Burning the Movie Screen – A Shakugan no Shana Movie Review

As I have mentioned before in my reviews of entries of this franchise, the Shakugan no Shana series is adapted from a long series of light novels. Usually, when a novel or a light novel is adapted, changes have to be made or parts have to be glossed over due to budget or other concerns. I will be the first to admit that I have not read the light novels, but that won’t deter me from reviewing the Shakugan no Shana movie, which is apparently closer to the first light novel in the series.

Unknown to most of the world, Denizens from the Crimson Realm intrude upon our realm and devour the very existence of people, which puts the world’s balance at risk. Sakai Yuji learns about this world the hard way one day, meeting the Flame Haze he would later refer to as Shana, as well as learning that he is really a Torch, a replacement for the real Sakai Yuji. Despite this, he is willing to help Shana against the Denizen that is threatening Misaki City, Friagne the Hunter…

Released in 2007, the Shakugan no Shana was released in an original 65 minute version and a 90 minute director’s cut. For my review, I watched the latter. Having not seen the original, I can’t say what has been added or expanded upon. What I can say is that this movie essentially goes over the same ground as the first arc of the first series did, only it is closer to the first light novel.

Starting off with characters, the main ones on the protagonist side are Shana, Yuji, and Kazumi. There isn’t much change to their characters between the anime and this movie. There is also a little more time spent on Yukari Hirai, which makes her ultimate fate hit a little harder when it comes her time. Margery Daw also has more influence in this movie than she did in the TV series at this point, actually helping Shana out in this fight.

With the antagonists, you only have Friagne and Mariane to focus on. The movie goes out of its way to really play up how dangerous Friagne is, as he has way more Rinne (in the forms of dolls and mannequins for the most part) to throw at Shana and Margery in their fights.  The final fight between him and the two Flame Haze is much more evenly matched as well. As for Mariane, her actions are a little more expanded upon, which makes her fate be a little more tugging on the heart strings.

Friagne also makes better use of his various weapons in this film, as shown here.

The animation looks good, though a lot of it seems to be just taken from the TV series, which can be seen as cheap by both fans and non-fans. The last third of the film is mostly new footage, however, and it looks pretty good. The fight scenes are a joy to watch, though, especially all the newly animated ones.

As for the story of the movie itself, it does do a better job in playing up the themes of existence and Shana’s eventual acceptance of Yuji better than the series, in my opinion. Though Shana’s opinion on Yuji may seem sudden, it still works well in the context of the movie, given the running time. There are still points of school banter in between fights, but that’s always been a problem with the Shana shows.

Those hoping for a little fanservice won't be out of luck in this movie.

When it comes down to it, I would recommend the Shana film to both fans of the franchise and non-fans, as it is a good entry to the Shana series. Unfortunately, while the movie is licensed by Funimation, there is no official release of it in the states yet. One would have to use other means, if you wish to see it.

-DenjinZ