Shakugan no Shana

Synopsis

He had thought his normal days would last forever, until they were ended abruptly by an encounter with a girl with red hair and eyes. He named her Shana.

Not long after he enters high school, Sakai Yuji’s normal days come to an end. He sees something bizarre on his way home: people are frozen in a strange fire, and a monster that looks like a large doll is attacking them. Just when he's about to be killed, a girl in a dark cloak wielding a large sword appears, and slices the monster in half. Although Yuji survives the strange encounter, the girl informs him of a desolate truth: " 'You' don't exist anymore."

She calls herself a Flame Haze who hunts "Guze no Tomogara"; intruders from another world. She explains to him that he is a "Torch", a substitute of Yuji whose “existence” has already been devoured. She also told him that he is a special Torch, "Mystes", which contains a precious item in it. When he looks at his chest, he sees within himself a faint flame, just as she said.

It is in this way that his eternal struggle alongside the girl begins. 


Main Character

Shana (シャナ, 「炎髪灼眼の討ち手」)

Age: 14-15
Height: 143 cm
Weight: 41 kg

Known only as the "Flaming-Haired, Blazing-Eyed Hunter," Shana bears no name until she meets Yuji, who names her after the sword she wields. As a "Flame Haze," Shana is sworn to protect the balance of the world by hunting down the "Guze no Tomogara;" monsters from the "Crimson Realm" who come to earth in order to harvest the "Power of Existence" from its denizens. Together with Alastor, "Flame of the Heavens" and Shana's guide who lives within her, and speaks to her through a necklace she wears, she has become one of the most powerful Flame Haze in existence. After meeting Yuji, Shana goes through a chaotic phase in she experiences new emotions like love, jealousy, hatred, and loneliness. This leads her to making rash decisions in battle as she's unable to identify or deal with what she's feeling. When Shana finally realizes that having Yuji with her in battle helps her fight better, she begins to unlock new abilities and becomes more proficient in battle.

Yuuji Sakai (坂井悠二)

Age: 15-16
Height: 168 cm
Weight: 55 kg
Classification: Mystes

Yuuji, the main character of the story, is just an average high school student. However, his world is turned upside down when he discovers that he is already dead and does not have much time before he disappears. Fortunately, Yuuji is a Mystes who contains a treasure known as the Reiji Maigo. The treasure inside him restores his Power of Existence every night at midnight. With the Reiji Maigo, Yuuji has the possibility to live on like an average human as long as he makes sure that his Power of Existence does not run out before midnight. Later, he begins to learn to use the yet untapped potential of the treasure kept within him. He cares deeply about Shana, but does not make any advances in their relationship due to his feelings of depreciation as a Torch and viewing Shana as someone who is beyond his reach. He also starts to see Shana from her old former perspective of the world, where he is just a Torch and she is just a Flame Haze. With this going on, he distanced himself from the closeness that the two originally shared previously.

Yuuji is kind person who puts others before himself. This often draws much confusion and annoyance from Shana, as prior torches from Shana's experience exhibited selfish attitudes. However, Yuuji's compassion and empathy sow the seeds of attraction between him and Shana. (Source:Wikipedia)

Kazumi Yoshida (吉田一美)

Yuji's classmate. She has a crush on him, but is a bit too shy to tell him directly. When Shana becomes her love-rival, she vows to tell Yuji her feelings and to let him decide between her and Shana.



Pheles gives Kazumi a cross shaped hougu in the second season, which would summon Pheles if there was any trouble happening to Yuji/Johan. The setback was that it would take all of Kazumi's power of existence, if she used it. She was later taken to Seireiden by Yuji Sakai to be used as a catalyst to the ritual which would reverse the effects of Khamsin's Tuning. After Shana, Wilhelmina, Chiara, Sale and the three remaining members of The Four Gods of Earth reached Seireiden, shana witnesses Kazumi understanding what she needed to do at that time and activates Giralda and disappears from existence