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Shakugan no Shana Light Novel Volume 01 cover

The front cover of the first volume of the Shakugan no Shana light novel series

Shakugan no Shana (灼眼のシャナ Shakugan no Shana?, lit., "Burning-Eyed Shana"), also known simply as Shana, is a Japanese light novel series written by Yashichiro Takahashi and illustrated by Noizi Itō centering around Yūji Sakai, an ordinary Japanese high school boy who inadvertently becomes involved in a perpetual war between forces of balance and imbalance in existence. In the process, he befriends the title character: a fighter for the balancing force, whom he takes to calling "Shana". The series incorporates science fiction, fantasy, and slice-of-life "school days" elements into its tale.

Outline and Principal Characters

Shana LN logo

Shakugan no Shana logo

Yūji Sakai, a high school student, expected his very normal life to last forever. However, this expectation is quickly shattered one day while on his way home.

Time suddenly freezes, leaving Yūji to watch in horror as blue flames engulf the people around him. Soon a monster resembling a large doll appears and begins sucking the flames into its mouth, until it notices Yūji. Surprised by Yūji's immunity to the time-stop, it prepares to consume him.

However a sword-wielding girl in black attire with flaming red eyes and hair appears, destroying the monster, before noticing Yūji moving freely. The girl calls herself a "Flame Haze" who hunts the "Denizens of the Crimson Realm" and the "Rinne" they send to do their bidding. When Yūji notices a blue flame in his chest, the Flame Haze tells him that the "real" Yūji died some time ago, and that he is a "Torch", a temporary replacement for erased humans. Torches take on the forms of those erased persons, but after a period of time, they will vanish from existence and the memories of the living. Unfazed by his apparent death, Yūji befriends the strange girl and names her "Shana" after her sword. Expecting Yūji to slowly fade away like all other Torches do, Shana is surprised to find that Yūji is not a normal Torch, but instead a special kind called a "Mystes": he has a treasure inside him, known as a "Treasure Tool", a device possessing special abilities of sorts, and an extremely powerful and valuable one at that. Shana resolves to protect Yūji from the Denizens, who would use the treasure to disrupt the balance of the world, and Yūji decides to join Shana in her fight.

Shana's fight is actually a long-standing struggle between the Lords and Denizens of the Crimson Realm. The Denizens steal Power of Existence, the energy that forms the basis of the world, from living people and utilize it for their own selfish ambitions. Lords are the mortal enemies of Denizens, and utilize Flame Haze to attempt to retain balance. Thus, the Flame Haze create Torches in the image of the dead in order to relieve the strain on reality resulting from the actions of the Denizens.

During their time together both Shana and Yūji begin to realize their affection for each other. During Shana's numerous battles with the Flame Haze she has realizes that whenever Yūji is close and concerned about her, her powers increase, awakening the Flame inside her.

Development

The series began with the release of the first volume on November 10, 2002 entitled Shakugan no Shana which was originally published by the Japanese company Kadokawa Shoten, but has since been licensed for release in Taiwan by Kadokawa Media and in the United States by Viz Media. As of November 2010, there are twenty-four individual novels, which pertains to twenty-one novels numbered II through XXII (the first novel did not contain a Roman numeral), and four other novels numbered 0, S, SII, and SIII. The final volume of the main story, XXII, was released on October 10, 2011.

List of Volumes

Reception

The Mainichi Shimbun reported in October 2011 that the novels have sold over 8.5 million copies.

Navigation

Light Novel Volumes
Main Story IIIIIIIVVVIVIIVIIIIXXXIXIIXIIIXIVXVXVIXVIIXVIIIXIXXXXXIXXII
Side Stories 0SMSIISIIISIV
Series Information
Production Light NovelsManga (Eternal Song) • Anime (DVD Releases)
People Yashichirō Takahashi (ThemesList of Changéríon references)Noizi ItōAyato SasakuraShii KiyaKazuma MikiTakashi WatanabeKow Otani
Related Companies ASCII Media Works/MediaWorksDengeki BunkoJ.C.STAFFGeneon Universal Entertainment
Translations
Dubs Geneon Universal EntertainmentFunimation
Translations Viz Media
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