Last time, we looked at Shakugan no
Shana Second and I talked a little about what it means to make a
sequel. I contended that, with an episodic premise (like Shakugan no
Shana kind of had, infinitely extendable through encountering and
battling a stream of new Denizens) you could pretty much make an
acceptable sequel by continuing to do the same thing you’d been doing
so far. I also contended that it could be stronger if you went above
and beyond, but at least in some cases it wouldn’t be strictly
necessary. Shakugan no Shana Second fell flat (well, flatter)
because it didn’t manage to do that much, largely scaling back and
taking away from the ante compared to season one of Shakugan no
Shana.
Shakugan no Shana Final doesn’t fall
for that trap. Nor does Shana Final just content itself extruding
more editions of the Shakugan no Shana material we already liked.
Shana Final goes above and beyond, transforming the narrative and
becoming its own thing that’s grand and new. And it kicks ass.
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