jacobs.wilford - 2015-08-21 12:37:36

                                                     - REVIEW - 
                                          Shakugan no Shana III
                                                 
                                                      1.STORY 
    The story on SnS 3 focuses more on an large-scaled war from the 2 factions Humans and demons the ideals and morals contradact themselves. Like Yuuji siding with the Spirit of the Festival to make peace between the two races while leading a war, so he can create a New World
The pacing and world building is great and goes with the flow with the timespan and episodes elapsed to be made, at the cost of removal of side character development which is downer, fights have been cut to a 1/2  of their original material but overall it's nothing new and nothing old or special.
5/10
                                                     2.ANIMATION
Like most J.C staff shows their Light novel adaptations always have semi-good animation, making and the hand draw effects also deserve a + but the CGI in this show is just god awful at times, while at other times it looks okay, hell even the 2nd OP of the show proves how decent their CGI and fluent their animation is at their peak.
7/10
                                                    3.SOUND/OST
Given the shows thematics the Sound quality and soundtrack is great and deserves it praise especially during desprate moments or suspense moments.
It puts it all to great use.
7/10
                                                   4.CHARACTERS
Throughout the first 2 seasons everyone had their fair share of development but at the cost of pacing, in season 3 they mainly focus on the Shana-Yuuji development section, which is nice to see that he lost his plot armour and gained a fair opponent characters like Margery daw and her subordinates also get a somewhat small share of development but it's barely noticeable.
It's nice to see that the author actually put time to develop them and leave the main characters for last but... the first seasons were horrid so his plan failed to a certain extent.
6/10
                                                   5.ENJOYMENT
I nearly fell asleep 4 times while watching it, it feels uninspired even with the desprate changes it made to be better, but still lacks the motivation to present itself as something more than decent.
3/10
 

                                                    OVERALL TOTAL : 5.6/10 (POINT SCORE)
                                                     OR 6/10 FULL.
                                                                                       

akertzmann - 2014-04-30 07:36:59

Not cliche in any way. It wasn't a fight about good vs evil, it was people fighting for what they thought was right, without there being a "good" side, or a "bad" side.

I used to hate Yoshida, but she's pretty cool I guess.

angelina.hansen - 2013-09-26 17:20:21

My my my there's a surprising lack of reviews for S3 isn't there? So, fetch a cup of tea and let's review this thing.

Quick word of warning before we start, I'm going to compare this one to the first two Seasons/Serieses (whichever word you use) so there will be some minor spoilers regarding the plot (nothing major though, don't worry).

Now then, Shakugan no Shana III starts of right where the Shakugan no Shana II left off, so if you haven't seen the first two you are going to be very lost.

The plot of SnS-III is very different to the others, which had a more episode by episode storytelling basis, with one smaller story taking place over three to four episodes with the grand finale being built up over about six episodes. This one however, is much more focused on one main story with an over-arcing plot.

The transition to this from S2 is not smooth by any stretch of the imagination, so it is quite jarring in the beginning, however it is very interesting through the bulk of the story, and does an excellent job at adding to the SnS universe which has been built up over the seasons, as well has having a very satisfying ending.

The characters get a lot more development in this series than the others, especially the main cast. However, to avoid spoilers I won't go to deep into that.

A major theme which ties the characters into the story is the conflict over the course of the series, because the conflict becomes less of a clash between good and evil, and more of a clash between beliefs and goals, which is a lot like what Fate/Zero managed to achieve.

Unlike Fate/Zero however, Shakugan no Shana had a group of main characters which the story revolved around, and with the main cast effectively split in two it makes all the character interactions a lot more interesting.

Another major character/story theme is that we see from the perspective of the 'villains' for the first time in Shakugan no Shana, which did provide an interesting view on the series as a whole, it did result in a few issues. While it did help to flesh out the existing characters, it also introduced a lot of new characters on both sides. Although they were interesting at first, only one of them received any development and backstory, which was a little disappointing.

BUT!

The main focus of this series was clearly on the conflict between our once-united main cast, which was done very well. I myself was conflicted on which side to support, and on a few occasions the characters made me quite angry. However, angry is not bored.

The music is a bit of a mixed bag. The openings were absolutely amazing, the endings were pretty damn cool too, but only a few of the soundtracks really stood out to me. None of them were bad or out of place, but most weren't all too special on their own.

The animation is very well done. Whether it's a one on one dual between superhumans, a battle between massive armies, an intense debate, or a hushed conversation, it's all flawless. It's not utterly mind-blowing like some other anime out there, but it still surpasses many things coming out even now.

Overall I wouldn't recommend this to just anyone. The main flaw with Shakugan no Shana is it's length, considering that you need to have seen all the previous episodes and that the series as a whole is 72 episodes long, it's not something you can casually sit down and watch, you need to be committed to this thing. That being said, I'd highly recommend this to Shounen fans, anyone who likes a good action series, or anyone who has a lot of time on their hands and wants to invest in a long series.

Story: 8

Animation: 9

Sound: 7

Characters: 8

Enjoyment: 9

Yuji's hairstyle: 10

Overall: 8