Had Yuji Sakai turned a different corner his life may have remained that of a high school kid, but Sakai did turn that corner and his life changed forever. What do you do if you discover that rather than being human you are little more than a shell, a shell destined to fade away, as you are nothing more than a replacement for an already dead person? Sakai is about to find out...

Shakugan No Shana: Volume One (Shana of the Burning Eyes) is an anime based on a manga written by Yashichiro Takahasi and illustrated by Noizi Ito. The show ran for twenty-four episodes between October 2005 and March 2006 and spawned a second series as well as a number of console games. Volume One contains the first four episodes of the series.

Episode one, The End of Everything, The One Beginning, is you average intro show. Here we get to meet Sakai in his normal life, though to be honest this flits past pretty quickly before his whole world goes weird, making it difficult to care for Sakai. This isn’t helped by his reaction to discovering that the real him is dead and he is a replacement - which will eventually fade and disappear. For some reason he is almost relaxed and nonchalant about this fact. In his first encounter with the Crimson World he also meets Shana for the first time, a flamed haired warrior who fights against denizens from the Crimson World who break through and consume humans.

Episode two, The Lit Flame, and after a quick recap we get to know a little more about what is going on as Sakai interrogates Shana about the nature of his now changed reality. He discovers that he is a Mystes, which means that unlike the other fading copies, he has some form of treasure inside. Shana tells him some more about herself, declaring that she is a Flame Haze, and with one powerful denizen still at large in the city she decides that she had best keep near Sakai. We further discover that many humans have been attacked. Sakai can now see the residual flames left inside the humans who will disappear. The second half of the episode sees Sakai trying to save a girl, Hiari, who is a torch which is about to disappear wiping the victim completely out of reality.

Episode four, The Torch and the Flame Haze: In order to keep close to Sakai, Shana takes on the aspect of one of Sakai’s disappeared friends, Hirari. Initially this causes chaos at the school, more so as it makes it a target for a battle. This is exactly what happens in the second part of the episode, when Friagne turns up to collect the treasure hidden inside of Sakai. Once again Sakai seems more concerned with the fate of his friends than the fact that he will fade from existence.

Episode five, The Confused Flame Haze: Shana starts to wonder about the treasure which resides inside of Sakai and thinks that he hides a very special treasure: the Midnight Stray Child. Sakai is introduced to Alastor, who manifests himself as a pendant worn by Shana, but who in fact is a Lord of the Crimson World. Another Flame Haze turns up and, as they do not work together, a fight breaks out.

The show is presented in 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen with the option for either a Japanese or English Stereo audio track. Extras are almost non-existent as you get a textless opening, some trailers and the DVD credits.

So far the show is nothing special; the action scenes are impressive as is the overall quality of the animation, both vocal tracks are worth a listen, though the lack of any meaningful extras pulls the whole package down.

5

Charles Packer