Toonami has been around since 1997. For all that time, minus 4 years because of cancellation, there has been a number of cartoons and animes on Toonami. Some were great, Some were just merely good. Others were bad. Some you question why they were on there (Hamtaro). And others … well there was Wulin Warriors and Dragonball GT. (If you want to know what shows have graced Toonami throughout the years, K!NG IC3 made a rundown of that with his piece last week.) Of course, there are so many shows that been on here, you were bound to not like some of them that been on here. I have run into a few that I have not liked. I have found a few shows that I loved that a bunch of others hated. With today’s rampant social media, instead of a group of friends at school or home around you to know what shows you like or hate, thousands of people or more can now see what you feel, and maybe share that same sentiment. Although, sometimes if you even voice displeasure with a show, you get called out for it. Or called a troll. Or worse. But does it really matter if we like something or don’t? We are all here for one thing: Toonami. I’m here to break down whether or not you should hate-watch any show. Toonami or otherwise.

So I believe I should start off with the obvious question: Can you hate watch a show on Toonami?

Short answer: Yes!!

Really, that’s it. If you want to watch a show that you don’t like, go ahead. No one is stopping you. I know a bunch of people on Twitter who will find this notion stupid, and will judge you for that, and even say, “Well if you don’t like _____ show, then don’t watch it at all!!” Here’s the thing though: We can watch it, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Why? Cause we are our own person. We have free will. If we don’t want to watch something, then we won’t. If we want to stop watching something we hate, then we can do that too. If we want to watch something that we hate cause we like making fun of it, then so be it. That last one. Yeah, others won’t like that, and might call you out for it, but guess what? As I said, there’s nothing they can do. We can make our own choices. Don’t like it? Tough. And besides that, does it really matter what others have to say? What they believe isn’t as important as what you believe. Like what you want. Don’t like the thing if you don’t find it interesting. Also, hate-watching can prove beneficiary. Whether it be Naruto Shippuden, Bleach, Sword Art Online, Michiko and Hatchin, Casshern Sins, or Tenchi Muyo GXP, if you watch it, and tweet about the flaws they have or something stupid that happened when it’s showing, you are still watching it, and are giving Toonami more audience and better ratings. Now is that a good thing? Yeah, since you are helping Toonami in a way. Sure it doesn’t seem right, but hey, they will take whatever.

But I since I ask the “can” of hate-watching, I have to ask another question: Should you hate-watch a show, any show, at all?

Answer: Ummmm…

Yeah, that one is a tricky question. As I said, you can hate-watch, but isn’t the point of watching a show to be entertain by it for the 15, 30, or 60 minutes, however long it’s on, for? Well, that’s what we should strive for, but it doesn’t always work out that way, and we might start hating it like that. Let me give a few examples of some things that could lead to hate-watching.

• The program you are watching starts off awesome in the few episodes. Then is mostly complete shit the rest of the way. 

Usually when a show starts, it can be either good or bad. Some can start poorly, but get really good. Some can start pretty good, but end on a low note. Any show that you watch can have highs and lows depending on how it goes (and how long it goes on for). But there are some that just start out spectacular, and you want to see where it goes on from there. And it then the next episode happens, and it turns to complete shit, and you wonder why you watched it to begin with. Does anyone but me remember the NBC show The Event? (Most of you are going, “HUH?” right now.)  I could go into details, but that show was so great to start off with, and then the writers gave up after the first 2 episodes. Sometimes these shows you want to be great after that all happened, but it just doesn’t pan out cause that’s not how things work. The closest Toonami show I can see with this is probably Attack on Titan. It started out with all that drama, and the action and Titans and that. But after 8 episodes, it kinda lost its fizzle. Of course, AoT is nowhere near as bad as the show I mentioned above, and I enjoyed it the first time through, but the second time I saw it when it first aired on Toonami, it was really boring after those first few episodes. Others I know pointed this out on their first time through it. Still, not as hate-watchable like other Toonami shows (or maybe it is for you, person reading this), but you get it.

• Shows that get a ton of hype.

You know what shows these are. They are the ones everyone’s been talking about. It gets talked so much about how good it will be. It is advertise alot to point of annoyance. And when it gets here, it feels to you that it wasted your time and life with all of it. Most live sporting events fall into this. But in terms of shows, there are a ton of them that fall down this rabbit hole. Most recent for me was Fear The Walking Dead. And this is from someone who likes The Walking Dead too. (Main reason for me hating FTWD: The main family sucks.) The biggest one for me was New Girl. I remember when that was advertised to death. You couldn’t escape Zooey Deschanel “adorkable” character anywhere you went. The ads were everywhere, even I believe on Adult Swim a couple times. Well, it finally did premiere, and to me, it was awful. I somehow sticked around for one season, and I couldn’t stand the random hipster baby talk. (Actually, I sticked around for a little of S2 so I can see former Attack of the Show co-host Olivia Munn, and see what she did on there. She was there for 3 episodes, and did nothing. I dropped it after that.) The hype can sometimes defer all the good the show wanted to see, but hide how bad it could actually be. Are there people who liked New Girl? It did pretty good for 3 seasons, so yes. But again, just because others buy into the hype, doesn’t mean you do.

Now if we talk about Toonami shows, the most overhyped show probably would be Sword Art Online and its sequel, SAO II (Crap, I can hear the voices of a bunch of their fans calling for my head now.) While I did actually like the first half of the first season, till it went into ALO, and if you know me, you know how I really feel about the sequel (If you don’t, here it is: It’s downright terrible.) But the show has a bunch of fans. The problem is, alot hype it up to be an anime that is GOD-TIER!!! The King of All Animes. Problem is, it isn’t. It has too many flaws for it to be the best. Sorry SAO fans. This also implies to your show too, DBZ Fanboys. (And while I’m at it, what the hell is a God-Tier anime suppose to be? Doesn’t that mean it’s supposed to be near-perfect in every way? Sorry, there is no such thing since all animes have flaws. Even the great ones.)

• Reading a show’s synopsis

Yeah this one doesn’t happen to much, but hear me out. Have you read a show’s synopsis before watching it, like what it was all about? And it makes you think about everything you see. Like, it feels so generic, or it rips off another show, or it just gonna be poor man’s version of ______? Well, this does happen, and sometimes, it can lead to hate-watching. An example from this season, Asterisk Wars, or “Ass Wars” as fellow writer Starstorm called it to begin with. Everything sounds so bad reading it. From harem anime, to fights in a school-like city, to ecchi (although, there’s nothing wrong with these. Just need the execution of said stuff to make it enjoyable, which other shows have done) and then the kicker, “Star Wars Festival.” No really. It literally says “Star Wars Festival” on there. Then you watch it, and what-you-know, it all plays out. With OP MC, unnecessary boob-and- panty shots of females, and every female wanting to sleep with the guy. (With, included because of said festival, Star Wars-sound effects and weapons that look like Light Sabers. It was made by A-1 Pictures, and they did THE SAME THING in SAO II as well. Which makes me say this: How has A-1 not been sued by Disney/Lucas Arts yet?) Yes, I’m hate-watching this cause I can. I said it above, you can’t stop me. It’s also not the first time I have done it, and I’m guessing you have done this as well. Of course, sometimes doing this you think a show is gonna be bad, but then you’re surprise that the shows thing turned out to be good. My examples this year would be School-Live! and Is It Wrong To Try to Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? The former is very moé. (That’s all I can say. Anything else I say will ruin the show.) The latter … umm yeah, the title says it all. And because of the boob-ribbon goddess, Hestia, and people shitting on her for the memes she created. But I was surprised by both, and like them alot. Again, if you didn’t like them, that’s okay as well.

These are just a few examples of what could lead to hate-watching a show/anime. I ask if you should hate-watch a show. As I said, it’s tricky. Most than likely, the real answer should be no. Cause why watch a show you don’t like? I mean, you are suppose to enjoy a show you are watching. And if you don’t like it, what’s the point of doing it? Also, it doesn’t seem really healthy to watch a show that you hate. But again, that doesn’t stop most people, including myself, from doing it. And as I said, no one can tell you to not hate-watch something.

Now that I went over the “can” and “should” of hate-watching, I want to get into one more topic before I leave off. And that is this: The don’t’s of hate-watching. Yes, I know there really shouldn’t be any rules to hate watching. But I believe there are. Mostly just some things for being respectful. Here are some.

• If you hate the show, but another person likes it (or vice-versa), don’t try to change that person’s opinion.

Look, sorry to all SAO fans who can take the criticism, but we all saw this during Sword Art Online’s run on Toonami. Just because you like the show or hate the show, doesn’t mean others have the same damn opinion as you. Now before SAO II made its start on Toonami, I saw it myself. I didn’t like it. I knew what was coming. Know what I did? I said that Toonami would get good ratings from it. Why? Because alot of people like SAO. That’s no secret. It’s one of the biggest animes right now. It made no sense for Toonami to not get it. Again, I didn’t like the show. But I knew it do good. Now because I hated the show, I got called “a hater”, I got blocked by a few, and had to defend friends from bullshit like death threats. Again, just because someone likes or hates a show, that doesn’t mean you can change their opinion. I said it many times in this article, so you should already know

Now, if you like SAO or any other show I don’t like, that’s fine. You like it. I’m not stopping you. More power to you, in fact. If you don’t like SAO, well hey, join the club. If you try to change people’s opinions about what they do/don’t, and decide to block them, or not be friends anymore because of it, well, you are nothing but an insecure kid/man-child. Face the facts. Just respect people’s opinions on shows.

• Don’t go after the companies who are advertising their product. 

Now we all know Toonami is a big influence with a lot of people. Because of that, alot of people get to see shows dubbed that they may not see, or shows they haven’t seen at all, even subbed, because they don’t have time. Companies like Funimation, Aniplex of America, and new to the Toonami fray, Sentai Filmworks, will advertise their shows via social media, hoping people will turn in. This is a great thing they do. Know what’s not so great? Telling companies that are doing their job that you hate their show, criticizing them for it, and telling them it shouldn’t air at all. Just what do you think you’re doing trying to accomplish something like this? Yeah, we all may not like most shows, but that doesn’t mean we should attack a company that trying to get a product out. If you such a hate-boner for a show that you are willing to steep this low, log off for a while and calm your damn self. They are doing nothing but showcasing what they have. You need to respect their job.

• Don’t think of what’s coming next. Just try to enjoy the ride as long as possible.

Okay, I know I been down this path before. I know everyone has. Thinking of what will replace what, and hoping to get rid of this show or that. Look, we all love Toonami, and we all want it to continue on for a long time. So of course we think of new shows that will come to the network after something ends. But if you just want something to replace the show you hate immediately, want it off the air like *THAT*, “replace X show with Y show, because Y show is so much better than X show”, blah blah blah! Here’s something to consider: Have you thought of enjoying the now instead of the when? Toonami right now is at its peak in the ratings department. There have been so many diverse shows that we couldn’t have seen on Cartoon Network. Why not be happy about what’s on? Yes, Michiko and Hatchin may not be as “action-y” as, say Hunter X Hunter or even DBZ Kai. And Shippuden is admittedly just boring ninja filler for 50% of the time. And One Piece doesn’t get the ratings like the others do (even though it’s shown at 2 freakin’ 30 AM on a Saturday night.) And Kill La Kill might be sexualized a bit. Okay a lot. Whatevs. Point is, enjoy the now. We don’t know how long it will last. Yes, we will get new stuff in the future. But we can’t have it all. You think we learned this when the schedule got cut earlier this year.

• Don’t get too caught up in your hate-watching

So what do I mean by this? I’m just trying to say if you hate-watch a show (or just enjoy a show, for that matter), please don’t take it too far. Don’t be a person who acts like a child and blocks everyone because they like or dislike a show. Don’t be the person who thinks their opinion matters above anyone else because that makes you look like an maniac. And please don’t attack/threaten others because they like/dislike something. It’s a damn Japanese cartoon. What type of sad, miserable life do you have to have if you do something as despicable as that?  If you do it, you’re nothing more than an asshole. Just be mindful of others, that’s all.

Well, I said all wanted to. I really hope you find this insightful. As I said above, you can hate-watch anything you want. It’s a free world, and no one is stopping you from doing it. Hate-watch whatever you want, if you want to. Be it Toonami shows, other animes, or The Kardashians, whatever. Just as long as your mindful of other people’s opinions on the matter, no matter if they may seem very annoying, and as long as you don’t attack others personally. Now to close this piece, even though we might not agree on which Toonami shows we like/don’t, I think we can all agree that there is one show we all do hate and just want its reign of terror to end immediately.

You’re welcome, people.

So before I begin my review on this, let me just tell you a little story. When the first Shakugan no Shana ended, I wanted to watch more of it. It ended on a cliffhanger (kinda) and it was a pretty fun show, excluding that romantic triangle crap. I was excited to see where it would go, and if I was gonna be able to see more of it. Well, lucky for me, as soon as the first season ended on-demand, the second one was right there, ready to be watched. I was freaking ecstatic about it, and watched it right there. And that’s where the problems begin. Is that a spoiler for what’s to come? Well, you’ll find out. Here’s my second review of the Shana anime series, Shakugan no Shana II. 

This review, like the other, will have spoilers. So if you haven’t watched it, be warned

Story and Characters

We begin the story in the 2nd Semester, and Yuji has forgotten what Shana said to him after she unleashed Alastor’s full power. So yeah, he doesn’t know that she loves him, but has maybe a feeling since it’s all over her face. The romantic rivalry between Shana and Yoshida for Yuji’s heart is still going on, and everything else at school seems normal. Until a Denizen attacks that makes everything feel like deja vu for Yuji, with Friagne attacking the school, the incest twins coming back, and all that. Yuji realizes it’s all a dream, and it’s what the supposedly weak Denizen controls, and does wake up from it. But the Denizen attacks again, this time taking hold of Yoshida’s dream, and Shana and Yuji have to beat it there. It tries to take Yuji’s “Midnight Lost Child” treasure tool, you know, the thing keeping Yuji alive as a Torch, for Bal Masqué, by going inside his body, but the MLC (Yeah, I’m gonna be calling the Midnight Lost Child that for now on, because it’s shorter and saves me from carpel tunnel,) has a “Keeper” in place, to block the Denizen from attacking. Shana gets the Denizen, Yoshida wakes up, and the Denizen is dead. And that’s the first 2 episodes of the show. Let’s skip ahead now to episode 13, shall we. What’s that? I can’t? B-but it so … fine. I guess I shall tell them to save them the trouble.

Before I go on, some other stuff to point out. Yuji’s is getting stronger, and has an endless supply of Power of Existence from the MLC, because of the fountain of existence he got from Supreme Throne Hecate … um, “merging” with him in Season 1. He’s now as strong as a Crimson Lord, believe it or not. Also, in other news, other than the Shana/Yuji/Yoshida 3-way love fest, Tanaka and Ogata are a thing, even if she’s denying it at first, Margery is still as drunk as ever, and Wilhelmina is not saying “Indeed” as much. (Okay, that’s not a thing. But her VA here doesn’t say it as much as her Ocean VA does.)

After the Denizen is beat, a new transfer student arrives. Her name is Fumina Konoe. There’s just one problem to this: She sorta, kinda, really looks like Hecate. Like the resemblance is uncanny. I mean, look at them both.

Shana and the others are suspicious of Konoe because of this, and so they do test her to see if she is the real deal, even if Yuji doesn’t want to. Those test include having Margery use a spell to see if she can sense it, and having Shana have a “newborn Denizen” that is trying to get Shana, try to attack her and take her POE (yes, I’m shortening “Power of Existence” as well.) But both fail, and she seems like a normal human girl. Of course “normal” is when she can’t take care of her freakin’ self (She can’t even get out/set her textbooks right without needing Yuji to help her), lives in a mansion with a butler, and she thinks it’s what people all do, and then clinging to Yuji like a puppy wanting attention, and doing this ALL THE TIME! She clings to him all the time that their freakin’ homeroom teacher tells Yuji to watch her and walk her to and from school every day. No, really.  This, of course, makes Shana angry and jealous, and it also makes Yoshida jealous as well. They don’t like that this basically turned into, my words here, a “love quadrilateral.” And Yuji, being as dense as he was in the first season, is just as dense, if not more, here.

Mostly, the first half of this season is really all just romantic crap I just can’t stand. A lot of the times, the girls get talks about how to be romantic, or how to deal with jealousy, and other stuff I really don’t care. We do learn some more stuff, like who Outlaw is, a big organization who deals out info on the Flame Haze’s world, and where Flame Hazes and humans work together to beat Denizens. And Yuji is controlling his POE more too, and getting better. But all that romantic stuff, man. Also, Yuji’s friend, Ike, gets an episode where he tries to impress Yoshida, but fails MISERABLY at it. I’ll get to him more on here, because I’m not done with him. But mostly, I want to say, anyone watching this show doesn’t really give a crap about Ike. I didn’t, that’s for sure.

There’s also a 2 episode flashback where Tanaka and Sato want to help Margery out more, and she tells them a story from her past in post-Great Depression New York. It’s about fighting a steam Denizen, and about a young Flame Haze named Yuri who wants to save people. Just know the kid gets sacrifice by Margery when fighting Sydnonay (he’s there too) so she can save her own life, and something that gets to Tanaka and Sato about helping humans or something. The only two things I can take from this is that we meet one of the “4 Gods of the Earth” in East Edge, and you’ll meet the others in Season 3, and we see how Margery got pissed off at the Silver guy, because he killed all the people she wanted to get revenge on first. Also this fanservice shot of Margery. Because, wow.

(As you can see, there was supposed to be a nearly nude Margery pic here. But my editor said no to it. Just google search Shakugan no Shana II for the pic.)

Anyway, back to the topic on hand. There was one last important thing that also happened. Yuji was taught to cast a seal. And he did. However, this leads to finding out that he has silver flames popping out of said seal. They belong to the Silver, which makes Yuji an enemy now of Margery. They have to keep this a secret for her or else bad things will happen to Yuji. Other stuff that happens includes Shana and Yoshida actually starting to like Konoe and trust her. They also start to form a weird sort of friendship themselves, even if they still are fighting for Yuji.

The show then gets to the Autumn Festival at school, where everyone is working hard, and Ike gets dragged down by the a girl name Fujita on here, working him like a dog to make the festival. All I can say is he needs to grow some balls and tell her to stop and give him a break. Even the others are looking at him like he needs to. We are introduced to another character on here, who starts as a stalker-like figure, but only because he loves doing stuff like this as pranks. This guy is Kantaro Sakai, aka Yuji’s father. He’s usually away on business, so he making his first appearance in season 2 makes sense. Or not. Just know he knocked up Yuji’s sweet mother in high school, and that’s why they married early. They still love each other a whole lot.

As work continues on the Autumn Festival, Wilhelmina tells Shana and Yuji about a new threat to Yuji. The threat is in an old friend she thought was long dead. That friend is Pheles, the Caprice of Beauty, who is not only a Crimson Lord, but had a part in making the MLC. She had a human lover named Johan, and they were called the “Promised Pair.” She created the MLC so to never leave his side, and he became the MLC’s first Mystes. However, they get caught in a battle with Sabrac, the Destructive Blade (I’ll get to him in a bit) and nearly lost their lives. The MLC left Johan and later ended up in Yuji. Now she wants the MLC back. And that Keeper from earlier? That was there so no one could steal the MLC from her. Although, Pheles and the Silver have nothing to do with each other, they believe.

The Autumn  Festival finally arrives. And everyone parades in their costumes based Shakespeare/Wizard of Oz roles.

As they get to the end, Shana is one of the winner as being Dorthy. She gets to deliver a speech, and there, she will announce her love to Yuji. As she is about to, a gust of wind that been going around the city arrives in the form of a tornado, and Pheles arrives.

I wanted to move to Episode 13, because this is where shit finally goes down. Pheles gets hold of Yuji. He becomes scared and cast a seal, which has the Silver flames he got shown. And Margery is there to see it all. She, of course, goes into a murderous rage, and basically levels the school. She gets a lot of the kids, including Tanaka’s girl, Ogata, and this makes him freak the hell out. Sato and Marco try to help, but her wanting revenge is not stopping her. Wilhelmina and Shana try their best to control not only Margery, but get Pheles as well. She just wants the MLC from Yuji. They both stop them eventually. Margery calms down after they tell her they won’t know the link of Silver and Yuji if he’s killed.  They know Silver shouldn’t be in the MLC, though. Also, Pheles tells them that Johan is still alive in the MLC, just sealed in there. And Yuji has no idea what he is, because of all the shit that is happening to him. (He a Torch, a Mystes, has a Silver guy in him, and more stuff later on. Can’t we just call him a freak for now?)

After restoring the school, the students, and even Pheles with Yuji’s POE (they agreed as long as she doesn’t touch Yuji) they find out the MLC been affected by a spell that mutated the MLC’s Keeper, with no answers yet about the Silver. Pheles then tells of how she raised Johan when he was a child, and as he grew older, they grew closer and fell in love. Because he was a human, he decided to become a Mystes, and have time stop for him to be by her side (MLC’s birth basically.) After some more stuff, she instead of leaving Yuji alone, attacks him again, with her actual self (The Pheles they saw was just a part of her, and her wind made a doppelganger. Look, it’s complicated.) But, just as she’s about to take the MLC back, a giant armored hand comes out of Yuji and attacks her. Bal Masqué themselves has the Silver, (it can transport itself through Yuji, apparently) and to make matters worse, Konoe shows up, and after the Silver goes back into Yuji, she use Hecate’s staff on him to seal it.

So yeah, what wasn’t-at-all-a-surprise was that Konoe was the enemy and deceived them. Hecate, and another Denizen who works with Bal Masqué, Fecor, arrive and attack the city, Hecate reveals that Konoe was just her vessel she created, nothing but a part of her conscience, and takes all her memories and emotions away as Konoe disappears for good. Then, after they re-seal Silver away, Yuji collapses, and Johan appears in his body (this is really weird, I know) and heals Pheles, kisses her, and goes away again, wanting to meet her one last time before he gone forever. Yuji returns to normal and Hecate and co. retreat. They learn later a transmitter been placed in the MLC and that’s how Bal Masqué been able to track Yuji.

Pheles leaves, but before she does, she does give Yoshida something. She gives her a treasure tool that Yohsida should use whenever Yuji, or more specifically, the MLC, is in danger. It allows her to summon Pheles immediately, but the person who uses it has all their POE consumed. In other words, Yoshida would sacrifice herself for Yuji’s sake. She struggles with this throughout the rest of the show, but ultimately doesn’t use it. Anything else I say will spoil part of Season 3. Also, Tanaka’s still has PTSD by seeing his girl almost die at Margery’s hands, so he’s doesn’t want to be near her (he does man up later to tell her about Yuji being in danger) and doesn’t want to do what Sato is doing, which he wants to join Outlaw, who is being attacked around the world by Bal Masqué. Misaki City is a “maelstrom of warfare,” and the MLC might be the cause of that, with Denizens and Flame Hazes drawn to it. And Yuji wants to be stronger and fight more, and trains using his Silver flame powers he has. Also, his dad leaves, for now.

Yuji wants to leave the city now with Shana as well, but Shana is not happy about this because his mom isn’t fine, and he thinks he’s being stubborn. He wants to leave to protect the city and others. He then gets attacked by Zarovee, The Collation Flux, who is a “Jaegar” (not of Akame ga Kill! or related to Eren) who can basically use Shadow Clones. And there’s a “Wanderer” as well. But Zarovee is very weak, and Yuji (in his most badass moment) finishes him after a walk around town, and Shana gets the other Denizen in an explosion that causes a crater in town. However, out from the crater another giant explosion of POE happens and out pops the guy I mention early, Sabrac, who use both as bait to lure the others out.

This guy is one of the most OP guys on the series, and it shows. An assassin hired by Bal Masqué, he is good at assassination by masking his presence, can inflict an unrestricted spell called Stigma, which causes wounds received to worsen overtime, will go after his target without mercy, and he kicks so much ass. He also hates Wilhelmina the most since he has faced her a lot and she won’t die at his hands. (And it doesn’t help she perfected a spell Johan created to counteract his Stigma spell, which makes him more pissed off.) But, because of that big attack he caused earlier, and since he’s only going after the target in front of him, Yuji, who had a strange feeling coming from below the town earlier, does form a plan to stop this guy. After trying to, but failing to kill Sabrac multiple times, Yuji with the work of the others, has part of the town lifted up to show all the endless supply of Sabrac’s POE under there to reveal why he won’t go down, and after a bit more, Shana defeats him. Although, he is still alive, and will be back for more. I’m really underestimating this fight, because it’s the best of this season, and probably one of the best of the series.

Afterwards, we get more romantic stuff involving Christmas Eve and the YSY Love-triangle. Shana and Yoshida agree that they will send letters to Yuji, sending him to a location he’s at. Whoever he chooses, is the winner of his heart (Because that’s how it works in real life?) I’ll get back to this, but others things that happen include Yuji’s dad returning again, and telling Yuji he’s gonna be a big bro, because his mom is pregnant. And Ike finally mans up and tells Yoshida his feelings for her, but again, it’s Ike, so who cares. Moving on, as the two ladies are waiting for Yuji, Hecate attacks him again, this time taking the MLC from him.

Bal Masqué is trying to awaken the Silver with. A giant blue seal is set in the city and Shana and the others try, but can’t break it open. She really wants to fight with Yuji, as he himself decides to get back the MLC before all his POE is gone and he vanishes. He has to fight off the Professor’s little robot sidekicks clones to get to it. Also, the Professor is using the clock tower Yuji was near to transform it, with the Silver and MLC within it, into a giant statue called “The Statue of Pride”, the first Denizen born in the human world.

The others get in the seal (not before Margery gets brutally attacked as a decoy by Sydonay) and a fight to stop Bal Masqué’s plans ensues. Shana eventually gets in the clock tower giant, and catches up to Yuji who is fading away because of the Silver using his POE. He can sense the Silver, and they get to it, and fight the beast. The Silver apparently has Konoe’s collected thoughts and emotions packed into it, and at the end of the battle, they destroy the machine controlling the statue, with Silver assisting them as Konoe still has some conscience left, and the statue self-destructs. Bal Masqué retreats after that. In the end, Yuji said he finally made a decision, and how his world changed after it. All we see is Yoshida crying and Shana being very happy. And it ends there on a cliffhanger.

English Dub

Now that I got the story out of the way (again, sorry for how long it is. I know, I need to work this out shortening it) it’s on to the dub portion. Now, as I mention in the first review, the second season uses the Funimation voice actors, instead of the Ocean Dub VA’s from first season. Watching this show the second time for this review, I was used to it since they’re in it through the rest of the way and they some actually do sound better than their OD brethren, while others don’t. But if you’re watching this series for the first time, it might sound really awkward the first time around like it did for me. It might not for all, but it depends on how you feel. Okay, let’s get on with this.

Cherami Leigh and Josh Grelle both take over as the leads of Shana and Yuji, respectively. Grelle for me sounds pretty fine as Yuji, and does a pretty superb job as him, like the VA before him. Meanwhile, Leigh’s Shana sounds basically like her Sword Art Online character, Asuna. Only just more angry. But she hits on most of her spots and doesn’t have her voice change in pitch unlike her Ocean Dub counterpart. She does Shana well. Yoshida is voiced by Brina Palencia. And while I know Yoshida is supposed to be the cute girl next door type, all I hear is just her One Piece Chopper voice. She could have used her usual bit more matured teen voice she uses on most. But I guess for Yoshida, they had to make her cute, so who knows. Still is great as her, though. Margery Daw is voiced by Colleen Clinkenbeard, and her partner Marco is voiced by Justin Cook. Just like the Ocean Dub before them, these two both work well as the duo, and their chemistry is what I like about them. They definitely get an A+ grade from me. And also of great chemistry, the VA’s of Wilhelmina and Tiamat, Carli Mosier and Clarine Harp, do well together too. Although, I do like Wilhelmina’s VA in the first season a bit more than I do here, she’s fine. (I really miss her saying “Indeed” alot. Unlike a certain someone’s “Believe It!” catchphrase.)

Pheles on here is voiced by Monica Rial. Pheles is more a gorgeous woman than a cute moé character, so she uses more of her Bulma voice from DBZ Kai on here. She does great, even if Pheles does whine about Johan a lot. Speaking of, he’s voiced by John Burgmeier. I don’t need to compare their voices in the first dub, since they never appeared in the first season. Also not appearing in the first season: Sabrac (Brad Jackson), Zarovee (R Bruce Elliott), the steam Denizen, whose name is Annaberg (Patrick Seitz), Fujita (Alexis Tipton), Fecor (Cris George) and Yuji’s dad (Chuck Huber). All the first timers in Season 2 have pretty great VA’s to go with their big (or just limited) roles.

The others roles of the characters include Ian Sinclair (Tanaka), Greg Ayers (Sato), Brittney Karbowski (Ogata), Joel McDonald (Ike), and Lydia Mackay (Yuji’s Mom). Out of all of them, Ayer’s Sato felt like one of the weirder roles when going from the Ocean to the Funi dub after them. And so did McDonald’s Ike. Sinclair’s Tanaka felt alright to me, being a big, soft teddy bear he is. (And having me make Space Dandy references alot. Because you know. Also, it’s most ironically appropriate that Ike is the Meow of this show.) The Bal Masqué group are also okay here as Hecate (Lindsay Seidel, who also voiced Konoe), Sydonay (Jason Douglas), and Bel Peol (Caitlin Glass), but like others, I had to get used to Hecate’s VA a bit.

And I had to save this for last, but Kent Williams voices Alastor on here. He’s pretty good, and may have added a bit more emotion to Alastor than Paul Dobson did (I did find it hilarious when learning of Yuji’s mom’s pregnancy, Alastor felt embarrassed he didn’t want to tell Shana where babies come from), I just love Paul Dobson more as Alastor. That’s my preference. Williams is a bit off at times as Alastor for me. I just think Dobson did better and love his performance as Alastor so much more. Again, if you do watch this, you might have a different opinion on the voice changes. Overall, I think even with the dub change, it’s one of the better parts of the show.

Music

The in-show music is basically the same music they used for in the first Shakugan no Shana, so I’ll just discuss the OP/ED’s here. The OP’s and ED’s are actually pretty tame compared to the first series. The best song in my opinion is actually the second OP, “Blaze” by Kotoko, who also did the second ED, “Sociometry”, as well. (She also sung the second OP in the first Shakugan no Shana.) It’s not much, but it has a fun beat to it, and does well for me.

The first OP, “Joint”, and the first ED, “Triangle”, are both done by Mami Kawada (who, like the other artist, did a song on Shana Season 1, singing the first OP.) I think alot of people will like the first OP more, and that’s okay. The first ED is ok, and so is the second ED, which is more pop/EDM in rhythm, so some might enjoy that. Overall, they’re not bad, but I like the first and 3rd seasons music more than the 2nd. (There is also a 3rd ED, “Sense” by Mami Kawada, but that was only used in the final episode. Anyway if you want to, here it is for your enjoyment.)

Animation

The animation is again done by J.C. Staff, and last I did this, I again defended them for how they are consistent with how they do things. I will defend them again, because I still think they are pretty good, at least through this anime year. BUT just not for this show. It had its run a year and a half after the first season ended. Just like the first one, there were alot of derpy faces (and sometimes, no faces whatsoever) in this show that were shown throughout. Sometimes they used stall animation in some scenes for who knows what reason. And what’s with the CGI confetti and leaves? It’s one thing to make Shana’s firey hair be like that, but the leaves just got me for some reason. Hell, you want to see bad animation? Watch episode 10. The whole thing made me cringe/laugh at how bad it looked. It’s not as bad as Toei’s track record, and the fight scenes do look pretty good, when they’re happening. But man, a lot of it feels like a barely slight upgrade from the first one. Overall, the Shana series in the first 2 season have not been the best for J.C.

Should This Be On Toonami?

Now should this be on Toonami, I ask? I did it with my first two, and those two were pretty much a yes. Now this one? Ummmmmm, yeah, that’s one is a tougher choice. If there was a way this could be on Toonami, and I could control it, I would only show Episode 13 onward. Why? THE FIRST 12 EPISODES ARE BOOOOORRRINGGGGG!!!!!!!! There is no getting around it. I couldn’t stand the romance, the jealousy and the all around nothingness that was the first 12 episodes. Hell, Margery’s past has more action in it than the other 10 combined. I’m gonna be real here, if you thought people complained about SAO and Michiko and Hatchin, then this show might get more anger, at least from those episodes. They are Shippuden/Bleach filler bad. Nothing happens until Pheles arrives and Margery goes apeshit. I can defend the last 12 episodes because at least something happens in them. But man, this could be one of the biggest hate-watch shows on Toonami. Mostly, as much as doesn’t make any sense to show all 2 seasons and skip one of them, I say no. This one shouldn’t be on Toonami. Too much romantic angles, and who loves who, not enough action to warrant it till the end. It sucks I have to say that, because I’m a completionist. Just move ahead to season 3.

Final Thoughts

When I first watched this show all the way through, I. HATED. IT!! I thought it was the worst anime sequel I seen. The stupid romance, Yoshida, the general lack of action for so long, Ike being everyone’s whipping boy, Konoe and the obvious double-cross, Yoshida again. You name it. To be honest, it affected the way I watched Shakugan no Shana the Final and I basically hate-watched that season. Now, watching this season again, I can say the second half wasn’t as bad as it was. But damn, that first half still gets me, because it’s still just terrible. Oh well, sometimes stuff like this happens, and there’s nothing to do about it. Some might like the whole show more, but I didn’t. So for only this review, I’m gonna break my score into 2 halves.

My rating for the 1st half of Shakugan no Shana II: 1/10

My rating for the 2nd half of Shakugan no Shana II: 6.5/10

So tune in next time as I break down the finale, Shakugan no Shana The Final (Or Shakugan no Shana III works too) sometime in the near future. For now, I’ll leave you with this last pic of the main villain of the 3rd series.

For those who have seen it, you know who he is. For those who don’t? Well, you’re in for a surprise.

(Shakugan no Shana II is animated by J.C. Staff. The anime is licensed by Funimation Entertainment)

Please note: this review contains spoilers of the first season of Shakugan no Shana

Hey, Cedric_alpha is back again. Just like I did before with A Certain Magical Index, I’m reviewing another anime that was showcased on Funimation On-demand, and to prove if this is worthy of being on the Toonami block. Now, unlike the Index/Railgun series, I have seen all of the seasons of this show, so I will have other reviews coming soon for this. I have a lot to say about this series as well, because this was one hell of a roller coaster ride. But for now, I will take you on a tour of the first season of one of the most popular light novel series in Japan. This is my review of the first chapter of Shakugan no Shana.

Story

We start this show off in Misaki City, with a boy talking about how his life was changed on that day. This kid is named Yuji Sakai. He’s just living a normal life, and all is going right, until a giant baby monster and a bunch of heads attack the town, and suck the life force outta people. Yuji looks like he about to die at the hands of the baby monster, until its arm is cut off, and he is freed. The person who did it is a girl with “flaming red hair and blazing eyes.” She defeats the baby monster and attacks the multi-head monster as well, but another one appears, almost attacking Yuji. She cuts its arm off too, and when shes about to kill it, Yuji stops her. Unfortunately for him, the monster attacks Yuji, having her hand go inside him, seemingly looking for something. And then the girl attacks Yuji herself, to stop the monster’s attack.

And just like that, Yuji is dead, and the show ends like that. Good night. Time to write another review for another show.

I’m joking of course. The show isn’t over, not by a long shot. But I’m not joking about Yuji. Because Yuji is, in fact, dead. Well, at least the real one is. The monsters, who are called “Rinne,” consumed “the real Yuji,” along with a bunch of others, including his classmate, Yukari Hirai. The girl repairs the town with her powers, and the people there, who are now all “Torches,” temporary replacements for the people consumed by the Rinne. Yuji is said Torch now, along with Hirai. Nothing but a thing. Torches fade away gradually, their existences just disappearing from everyone’s memory. Of course, Yuji is also what they called a “Mystes,” a Torch who has a treasure in him, that transfers from person to person. These Mystes are shaped by the Denizens of the Crimson World, who are the bad guys of this show, and the people who control the Rinne. I’ll get into what the treasure is in a minute. But that girl who attacked him/the Rinne? She is a “Flame Haze,” a person who hunts Denizens down and who has to maintain balance/order from both worlds. This Flame Haze has a companion as well, a talking pendant. Of course, this is no ordinary pendant. Its name is Alastor, the Flame of the Heavens, and it helps this girl out with her duties. It’s revealed later that Alastor is also a Lord of the Crimson World, and opposes Denizens who attack others. The girl is revealed to have no name whatsoever. So, after telling Yuji the name of her sword, “Nietono no Shana,” Yuji decides to name her Shana. And so the adventures of Yuji and Shana start out like that.

After all of this, Shana actually gets into Yuji’s school by replacing Hirai, and taking over her existence. The school sees her as just Hirai. That monster who attacked Yuji, who was actually a doll controlling it, is with its master, who wants to destroy the city and so it can be all Torches, and turn them into power of existence for said doll, because he loves it. Yeah, it’s very creepy. They do attack the school going after Yuji, and basically making all his friends nearly dead. Yuji helps by replenishing his own existence to save them, and as his flame is fading, Shana notices it come back to full. Later, in the battle with the doll fetish pervert, Yuji gets most of his existence taken away again, but as he’s disappearing, midnight strikes, and he’s back to normal, flame replenish again. That treasure I said Yuji has? It’s called the “Midnight Lost Child” and if Yuji loses some or most of his existence, he gets it back at midnight. It’s a Deus Ex Machina really. They do show later on Shana using this treasure of his to test her power and him getting his flame back at midnight.

That doll fetish guy, whose name is Hunter Friagne, by the way, is still a menace, but they do finish him off (and I should point out, he got beaten pretty quickly too). But right after he gets beat, they face another Flame Haze, named Margery Daw, The Chanteror of Ellargies (I think they made up these words, but it’s used in the dub). She uses her flying book partner Marchosias (Or Marcho, for short), the Claws and Fangs of Violation (Yes, they all have names like this) and fight to protect her from beating a Crimson Denizen named Lamis, The Corpse Collector, who takes all the Torches who are dying, and turns them into power of existence for himself, for a good cause. Margery hates all Denizens, even ones who help out like Lamis, and will kill him just out of hatred/revenge for what a Denizen named Silver did to her. Of course, Shana, with Yuji’s help, beats Margery (but doesn’t kill her) and Lamis escapes, only before giving a hint that Yuji’s treasure has more to it that it seems. But that’s for the other seasons.

Then the show gets all romantic and crap and throws in a love triangle angle. It’s the worst part of the show, by a long shot. Shana does get feelings for Yuji early on, and it shows. A LOT. But so does another girl named Yoshida, who catches those feels for Yuji. She is not the violent tsundere like Shana is. She’s the shy type like Hinata from Naruto. Although unlike Hinata, she isn’t powerful and … actually revealing anything right now will spoil the 2nd and 3rd seasons, so I’ll save my words about Yoshida for now. Just know that Yoshida is Shana’s rival in trying to get Yuji’s attention. There are also more Crimson Denizens that show up. Namely twin brother and sister that are named Tiriel and Sorath. And they make out with each other, with tongue, more than once. Don’t worry, I’ll give you a minute to barf out your lunch. Take your time. Unless you’re used to it because anime/are into this sort of thing. Which if the latter, yuck. There’s also the guy who kinda supervises them, but also couldn’t care what they do. His name is Sydonay, Thousand Changes, but he’s more important later on, so I’ll get to him soon. The twins do attack the city, and are after Shana for her sword to collect. They kiss in front of her too, which makes her cringe (like the rest of us), mostly because she was told “a kiss is an oath” by Yuji’s mom, and this just pisses her off. She does get stronger with Yuji by her side, including starting to fly, and the twins get done in anyway. There’s a sword the male twin has called “Bloodsucker,” that can hurt others by not even touching you. Just know that.

After all of this, Shana actually gets into Yuji’s school by replacing Hirai, and taking over her existence. The school sees her as just Hirai. That monster who attacked Yuji, who was actually a doll controlling it, is with its master, who wants to destroy the city and so it can be all Torches, and turn them into power of existence for said doll, because he loves it. Yeah, it’s very creepy. They do attack the school going after Yuji, and basically making all his friends nearly dead. Yuji helps by replenishing his own existence to save them, and as his flame is fading, Shana notices it come back to full. Later, in the battle with the doll fetish pervert, Yuji gets most of his existence taken away again, but as he’s disappearing, midnight strikes, and he’s back to normal, flame replenish again. That treasure I said Yuji has? It’s called the “Midnight Lost Child” and if Yuji loses some or most of his existence, he gets it back at midnight. It’s a Deus Ex Machina really. They do show later on Shana using this treasure of his to test her power and him getting his flame back at midnight.

After the twins are done, we get a flashback to Shana past, before she became the Flaming Hair, Blazing Eyes Hunter. She is training at the Palace of Heaven’s Road, a giant palace in the sky, with a skeleton, who’s a warrior named Shiro. There is also a Flame Haze maid there who is mostly Shana’s guardian. She is Wilhelmina Carmel, The Specialist of Everything, with her partner Tiamat, The Tiara of Dreams and Illusions, who is, well a tiara on Wilhelmina’s head. Indeed, she mostly takes care of Shana, but she indeed does kick ass in her own way too, indeed. (If you’re wondering why I’m saying “indeed,” this is Wilhelmina’s word to say on there in the 1st series. Like Naruto’s “Believe it!,”but less annoying. Or maybe more. Depends on how you feel). Anyway, a couple of Crimson Denizens attack, and one of them, who is a motorcycle rider, is looking for the palace for a group of 3 called Bal Masqué. Bal Masqué includes Sydonay, who I mentioned a minute ago. The other Denizen, who is just floating Shakespearean-esque clothes, attacks Wilhelmina when she is searching for Melon Bread for Shana. They are about to battle, but a big samurai dude named Tenmoko Ikko, who is a Mystes and the “Strongest Torch,” interrupts and fights flying clothes guy. Back at the palace, Shana wants to beat Shiro in battle, and comes up with a way involving ketchup. This somehow leads to him getting a PTSD moment (I’m assuming the ketchup reminds him of blood), going bat-shit crazy and with a rainbow burst of light, causes the palace to be un-hidden and motorcycle dude to get there. Tenmoko Ikko also gets there and a big fight ensues that is destroying the palace. Samurai dude wants to fight a warrior of great strength, and Shana promises that fight. She forms her contract with Alastor there and becomes the Flame Haze. (There’s a flashback within this flashback that shows Alastor’s former Flame Haze, who looks like an older Shana, that tells what happened back then and how anyone who makes a contract with Alastor will eventually die. Beause Flame Hazes are immortal or something and have to fight Denizens for the rest of time till they get killed). She does fight Tenmoko Ikko, as well as a got-his-body-back-for-some-reason Shiro, and proves herself to be a sure-fire Flame Haze before the palace falls into the seas. Wilhelmina and Shana then part ways. Even though Shana’s still a kid, but you know, them the Flame Haze rules.

The last part of the story takes place during the Misago Festival in the city and is the longest part of the 1st season. Again, there are more romantic subplots taking place during it, like Shana not knowing her feelings, and Yoshida trying to tell Yuji hers. And other characters with feelings for others (I’ll talk more about this in the character section.) But enough of that for now. Bal Masqué is making their move and it involves Yuji, and the Midnight Lost Child in him. Another Flame Haze, who has the body of a 12 year old Indian boy, but is called “an old geezer,” also arrives. He is Khamsin, Mobilizer of Ceremonial Equipment, and his partner, Behemoth, Steadfast Sharp Peak, and his plan is to map out the city of Misaki. He needs help with this, and gets it in Yoshida, who he shows the world of the Flame Hazes/Crimson Denizens to, and Yoshida discovers that Yuji is dead/a Torch and Shana is also a Flame Haze. Wilhelmina returns and knows about the MLC and wants to kill the Mystes who has it. Big problem being that is Shana’s love interest. She almost does it, by the way, but Shana stops her. Yuji also wants to leave the city with Shana so that he can protect the city, his friends, and his mom from the enemies after the MLC in him. Yuji is also being the Dense MC because he doesn’t know Shana loves him (again, ALL OVER HER FACE!!), or might think she does, but Shana can’t comprehend what love is and she tsunderes him away. And Yoshida finally tells him he loves her after finding out he’s a Torch and says he’s human. I hate this romantic triangle crap!! Sorry, it’s true. I just can’t stand it here.

So the festival is getting attacked (all of what I said in the previous paragraph happens before/during this attack) and Bal Masqué is behind it. A Denizen/crazy guy named The Seeker, sometimes being called The Professor, and his robotic Rinne Domino are using the bird statues all over the festival and city to do stuff. He attacks with a blimp too, but Shana, Margery, and Khamsin stop him. He flees, but the next day Yuji senses something wrong with the remaining birds. At the Palace of the Stars, Bal Masqué base of operations, Bel Peol, Judge of Paradoxes, the 3 eyed busty Crimson Lord, has a plan to create “a fount of existence.” Supreme Throne Hecate, the turquoise haired loli, thinks the MLC will help fulfill her desires. Sydonay wants to protect “his pure Hecate,” and keep her pure throughout. Geez, I wonder what other J.C. Staff anime I saw recently involved “a pure girl” and someone wanting her to stay pure? (If you know what show I’m referring to, just know this show doesn’t go THAT far, like in that show.) Those remaining bird statues? They get burned during a ceremony, and it turns into an unrestricted method, which you’ll hear a lot of times in the series, and Bal Masqué attacks. They are after Yuji, of course, and Wilhelmina decides he needs to die. But Shana gets in the way of her attack, is injured badly, and Yuji is kidnapped to the Palace.

Bal Masqué wants to use Yuji, or more specifically, the MLC for this “fount of existence.” Yuji starts to forget who he is because of Hecate. She is taking all of his memories and using them to “fulfill herself,” If you watch this, it really sounds like they’re having sex, like it was made out to be from a bad doujinshi. This whole thing with her taking his memories just sounds like unintentional double entendres. Her moaning doesn’t help things either. On to the story again, the power of existence going from Yuji himself is exiting the palace and on to the city, which is overwhelming it. Shana, recovered from her injuries, and Wilhelmina fly into the palace and are attacked by a ton of Domino clones. They get their existence drained by one of the Professor’s experiments. (He’s also running the system that’s taking Yuji’s existence and hitting the city, even if Hecate’s is the core of it.) Margery does help and take out the system and the duo destroys the clones. Shana sets off for Yuji, declaring her feelings for him finally.

There are other fights as Sydonay and Margery fight each other, and Wilhelmina and Bel Peol square off too. Shana finds Yuji in a Star Wars-like crystallize form. But Yuji is still fighting himself, and him remember Shana, knowing Hecate is nothing but a shell, and he declaring himself to be the Yuji Sakai, help him too. Shana throwing Bloodsucker at his body to free him also helps. Of course it’s not over as Hecate has a “unlimited amount of power of existence.” But because she got broken with that empty shell talk, it pours out, getting the city even more to near destruction. The only way to save the city is to have Alastor manifest himself and Shana to die because of this. Yuji can’t be saved in time, so he decides to die with her, and as she lets out Alastor’s full power, she tells Yuji she loves him. Then KABOOM!!!! Bye-Bye palace. All Bal Masqué members escape though, and it looks like the two died. But they didn’t. They are still alive because Shana’s body could handle Alastor’s power, and from the ring Yuji took from Friagne earlier, which can stop fire attacks. I don’t know how a tiny ring stopped all that, but anime logic persists that it did. And so we end with our heroes happy and alive.

Characters

Now that I got the story finally out of the way, I can now go on to the characters. I mentioned most, but there still are some I have to get to, so bare with me. I already mentioned Shana enough. I’ll admit she is a very cute character, who loves her melon bread. Did I forget to mention that she loves melon bread?

Of course her cuteness is taken down a hundred pegs by her being ONE OF THE BIGGEST TSUNDERES IN ANIME EVER! I seen lots of tsunderes before in anime. We all have. Shana is up there with the best/worst of them. Depending on how you feel about tsunderes, she can get very annoying, very fast. Although, I’ll also admit her “Shut Up, Shut Up, Shut Up!” line is the cutest tsundere thing she says. Her partner Alastor is basically her guidance, and kinda like a grandfather figure more than anything. Alastor knows she has a job to do, but Alastor still learns that her feelings get in the way. Alastor is hesitant about these things as well for Alastor doesn’t know emotions as well, but does get curious and tries to learn as best he can. I basically told everything about Yuji and how dense he can get. There’s still more about Yuji that I haven’t said, but that stuff doesn’t happened till the next two seasons, so I’ll hold off on it. I also said most of what I have to about Kazumi Yoshida, and her rivalry with Shana and feeling for Yuji, so enough about her. Like Yuji, she has more things I’ll tell you in my next review.

Now to others that are part of the story I didn’t talk about. There are two guys on here, Keisaku Satou and Eita Tanaka, who at the beginning are “the toughs” of the school, and yet might actually get the most character development out of the people who aren’t the MCs. They get introduced early to the world of the Flame Hazes and Crimson Denizens, thanks to Margery Daw. And they actually do help their “Big Sister” a few times. Be it finding Tourches or Denizens through the use of the Crystal Altar, a tool Friagne used (the doll fetish guy had a bunch of useful stuff the others use once he’s gone) to just being where the action is happening. They do want to get stronger, to catch up to Margery when she gonna leave them, and it shows when they try to lift Bloodsucker to no avail, which Shana and Margery can lift easily. I guess Keisaku and Eita can’t lift, bruh. (Yeah, sorry for that.) Margery herself, when not fighting Flame Hazes or Denizens, just drinks. And boy does she drink. She drinks alot to the point of passing out anywhere, even at a pool. Marcho, her partner, is usually honest about everything she says/does, and gets a beating from her because of it. Marcho’s also honest about others, mostly making fun of them though.

Others people on there include Hayato Ike. He is Yuji’s best friend, and he has feelings for Yoshida. There’s also Yukari Hirai, and as said, she didn’t last long. She did have feelings for Ike, which Yuji noticed. But he didn’t notice Shana’s feelings for him. Dense MC is always dense. Matake Ogata is a girl on here, and she doesn’t do much. She does have feeling for Eita, though, and actually tells him that. Everyone gets to love on this show. And there’s Chigusa Sakai, Yuji’s lovely mother, who does actually help Shana through her feelings with Yuji, and actually supports the relationship. That’s as least what I can tell. I could talk more about Lamis and Khamsin, but they have only 15 minutes of fame, and don’t appear again till Season 3. Bal Masqué I gave in detail in story, but know there’s more from them in the next series as well. And for Wilhelmina? She cool, but really brash, and decides things for herself. Just thinking what is best right away. Also this is not really anything, but I’ll point it out. She wears … Bloomers!

I’m so sorry. I had to.

Animation

Now, as I said with Index, Shana is made by the same animation studio, J.C. Staff. I said in that review that J.C. Staff, while not the most pretty of the bunch, was the most consistent, making very few mistakes. Well, while I still believe this, there are always exceptions, especially with earlier anime. Shana has a lot of problems, mostly around with how character designs around the face area. Here’s one example.

Probably not the best example, but if you can see the background characters, they are not the best looking. There are more examples in the show where a lot of people have derpy moments on them, and it just looks bad. Even the main characters up close get pretty bad looks a few times. Now, I know this is from 10 years ago, but I’m pretty sure that has nothing to do with it, as recent animes have looked so much worst. Also to note, when the Flame Hazes/Denizens put up the “Seals,” the things they use to fight in that stop time and space, the color shading is a bit too dark at times, and it does look a bit ugly. But while it does have these issues, this animation overall still looks good. Pretty top notch. Looking at Shana’s hair glow with the color of fire looks pretty, especially with the chard embers coming off her too. The city and palaces looks beautiful. Not spectacular by any measures, but overall well done. I may have dumped on the faces of the characters, but overall, they look good, when not derpy. The action is well made, and the CGI does look good here, with Shana’s hair and the unrestricted methods moving about, considering the time it was made. The animation may not be perfect, but overall, it gets a passing grade.

English Dub

Now before I get to this, just know; The first season, even though it’s currently licensed by Funimation, actually still used the Ocean dub for it. Season 2 and 3 use the Texas Funimation actors for them. So if you watch both 1 and 2 right away like I did on-demand, yeah, it sounds weird hearing new voices and might take awhile to get used to. Again, I will get to that in my next review, but I’m here to talk about the Ocean dub’s voice actors for now. The title character in the first season is voiced by Tabitha St. Germain. Now if that name sounds familiar, she voices the fabulous pony Rarity on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. (Yeah I watched it. So what? Wanna fight about it?!) And if even if you don’t watch the ponies, that’s okay. She’s been on Toonami before. Very recently in fact as the psycho-maid Roberta on Black Lagoon, and on past Toonami shows like Gundam Seed, Inuyasha, and even Hamtaro. Here, she plays the tsundere loli pretty well throughout, but there are times when her character sounds a bit off. Like the voice is a bit to fast, or a bit too high pitched at times. But mostly, she’s okay. Now for Shana’s partner, Alastor, he’s my favorite voice actor on this show. Alastor is voiced by Paul Dobson, or as you mostly know him as the vile villain Naraku on Inuyasha. He has appeared also on Black Lagoon, DBZ, Gundam, and … Lego Ninjago?! (Look it up. It’s true.) Anyway, he brings the best out of this character, commands this performance, and sounds perfect for a being who’s suppose to be very powerful. As for Yuji, he’s voiced by Kristian Ayre. And while I don’t know much about the actor, he does great as Yuji here. He does give a great performance fitting to character going through all the things Yuji goes through, so I commend him for that.

The others voices I like I here are Janyse Jaud and Trevor Devall, who voice Margery Daw and Marchosias, respectively. (The former having played Kagura in Inuyasha, and Sarah and Lee Kanker on Ed, Edd, n’ Eddy. The latter also voicing Friagne on here and later voicing the dog on Johnny Test.) They’re the best duo on here in terms of going back and forth at each other, and showing the relationship of the partners they voiced. I could watch Marcho all day complain about Margery’s drinking then get punched for it and have her spin him around in her drunken stupor. Same when they fight as one being and destroy everything. They have the best chemistry of all the characters on here. Another voice I like is Keisaku, as he is voiced by Brad Swaile. You know him well at Light on Death Note and Rock on Black Lagoon. Even though he isn’t the main on here like he is on the other shows, he’s still great as Keisaku.

Other voice actors on here include Brenna O’ Brien, Eli Gabay, and Paula Lindbjerg as Bal Masqué members Hecate, Sydnonay, and Bel Peol (The 1st person listed voices Rin on Inuyasha. Can you tell how much I like that show?), Chantal Strand (Yoshida), Alistair Abell (Eita), Anna Cummer (Wilhelmina), Matthew Erickson (Ike), Lalainia Lindbjerg (Yuji’s mom) Ron Halder (Lamis), and Cathy Weseluck and Ashleigh Bell voicing Khasmin and Hirai, respectively. (The former voicing Spike and the latter voicing Applejack and Rainbow Dash on MLP:FIM.) This is a great talent of actors on here. And because of that, the dub sounds really good. One of the highlights for me of this show.

Music

While the in-show music is not really much all that special, I will say the church choir music they play usually at the beginning is pretty good. But other than that, not much to excite you. Now for the 1st OP, it’s actually great, and one of my favorite OPs of the Shana series

(Sorry, but the Youtube part messed up copying this. Go look it up on Youtube or Soundcloud. Yeah, I’m that fucking lazy. Deal with it.)

“Hishoku no Sora” by Mami Kawada is one of the best I heard throughout in this series. In fact, I even jammed to this before shoveling snow and wishing I had her fire power to melt it all. Winters does that to you. Anyway, the second OP, “Being” by Kotoko, is pretty impressive itself. In fact, you might like it more. But I really like the 1st one better. The EDs, just as with the OPs, I like the first ED, “Yoake Umarekuru Shojo” by Yoko Takahashi more than the second ED, “Aka no Seijaku” by Yoko Ishida. Again, your taste will differ in which in better, especially since the 2nd ED is really chill sounding. Overall, they’re not bad. Good music to listen to.

Should this be on Toonami?

Now my final thoughts on the first Shana season has to end with the obvious question: Is this show suitable for Toonami? My response: I believe so. Now, there are some factors going against it. One of the main ones is its age. The show is 10 years old. Jason DeMarco has stated that older shows, or shows that are kinda old like this,don’t have a good shot of making it on Toonami, unless they are old popular ones like Bebop, Inuyasha, and FLCL. Although, to be fair to Shakugan no Shana, Tenchi Muyo GXP made it on the new Toonami and that show came out in 2002. But DeMarco’s statement was way different after that show ended, so who knows. Also, the age of this does show. It did get a nice Blu-Ray touch up, so if it does have any chance, they might use that. Another factor is that romance part of it. I know the Toonami audience can get used to romances on here, as there’s been a few, but the romance on here is a big factor. It annoyed me a bunch. I wonder how much it would annoy the audience. Would they like the love triangle? Would they love the other romances? Will they hate the guts out of the incest love? (I really hope so.) Also, will they like a tsundere female MC, who stays that way through the whole show? I seen the faithful’s reactions to other tsunderes, and it is mixed, to say the least. Now, one thing I haven’t mention is that there is some fanservice in this show as well, mostly involving Shana herself. I don’t know how people will take that either, since (and sorry about this SAO fans) she is more of a flat pancake than Sinon is. They do showcase her loli-like body a lot, along with some random panty shots thrown in for good measure. Some may like this, some will hate it. The show still has a lot of action. It takes some breaks with the romance, and love, and dealing with death, but between that, the action is solid throughout, and there’s enough of it to warrant a Toonami run. And it helps being 24 episodes, a good number for a run. So if they wanted to show it, they could.

Final Thoughts

To close, does Shakugan no Shana have issues? Yes. But so do a lot of shows. The romance can get annoying, and the animation can look bad, but with a ton of action, a pretty-kick butt (if very tsundere) female MC, and some characters that can be pretty fun, this show does get my stamp of being Toonami worthy. I’ll be back next time soon for my review of Shakugan no Shana the Second. And just like this one, I got a lot of things to say about it too.

6.5 “Shut Up, Shut Up, Shut Up!’s”/10

(Shakugan no Shana is animated by the studio J.C. Staff. The anime is licensed by Funimation Entertainment.)

Please note: this review contains spoilers on the first season of A Certain Magical Index. 

Now, if you’re like me, you like dubbed anime. And if you’re just like me, you want to see more dubbed anime on TV. Even though Adult Swim/Toonami have given us plenty of choices throughout the years, others only show really one or two shows, like Cartoon Network, Disney XD and Nicktoons does now, or have tried to make their own thing and failed miserably (see: Chiller’s “Anime Wednesday”). So where can I find more dubbed anime on TV? Well, I found one place for it: on-demand. Funimation Channel On-Demand has been a staple for my (Not going to name them) cable provider’s on-demand for years, and I been lucky to see a bunch of titles. I know some with cable don’t get Funi on-demand, and I’m sorry for that. But let’s not dwell on that, because I want to talk about one of the shows that was shown on there. A year and a half back, I was drawn in to a certain series on there, where magic and science come together. And it gave me a fun show filled with some fun characters. With multiple series after this, I been enjoying the ride so far, so you might see future articles on this series. But anyway, I’m here to tell you the first of my Toonami United reviews, and the first of the Index/Railgun series based on the light novels, A Certain Magical Index. 

Stories and Characters

The story mostly takes place in Academy City, a big city full of mostly students, and where most of those students have supernatural-like abilities, all thanks to science. These said users are all called “Espers”. There, we meet Touma Kamijou, a pretty average looking guy, who luck is usually bad all around, as we see throughout the show. And as his luck would have it (yeah, sorry for that), after being chased by a bunch of toughs, he runs into one of the seven known “Level-5 Espers” (By the way, Touma is a Level-0). Her name is Mikoto Misaka, and her ability is basically electricity, as she is known as “Railgun”. She takes out the thugs who were messing with her, and tries to take him on. But he stops her powerful attacks with his right hand. His right hand holds a mysterious power he has that is called “Imagine Breaker”, which can not only nullify Esper abilities, but magical powers as well. A giant lightning strike happens, and we find Touma in his bed the next day during a breakout. When he gets up he finds a cute, sliver-hair Sister on his balcony. Her name is Index, and after some spoil meals Touma treats her to, she tells of the stuff going on and that’s she’s being chased. She is being chased all because she keeps a ton of secretive magical books, 103,000 or so to be exact, in her mind called “Grimoires” (or the Index-Librorum-Prohibitorum for the full name). Toama doesn’t believe in magic, and thinks Index is full of it. She tries her best to explain that, even though she knows no magic, it does exist. Her robes, “The Walking Church”, are proof of it. So, Touma decides to test if that’s true with his Imagine Breaker, and well… her magic clothes rip apart. And she is naked in front of Touma. It’s really awkward, especially with Index smiling for a few seconds. But after she stitches up and puts a bunch of safety pins on the clothes, they’re good as new.

And so begins our adventure with these two. A lot happens within this 24 episode series, and there are a bunch of stories throughout, ranging from 3 to 6 episodes. The first (and the longest) is about Index and Touma meeting, the magic sorcerers they encounter, the church’s corrupt role in things (Index is from The Church of Necessarius), and how they can save Index’s memories form being wiped out, which happens every year because of the magical books kept inside of her photographic mind. Other than the first 3 I mentioned, the characters in the first arc we meet first include the following. Stiyl Magunus, a firey sorcerer who can created giant fire monsters from his talismans. Kaori Kanzaki, a beauty who can cut, slice, and dice you and everything around it into pieces. Miss Komoe, who even though she looks like she’s 8, is actually a beer-drinking, chain-smoking, intelligent middle age loli, and is Touma’s teacher. And while Misaka is here at first, she doesn’t get too involved in the story until later on. I’ll get to that in a bit. (Also who appears, Mikasa’s teleporting friend/roommate/one-sided lover Kuroko Shirai, but she doesn’t have much of a role in this show, other than being there. She more a factor in Railgun than here.) And last, there is Touma’s doctor, who treats all the injuries he collects. For some reason, he has no name. He just goes by “The Frog Doctor”, because he “has the face of a frog.” Anyway, Touma does find a way to save Index, with help from her attackers Stiyl and Kanzaki, who are actually Index’s friends. But he get hit by a magic called “Dragon’s Breath” (not the Pokemon move) and loses all his memories. He still remembers Index, kinda, ’cause feelings in heart, or some old cliche.

Anyway, this leads to the next part which involves the occult, alchemists, and vampires. Touma still has no memories, and is trying to not tell anyone about it, especially Index. Even so, he still gets involve with a bunch of crazy stuff. At the center of it is a priestess/”magician” named Aisa Himegami, and she has a power called Deep Blood, which attracts and kills vampires. The villain here is Aureolus Izzard, an alchemist who can manipulate reality, students, and restore destroyed building, and wants to save Index from her memory thing, even though Touma did it. Just know that this arc is one of the weaker parts of the story, and seems more like filler. And the vampire thing just falters like that, not really doing anything (although seeing Stiyl’s skin come off was a fun moment). This arc does also introduce us to Spinx the cat, and the Director General of the Church named Aleister, who floats upside down in some machine. Don’t ask.

The next story is my favorite one, the Sisters arc. This one gives us the badass villain in Accelerator, who is trying to kill a bunch of girls to go beyond a Level-5 Esper, and be the most powerful. Now, who are these girls he’s trying to kill you’re wondering? Why they are a bunch of clones of Misaka. Misaka has a ton of clones, around 10,000. They all look like her. (Except for one. She still looks like her, but she’s a bit different than the others. I’ll explain shortly.) and all are link by brainwaves. But the one we are more prevalent with is Misaka 10032. She has a bunch of quirks that make her different from the real Misaka. The main ones are that she wears high-tech goggles to help her see the electric ESP lines (or something close too) that only real Misaka can, she talks in the 3rd person (actually, all of the clones do this), and she wears panties under her skirt instead of shorts. Call me a pervert or whatevs, but that’s really one of the differences. She also likes to name cats “Dog”, because she can. But the reason why there are so many is because the scientists all wanted to create the greatest Esper out there, and the military clone experiments produced all the Misakas. Of course, this affects the actual Misaka and she can’t deal with all of them being destroyed. Touma helps out of course to beat Accelerator (after being zapped by Misaka for trying to be a part of this) and prove that even OP albinos in skinny jeans can be stopped. Even though Touma does best him, Accelerator is a fun bad guy on here. He gives no craps, at least at first, about anything and has awesome abilities to boot with his Vector Reflecting powers (He can also turn wind into a giant Plasma Spirit Bomb). Misaka, I should point out, is kinda a pain at the beginning, and does fit the tsundere role on this show, at least around Touma. But she does become an awesome character to root for throughout, and she’s shows it more in her story in the Railgun series. One more thing, another character is introduced in here. She’s Mika the maid, and she’s Tsuchimikado’s (one of Touma’s friends) sister. She just rides on the robotic roombas throughout the show. Again, don’t ask.

The next part is a short and very meh, but it’s the only part that takes place outside Academy City. Its location is on a beach resort, and there a phenomenon call Angel Fall happens, and Touma is at the center of it. Basically an angel descended down to Earth and it causes Touma and the other’s realities of people they know to switch faces, personalities, etc. This does lead to some pretty funny moments, to be honest. We meet some new characters, including Toya Kamijo, Touma’s dad, who’s gets involve in Angel Fall, and Misha Kruezhev, a loli blonde from the Russian Orthodox Church, who judging by her appearance, looks like she got on some weird church BDSM get-up. She has a role too. Touma’s mom and little cousin appear as well, but they appear as Index and Misaka respectively through most of it. Also, Tsuchimikado reveals he’s a sorcerer/spy, and is a member of Index’s church, but he can’t use magic anymore without side effects.

There’s a one episode filler after that. While mostly crap, it does tell us people are after the “Kamijo Forces”, or the name given to Touma’s harem friends who are with him. After this is a two-parter that involves Accelerator and another Misaka clone (this is the only time we don’t see Touma and Index in the show) . This loli Misaka clone is Misaka 20001, codename “Last Order” (or call her by the name she says in 3rd person, “Misaka Misaka”), and she is the last of the Misaka clones, a clone Accelerator wasn’t supposed to fight. She is the last experiment and is the connection to all the Misakas, setting up the Misaka Network (coming soon to your local cable provider). Anyway a virus is set up inside of Misaka Misaka’s brain by a crazy scientist, and if it goes off, the remaining 10,000 Misaka clones will attack the city. Accelerator does kinda take a liking to the loli Misaka and helps stop this from happening, even taking a bullet to the head. I like these two episodes because it shows a little human side to Accelerator, while still showing he is awesome. Also, it’s something seeing Misaka Misaka grill him in a restaurant and Accelerator actually pranking the kid too.

The last story is all about AIM Diffusion Fields (the stuff that can get a person’s supernatural power on here or some shit. I think it was more explained in Railgun than here). Those fields of different Espers collapsed, came together and formed a busty high school girl name Hyoka Kazakiri. She is some sort of anthropomorphic manifestation of an illusionary world called the Imaginary Number School District. Yeah, it’s really complicated. Just know she appears in the real world and becomes fast friends with Index. Eventually,  she gets noticed by Touma undressing because Index wanted to “blend in” at his school, so they decide to change into school attire. Anyway as they are becoming friends, a woman from Index’s church named Sherry Cromwell attacks the city with her Golem, and she wants to start a war to get back at the said church for what they did to her Golem, which was her friend actually, but died cause science and magic don’t mix. During the battle between Sherry, Touma and Judgement/Anti-Skill (they are basically the police of this series, trying to stop all the crimes Espers/magical people do) Kazakiri gets her face torn off and it’s revealed then she’s not human, which she didn’t know she was at first. Of course, Touma still thinks of her as a friend, and when the Golem attacks Index (who does use some spells on it, so she’s not too helpless), Kazakiri does help, before Touma finishes it off. Even though Kazakiri shows Index the non-human side of her, Index still remains friends with her. Then she goes back to the other world and the show ends almost like that, with a few bits afterwards. This part was pretty average. It does has some funny parts, like Misaka and Index bonding and realizing that Touma gets a lot of girls, and does introduce us to Aiho Yomikara, one of the Judgement officers who, like Kuroko, has a bigger role in Railgun than here. Other than that, there were worst ways to end a show *coughSoulEatercough*. This one wasn’t bad at all.

Animation

Now for the animation. The animation for Index/Railgun is done by J.C. Staff, who works include some classics like Slayers, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Excel Saga, Azumanga Daioh, and Toradora!. Some of their latest work includes Shokugeki no Soma: Food Wars, Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon?, Prison School, and Shimoneta (AKA, the “Love Nectar” anime). Now while J.C staff may not be the most known/praised animation studio, one thing I have seen watching a lot of their shows is consistency. A Certain Magical Index may not be the most gorgeous looking show, but it still looks great, and has some nice colors throughout, spread among the characters/landscape. Academy City looks very beautiful from a long shot, and the alley ways/backstreets give a nice creepy feel when done right. With the sunsets looking beautiful, the beach looking pretty, and the fights they have on them all look pretty stellar. From my point, there wasn’t a lot of glaring mistakes that you can see through a bunch of anime. A lot of the J.C. Staff animes have a good reputation, at least from my eyes, of not making a ton of mistakes. Were there some? Yes, the faces too look a bit off on some a bit. But there’s not a lot of them. Hell, the background characters look nice as well, and not some shoddy attempt at making a person look like a block by being there. There is some CGI on here, and while it’s not great, it’s not terrible either. There has been worst CGI in J.C. Staff library (Shakugan no Shana for one). But here, it’s gets a passing grade, just barely. Overall, I say the animation for Index is great throughout, and is one of the highlights of this show.

Dubbing

If I’m gonna break down a potential Toonami show, then we have to know how the dub sounds, because no subs allowed on Toonami. Now this is a Funimation dub. Even though alot of people have issues with Funi, I still think they have the best dubs out there. And sometimes the dubs they do is the best part of the whole show. Now, for this dub in question. The title character is voiced by the beautiful voice of Monica Rial. She usually does her best stuff in her sweet, childlike voice of her’s you usually hear her do (although her mature voice is great as well, as most Toonami viewers have witnessed in Michiko and Hatchin), and it shines here. She is great as the always hungry, a little spoiled Index, and she fits this role to a T. Even a robotic voice as when Index goes into “John’s Pen” sounds great. If you can’t tell, I really like her as a VA, and has always been one of my favorites. Touma is voiced by Micah Solusod, which some of you may know him from Space Dandy as the voice of Bea, Soul on Soul Eater, or as seen recently, the now muscular Coby on One Piece. He does a good job playing our hero on here. He does convoy the emotion Touma has very well, especially when he was about to get bitten by Index, or reacting to the weird magical stuff around him. While others might think he’s a bit much at first, I say he’s fine. Brittney Karbowski voices all of the Misaka roles on here, and this role suits her. She does especially well doing the 3rd person voices of all the Misaka sisters, and convoying each of their robotic-like voices (except Misaka Misaka, who Brittney uses her Wendy Fairy Tail voice for her) exceptionally great. Her role as original Misaka is solid too, expressing all her emotions that gives Misaka her personality. From, anger, grief, and happiness, it’s one of her best roles I believe. Although, she does better as original Misaka in the Railgun series, to be honest.

There are other voices on here than just the three mains. Jad Saxton does a fine performance as Miss Komoe, the loli teacher, and Robert McCollum and Morgan Garnett do pretty well as Stiyl and Kanzaki, respectively. (Should point out: As “Anime Wednesday” fans may have notice, if they watch this show, Morgan Garnett played another sword-wielding beauty in the vampire ninja Seraphim on Is This A Zombie?, who looks a bit like Kanzaki on there. So it makes since). Austin Tindle (who is also the lead on ITAZ? Yeah so much stuff to say from a show shown on cable for only 3 weeks) does a fun, menacing role as Accelerator. Newton Pittman does pretty good job as pretty boy spy Tsuchimikado. (Another quick note: Should mention Touma’s other male friend on here. His name is Pierce. And while he doesn’t have a big role, or do anything, he is voiced by Scott Freeman. Which if you saw the news about him recently, yeah.) Other voices include Chuck Huber as the upside-down floating Aleister character, Alison Viktorin as pervy teleporter Kuroko, and Lindsay Siedel as the vampire attractor Himegami. Even the great Christopher R. Sabat has a role as Touma’s dad, Toya, and Alexis Tipton is on here as Kazakiri. There is alot of great voice acting talent in this show. Now, is that to say is it perfect? No, there are parts in this show where the voices feels off at times, and I do believe some might think the characters are a bit annoying. But overall, this show has a very solid dub.

Music

Now I have to admit something here. Again, I did see this show on-demand almost two years ago. And because of that, you might forgot some things about the show, especially if you watch it only once. One of the things I forgot was the music on here. I have to say, I’m mad that I forgot the first opening to this song. Listen for yourself and see how good it is. The music for the first Index was instructed by Maiko Iuchi and the first OP, “PSI-Missing” by Mami Kawada, is the best music in the show. There are 2 OP’s in the show and while the 2nd OP “Masterpiece”, also from Mami Kawada, is pretty good itself, I just like the first one better. (Your opinion will vary on this. And speaking of my opinion, both of these can’t match the epicness of the first OP of Railgun.) There are also two endings for the show. The first ED is a sweet, soothing melodic song. It’s titled “Rimless (Fuchinashi no Sekai)” and is done by performer IKU. It’s very calming and can make you pretty relaxed, to be honest. It’s also played throughout most of the show. The other ED I don’t remember much, other than it being pretty upbeat. Mostly because it’s not shown a lot. It’s called “Chikaigoto (Sukoshi Dake Mo Ichido)” and is also performed by IKU. You can listen to it here, if interested. Other than that, these OP/EDs are fine.

As for the music in the show though, well that’s another story. Listening to some of it for the second time, the music within is, well, very forgetful. Most of the time the main music accompanying it has these weird ass sound effects attached to it, that sounds kinda annoying. The “BOINGGGG!!” thing kinda got on my nerves a bit, and that doesn’t help. There are some good beats in some of the fights (you notice it well in the Accelerator vs Touma fight), but a lot of the times, the music is just there and you just don’t remember it. Sad really, because the openings really are good. But in between? Just no thanks.

Should This Show Air on Toonami?

Now to the most important question: Is this show worthy for being on Toonami? I do believe so. Now to start, this show does get very talkative in parts, and we seen how people react when it’s nothing but talking in anime. Also, there is a lot of talk about church, God, and some other religious topics. I’m totally fine with this, even if I do have no religious affiliation whatsoever. But for others that aren’t me, that could be a touchy issue. To be fair, it’s definitely not as touchy as it was in Blue Exorcist, and there’s no Satan has feelings too and loves this person crap in here. And if that can do okay on Toonami, Index can too. Now the action in this is top notch, when it occurs. In fact, this show can get plenty bloody if it wants too. Not Hellsing Ultimate or Akame ga Kill! bloody, but just around Soul Eater type of blood spilled. It’s definitely fun to see, and there’s enough action in it to satisfy everyone’s needs. A Funimation license does make it a good choice for this as well. Even Michiko & Hatchin got picked up, so anything’s possible. With a great dub in place too, I believe this show is a great future Toonami candidate.

Final Thoughts

So to end this, I have to say this show was very great to watch, and I really have no idea as to why it still hasn’t been shown on TV yet, let alone Toonami. The dub is solid, the characters are fun, the art is smooth and pretty, and, other than the in-show music and some of the smaller stories, this show is all-around fantastic. If it does get a chance to be on Toonami, I’ll welcome it with open arms, and I hope you do too. And I hope maybe later on, I can review A Certain Scientific Railgun series later on for this site (Note: Just started Railgun S and still need to see Index II, so it will be a bit later on till I can review those two series), and other great shows I have seen on Funi’s on-demand block. Some have been great, others terrible. Some could be Toonami worthy as well, while others are not. As for A Certain Magical Index, my rating:

8 biting Indexs/10

(A Certain Magical Index is made by studio J.C. Staff. The anime is licensed by Funimation Entertainment.)

AFC Championship Game

Denver vs New England, Sun Jan 24, 3:05 PM

Line: Patriots -3

Last week, we saw the Pats mostly dominated the Chiefs, as the Chiefs couldn’t get anything going. When they did, the Patriots answered back most of the time with their own drives with Tom Brady throwing lights out in the win. Of course, the Chiefs had their chances late, but Andy Reid decided to be Andy Reid, and know how to use the clock whatsoever, costing the Chiefs. (I hate to see how Reid is when it came to setting a VCR. Or hell, an alarm clock.) The Broncos, meanwhile, struggled all game with the banged-up Steelers, but they finally got going late in the game, and won it on Peyton Manning and his (limited) abilities. This match-up is obviously gonna be decided on the strengths of the two teams: The Pats Offense vs the Broncos Defense. Can the Pats offense look like they did against KC, this time against an even more stout D? Can Denver gang up on Brady, and stop Gronk, Eledman, and others from beating them in the passing game? And what about Peyton? Can he show up? Can he be great for one more game, and not look like a 55 year old who had so many issues? Can his receivers make plays by breaking tackles? If you can’t tell by now, I’m leaning on this being a close game. It doesn’t help things that the weather suppose to call for snow as well in Denver. Now, if you read this, you know how I feel about Brady and the Pats by following me on Twitter. I. HATE. THEM!!!! I hate how they win championships, while getting away with cheating. I hate their owner who pulls the strings more than likely. I hate their whiny pretty boy QB who Pats fans say isn’t a sore loser. I hate their coach who can’t give ya a straight answer, and that always looks like a goddamn zombie when you see him on Madden. HOWEVER, as much as I hate them, I really can’t trust Manning here. Did you see him last week?! Good god, he looked terrible! And if it wasn’t for that play where he stumbled then got back up like he needed Life Alert, the Steelers may have won the game. I say Denver defense keeps them in the game, and he makes a few plays, but ultimately.

Taking: Broncos (+3) covering Patriots

My pick: Patriots 23, Broncos 21

 

NFC Championship Game

Arizona vs Carolina, Sun Jan 24, 6:40 PM

Line: Panthers -3

Green Bay last week nearly, NEARLY pulled of another goddamn miracle win with a Hail Mary, just like they did early in the year (I really DON’T want to talk about the first one.) But, it, with the extra point, didn’t win the game, but forced it into overtime, where on the strength of Larry Fitzgerald, the Cardinals eek out a classic win at home. The Panthers the next day faced Seattle, and before you could sit down and watch, it was 14-0 like that, which ballooned into 31-0 at the half. All the crying Jordan memes for Seattle were at full display. But then, the Seahawks came to play in the 2nd half, and made this a game, ultimately losing 31-24 to the Panthers. Now the championship game is set, and we have the two best QBs in the NFC, if not all the NFL this year, squaring off in what might be still an icy/snowy Charlotte. The defense are still gonna come at each other with are they got, and Cam and Palmer should be fun to watch. “Should” being the word. I think this will be an excellent game, and quite frankly, I say whoever win this game should win the Super Bowl. I have said that Arizona is the best team this year. I still believe that. However, being the best team doesn’t always mean you will be the best that day. I think Cam shows up this game, and has a performance that should clinch his MVP-caliber year. It will be Cam vs Brady in Super Bowl 50.

Taking: Panthers (-3) over Cardinals

My pick: Panthers 38, Cardinals 27

 

 

 

Saturday, January 16th

Kansas City vs New England, 4:35 PM ET

Line: Pats -5.5

Last week, the Chiefs crushed the poor Texans and intercepted Brian Hoyer 4 times, and really coulda have more than that, cause he was bad all over. This week is gonna be a bit harder, as they go to Foxborough to take on Tom Brady and the Patriots.  The good news for the Chiefs: The Pats are banged up. Basically everywhere. Brady might be dinged up. Rob Gronkowski is up in the air with his status (even though, it seems more than likely he will play), and that offensive line has been atrocious for them. If there was ever a good time to take on the Pats, who lost 4 of their final 6 games, it be this time. However, the Pats defense has been one of the best this season, and they’re gonna go after Alex Smith and co., who’s best player Maclin got injured last week (Like Gronk, I think he’ll play, but he’s definitely not gonna be 100%.) This should be a close game, there might be weather problems, and could be some turnovers by both teams. But for now, I’m taking the Chiefs overall, cause they have been on a hot streak, and their defense I believe gets the job done here. And like last week, beware the Andy Reid late game choke job. Cause it can/will happen if it’s close.

Taking: Chiefs (+5.5) over Pats

My Pick: Chiefs 24, Patriots 21

 

Green Bay vs Arizona, 8:15 PM ET

Line: Cardinals -7.5

The Packers looked like the Packers this year early against Washington last week. It not for DeSean Jackson messing up that TD, The *Bleeps* would have had a 16-0 lead (if they also didn’t miss that extra point as well.) Instead, the Washington defense didn’t show up for the other 45 minutes, and the Packers had one of their best games, along with their defense taking it to Kirk Cousins and co. This week, expect a way better all-around team from the Cardinals, who I believe are the best team not only in the NFC, but the NFL. They will miss Tyrann Mathieu on defense, but overall, they are very solid, more than likely great, and kicked the Packers’ asses last time they met, with 9 (NINE!!!) total sacks on the Packers QBs. Not only that, but Carson Palmer is having maybe his best year ever. With Fitzgerald and co. leading the way for him, I expect them to have another big day on this pretty good Green Bay defense. It won’t be a big ass kicking like last time, but expect more of the same from this game.

Taking: Cardinals (-7.5) over Packers

My Pick: Cardinals 31, Packers 17

 

Sunday, January 17th

Seattle vs Carolina, 1:05 PM ET

Line: Panthers -2

Poor, poor Minnesota. They were so close last week, only 27 yards away from advancing and knocking Seattle out. But alas, Blair Walsh miss the kick, and Seattle advances, while Minnesota fans feel another stingy defeat, while dealing with winter’s wrath. (I have to point this out before I go on. Yes, Walsh should get the blame for that missed kick, and yet, he was the best player on the Vikings team before that miss, since he got all 9 points, and Bridgewater did nothing. Also, Peterson should get alot of the blame too, since he fumbled the damn ball away that gave the Seahawks the lead. Nice going, Peterson, you loser.) Anyway, the Seahawks and Panthers meet up now, in what should be alot warmer than last week. They met earlier, with the Panthers getting a 4 point win in Seattle, only with this game in Carolina now. They are 15-1, and Cam Newton has looked terrific, with what little he has had. (Ten Ginn. Jr. is their best WR. That is saying something.) Their defense has looked solid to great throughout this year, and I don’t expect that to change, since Wilson has been hit alot. I know alot are taking Seattle in this game, and believe they are going back to the Super Bowl. Yeah, I don’t. They got crushed by that Vikings D last week, and without that lucky escape/pass Wilson got off, they might not be here, and now face a similar bruising defense this week in the Panthers. Sorry, Seahawks fans, you may have escape Minnesota with the win. Not this week. But hey, you get Lynch back, so that’s good right?

Taking: Panthers (-2) over Seahawks

My Pick: Panthers 30, Seahawks 13

 

Pittsburgh vs Denver, 4:40 PM ET

Line: Broncos -7.5

Last week was an ugly game for the Steelers with the Bengals and all the shit that happened. Antonio Brown is out with a concussion (Which Bengals CB Adam “Pacman” Jones STILL doesn’t believe he has and is faking.) Roethlisberger got his arm messed up, with everything else messed up, but will still somehow play. The offense had to go through all of that, and now has to go to Denver and play against one of the best defensive fronts in Von Miller and co. The good news for Pittsburgh? Their questionable defense gets to face Peyton Manning. This 5 years ago would’ve made you say, “What?! How’s that good news?” But now, look at him. Yes, this offense can get hot at times, and has some excellent receivers all around for him. And if Pittsburgh misses a tackle on them, look out. But have you seen him throw? He can barely pass it 10-15 yards without him straining himself. It might be better to use Brock Osweiler if anything, but then again, he didn’t look good either. It fact, in their last game played between these teams, he gave them a 27-0 lead. Which he then blew badly. If anything, this should be an ugly game, and if there’s a hit or 2 (or 8) on Big Ben, you will see Landry Jones in this game, and that could be it for the Steelers. I went back and forth on this game. I had the Broncos winning this one in most, and I still do. But for now, I have Pittsburgh covering here. This really can go either way with it being a Denver blowout with the Steelers injuries, to a close game with either team winning.

Taking: Steelers (+7.5) cover Broncos

My Pick: Broncos 24, Steelers 18