This idea is probably quite old and unoriginal...but still, I'm going to go ahead with it. Yes, I'm gonna do a review of two anime series I watched recently, Shakugan no Shana and Ghost in the Shell. Mm...a daunting task indeed.

Shakugan no Shana(I & II)

Shakugan no Shana, a very interesting series indeed. This is one of the rare animes where the first episode is so good that it totally and completely absorbs the viewer's attention, primarily by dint of an original plot and narrative style. Basically, the viewer is introduced to a typical Japanese city, Misaki City, by the narrator, the male protagonist Sakai Yuji, who promptly proclaims that it is the last day of his life. This is faintly reminiscent of that kewl-ass Chinese movie(can't remember the title, something to do with 萤火虫), where the male protagonist proclaims that he is dead, right at the beginning. [SPOILER] The viewer who is probably completely absorbed by now is subsequently pulled into an intriguing plot where beings known as Guze no Tomogara from a parallel world, Guze, comes at will to Earth, and steal power of existence, which is possessed by every human, for their personal gain. This action causes humans who have had their existence stolen to completely and irreversibly vanish, creating an imbalance in the world. The minions of one such being attacks people, Sakai Yuji inclusive. Enter Shana, A Flame Haze, or a human who has made a pact with a King of Guze who wishes to purge the imbalance. Flame Hazes are granted special abilities like spellcasting and combat, and fight to stop Guze no Tomogara. Whenever humans are "eaten" by Tomogara, Flame Hazes alleviates the imbalance caused by creating a "Torch", which is a spark of existence, in place of the human. Torches will fade away with time, hence a gradual disappearance in favour of a rapid one. Shana rescues Yuji and tells him that he is one such Torch, and hence it is a certainty that he will die. [/SPOILER] Of course, there is a catch to this, but you'll have to watch the anime to find out :P

One of the things I like most about SnS I is the character development of Shana. She is completely Kawaii desu!!! The characteristic "Urusai, Urusai, Urusai!!!"(Shut up, shut up, shut up) and the fetish for melon bread, reflect a strong, slightly childish in a cool fashion, personality and heaty temperament. Whats more cool about the petite, large-eyed, flat-chested(yeah, serious) Flame Haze is that her waist-length black hair and black eyes turn a flaming crimson when she is in combat mode. Of course, a flaming sword and black voluminous cape are great assets,as always, for ass-kicking. The two extra episodes on Shana's history of becoming a Flame Haze were enjoyable and essential, in my opinion, despite what some SnS bashers say.

Finally, the first opening theme of SnS is completely kick-ass!! Hishoku no Sora by Mami Kawada. Linketh: http://youtube.com/watch?v=be4utbxs7O4 if you happen to be interested. "Why do you like jap songs so much?" "I hate j-pop; they're so noisy!" "You don't even understand it, why do you bother to listen to them?" are some of the typical responses I get for listening to jap songs. I don't happen to be a jap fan or anything, but I believe that the value we attach to songs is proportionate to their positive influence on our emotions. Nice songs are nice because they "click", because they soothe or because we can identify with the song. The reason I can listen to some jap songs 100 times or more is because the song, for me, has gained an additional unique identity, more than "just another song", in fact, more than "just another nice song like the thousands of nice songs that exist". This is gained through it being the theme song of an anime. So whenever I listen to that particular song, emotions are triggered in me as I recall the anime a thousand times stronger than those triggered by "just another nice song", the emotions worn down and faded due to the attrition of time, flowing afresh in me. That, coupled with the dynamics of the song itself, makes Hishoku no Sora an imba song. In fact, comparable to the likes of Danzai no Hana and Broken Wings.

Of course, the anime is far from flawless. Let's start from some of the more minor flaws. Firstly, the first few villains were really bad. As in, sickly bad. As in, really sick. The first villain somehow had a twisted attachment to a talking doll(which he created), while the second, blond girl-boy twins, engage in extensive French kissing, complete with saliva and stuff in the animation, that completely throws the viewer off.

Many people also mentioned the bad quality of the animation. While some of the battle scenes, on recall, do seem rather crudely animated and somewhat static, the inconsistency is not to the extent of driving me to intolerable heights of irritation. Well, perhaps different people have different standards.

What is most crucial is the predicament that the makers of SnS put themselves into. With such a powerful and absorbing introduction, people's expectations have been driven way up and as such it is hard to live up to the expected standards and constantly impress. As I myself am not so quick to formulate first impressions, I find myself relatively satisfied with the progress of the plot, which is, in all fairness, logical and flowing, although not spectacular. Of course, many other people do not find it so and think of SnS as a great opportunity wasted. Personally, I feel that a possible improvement would be to delocalize the story, instead of having it constantly centered around Misaki City. While this achieves a clear focus, it greatly curtails the epic-ness of the plot and makes it hard to retain freshness, but I guess this a fault of the novel, not the anime.

Ah, Shakugan no Shana II, the sequel that came so close to making me give up halfway through.

One of the results of having such an adorable main character is producing an extreme bias in the viewer. Perhaps that is the reason why I completely, utterly, irrevocably despise the entire love triangle thingo and despise to the core shana's love-rival Yoshida Kazumi. Keeping this in mind, understanding the torture I experienced under the unrelenting onslaught of 10 episodes of love-triangle, slice-of-life, and school-days nonsense is not a very demanding task at all. Words cannot possible express the disgust I have at the love-triangle shit. Firstly, although I really hate to use this word(my classmates will understand why), it is so CONTRIVED. Like, please, what's the chances a random girl who happens to an arch-nemesis love rival happen to find the two protagonists together every single time? Its like, hey, we're on this ulu riverbank at midnight enjoying some nice scenery, and this random girl just happens to feel like walking her dog(at midnight), and happens to pass by the ulu riverbank. Wow.

Secondly, the SPEED of the love relationship is just SO SLOW. Imagine like a full 10 episodes devoted to character interaction and the entire prior season's worth of events to boot, and the love triangle does not budge a single centimeter. Furthermore, the empathy between Shana and Yuji at the end of season 1 seems to have been conveniently forgotten in favour of more love triangle (in)action. And seriously, disappointing cannot begin to describe the first 10 episodes. How incomprehensible is it to enter a prolonged mushy school-life arc when fans are expecting an action packed fast flowing sequence?

Thirdly, the exact PURPOSE of the love triangle is indeterminate. While the existence of Yoshida Kazumi as an instrument to contrast ordinary life/life with Guze no Tomogara and Flame Haze and whatnot is somewhat justified, the air-time given to love-triangle events and nonsense is definitely not. In other words, the love triangle exists for the sole purpose of having a love triangle. It does not lend any depth to the characters nor can it make character interaction any more intense and realistic.

Which leads in to my last point. Instead of making the characters more like-able, this damned love triangle creates the reverse effect of undermining the characters. "I won't lose to you", "Me neither", this predictable dialogue has manifested itself with slight differences in phrasing/punctuation/pitch/intensity at least 5 times in the character interactions between Shana and Yoshida Kazumi. So why, why are the anime-makers so stupid as to undermine the intelligence of Shana and make her look more childish than necessary?? Utterly incomprehensible. Furthermore, 30+ episodes of love-triangle lameness serves to severely undermine the emotional quotient of our nice male protagonist, Mr. Sakai Yuji, who remains blissfully unaware of the feelings of the two female rivals throughout 30+ episodes and even starts pimping a third girl.

However, I must say that the rest of Shakugan no Shana II makes up for the inadequacy of the above nonsense (indeed a monumental achievement). The battle scenes have improved further, with some great graphics and animation and more dynamism, especially the battle with Sabrac, the destructive blade. Overall plot was more than satisfactory, with all fragments of the storyline congregating and falling into place nicely at the revelation of the final episode.

Overall, I must say that Shakugan no Shana is a really imbalanced anime, with its strong points astonishingly strong and its weak points unimaginably weak. What makes me place this series in the upper ranks of the anime I have watched has really got to be Shana, though. What a thoroughly kick-ass girl!!

Side-note: Think I'll leave GITS to some time, as I don't imagine any person would be able to get through both reviews in a single post.