A couple of weeks ago, I bought the novel, Shakugan no Shana, for a completely idiotic reason. I knew it was a stupid reason, but I bought it anyway. The reason was this: the author, Yashichiro Takahashi, is friends with Hiromu Arakawa (manga-ka behind Fullmetal Alchemist.) But anyway, unlike most of the time, I had not read any reviews of the book, so I didn’t have any preconceptions about how good it would be. I’d already seen the first two or three episodes of the anime (which were neither awesome nor awful), but I know that the original source is often very different.
On to the actual review. To be blunt, I hated it. Except the artwork, which was quite nice.
Story: I suppose that, on it’s own, the story’s concept is decent enough, if rather similar to Bleach (and probably others), but there are too many plot holes and not enough character development. Also, there are too many infodumps, where Yuuji asks Shana a ton of questions. Despite these infodumps, there aren’t really any good conversations that actually develop the characters. Also, there are some ideas that are hinted at, but never explained or developed, like Shana’s reason for becoming a flame haze. As far as I can tell, it’s not in a series of books, so did the author arrogantly expect an anime/manga where the story could be explained? No, I should not personally insult the author. It wasn’t really that much of a monstrosity.
[EDIT] My bad, it is a series.
Characters: As I mentioned, the characters were not very fleshed out. Their personalities are told of, rather than shown. For instance, we are told that Yuuji doesn’t obsess over stuff, but it’s not really shown. Yuuji himself is such a boring character that I can’t see why Shana and Kazumi like him so much.
As for Shana, she kind of does a 180 at the end of the book. Throughout the book, she had been taciturn and immature, but at the end, she gets all mushy and selfless. Characters should still be themselves when they are in love! I know that’s part of the whole tsundere thing, but that’s why I don’t really think that whole character type works. If they didn’t totally change their personalities, it could work, but only if done really well.
The other thing that irked me was the main villain. His love for Marion seems so… overwrought. I’m not quite sure whether it was supposed to be funny or sad. It was neither, really. For it to be sad, they’d actually have to be fully-developed characters. It would have to be even more overwrought to be funny, but I don’t think that would fit the book very well.
Also, I’d like to say that the scene where Yuuji sees Shana changing and thinks she’s gorgeous was creepy after being told that she looks like a 12-year old the whole book. I love moe and all, but there is a line.
Prose: Was very purple, especially in descriptions of Shana. This is not good. Also, I think the sheer amount of description cuts away from the value of the novel, as you’ll see in pacing. He also seems to like describing battles in great detail, though there isn’t really any sense of urgency or carnage. Maybe the awful prose was just a translation thing, but I doubt it.
Along with being purple, there was really no humor in the book. Any “funny” parts were completely unfunny. Anything funny was purely unintentional.
Also, I must wonder: did there really have to be a love triangle? It added nothing to the story, except ego-stroking on Yuuji’s part. He’s not really that great, so why do the like him? At least show him being great.
Pacing: For a 220-page book, not much really happened. Maybe it’s because of all that purple prose, love triangle crap, and long, boring conversations. And huge print.
Art: Ah, the one salvageable part of the book. The few pages of art (courtesy of Noizi Ito, of the Suzumiya Haruhi novels), look very nice. Her character designs are always good.
Overall, unless you are already a fan of the series, save yourself and don’t read this book. It may not be the worst thing ever, but it’s still pretty awful. I know many people will disagree, but…
Next Death Note post: coming soon!
