Shana

Shana-(is the female lead of the Shakugan no Shana series. She is a Flame Haze, usually referred to as her 
title: "Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter" or also known as "Nietono no Shana" (the name of her sword) among the other Flame Haze. She has bound a contract with the Crimson God Alastor, "Flame of Heaven".
Her character songs are Light My Fire by Kotoko and Serment by Mami Kawada.
==Appearance==
Shana is a young girl with jet black hair which is almost as long as her body. She has an anime antenna hair (アホ毛, ahoge) which always sticks out on the top of her head and characteristics that would make her a Moe character. She also has dark brown pupils and a fair complexion. Because of the effects of being a Flame Haze, Shana's body age remains to that of a girl of 13 to 15 years old. Upon invoking her powers as a Flame Haze, her hair and eyes change color to a fiery crimson, with embers fluttering from her head down. Shana is of oriental decent. In the anime, she is 141cm tall.
In her first few years as a Flame Haze, she wears an all-black attire consisting of a shirt, pants and her Treasure Tool Yogasa in the form of a trench coat. However, after she decided to stay in Misaki City, she is most usually seen with the Misaki City Municipal High School uniform and when in combat, has the Yogasa as a cape worn over her clothes.
She is later seen wearing a red-and-black frilly dress on her stay inside the Seireiden. After freeing herself, she is seen wearing a broken white dress before Sophie inquired for her to change her clothes. After the battle at Seireiden, she is seen wearing a maroon-coloured shirt in Hong Kong.
==Personality ==
Initially, she is concentrated solely on her duty as a Flame Haze, not even considering getting a name as she didn't see any importance in having it. She sees Yuji only as a Torch, an object, albeit marginally interesting because of his status as a Mystes. However, she slowly opens up to Yuji, coming to think of him as a person despite being a Torch, and eventually comes to show affection to him. Her duty made her indifferent towards human life at first, but through Yuji's influence, Shana has opened up slightly. She still remains confused and disgruntled by some human traits which she considers as pointless, although some of it is used to mask her jealousy about her desired monopoly on Yuji.
Shana has a habit of saying "Urusai! Urusai! Urusai!" ("Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!") whenever Yuji asks her questions or makes remarks that disturb her original worldview or embarrass her but in reality, they really care for each other. She has a great fondness for anything sweet, eventually putting melon bread above her other preferences.
Shana is shown to be highly intelligent as she has gotten a perfect score on every exam and is talented in Physical Education. She is shown, however, to be naive when it comes to social affairs, once even unabashfully asking "how babies are made" to Chigusa.
==Background==
===Childhood Arc===
She was rescued and picked up by Wilhelmina Carmel and Shiro near Hong Kong when she was an infant. She was then raised and trained in Tendōkyū. Alastor stated that she is "The Great One", destined to be a very majestic figure when she grows up (if she didn't get involved with the Crimson Realm beforehand). After the destruction of the Tendōkyū, she and Wilhelmina went their separate ways in Hong Kong, with the latter's intentions of allowing Shana to learn on her own as a Flame Haze.
===Before Meeting Yuji Arc===
The new "Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter" proceeds to her solitary journey, eventually becoming a companion of Sophie Sawallisch, a veteran Flame Haze, in Eastern Europe. Sophie notices her crudeness in combat and lack of femininity and decides to train her, while teaching her the ways of being a lady. The Flame Haze later travels to Japan, where she is involved with affairs relating to a certain Denizen which dwells in Yosegi City before reaching Misaki City.
She later meets Yuji by chance in one attack initiated by Friagne, the Crimson Lord who was staying at that city. Yuji, in his need to humanize her, chose to name her "Shana" after her katana. Until she met Yuji, she was identified by only her Flame Haze title "Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter," or her nodachi as, "Flame Haze of the Nietono no Shana" (Nietono no Shana no Flame Haze) or even abbreviated to "the Nietono" (Nietono no) by her fellow comrade, Rebecca Reed.
===Friagne Arc===
Shana first arrives in Misaki City after a long time of traveling alone (prior to arriving in Japan and after leaving the destroyed Tendōkyū, she is accompanied by Sophie Sawallisch) to confront Friagne. At this period, the infamous "(Bounty) Hunter" has defeated a number of Flame Haze, and as a Flame Haze herself, she aims to destroy Friagne as well.
She attacked three of Friagne's Rinne, who had activated a Fuzetsu and were devouring the Power of Existence of the people who were immobilised by the spell. In doing so, she had saved Yuji Sakai, a torch who could move inside the Fuzetsu. She and Alastor were surprised when they discovered that Sakai Yuji could move in the seal. thus making him a Mystes. Shana defeated two of the Rinne but when she was about to slash the last one, Yuji got in the way, allowing the Rinne to shove her hand inside of him to retrieve the Treasure Tool inside of him. She then cut into Yuji, also getting the Rinne. She cut into the Rinne again, but from the cut, Marianne came out, escaping the fight and reporting back to Friagne.
When Yuji was moaning because he was cut open, Shana put him back together. She also repaired the damage that was caused during the fight and undid the seal. She was going to leave but was stopped by Yuji, who was wondering what was going on. She replied that he was dead.
Shana began watching Yuji, as she thought that Friagne would come after him. She saw Yuji again the next day and explained to him the Crimson Realm, Denizens, and the Flame Haze.
Later, Shana realised the Torch she saved earlier, holds the Reiji Maigo, a device which replenishes the holder's Power of Existence every time at midnight. Shana sees him as a viable bait to lure out Friagne, and she decides to use the remaining Power of Existence of Hirai Yukari to keep a close watch at him. She later goes to Yuji's house to live there for the moment.
Meanwhile, Margery Daw is on pursuit of a Torch named Lamies. Margery and Shana clash in one encounter, and the powerful "Interpreter of Condolence" defeats Shana and forces her to return to Yuji's house badly injured. Later, Yuji Sakai found Shana in their backyard after her fight with Margery. Yuji tried to help Shana but she retaliates by saying "I don't want to get help from a torch! Leave me alone!", with that Yuji left and soon after that Kazumi asked Yuji to go with her to the Museum because her father gave her two tickets and she has no one to go with. Yuji agrees and they went out to the Museum.
In there Yuji met Lamies, the corpse retriever. They had a first normal conversation but Yuji figures out he's a denizen after Lamies said that he was a torch. Later, Margery has a run-in with Friagne the Hunter who used the Fuzetsu to find Lamies and leave Eita and Keisaku who she saved from a bunch of gangster and who she used as the city guide, Shana considers Yuji. In the mist of her confusion, Alastor suggests her to destroy Yuji for good.
Later, she, Margery and Yuji together defeats Friagne when he plans to start the ceremony for the City Devourer to make Marianne an individual and independent being.
===Corpse Retriever Arc===
Shana is ready to fight but Margey leaves, intent on finding Lamies. Margery can't find Lamies so she returns to Keisaku's house, gets drunk, and sleeps. Keisaku and Eita are worried so Marchosias shows them Margery's past, where they see The Silver.
The next day, Yuji and Shana are training. Shana then have a bath.
After Margery Daw teaches them about the truth and gives them a bookmark that can allow them to communicate to each other and to move in a fuzetsu. Then they made their way to the abandoned building where Friagne left the Crystal Altar.
===Aizen Siblings Arc===
Sorath and Tiriel have come to Misaki City with Sydonay as a bodyguard and are in search of the Nietono no Shana. They activate a Fuzetsu on the city to lure Shana. Their Cradle Garden allows them to use unrestricted spells continuously, forcing Shana to try and attack a plant which she presumes to be the power source. But it is a trap, and Shana is captured by the plant. Her brother takes the Nietono no Shana, cuts off Alastor's pendant and proceeds to kill Shana. Later, Alastor returns to Shana and they use a huge flame attack to regain Nietono no Shana so they can attack Sorath and her. They succeed in attacking her and Sorath but Sorath escapes unharmed because she uses her existence to protect him. They then go to the bridge because Yūji Sakai is near the Cradle Garden. Shana attacks them but Tiriel gives up her life to save Sorath. He attacks with Blutsauger but Shana tricks him by throwing Nietono No Shana into the air. He reaches for it but Shana grabs it and slashes him to death before he can.
===Mathilde's Successor Arc===
She recalls the way she become a Flame Haze and the time when Wilhelmina trains her and be her guardian. When Tendōkyū falls for the first time after all the commotion, Wilhelmina parts ways with the her, who later travels around the world to learn more about her duty as the newest "Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter".
===Misago Festival Arc===
When Yuji Sakai doesn't come home after school on the day of the festival, she and Yuji's mother go to the location of the festival to look for him but another Crimson Denizen shows itself with a fancy Unrestricted Spell. Kazumi discovers the truth that Yuji is indeed a Torch and Shana gets upset upon seeing the situation between Yuji and Kazumi. The Seeking Researcher, Dantalion has already started his plan to open up a gate to another dimension and she, the other two Flame Haze, a few humans like Satō Keisaku, Eita Tanaka (after hearing Matake Ogata's confession of love) and Kazumi Yoshida, and a torch, Yuji must work together to defeat him.
===Arrival of the Snake of the Festival Arc===
The sudden disappearance of Yuji and all traces of his existence left Shana heartbroken, although she manages to gather herself and investigate the extent of Yuji's disappearance. Using Yuji's last memento, the letter that he returned to her and Kazumi, she undergoes training with Margery to hone her spellcasting abilities.
Upon Yuji's return to Misaki City as Bal Masqué's newest leader, Shana is defeated by him before she is taken to the Seireiden. Her powers are then sealed by Bel Peol's Treasure Tool Tartaros, while Alastor stays in Yuji's hands to get to know his intentions.
After that, she manages to destroy the chain and regains her powers and her weapon, while Alastor has decided to stay near Yuji in order to understand his true intentions. During the escape, Shana wishes for and obtains new powers to fight with more potential (even defeats a Crimson Lord in only one strike).
===Last Encounter With Yuji Arc===
Shana asked Sakai Yuji what his intentions are and he replied that in order to atone for the killing of Flame Hazes and Humans on his quest, he will travel to Xanadu, which has no Misaki City, alone to teach Denizens and humans to coexist peacefully, even if it takes thousands of years so that he can finally be together with Shana without guilt.
Shana and Alastor, however was furious with his philosophy of severe self punishment, They used their tremendous strength to overpowered Sakai Yuji and leads to his defeat while Sydonay was kill by Margery. In the limbo, Johann confronts him smiling, and teases Sakai Yuji that he underestimated the power of love, again. He awakens, carried by Shana shyly said he just need to ask and she would go with him to Xanadu together without a thought.
Admitting his loss he replied to Shana, he ask for her forgiveness, ask her to be with him in Xanadu and she accepts happily. As they embraced and kissed, the Spiral Organ unresticted Spell activated and Sakai Yuji becomes a "solid existence", as prophecised by God of Atonement - something more then a normal torch or a mystes a human. As Yuji Sakai and Shana delights at this revelation, they departed to Xanadu.
==Relationships==
Despite being the title character of the anime, Shana has few character relations with many of the characters in the show. That would be because of the manner she was raised. Wilhelmina, Shiro and Alastor mostly focused on her physical and mental being, forgetting that being as socially adapt is as important. This was, as Alastor said, one of their mistakes, since they thought that they would just teach her these feelings when she grows up a little more, not realizing that these feelings should be developed, and could not be taught so hastily. (Although, Shiro did teach her indirectly that love is the most powerful unrestricted spell of all.)
===Yuji Sakai===
Her main social interest is Yuji, whom she sees as her love interest. Her relationship with Yuji is one of the driving forces of the series.
Her relationship with Yuji at first is strained, as she sees him only as a Torch (later as a Mystes) and she views herself as a mere Flame Haze as well. Shana gets further irritated at Yuji's positive view in life, despite knowing that he would someday disappear, which Shana finds it unusual. Later on, when Yuji was desperate to be a means of help for Shana, he manages to strategize at situations difficult for her, and Shana finds herself, surprisingly, following his instructions by instinct.
As the series progresses, so does their relationship. Shana begins to seek Yuji out as a source of her strength, being able to think that she can do anything with him by her side. She begins to open up with other characters with his influence, something Alastor and Wilhelmina said was strange for her. Finally, she realizes that she loves Yuji with the unexpected help of Yoshida Kazumi who was determined to confess to Yuji.
Unfortunately, her tendency to get possessive and jealous, due to having little knowledge on the new emotions she was feeling and Yuji being clueless, drove Yuji to belittle himself (which ironically that is what Shana wanted him to feel at the beginning). He began to avoid Shana, pertaining himself as a 'mere Mystes'. However, their relationship was renewed when Shana sacrificed herself when Wilhelmina was about to kill Yuji and Yuji was able to get through Shana once more.
She manages to tell Yuji her feelings directly with the means of a letter, only to have him disappear on Christmas Eve. Later, they found out that Yuji merged with the God of Creation and is the new leader of Bal Masque, the Flame Hazes' mortal enemy. This was because as Yuji had chosen her over Kazumi, he wanted to make her future a better one, where he could stay by her side, without her fighting Denizens forever.
Shana, who sees Yuji's actions as something wrong, decides to fight him, only to have him defeated. She now fears Yuji, and refuses to be touched or held by him, a fact that Yuji cannot understand nor comprehend. Later, she no longer afraid of Yuji and she told Yuji that she loves him.
===Other Characters===
Shana takes orders and advice from the Crimson Lord she is bound to, Alastor, and has a mentor and guardian who is Wilhelmina Carmel. Kazumi Yoshida is her love-rival for Yuji, and Shana treats her with contempt and disdain. She generally treats most other characters with ignorance and indifference with the exception of Chigusa Sakai, who she looks to as a source in answering certain difficulties when Alastor or Wilhelmina are unable to do so. Shana eventually starts to be more open to the other characters, especially in regards to her relationship with Kazumi becoming more friendly.
==Powers and Abilities==
Shana is a powerful and talented Flame Haze, and is said to be the most powerful, known and feared by most Crimson Denizens with her title alone. This has allowed her to defeat many powerful Denizens, and permits her many different abilities, including her proficiency with the Nietono no Shana, the ability to wield flames, manipulate the Power of Existence, harbor extrasensory traits, and fly with wings of flame. In the third volume of the manga, the first volume of the novel, and the movie, Alastor states that the reason why she did not explode after being shot by Friagne's Trigger Happy was because she held a capacity that existed in dimensional space, who was able to contain the Flame of Heaven's (and more); He has thus stated her as "The Great One".
However, she demonstrates a clear lack of experience in battle, as noted by Sophie Sawallisch, who has witnessed her fighting style first-hand. This is once responsible for her defeat against Flame Haze Margery Daw, who is a specialist in Power of Unrestraint.
===Unrestricted Spells===
* - A pair of fiery wings appear on her back, allowing flight. At first, Shana is not able to use this spell without Yuji in range. Later on, she manages to use Guren no Souyoku when she fought in later battles even against Yuji. These wings were fast enough to evade Hecate's powerful Aster spell.
*- It coats Shana's sword with a flame which she can use to hurl at enemies from a distance, whether as a wave of fire or fireballs. She is also capable of creating fiery constructs to do her bidding. Additionally, she has learned to summon the spirit of Tenmoku Ikko, the entity that resides within Nietono no Shana.
*Condemnation
*True Crimson
*Judgment
*Heaven-and-Earth Sundering
*Blazing Flame
*Regeneration
==Quotes==
*(To Kazumi) "Kazumi, teach me how to make babies."
*(To Yuji) "Urusai!., Urusai!., Urusai!. " (Shut up!., Shut up!., Shut up!.)
==References==
==Trivia==
*The name "Shana", which was given by Yuji to the Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter (from her main weapon, Nietono no Shana) actually refers to the buddha Vairocana. Coincidentally it also means "beautiful" in Hebrew.
*Her title, , is a play on the term , which described foreigners appeared in many anime and manga characters.
*In American translation, the name 'Shana' means God is gracious.
*In Episode 5 of Hayate the Combat Butler, Shana is parodied by Nagi Sanzen'in, who shares the same Japanese voice actress as her. Both also have very similar personalities.
*In the Drama CD's, Shana is voiced by Yui Horie.
*Shana seems to bear a lot of similarities to Jin Kisaragi from BlazBlue. Not only do they both wield Katana-type swords and being bounded to ethereal beings - Yukianesa and Alastor, respectively, but they also share the same personalities. Interestingly to note is that both also wields power over elements that are "opposite" to each other - Ice and Fire.
** Jin references Shana's catchphrase in his Arcade Mode and Story Mode in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, by saying "Shut up!" three times in a row.
* In the fourth episode of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu, Haruka Nogizaka wears the dark-green-and-yellow uniform of Misaki City Municipal High School and references her by saying "Urusai, urusai, urusai!" She also wears a coat much like Yogasa. Hishoku no Sora also plays in the background.
** Mamiko Noto, the seiyu for Haruka, also voiced Hecate.
** Hishoku no Sora is again played in the sixth episode, with official art of Shana seen in Comiket.
* The names of her Unrestricted Spells are all in Japanese.
== Gallery==
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Category:Characters
Category:Flame Haze
Category:Misaki Municipal High School Students