Shakugan no Shana: S1 V3

Running time: 100 Minutes
Classification: 12
Distributor: MVM
Video: 16.9 anamorphic
Audio: Japanese 2.0, English 2.0.
Subtitles: English, Signage and on screen text.

Overview:

After setting Margery straight, Shana tackles her next obstacle. Unfortunately, she is unable to understand her feelings towards Yuji and fights a losing battle with Kazumi at the waterland park. Will Shana be able to pull herself together in order to face the deadly twins, a pair of morally corrupt denizens who are after Shana and the things she holds dear?

Episode synopsis:

Ep 9: The Poolside of Love and Desire.
It must be a law in Japan that every anime involving teenagers has to have at least one beach/pool/onsen episode and this series is no exception. Shana and her classmates enjoy some downtime at a local water park where, for once, the biggest problem they face is the choice of swimsuits and who’s going to win a coveted dinner for two in the mixed couples cavalry contest.

Ep10: Entwined Feelings.
Two powerful, and somewhat creepy, Denizens of the Crimson Realm arrive in town intent on hunting down the object of their desires and these youngsters won’t let anyone stand in their way. The Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter finds that there’s something much harder than doing battle with her enemies; interpersonal relationships.

Ep11: Yuji, Shana, and Kisses.
Alastor, the Lord of the Crimson Realm to whom Shana is bound, may have raised a mighty warrior in his role as guardian and surrogate father, but can he cope with his partner’s new found interest in matters of the heart. Could this be something that requires a mother’s touch?

Ep12: Flowers Bloom in the Cradle.
Shana finds she has some powerful adversaries not just in her professional life but also in her personal life as well as she’s threatened with the loss of two of the things she treasures most. A great cliff-hanger episode on which to end this volume.

Audio/Dub/Subtitles:

While the setup screen options only give you the choice of either the English dub track with subtitles for onscreen Japanese text, or the original Japanese audio with translation subtitles, you can mix and match these as you like directly from your DVD player. The dub script and cast are of high quality with my only complaint being that the dub cast do have a habit of mispronouncing Japanese names. Tabitha St. Germain, Shana’s dub actor, does an excellent job of portraying Shana both as a powerful warrior without heading into “point and shout” territory and as a teenage girl somewhat confounded by the finer points of human interaction. The subtitles are a pretty close translation of the original Japanese script and the dub translation has some of the emphasis and nuances changed for the benefit of the English speaking audience whilst not detracting from the creators’ original intent. I did notice that, while the subs retained the Japanese honorific system of address, the dub dropped it entirely for everyone except Yuji’s mother.