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Wednesday, 21 March 2007 |
 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | GENEON ENTERTAINMENT | | | ▪ | ASPECT RATIO: | | 16:9 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN | | | ▪ | AUDIO: | | ENGLISH AND JAPANESE DD 2.0 | | | ▪ | RUNNING TIME: | | 100 MIN | | | ▪ | RATING: | | 13UP | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 01/16/2007 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 03/22/2007 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | HOLLY ELLINGWOOD |
After Shana’s win over Margery, she focuses on training Yuji to be able to fight and protect himself. However, her single-mindedness conflicts with his life at school and his time with his friends, especially the girl Kazumi. Shana, struggling in her attempts to acclimatize as posing as human, doesn’t understand her hostility and conflicted emotions towards Kazumi and Yuji. Just when revelation strikes however, not two, but three deadly Crimson Denizens appear and they have plans for Shana…
Approaching the halfway point of the series, Shana struggles through some pivotal and very personal revelations this volume. Shana’s growing awareness of her heart, her feelings, are sympathetic to watch and frustrating at the same time. It isn’t really until Kazumi confronts Shana that the Flame Haze is forced to reveal her inner emotions, much to her own surprise. But such confusion over these new emotions may give her enemies the opening they need to lay a deadly trap for Shana.
This volume also marks the introduction of a staggering three new Crimson Denizens, ones that even Margery is afraid to tangle with. With their appearance, they solidify the thread of unease that has been woven throughout this series so far. The anime could play out like a straight forward fantasy adventure except for its underlying tone of unease and disturbing visuals often involving the Denizens, who are eerie beings that perform horrific acts upon the humans they come across. These disturbing moments make the series darker than anticipated but also that much more intriguing. Two of the latest arrivals are by far the most unsettling so far. The brother and sister team known as Sorath and Tiriel share an all-consuming lust for human souls and for each other. Their incestuous and psychotic demeanour is disturbing to watch and we learn they have come here for a purpose. They want Shana, or more specifically, something she has. These two may be more than even Shana can handle and the end of this volume closes on a deadly battle with Shana having fallen into their deadly little hands.
EXTRAS:
Bonus features include reverse cover art, Geneon previews, production art gallery, and Naze Nani Shana video which is an omake styled animated short humorously done to provide viewers with information about the world of the Crimson Denizens.
IN SUMMARY:
Shana is an enthralling dark fantasy series. It has many disturbing elements introduced in this latest volume while Shana struggles with her human emotions towards Yuji and a trap is laid out by new and deadly enemies. |
