Shakugan No Shana: The Girl with Fire in Her Eyes

a very good book to start shana. very accurate with the anime and great pictures are involved in the book. i highly recommend it.

First this is not a manga, rather this is a novel. Those who are confused a manga is equivalent to a comic in the U.S whereas a light novel has very few pictures. Well unto the review! For those who watched the anime this novel will be very similar to you since the anime got the idea from the light novel. In this volume Yuji and Shana are getting familiar with each other as Shana trains Yuji to fight against other Tomagaras. Without spoiling too much this volume covers the bond between Yuji and Shana and how they must work together to defeat those who are after the Reiji Maigo and destruction of human life (torches). Overall this volume is a step up from the last. I also liked how Viz changed the overall look and feel of the novel by replacing the bad cover and washed out paper with a proper cover and clean paper. A definite must for those who have read volume 1 or those who have seen the anime.

This is not the manga for Shakugan no Shana, rather it is the light novel that was released in Japan and where the anime is based off. For anyone who watched the first shana anime series this will definitely feel like it's the exact same thing, but there are differences with this story and the anime (minor differences). Unto the review! Note: For those who are not aware this is a novel, it is entirely different from a manga (comic book in the U.S). This novel has very few pictures. Pro: The text is easy to read and not too difficult to understand (though there are some words that young adult readers might not know). The story is easy to understand as well, however, those who have read manga prior will have a bit easier time to digest the material as there are some reference to Japanese culture that you will need to either understand or look up on your own. The story focuses on life, school life, relationships and saving the world. Each element is represented fairly throughout the novel and the character development is one of it's strong points. While reading, you understand who Yuji Sakai is and the struggles he is facing; you get a feeling of how Shana feels towards Yuji and her Crimson guardian Alastor. Con: First of all, I deducted a star for this reason only, the novel cover and paper is not very good quality. I own the first 2 volumes and I have to say volume 2 uses a superior cover and better paper quality than the first (I don't understand why Viz used this quality for their first volume, maybe that's why the 2nd volume was changed and for the better). Other than that, I would have to say one thing about the novel that is lacking, it doesn't reveal anything about Shana and who she is other than the fact that she is a flame haze, that is about the only complaint about the novel. Conclusion: If you have already seen the anime and would like to know where the anime got the ideas from, than this novel is the perfect resource for you. Those who have read manga and want to try something different, than this is for you as well. Those who are looking to read casually will find this book to be fairly easy to read and understand but as I mentioned earlier you will need to research some Japanese culture as you will run across to several while reading this. Recommended age is 12+ as some words may be too difficult to understand for readers under 12.