for the kill. Anyway, skipping all of the love-dovey content, I was pretty surprised that Hecate showed up the way she did and just blatantly yanked out the Reiji Maigo out of Yuji. Of course I knew Bal Masque was up to something but it was still unexpected. What does this mean for Yuji, I wonder? He’s going to have to get that back, but how? Two episodes remain in this second season and at this rate a cliffhanger or a temporary resolution type of ending are both equally possible. I wonder if we’re going to get a glimpse of some hissing though…

[ Episode 21: Combined Might ]

Now that was an awesome conclusion to an epic battle. Quite a few episodes ago I would have never thought that Yuji would be the one to come up with a plan to defeat someone as powerful as Sabrac. It just goes to show that he’s improved at an insane rate since the start of the second season. I didn’t see the counter-spell that Wilhelmina revealed coming at all either. Though when she did I was struck with how much sense it made since she had fought him numerous times before with the Stigma in place. Oh, and I must say that she looked rather sexy when she activated the spell on her own body. :p

Now that Sabrac is gone, what’s next? There’s only so few episodes left and I doubt they’re going to tone things down into a love drama this late in the series so I’m sure something will happen. Perhaps Hecate will show up once more? Or maybe something might happen to the growing Yuji? Whatever it is I eagerly await it and hope it doesn’t disappoint after two consecutive awesome arcs.

[ Episode 20: Rose Maddered-Color War ]

This episode was filled with Wilhelmina-awesomeness! ^__^

If there’s one thing I love about Shana are the fights. Whenever one takes place it is sure to be quite exciting. This one is no exception and I never took my eyes off of it for a second. Wilhelmina is very impressive and it’s obvious that her skills are topnotch and Sabrac is a pretty strong bastard who doesn’t seem to have any glaringly apparent weaknesses. That is likely to change next episode though since Yuji seems to have noticed something. I’m thinking that whatever he came up with will involve the help of Margery and Shana (which is further evidenced by the title “Combined Might”). I wonder though, will he get in on the action as well? His previous opponent wasn’t impressive at all so I think him landing even a scratch on Sabrac would, at the very least, tell us just how much he has grown through his training. Other than that I’m wondering just how this season is going to end with only a few episodes left now. Hopefully there’s an interesting twist or two in the upcoming episodes that will end things on a high note.

[ Episode 19: Something Left Unspoken ]

You just gotta love awesome episodes like this. Granted the Tomogara in it weren’t that strong but they served as fodder perfectly. As such Yuji got to show his new abilities and analytical skills in a real battle. I was really surprised to see just how huge his Fuzetsu was though. I think he covered the entire city with it. Back to Yuji fighting, I liked how he dealt with Zarovee’s multiple forms. There’s just no discrediting blowing away a few of his bodies with flames, choking one to death, and then stabbing one with the Blutsauger. That was a great bout of ass kicking if you ask me. That last Tomogara that Shana destroyed was pretty useless but it had a pretty damn strong cannon that I’m sure would have been dangerous had it had gotten off that shot without interruption.

Looks like Sabrac will be appearing next episode! I wonder, where the hell did he come from? Did he just decide to show up to have some fun? Whatever the case things aren’t looking too good since Wilhelmina is supposedly injured badly and Shana seemed to be out cold in the preview. I’m not sure where Margery is but only Yuji was shown to be unharmed. I wonder if he’ll go up against Sabrac? That would be a really dangerous test of his abilities right there.