That Fall Review: 1st episode of Dragonaut and Shana II

Finally it has come for the more anticipated shows to arrive to our little screen. With glee, THAT Anime Blog welcomes the two hotshots of the Fall season, namely the lolicious Shana in Shakugan no Shana II, as well as the boob-filled (I am not kidding) Dragonaut. I will build on the anticipation that I really enjoy both series, even though for rather different reasons. I will not be doing a shorter summary for Shana II by the way, since the english subs are on their way for release and a zillion over people have blogged about it.

Well, let’s cut to the chase and tell you about my experiences after watching it. I hope you also had the chance to watch it before me so that you can correct my errors! If there are any, that is! I hope not

Dragonaut

Episode summary

Jin was ready to board a shuttle captained by his father, and bid farewell to his friend Kazuki. However, a asteroid shot three fireballs at Earth, and it struck the shuttle, bursting it into flames. Jin somehow survived, but everyone died. Two years later, Jin was on his way to school, and felt that he was all alone. Cromwell, the leader of the Lindblom Unit of the International Solar System Development Agency (ISDA), was interviewed on television about the Thanatos asteroid. He said that despite its orbit, it was possible that it might approach Earth. That was why the D project was conducted. While Jin traveled, a man named Kou tried to get some details from Jin but was ignored.

Kou noticed a girl across the girl that looked familiar, but she vanished in a flash. Kou then tried to take a picture of the girl, and showed it to Yuuri but it was too blur to tell whether she was a “Communicator”. Yuuri then returned back to the ISDA, and they are doing a new Resonance tonight. She also added that coming over ISDA made her feel that all meetings have deeper meanings. Kazuki was brought to the ISDA, and was close to a dragon embryo. Nevertheless, the reasonance that caused Kazuki some pain was a success, and he was happy. At night, Jin heard a scream, and moved over, only to see her attacked by a huge creature. He ran away in fear and escaped to a nearby building, but the creature continued to gave chase.

As he was struck out of the building, he was reminded of how he was in the same situation two years ago. His mother and sister were falling, but was hit by the debris. As he was about to fall then, a bright light saved him. In present time, a girl then saved him and fended off the creature enough for it to crash against a truck. Nevertheless, the creature looked unharmed as it ran off. A loli called Sieglinde, and her attendant Amadeus came out and she said that it escaped. As Jin woke up, he remembered what happened as the girl who saved him stood nearby. She introduced herself as Toa, and Jin felt that he was no longer alone in this world.

Thoughts

Everyone has boobies. The end of the review.

Well, if anything, this show has quite the extensive amount of fanservice but it is luckily not detracting from the actual story plot. I am pretty much amazed at how this show has been shaping up, and it has to be one of the better shows that is released in this season’s offerings. There is a good pace on the story telling, particularly that when a joyful situation like flying along a space shuttle turned into a total disaster within the matter of seconds. That hook got me immediately in the story, and he is well known in a wrong way.

All the characters seemed interesting enough, and the male protagonist is brooding, yet clearly lonely. In a way, he is not the typical main character that is a lone ranger, but was forced to be so by one. Toa is also seemingly interesting, and I want to know what this Resonance and Communicator is. There are enough plot holes to be discovered, and I want to know more about it. I am somewhat surprised at the amount of subtle/non-subtle fanservice in the show that can be a bit obstructive for viewing pleasure at times.

The graphics are extremely consistent, and it is with high hopes that I say that the series will maintain this standard of graphical excellence. I also dig the OP quite a bit, as well as the ED! This is a series with good stuff all around. If I have to be nit picky with the episode, I find that there are too many characters introduced at the start of the show for people to catch on. A slower approach to the story, and centralizing it to a few characters at the first episode might be a better option. Yet, that is for me only.

Shakugan no Shana II

Episode summary

It was September again, and the same cast returned to us. However, Yuuji realized that he had a similar conversation with Ike in the classroom. The appearance of Friange confirmed his suspicions that they are fighting something that is already dead. The confusion continued when he asked Ike about the cherry blossoms in September, only for his words to be ignored. He also asked her mother about where she bought the coffee, and his words are ignored. As Sorath and Tyrael appeared with vines, Yuuji realized that Shana could not see him because he was not there, but he determined that he was in his own dream.

Finally, he snapped out of it, and returned to reality. Shana was screaming at him and they are fighting against a Tomagura. It seemed that this Tomagura had the powers to make Yuuji go into dream land, but the Tomagura was dispatched easily by Shana. At the end, Yuuji asked Shana about the thing she said during the last battle. Shana blushed and made an excuse that she complimented him on being useful. As the school season started, it is clear that Kazumi is ready to fight with Shana for Yuuji. It is business as usual!

Thoughts

Yes, I am going to stick with the typical comment that all Shana fans will say. URUSAI IS BACK AND IS POPULAR AGAIN. The people out at J.C Staff are definitely pulling all the stops to make this Shana franchise working fine and it is clear to see that this is likely to be another fan hit sequel. The coming back of Urusai has been anticipated, and they made a bit of a recap in order to allow the viewers to remember what has transpired in the previous series.

I also enjoyed how the plot started out like a partial recap but it also has a bit of fresh material in which it is assumed into the true plot of this episode at the very least. The storytelling is definitely magnificent, and I really like it when Wilhemia comes back with her bag, de arimasu~. Nevertheless, the star here is definitely Shana, and the fans of Shana are even given fanservice on her blushing when she was asked about her confession in the previous series.

The graphics, unless I am mistaken, has been up by at least a few notches. I find that the fluidity of the graphics is clearly different from the last season, and this bodes well for our cute loli who is going to have a nice fight ahead of her. I really LOVE THE OP for this, simply because it is very appealing for the ears. The ED is also done in a very excellent manner. There is little doubt in my heart currently that Shakugan no Shana II is the show for the fans, and it will be a spectacular success if it can keep this thing up.