Shana and Yuji sift through junk at Friagne’s old place looking for Hougu he’s stashed away when Yuji finds a telescope. He looks at Shana through it and the pair immediately switch bodies, and Alastor realizes that it is the Hougu “Reshuffle.” However, Satou and Tanaka, who were out buying ice cream, come back so Yuji-in-Shana’s-body has to throw as much junk in Shana’s cape as he can and hopes that Reshuffle is there for them to change back later, as Alaster impresses on both of them that no one can learn that they swapped.

The pair try to think of a place to sift through the junk. At first Yuji thinks of the party room of a Kareoke parlor, but find Margery drinking near by. He then thinks of the school, but the end up finding out that Yoshida and Ike are there to watch Ogata play a volleyball game. Worse, Shana-in-Yuji’s-body barges into their classroom while the volleyball team is in the middle of changing.

After finally escaping the school, they head to about the only option left: Yuji’s house, but run into Wilhelmina in town. Wilhelmina is immediately suspicious and sends one of her ribbons after Yuji’s body, but Shana blocks it out of instinct. This raises Wilhelmina’s suspicions even more, and Yuji is only able to get them out of it by yelling that he loves Wilhelmina, stunning her, and allowing the pair to escape.

The pair finally get to Yuji’s house, only to find Yuji’s mother there, who immediately suggests to Yuji-in-Shana’s-body that he should take a bath since Shana’s body is all sweaty, but Yuji is able to get out of this. However, once he reaches his room, he finds Shana doubled over and wonders if Reshuffle causes some sort of damage when used with a Flame Haze, so Yuji promptly dumps out everything that he stored in Shana’s cloak, making his room look like a disaster area.

Yuji’s mother, hearing the crash, arrives to see what happened, so Shana puts up a Fuzetsu, allowing Yuji to put all the junk back away and allowing Shana to grab Reshuffle, allowing them to switch bodies back. However, Yuji immediately finds that the problem Shana was having was that she ate so much ice cream that Yuji’s stomach was about to revolt, causing Yuji to sprint to the restroom.

Shana then asks Alastor why it was so imperative that no one find out that they switched bodies, so Alastor tells her that Reshuffle works only between two people who have no wall between their hearts.

I always kind of like body-switch episodes, and it works particularly well here with Shana, I think. They probably could have done even more with it, but most of the time was spent dodging everyone they knew rather than Yuji doing un-womanly things with Shana’s body (though there was some of that, such has him flashing Shana’s panties everywhere when climbing over the garbage at Friagne’s place).  Of course, this also let the writers to make Shana appear super-tsundre in this episode as well (and make Yuji look like a manly-man).

This OVA was created with the expressed reason of developing Shana and Yuji’s characters to set the series up for the third and presumably final season. Having that in mind, what did we learn here? First off, Yuji still has a lot of potential to develop his skills, as Shana was able to use his powers to their fullest extent. Second, we pretty much confirm, due to the nature of Reshuffle, that the two love each other, even if they aren’t willing to admit it to each other or themselves yet.

I’m not sure when this is supposed to take place, but my guess would be between the first and second seasons. Yuji has all his built up power of existence, so it is certainly after the first season, but Yuji supposedly “chose” Shana at the end of the second season, and it didn’t seem to me that their relationship was to that point here. Perhaps I’m wrong too, and we’ll find out more later, and we just didn’t see that sort of stuff due to the nature of the episode too.

I haven’t seen any schedule for when the next episode comes out, but there are supposed to be 4 episodes, and if we assume roughly the same amount of time between releases, and some time between the last OVA episode and a presumed season 3 in Fall 2010, we’re probably looking at something like 3 months between episodes, which would put episode 2 near the end of January, with the last two episodes in April and July (basically near the start of each anime season).

Speaking of Shana, still no word on whether the second season or (less likely) the movie has been licensed.  The most likely suspect for licensing either would probably be Funimation, and they have said that they have more announcements over the summer, so one can only hope.

Update

Some more information about Shakugan no Shana S:

Nakayama says that he is aiming for the finale of the storyline, but before the staffers can do the third series, they must delve into the background of the characters and their deep relationships.

OK, maybe this is just me, but…what?  Does this mean this is going to be some sort of prequel?  Some sort of “not central to the storyline but has character development” episodes or what?  I mean, isn’t “[delving] into the background of the characters and their deep relationships” kind of what series do in their episodes?  Why can’t they address in a third TV series which, thankfully, it looks like they are intending to produce.  I just don’t get why this OVA is necessary based on this description.

10. Birdy the Mighty: Decode

Isn’t it every boy’s dream to have easy access to a female body?  Well, Tsutomu in theory is living that dream, except the girl is in control of the body because she accidentally destroyed his.  Oops!  What results is a mix of action and comedy which is pretty well executed all told, with Tsutomu frequently getting freaked out by Birdy’s alien ways.

Two things held this series back: animation, which wasn’t exactly top-notch, and the fact that, after Tsutomu gets his body back, they find away in the end to make him and Birdy share bodies again.  I guess Tsutomu just thinks that he can be immortal as long as Birdy is there to absorb him whenever he takes a notion to destroy his body.  The one minus that this sets up is that it implies that the gimmick of them changing bodies is the only real draw of the show, and the writer’s belief that they can’t have a successful show without that gimmick.  I’m not sure that bodes well for the second season, but that doesn’t necessarily impact this season all that much.

9. Kurenai

Kurenai ekes into the top 10 list by doing a reasonably good job at two things: writing and animation.  Perhaps the best part of this series is watching the struggle and growth of the characters as they have to adapt to new environments, particularly Shinkuro, who is trying to find his true strength, and Murasaki, who has to adapt to living out in the “real world” now, all while having a powerful family chasing after them.

However, this show has a few weaknesses as well.  First, the show’s conclusion in a sense made a compromise with the devil – accommodating an evil family which probably shouldn’t be accommodated in the least, taking the air out of a lot of what everyone was fighting for and protecting throughout the show.  Second, I think overall this series, despite it’s overall good writing, missed some chances to turn Kurenai from simply a good series into a great series.  The theme music, particularly the opening theme, also didn’t seem to match the show at all and just seemed kind of weird.  However, overall it was still a pretty good show.

8. The Secret of Haruka Nogizaka

The mantle of “Otaku Show of the Year” probably goes out to The Secret of Haruka Nogizaka this year as there are anime references galore, as well as every otaku’s dream:  A girl otaku. A hot girl otaku.  A hot, popular girl otaku.  A hot, popular girl otaku who likes you because you don’t shun her once you discover her secret of being an otaku.  A hot, popular girl otaku who likes you because you don’t shun her once you discover her secret of being an otaku and who likes to cosplay as Shana.  I mean, can it get any better than that?

I guess one of the nice things about this show, as opposed to something like, say, Lucky Star, is “normal people can be otaku too.”  However outwardly odd Konota is in Lucky Star is how outwardly normal Haruka is in Secret.  Yes, she illicitly sneaks off to Akihabara every now and then, but overall she’s your normal high schooler.  Of course, the series is also hilarious on top of all of this too.  The main problem is that it’s a little thin in the plot department, but given that the purpose of this series is to have fun, and I had fun watching it, it goes into the top 10 list.

7. Shion no Ou (2nd half)

The conclusion of Shion no Ou dealt with the big shogi tournament being sponsored by Satoru, Hani-meijin’s brother, from the start of the final state of the tournament where the 9 bracket winners plus 3 of the bracket runner-ups face off in a 12-person bracket to determine the winner of the tournament.  As a result, a few of the games played last through multiple episodes, but the writers are able to keep the show interesting nevertheless.  Increasing the attention on solving the mystery of who solved Shion’s parents just adds more intrigue into the show as well.

The main weakness of this show is that, if watching people play shogi bores you to death, then this show may not be for you, as a lot of time is spent with the characters playing.  I thought that the show did a pretty good job keeping the episodes interesting despite this, but I can easily see if people disagree with that.  However, overall I thought the conclusion to Shion was pretty well executed.

6. Nijuu Mensou no Musume

I should note before starting: fansubs have only come out for 20 of 22 episodes.  However, I felt that it was complete enough that I could put it in the rankings.

Having said that, Nijuu Mensou is a show with a very good premise and animation.  It’s set in the mid-20th century – an era which you don’t see a lot of anime shows set in, so it is unusual in that aspect.  And Twenty Faces himself makes this series pretty compelling, to say nothing about Chiko, his all-but-adoptive daughter and title character.

Two things keep Nijuu Mensou from being a truly great show however: reuse of the “OMG Twenty Faces died! Oh, nevermind!” gimmick probably one too many times, and the fact that the series goes into stranger territory than I was expecting for the show.  Nevertheless, Nijuu Mensou still puts together a very solid performance.

5. Soul Eater (first 3/4)

Soul Eater is a very fascinating show.  It’s quite different from just about anything else, yet Bones is able to pull it off pretty well.  However, the thing that really drives Soul Eater is the wealth of unique characters.  While some of the character development is a little odd (Maka and Soul don’t seem to be very powerful for a pair to have almost created a Death Scythe – especially with only six Death Scythes existing the world, suggesting that it’s a very hard thing to accomplish), it is generally pretty good.  All three pairs are compelling in their own unique ways.

If I have one beef with this series (actually two), it’s that it veered off it’s original premise – gathering 99 kishin eggs and one witch’s soul – pretty quickly, and it has a bad habit of drawing things out to death (how many episodes did it take to get through the battle at Shibusen, anyway?)  However, all told, Soul Eater still puts in a very solid performance.

4. CLANNAD (2nd half) / CLANNAD: After Story (1st half)

For the second straight year, CLANNAD comes in at #4 in the list.  Since the first series of CLANNAD exited it’s “four-episodes-an-arc” mode and got more into mixing arcs or telling an overarching story, and since we got into CLANNAD: After Story which, until the lastest episodes, centered around more minor characters, this series has fallen in favor a little bit (though obviously not very much).

CLANNAD is still very much the class of both 2007 and 2008, and presumably will contend for a top spot on this list in 2009 as well.  We might not be in arcs for the main girls, but the storytelling is still pretty good, if not a little slow going at this point, which is why it only comes in 4th on the list.

3. Toradora! (1st half)

The choice between 2nd and 3rd was very close, and I think the fact that Toradora was in it’s first half while the 2nd placing show was in it’s concluding half was the main reason why Toradora came in at #3.

Toradora is a very, very good show – one which I think may challenge for the #1 spot in 2009 if they keep up what they’re doing in the first half into the 2nd half of the show.  While Toradora has a somewhat familiar flavor – it is, afterall, essentially a slice-of-life harem show – there is still something about it and (especially) it’s characters which makes it different, and a lot better than shows that it might be compared to.  It pulls off good drama and comedy almost simultaneously and still gets in some good character exploration and storytelling to boot.

2. Shakugan no Shana II (2nd half)

The first half of this show didn’t even grace the top 10 list in 2007, just to show how far it came in the second half of the series.  We started with Pheles, then moved to Sabrac, then on to the Bal Masqué’s ultimate plan at the end.  There was hardly time to breathe and Shana and friends moved from one major confrontation to the next, making the second half of Shakugan no Shana II one of the best action shows in quite a while, not just 2008.

1. ef – a tale of melodies

Improving on it’s sibling’s 3rd place finish last year, ef – a tale of melodies was nothing short of epic.  And to think that 40% of this show (the Kuze/Mizuki arc) was pretty dull, that just shows how good the other 60% of the show (the Yuu/Yuuko) arc was.  If the entire show was just that arc, ef – a tale of melodies would not only contend for best show of 2008, but also perhaps for best show, period.

This show had (almost) everything – romance, drama, shocking plot twists, and more.  You almost couldn’t help but me drawn into the show.  And the fact that the show isn’t afraid to put your heart at ease, only to tear it out in the next episode just makes this show all that much better.

#10 – Birdy the Mighty DECODE
“Let’s go together” by Afromania

This is a little nice rock/pop song that has a nice rhythm and is better than most. Good enough to place it at #10 on the list.

#9 – Someday’s Dreamers: Summer Skies
“Kawaita Hana” by micc

I struggled on where to place this one, as the battle for 6th through 9th was close. In the end, I guess the fact that this was a slower and softer song (which I still like) had this slip down to 9th. Still a nice song, though.

#8 – Soul Eater #1
“I Wanna Be” by STANCE PUNKS

This is probably the “heaviest” song on the list, but it still flows nicely and has a nice sound, and so this comes in eighth on the list.

#7 – Kuroshitsuji
“I’m ALIVE!” by BECCA

I believe this series is getting a new ED during it’s second half, which will air in 2009. Despite that, and even though I haven’t actually seen this series, when I was looking at EDs on you tube, this one immediately seemed to jump to the top. Also, it’s nice to have English song which doesn’t have any blatantly obvious Engrish as far as I can tell by just listening.

#6 – Shugo Chara! Doki!
“Rottara Rottara” by Buono!

I guess I have to find one guilty pleasure on the list, and this song kind of became one once I heard it while going through songs on youtube. It’s very poppish, but it has a nice beat.

#5 – Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei #2
“Marionette” by ROLLY and Zetsubō Shōjo-tachi

This is a somewhat kookie song, but it was a really nice beat, and for some reason, I just like the “Marionette” part…

#4 – Shigofumi
“Chain” by Snow*

If you’re going to do a softer sounding ending, this is how you should do it. It’s kind of hard to describe exactly what I like about it, but it’s soft…but not too soft, and still has a nice rhythm or sound to it.

#3 – Shakugan no Shana II #2
“Sociometry” by KOTOKO

When I first heard this song, I really dug it, and I still do, but it ended up not being the top song of the year. In any case, it’s still up there, and tend to dig KOTOKO songs anyway.

#2 – Soul Eater #3
“Bakusou Yumeuta” by Diggy-MO’

The second Soul Eater song on the list, I just really dig this one. It’s just rockin’.

#1 – Toradora!
“Vanilla Salt” by Yui Horie

Those who read this blog at all in December should probably have known that this was going to be #1, though it didn’t end up being as clear cut as I thought it would be at first. Still an excellent song, though.

Sabrac is probably the most bad-ass of all the bad-ass enemies in Shakugan no Shana so far – even the members of the Bal Masqué would be hard pressed to defeat him in one-on-one combat (OK, Wilhelmina’s fight wasn’t entirely one-on-one, but still…) – so this fight shows us just how powerful Wilhelmina is, as well as how resourceful Yuji is and how well the Flame Hazes work together by that point in the series.

Overall, the kick-ass fight of the year earns Shakugan no Shana II episodes 20 and 21 a place on the list of 12 Moments of Anime.

The 12 Moments of Anime project is the brainchild of CCY.