Shakugan no Shana III (Final) – Episode 24

And thus arrives the bittersweet end.

Posting this week is going to suck, because I’m home for Spring Break. That means I have to type these all on my laptop, and the keyboard is a lot different than my desktop one. I’m probably going to wear out the backspace key by the end of the week.
A few shows are also ending this week, meaning there will be a lot to post. It’s gonna be time-consuming, to say the least.

Anyways, should probably get to the actual episodic now, considering I have quite a few pictures (well, it is the last episode), though I only have a sentence or two to say for some of them, so I guess it balances out.
Also, after I’m done with this post and publish it, I’ll write up the review for the season and schedule it to post Monday morning. I’m hoping to find a way to write a satisfactory one without spoilers, but odds are that won’t be the case. Oh well.

So the finale started off with babies.

I don’t actually have much to say about it, I just wasn’t sure if the previous form was an egg or not, so this basically confirmed that it was.

Wilhelmina also got pretty much her dream job. It’s like a combination of the love of raising Shana, and being Pheles and Johann’s friend. She probably couldn’t have been given any better task than taking care of the kid.

Lamies also reached her goal and apparently got some kind of portrait. Yeah, turns out Lamies was some really small girl hiding in an old man’s body.

…Well that sounded creepy to type.

Guess she couldn’t have gotten any better of a disguise, though. But it’s funny how the smallest, seemingly insignificant things can make people go on long journeys and cause all kinds of ruckus. It kind of mirrors Yuuji, if you think about it. Other than to achieve her goal, maybe that was why Lamies was willing to work with him.

Also, not entirely sure what the whole Grammatica deal was. I tried looking it up and found a very insignificant amount of information on it. It has roots in some older languages, primarily Latin, but I couldn’t gain any more information. Perhaps it’s just something painfully obvious that I’m missing.
Or I just suck at research.

I’m going to miss these two. I’m not even sure why I liked them so much. Perhaps it’s just because Chiara is a nice alternative when compared to Shana in the previous seasons as far as love goes.

And Sale is like a Japanese Indiana Jones (as far as looks and personality goes), so he’s pretty much automatically badass.

Well, I’m sure they’d have gotten their happy end if the story had continued, so it’s not too big of a deal.

Now, my memory may be faulty, but I believe this was actually the first time Wilhelmina called Shana… well, Shana. So far she never had to use a name, or just used the standard “Burning-Eyed, Flame-Haired Hunter” and such.

Pretty iconic for the person who was the loudest in saying that it was pointless for Shana to be named to actually use it. She may have taken a backseat when compared to other characters, but she’s grown quite a bit herself.

Yuuji’s motives… that was the spotlight of the episode, easily.

There’s something so fascinating about how his goal never changed from the very first episode of the series. He didn’t like the fate of Torches, and wanted to save Yukari Hirai. The guy finds a way to finally do this that involves starting a damn full-scale war, causing gods to clash, and changing the fate of Crimson Denizens and Flame Haze, all because of one simple desire. It’s utterly insane, but also incredibly admirable.
Not that he didn’t want to save Shana and everyone else, but it was on equal ground with resurrecting people. Can’t blame the guy for going for the best end he can get. Not to mention there’s something mesmerising about how everyone can get their perfect end through one person’s plan.

He certainly does have one hell of a sense of justice, though. Combine that with his caring more for others about himself, and you have Yuuji’s self-punishing mindset. All of a sudden, His and Johann’s fight over the Midnight Lost Child makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?

Sydonay kicked the bucket, but it’s not too saddening, because it was sort of what he was hoping for and expected to happen.

At least he gets to be with Hecate now. Not sure if he’ll resurrect with her once wishes start being thrown around again, but judging by their short conversation, he just might.

Dat kiss.

Not really much to add, it was just kind of required to include this snapshot. The kiss was overly dramatic, so naturally I loved it. It was quite fitting.

As for the whole “no longer a Torch” deal, I don’t have anything to say on the matter. Not even sure if he’s human, or some kind of undead human-Torch hybrid. I think Lamies just somehow took the whole dwindling fire lifespan out of him somehow. If he was human, he wouldn’t have been able to fly. Unless what happened was cheating (which it kind of was) so he got to keep all of the Power of Existence.

Who knows? It’s not too big of a deal, anyways. It was more of a wink to the fans than anything. It’s not a plot hole nor a deus ex machina, since it doesn’t really do anything to the plot at this point.

One existence traded for another. It just fits Yuuji far too well.

In a way, it’s like everything has gone full circle. With the exception of Yuuji disappearing, Misaki City is like how it was before Flame Haze and Crimson Denizens got brought into it. Exactly what Yuuji wanted, but it also gives it this surreal vibe to it, almost as if nothing in the series ever happened. Not that it makes it meaningless or anything, and you can still see change if you just look at Yuuji’s family and the new baby, but I thought it was a nice touch.

And thus, we reach the end of an era.

It’s been a long road, but even more wonders await in the future.

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