Mega Megane Moé

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What to do when you want to say something about a show where there’s really nothing to be said about it?

Unlike KimiKiss, where I can rant on and on for forever about how Yuumi is going to win lose end up alone turn lesbian for the frog sisters beat the everlasting crap out of Kouichi for being an idiot do something over the last two episodes, and unlike H2O which is really soul-rocking in it’s suck to not-suck conversion, Shana II at this point is pretty straightforward, a show that’s entertaining but not inherently analyzable, kind of like a good action movie.

So what to do when there’s jokes about making babies to be said, complaints to be voiced about Konoe Hecate, and poetic to be waxed about Ike?

The answer: more new features.

Team Zetsubou, which may or may not become a regular feature depending on how lazy and/or utterly insane I am, is a fallback type of humorous episode review / analysis, where everyone’s favorite manic mental characters from the popular dark comedy Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei get wielded as humorous stereotypes to add some flavor and some funny to a post.

All I can really say is that reading it will make more sense than me trying to explain it, although, given the style of the show, it’s doubtful that either makes sense. Still, I hope you enjoy this lighter feature, and until then, enjoy the first trial of Team Zetsubou in reviewing Shakugan no Shana II 22.

Who
is
this
Sacchin
and
why
is
she
sad?
Meet Me at Club Nayuki
Shakugan no Shana II – Episode 22

Sensei! It’s happened again!

What’s happened again, Kitsu?

Kazumi and Shana, they were going to confess to Yuuji, using proper stationery and technique and everything at the proper time, and then, and then, HECATE APPEARED AGAIN! She always appears at the most improper times to interrupt the really important moments!

(You couldn’t see that one coming a mile away? gg noob no re epic fail roflcopter. Still, Hecate needs to gtfo.)

Let’s not worry about that, ladies. What’s more important here than the interruption is the wonderful fact that Kazumi and Shana are settling their dispute the correct and Japanese animation way by peacefully working together to solve their issue of who gets Yuuji peacefully.

AHHH EF THAT WHO AM I KIDDING!? It’s stupid, no one acts like that especially not these two were were totally at war last season, but now in this season first they trip over themselves getting out of the way for a green-headed loli and now they’re being this indecisive about the love of their damn lives!? Putting all the choice on Yuuji, that’s a stupid idea! Poor guy doesn’t know what to do and he’ll probably end up picking the one that will slice his head off if he makes the wrong choice anyway! Give me a break, I ought to sue.

…also, I like eating McDonalds, shooting people in the head, and having large American breasts.

I, for one, liked this episode. It was romantic, funny, hinted at action, and, most importantly, encouraged a Shana x Kazumi pairing!

Wait, I thought you only liked yaoi couples?

Genderbending! It’s going to be the next big thing, right behind Wilhelmina x Bread. Wilhelmina is totally tsundere for bread.

You have a point…wait, those pairings aren’t proper and heterosexual AT ALL!

Still, talking about Wilhelmina, I was rather impressed with her character in this episode. She did the proper thing and didn’t spend too long drowning in her own angst like other characters in this show are oft to do. It was quite possibly the fastest conflict resolution this series has ever done, and I think that’s the proper way to do it. As opposed to spending ten episodes on it. I hope to see more of her love-love backstory in the future.

How about some other side characters next? How about Yuuji’s father, dropping the bomb that 1) he’s child number two, and 2) there’s soon to be child number three. Speaking of… Sensei, want to help me show Shana how to make some babies.

UWAHGAHARBLEAX – NO!

…All right, a speaking line!

(Yuuji’s parents must have been going at it a lot if they had to work for 14 years to get Yuuji … not to mention, they had only a few weeks for number three. Is that what side characters do when the main guys are off fighting?

Or, maybe, Yuuji’s dad cast a Fuzetsu and said “Honey, we’ve got the space-time continuum to ourselves, and we ain’t coming out till we got some babies.)

That aside I didn’t see any proper point in this segment of the show, as Yuuji’s parents are kind of sideshow characters and they don’t tend to drive much long-term plot aside from jokes about babies. I don’t see how this contributes much to the main story, although that certainly hasn’t stopped many slice-of-life shows, much less the first half of this series. I suppose it might be important if we ever get a third season of Shana, but that’s tentative in itself.

Speaking of, word is that the series is heading towards an anime original ending, closing out with Hecate. It seems like Yoshida’s life or death will be pivotal to any potential second season; she makes up a lot of the romance drama despite being an obviously outclassed character, and if she summons Pheles now, that will be the end of her and of most of the show, ruling out any random deux ex-es. There’s certainly material for a third season and I wouldn’t doubt it’s possible, but in terms of English fan love, Shana II’s getting hammered hard on the forums.

It’s not like the American opinions matter anyway, we Japanese have sensible taste and enjoy this show quite a lot, according to the forums.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE DON’T MATTER DON’T MAKE ME NUKE YOU.

…also, I like baseball, beer, and large American breasts.

What’s really frustrating about Yoshida’s character from an analytical perspective is that the only way she can stop really being sort of a necessary annoyance and obstruction is to sacrifice herself and summon Pheles, showing that her love for Yuuji goes beyond her life.

But if she does that, she will really redeem her character, which would suck because she would then be dead. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

(Game over. Time paradox.)

Speaking of bad situations, Ike was up to all manners of “Jiiiiii~” today, and is quite possibly the most interesting link in the Yoshida-Yuuji-Shana triangle. Although, truthfully, he’s not really playing a part in the triangle at all.

That’s not true! How could a person so close to me be forcefully shut out of a romance story? Anyone can win as long as they have deep love!

Kafuka, you don’t even know this guy, you’ve just watched this TV show of him!

That didn’t stop me from putting ten posters of Wilhelmina x Bread genderbending yaoi on my walls.

…

WHY DO I HAVE NO LINES, WHEN I’M THE OMNIPRESENT AUTHOR’S FAVORITE CHARACTER BY MILES!?

Uh, I mean…sen~sei~

Anyway, Ike. So he goes off and gets his hands in Shana and Kazumi’s wonderfully proper business, messing it all up again.

That’s not true! Ike is just acting out of deep love! It’s a wonderful thing for anyone to be told “I love you” and it’s a beautiful thing that Ike decided to act the way he did. Even Kazumi was moved by his words.

Uh, Kafuka? She was all distraught and curled up in her bed after that…

She was moved by his words!

But she was still too infatuated by Yuuji to even consider going after Ike. Even he probably knew that!

*wields giant cross* SHE WAS MOVED BY HIS WORDS.

Oshi- wait, that’s not a proper way to swear! And swearing isn’t proper! Wait, wait, wait, that doesn’t make any sense…

Anyway, it was a sweet scene to see Ike win the way he did.

(u kidding noob? Ike got pwned hard, it was epic fail -)

GIANT CROSS.

(Meru has exited #zetsubou: “Holy shit it’s a lion get to the chopper”)

Ike completely deserved to sweep Kazumi right off the feet into his arms. He was completely underrepresented throughout the whole show, continuing to get dragged off by that one council girl with glasses -

sweet lord yes meganekko 5/5 A++ would buy again.

…I’M IN DESPAIR! BEING TAKEN OVER BY THE AUTHOR’S FETISHIST MIND HAS LEFT ME IN DESPAIR!

– and in general getting beaten up by every other character. I’m sure many people could sympathize with his situation of being stuck with a crush he knows won’t work out in the end, and he did the honorable thing of not repressing his feelings and telling it to Kazumi straight, even when he knew he would be crushed.

Hell, you crazy, girl? He was totally hoping to score her on the rebound, since they’re in the same boat -

The same NICE boat.

…DESPAIR!

– of having no hope at all of scoring their true loves. Well, at least, Kazumi didn’t, so Ike was hoping she’d totally put out to him. Plus, he totally mindscrewed her! Imagine all the effort it takes to muster up the courage to confess to one guy and all of a sudden another one jumps on you!

GIANT EM-EFING CROSS.

Aside from the fact that I’m totally freaked out for my life here, I would have to agree with Kafuka that Ike’s actions here was really something touching. He deserves his moment in the spotlight after getting hammered on for so long, and I think it’s only fair that his feelings be expressed as well. They may not all be winners in love but they can say Ike went out with all guns firing, and did the right thing in getting his feelings out so that he can move on in his life.

Hell no, he should have kept stalking her until Yuuji finally blindsides her with the truth. Jiii~ power!

On that note, what happens if Kazuki really does end up sacrificing herself? Will the power-of-existence eating consume the fact that she ever really was there? Or will we get uber-mega-broken Ike? Either way is kind of sad.

I have two answers for you. One, ritual suicide,

and two, Jerry Springer. “He made the love of my life use up her power of existence to save his stupid loli tsundere!” GIVE ‘IM THE CHAIR, IKE!

…Uh, let’s see…any other ground we forgot to cover.

Oh, wait, yeah. Sabrac’s not dead. What the hell?

THEY PLAYED AN INSERT SONG! HOW COULD THAT NOT KILL HIM!?

I guess they still have to give him a proper death at the hands of white panti – er, Shana. But Hecate looks to be the main villain for the closing episodes (are we going to 24 or 26?), so I’m not sure where they’ll fit Sabrac. Maybe as a distraction while Hecate pseudo-rapes Yuuji again.

To the doujin machine~! Hecate-kun x Reiji Maigo x Yuuji!

Alright Chiri, I’ll take over from here since you and I have the exact same relevance here in actually talking normally about the show.

Hey, speaking of, where’s that “Don’t say normal!” girl? Did we miss some characters?

We missed a lot of characters. This doesn’t represent the Zetsubou class properly at all!

Maria’s still here! Even though Maria got no speaking lines, Maria is glad just to be here. Mega Megane Moe is such a nice blog!

I’M IN DESPAIR! EGOISTICAL SELF-REFERENCES HAVE LEFT ME IN DESPAIR!

C’mon, sen~sei~, we’re almost done, let me speak for a bit here. So, what we have to look forward to in the next few episodes goes something like this: exciting Hecate action, boring Hecate action, hopefully more awesome Sabrac and Wilhelmina fights, generally a lot of exciting action fight scenes, and absolutely no resolution between Yuuji, Shana and Kazumi until the last five seconds. I’m looking forward to it, in the end. Shana II might turn out to be a reasonably well done show after all.

(Well, if it weren’t so damn predictable all the time in regards to the romantic elements.)

And that’s that for the first outing of the Team Zetsubou Review. If you enjoyed it, please send donations in the form of love letters, cash, or sanity. And remember, stay in despair, kids! See, watch:

I’M IN DESPAIR! FORCING MYSELF TO BE IN DESPAIR HAS LEFT ME IN DESPAIR!
I’M IN DESPAIR! BEING IN DESPAIR ABOUT BEING IN DESPAIR LEAVES ME IN EVEN MORE DESPAIR!
I’M IN DESPAIR! YET AGAIN BEING IN DESPAIR ABOUT…

-CCY

(Dear God no I am not putting an alt-image on every one of those pictures.)

Tagged as Shakugan no Shana, Team Zetsubou Reviews + Categorized as Shakugan no Shana II, Team Zetsubou Reviews