The final episode has arrived. As expected Shana and Yuji felt it was necessary to end the series with a big fight. Still the last episode did have some actual surprise with the Flame Haze arriving in force and heading to Xanadu. They really had to hurry things along with telling us where everyone is going and somewhat letting us know what they’d be doing with their lives after this major event.

Okay as expected the fight between Yuji and Shana turned out to be remarkably stupid. It’s as if they had something that would be a normal conversation and then just decided to have it during a fight because this is an action series. I mean seriously if Yuji wasn’t a damn idiot we wouldn’t have had a fight at all. In the end who the hell is he to decide what the level of punishment he should pay for all the deaths that have occurred? He might have considered himself greedy for wanting Shana to be with him after all that’s happened, but on the other hand he’s incredibly arrogant to think that some time of being alone evens things out. Seriously just continue to live with Shana and if someone decides to try and get revenge on you take the heat then. Still at least there was some reason to have the fight. I came into this thinking they were going to fight….just because. At least Yuji being…..Yuji is an acceptable reason.

At least there was a reason for us to have another episode. Not a bad step by Yuji to fix Misaki City and restore a lot of the lives lost. Of course sucks for all the other cities on the planet that aren’t getting that special treatment, but that’s what happens when someone gets to choose to fix up their hometown. And really good for Rammie that he got to finally achieve his wish. He was never a bad guy so it was nice to see him rewarded for that.

On that note I say welcome back to the world of the living to Hirai Yukari. Never would have guessed way back in the first episode of the series that she’d come back to life at the very end. It’s a nice sense of closure since Shana will be leaving and finally Hirai can return to her life again.

Good call by Johan to have Carmel take care of the kid. Really she has gotten pretty good at it over the years so he should be just fine. Besides this is a chance for her to do something for her precious friends even if it is taking on another tough job. Does make you hope that one day she will be able to live with those she cares for and not just have to take care of what they leave behind. At least Rebecca will be with her so she’s not in this all by herself.

In a way it feels like all the efforts by the Flame Haze in these episodes was completely pointless. We have a world created without the need for the Tomogara to kill for power of existence, a ton of Flame Haze heading to the new world to help police it, and on top of it Yuji always intended to go and struggle for equality between human and Tomogara. All that fighting and the Flame Haze just get that rule put into place and only because the Tomogara didn’t change it. Almost makes Khamsin’s death all the more important since at least he died to accomplish something instead of the untold numbers that died in pointless battles.

My condolences for Sydonay and Margery who fought a crazy battle because two people couldn’t talk to each other. Of course Sydonay almost committed suicide really because he didn’t want to hang around in the world waiting for Hecate to come back. He’d rather stay with her until they are needed in the world again. It also gives a bit of closure to the series of battles that Margery and Sydonay have had in the series to this point. Though I do have to say if they had these kinds of trump card forms then why haven’t they used them in the several life or death battles that they have had?

Of course it does all come back to Shana and Yuji. Despite my complaints on what has happened in this final season at least they got one thing right. They were clear in this episode about how they felt and finally ended up together. No idea what is going to happen in this Xanadu world, but at least they are done fighting each other. Kind of ironic that Yuji does all this so Shana doesn’t have to fight and yet they are going into a world where fighting may be necessary until everyone can get along.

Still in the end they got it right. There was no vagueness about how either of them felt in this episode. And really I’m sure the fact that Yuji and Shana finally got a kiss is good enough for the fans of the series. It has been a very long road for this couple and I can at least say its nice to see them finally together.

Last Thoughts

And here we are at the end of the series. I have to say outright that this was by far the most confusing of the three seasons of Shana I’ve seen. We went into a whole new level of strange with the creation of worlds, a god inhabiting Yuji’s body, massive war, and the birth of a brand new kind of being. It was a long series of trying to figure out why certain people were doing what they were doing. It took us until the final episodes for Yuji’s damn plan to be revealed in full. Not that making people think more during a series is a bad thing, but sometimes I think the series bit off more than it could chew. It is a whole lot easier to explain things in a novel since you have the time and space, but in a series you have to cut and compact things which makes it harder on people.

We really got to meet a ton of new characters this season from both the Tomogara side and the Flame Haze. The most entertaining of the new characters was probably Rebecca. Just a good friend of Carmel and you have to like someone who will go around and blow everything in her way up.

In the end this may finish up as the best overall season of Shana we’ve gotten. While not everything was clear at times at least they stuck with the story and didn’t let it get boring. You do feel bad for all the life lost since it really could have been prevented. But at the same time everyone pretty much got what they wanted. Most of the Tomogara have left the Earth for Xanadu which is good for the people there. The Flame Haze that aren’t going can enjoy ‘retirement’ more or less in peace while they clean up the remaining Tomogara. Shana and Yuji are finally together and same for Keisaku and Margery. Really this final season allowed those couples to finally get past all the barriers in their way.

I can’t say the last season was enjoyable all the time since frankly trying to make sense of it could get troublesome. Still they managed to wrap up the story without it feeling rushed and they gave us some good action along the way. I never would have guessed how monumental the changes to the very world would be in the first episode. I’ll just say good job to Shana for making it one heck of a ride. For anyone who enjoyed the first two seasons this is an obvious one to check out.
Score: A-