Shakugan no Shana/Characters
Humans/Torches
Sakai Yuji
Voiced by: Satoshi Hino (JP), Kristian Ayre (EN)
Yuji, the main character of the story, is just an average high school student. However, his world is turned upside down when he discovers that he is already dead and does not have much time before he disappears. Fortunately, Yuji is a Mystes who contains a treasure known as the Reiji Maigo. The treasure inside him restores his Power of Existence every night at midnight. With the Reiji Maigo, Yuji has the possibility to live on like an average human as long as he makes sure that his Power of Existence does not run out before midnight. Yuji is kind person who puts others before himself. This often draws much confusion and annoyance from Shana, as prior Torches from Shana's experience exhibited selfish attitudes. However, Yuji's compassion and empathy sow the seeds of attraction between him and Shana.
- Accidental Pervert: Yuji falls out of the closet a bit too early.
Shana: I should have hit him at least ten more times.
- A God Am I: As Snake of the Festival, with him believing he has the right to destroy and reform the world as he pleases.
- Actually, he does not want to destroy the world, nor does he destroy the world. The Flame Haze feared that the Crimson Denizens would lack restraint and devour humans even in their paradise Xanadu (which would have limitless Power of Existence) and would destroy the world, but they the Crimson Denizens were willing to compromise despite having won.
- Angst? What Angst?: Invoked. Kind of. He cares more about people being sad because of him dying than of death itself. To be exact, he's even glad that death would turn him into a Ret-Gone, because of his nature as a torch. He does angst about his own identity twice or thrice, but usually whenever he's worried, it's about everybody but himself, who's the resident Tomato in the Mirror.
- Anti-Villain: Type IV as Snake of the Festival. Also a Type III Anti-Hero.
- Awesomeness By Analysis
- Badass Long Hair: As Snake of the Festival, Yuji's longhair is badass enough to shape-shift into a giant dark snake.
- Batman Gambit: Snake of the Festival Yuji is one step ahead of the Flame Haze the entire third season, and the only reason that the Flame Haze partially succeed in their goals is because the Crimson Denizens entreat him to allow them to.
- Battle Couple: With Shana.
- Beware the Nice Ones
- Big Bad: Eventually becomes the one after ascending as Snake of the Festival and leading Bal Masqué.
- Actually, not only are his and the Snake's intentions noble, but they're completely right in believing that their plan will save the world. Which really makes them the...
- Big Good
- Black Knight: His looks as Snake of the Festival.
- Blue Eyes
- Chewing the Scenery: When Yuji freaks out and begins screaming in custody of Zarovee. Justified in that he's trying to attract Tanaka's attention, who he knows can alert Margery and Shana to what's going on.
- Chick Magnet
- Earn Your Happy Ending: His motives as a whole. During his time as part of the Battle Couple and during Snake of the Festival.
- Easily Forgiven: By the end of the series, Yuji has been incredibly ruthless and killed thousands of Flame Hazes and humans in order to end the Forever War. However, Shana forgives him and tells him that she still loves him spite of what he did.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Snake of the Festival Yuji has some trouble figuring out why Shana doesn't want to enjoy a love life now they that have confessed to each other, you know, even though he beat her and his former companions down, doesn't share a good view of the world anymore and is allegedly willing to destroy it.
- Actually, they (Yuji and the Snake) don't want to destroy the world. They want to rewrite the rules governing the world to create another realm for Denizens to live without needing to devour humans' Power of Existence. Hardly the definition of evil, especially since the final light novel reveals that Yuji was right and the Flame Haze were wrong. And to be fair, Shana still loved Yuji despite being his enemy, and wanted to redeem him.
- Evil Overlooker: The main page's picture foreshadows Yuji's eventual rise to the status of Big Bad. Or so it seems.
- Evil Overlord: To Bal Masque after his ascention to Snake of the Festival. Or so it seems...
- Face Heel Turn: After he joins Snake of the Festival and turns against the Flame Hazes.
- First-Name Basis: With Shana. Granted, she only has one name, but he doesn't use Honorifics when addressing her.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: During the his reign as Snake of The Festival, all of his human friends (save Yoshida, Keisaku and Eita) starts to forget him, and by the time the final battle between the Flame Hazes and Bal Masque unfolds, even his mother forgot about him, sadly and innocently enjoying her newborn baby as her "only" son.
- Good All Along
- Good Is Not Nice: Yuji breaks the Crimson Denizen Zarovee's neck with his bare hands! And after he joins the Snake of the Festival, he brutally beats Shana in battle (temporarily traumatizing her) and then imprisons her, drives Margery past the Despair Event Horizon, and demoralizes the Flame Haze army arrayed against him to the point that they prove easy prey for his followers.
- Yuji actually began as a Nice Guy. He ends up as this instead after becoming disillusioned about being able to end the war between Flame Haze and Crimson Denizens.
- Guile Hero
- Hero Antagonist: From volume 16 onward.
- Heroes Want Redheads
- Hopeless Suitor: When he became Snake of the Festival. He has no problem confessing his love to her every two seconds, but Shana doesn't want him that way.
- To be sure, she still loves him, she just wants to redeem him before having a relationship with him.
- Idiot Hair
- Jumped At the Call: He figures that he's going to disappear soon anyway, so he should help Shana protect Misaki City while he can.
- Karma Houdini: See The Extremist Was Right.
- Love Makes You Evil: Eventually it was revealed why Yuji was so willing to become Snake Of The Festival; with his godly powers he planned to make a new earth, a mirror of the current one, but without the Flame Hazes or Bal Masque, and no more people becoming forgotten, torches, nor more wars, he and Shana would be able to live a happy life. That said, the methods for fufilling his dream are beyond extreme, genocides and Sanity Slippage, Yuji claims to be doing all of this for Shana, but it only kept her apart from him.
- Subverted, turns out, he's the good guy all along. The Flame Haze, while they have good intentions, are misguided. There are no genocides, all deaths are the result of the war. As much as Yuji likes the Flame Haze, they are trying to kill him and his followers, who turn out to actually be right about the whole saving the world thing.
- MacGuffin Guy
- Meaningful Name: His father later reveals that Yuji actually had an older brother who died at birth. Thus, in memory of the first baby and from the parents' wish, the second baby was given the name Yuji, which means "Second (child) who shall live long".
- Mission Control: His role in the Battle Couple.
- Nice Guy: At first. Then after becoming involved with Shana and the Snake of the Festival, not so much.
- Oblivious to Love: Lampshaded by himself.
- In the novels, it's clear that he's not that oblivious to Shana's love, but he's rather waiting for her to take the first step, just to be sure... which is weird, since it's traditionally the man who's expected to take this step.
- One Hero, Hold the Weaksauce
- Ordinary High School Student: Or so he thinks.
- Physical God: Snake of the Festival
- Even without the Snake, Yuji is one, though he does not yet know how to use his power to its full potential. Thanks to Hecate's synchronization with him, Alastor confirmed he has the power of a Crimson God.
- Power Makes Your Hair Grow
- Protagonist Journey To Well-Intentioned Extremist: Never expected this trope to hit, then came the Snake of the Festival. Only for it to turn out that his plan is to save the world. And it works.
- Rapunzel Hair: Snake of the Festival, again.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Shana's Red.
- Relationship Voice Actor: Yuji, Shana, and Snake of the Festival are Kamui, Kagura, and Umibozu.
- Yuji and Shana are also Saito and Louise.
- Selective Obliviousness: He had to get Hayato's help to realize Kazumi's feeling toward him.
- Sharing a Body: With Snake of the Festival, and yet it didn't change Yuji that much -- by his own words, "there's no one in his body but him". Shana and friends however insist that the one before them is Snake of The Festival, not Yuji.
- The Flame Haze are wrong.
- Shout-Out: It could be just me, but Snake of the Festival Yuji and Id have a lot in common.
- Take Over the World: Destroy it, reform it and finally take it; those are his goals as the Snake of the Festival.
- Not destroy the world or rule the world actually. He created a duplicate earth for the Denizens to live on, and the Snake of the Festival leaves Yuji to sleep now that his task is done.
- The Ageless: The final light novel confirms this.
- The Dark Side: Established later in the novels.
- The Extremist Was Right
- The Strategist: Yuji discovers the secret behind Friagne's Dance Party weapon, the secret behind Sabrac's invulnerability and how to defeat him, and how to end the Forever War and save numerous humans, Flame Haze, and Denizens.
- They Do: Yuji and Shana end up in a romantic relationship at the end of the series.
- Token Good Teammate: Originally, Shana and the other Flame Haze cared more for preserving the balance over protecting innocent lives, making them more Lawful Neutral than Lawful Good. Yuji was the only one who cared about protecting people, but his influence turns Shana, and, to a lesser extent, Margery and Wilhelmina to his way of thinking. And then, when he merges with the Snake of the Festival and leads Bal Masqué, he (and the Snake) are the only ones to care about protecting human lives. The rest of Bal Masqué's leadership, the Trinity, could care less about humanity, and one of them, Hecate, is renowned for casually murdering humans.
- Tomato in the Mirror: He has to find out that he's a torch, the outburning flame of a person who lost the majority of his/her lifeforce to a Tomogara. Usually that would mean that he's doomed to be become a Ret-Gone, but a MacGuffin is protecting him from this fate.
- Took a Level in Badass: A few of them, actually.
- Many of them in the novels, later his apparent Face Heel Turn marked his continuous and ever-improving use of this trope. Keyword "apparent" because of his surprisingly noble goals.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: As Snake of the Festival.
- Willing Channeler: Shana proved resistant to the idea, believing (at least initially) that the relationship between Yuuji and the Snake of the Festival was more akin to Demonic Possession. This was not the case.
- Yandere: A subtle one at first, especially in the novels towards Shana. Becomes a full-fledged one after becoming the Snake of the Festival. Then Lord help you if you stand between him and Shana.
- To put it another way: he's going to destroy and recreate the universe just so Shana doesn't have to fight anymore.
- He doesn't destroy the world, he creates a duplicate world for the Denizens to live peacefully on.
- To put it another way: he's going to destroy and recreate the universe just so Shana doesn't have to fight anymore.
Yoshida Kazumi
Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (JP), Chantal Strand (EN)
Yuji's classmate. She has a crush on him, but is a bit too shy to tell him directly. When Shana becomes her love-rival, she vows to tell Yuji her feelings and to let him decide between her and Shana.
- Barehanded Blade Block: Played straight in one of Shakugan no Shana-tan OVAs, where she casually blocks Shana-tan's sword with her fingers.
- Betty and Veronica: Betty to Shana's Veronica.
- Brown Eyes
- Curtains Match the Window
- Die for Our Ship: In an unfortunate example, it's nearly literal, as she uses a Treasure Tool that would use up her existence to summon the Crimson Lord Pheles to the battlefield... Although it turns out that it is the singleminded dedication one must have in order to be willing to die that summons Pheles, and her death is not actually required.
- Feminine Women Can Cook: She often makes bento for Yuji -- which is an ability that Shana will not have.
- Gag Boobs: Kazumi obviously has Hammerspace for her breasts, as she barely seems to have any in her school uniform, but they're huge in her swimsuit.
- Hair Decorations: Of course with her cute white ribbon and two pair of red hairclips. But in some episode she wear something else cuter like on the episode where Ike confesses to her.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy
- Luminescent Blush: Especially when she's with Yuji.
- Ms. Fanservice: When in her swimsuits.
- Nice Girl
- Oblivious to Love: Never realizes of Ike's feelings for her until he confesses.
- Romantic Runner-Up: Female version: The nice girl who couldn't get the guy...
- Shallow Love Interest: At the very least, she certainly comes off as one when compared to the more emotionally-defined Shana.
- Shrinking Violet: However, she gets bolder as the story goes on.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man
- Through His Stomach: Usually to show her affection for Yuji, but sometimes for friends, such as Ike and Shana.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly Girl to Shana's Tomboy.
- Unlucky Busty Girl
- Unlucky Childhood Friend
- Yamato Nadeshiko
- Yandere: Played for Laughs in the Shana-tan omakes.
Ike Hayato
Voiced by: Hirofumi Nojima (JP), Matthew Erickson (EN)
Yuji's friend since Junior High School. Carries the title "Megane-man" ("Glasses Man"). He is secretly fond of Yoshida; however, as Yuji's loyal (and best) friend, he is the one who helps her to show her feelings toward Yuji.
- A Day in the Limelight: The theme park episode in the second season, though mostly just to get chewed on.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Averted with him simply confessing to Yoshida.
- The Chew Toy: This guy can not catch a break.
- Genre Savvy: At least with regards to the "slice-of-life" aspects of the story. Ike gets increasingly annoyed at Yuji as the story progresses for how much of a Chick Magnet he turns out to be and how Oblivious to Love he is, and even calls him out on it.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Hayato cares more for Kazumi's feelings than his own, enough that he helps her get closer to Yuji. He eventually was tired with Yuji's Selective Obliviousness over this and tells him that he's being rude and cruel. And then there's the opening of the second season...
- Matchmaker Crush: When he helps Kazumi, of course.
- Real Life Relative: His and Keisaku's seiyuu. They are brothers.
- Serious Business: His frankly ludicrous level of planning for the theme park visit; that entire episode is largely poking fun at how seriously Ike takes things in general. The dramatic battle music even plays when something goes wrong.
Sakai Chigusa
Voiced by: Tomo Sakurai (JP), Lalainia Lindbjerg (EN)
Yuji's mother. She can seem gentle but she's strong and very intelligent. Her husband, Kantaro, works outside the country. Chigusa remains ignorant of Shana's and Yuji's true nature, but becomes a source of good advice for Shana on matters where Alastor can not counsel her. The Crimson Lord himself acknowledges and bows to her wisdom after a phone call between the two of them when he posed as Shana's guardian.
- Eyes Always Shut
- Feminine Women Can Cook: Which earned envy from Wilhelmina.
- Hot Shounen Mom: Used to be the page image, even.
- Yamato Nadeshiko
Sakai Kantaro
Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (JP)
Yuji's father. His business keeps him away from home months at a time, but he maintains an excellent relationship with his wife and son despite this fact. He rarely announces his visits, preferring to surprise his family instead. Despite some brief confusion upon first meeting him, Shana comes to admire him and see his relationship with Chigusa as a role model for her own developing relationship with Yuji.
- Big Eater
- Hot Dad
- So Proud of You: His attitude towards Yuji, who he sees is maturing tremendously. Feeling that Yuji is ready, Kantaro has a heart-to-heart talk with Yuji about responsibility and also informs him that he had a twin brother that did not survive childbirth.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: His work keeps him overseas for months at a time. He's so absent, that when he returns for a visit Shana mistakes him for an enemy.
Satou Keisaku
Voiced by: Kenji Nojima (JP), Brad Swaile (EN)
A somewhat Lonely Rich Kid who, along with his friend Eita, wind up becoming Margery's retainers\henchmen. He's rich, and his house pretty much becomes Margey's by extension, and both he and Eita have a thinly veiled crush on her, albeit his is stronger.
- Bodyguard Crush: Margery may not need him in that capacity, but he has feelings for her as if he were her bodyguard and he did fall for his protectee.
- Subordinate Excuse: He's more accurately this. Though it was initially a barely hidden sexual attraction at first for both himself and Eita, he started gaining actual feelings for her.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Has unbelievable patience in regards to Margery. He gets her hangover medicnine whenever she drinks herself half stupid, he often helps onto the couch or into bed after she nearly collaspes from her booze drinking, and whatever she wants he does without fail. In short, he is VERY devoted to her for good or ill.
- Likes Older Women: The woman he loves is physically about twice his age (in reality she is hundred of years older than him).
- Lonely Rich Kid: He's not deprived of friends, but he does have a small social circle.
- May-December Romance: With Margery. A rare example that's also Mayfly-December Romance; biologically, Margery is well into her twenties at the youngest, and could easily be in her thirties.
- Mayfly-December Romance: Unless he ends up achieving his goal of becoming a Flame Haze Margery will almost certainly outlive him.
- Mission Control: For Margery. Wants to be more.
- By the second season, he even considers becoming a Flame Haze himself just to be better able to support her.
- By the third season, he attempts to join Outlaw, the Mission Control organization for Flame Haze in general. Unfortunately, they decide to hold him hostage in an attempt to convince Wilhelmina to report in and not to go rogue.
- By the second season, he even considers becoming a Flame Haze himself just to be better able to support her.
- Non-Action Guy: Hates this status, and wants to be more proactive than Mission Control.
- Real Life Relative: His and Ike's seiyuu. They are brothers.
- Ship Sinking: Margery tries to keep him and Eita at arms length by telling them about her Dark and Troubled Past. In Eita's case, it works, but it backfires rather epically for Keisaku.
- Subverted further in the light novels, where they become an Official Couple.
- The Rival: To Yuji, albeit due to the fact he resents not being action capable like Yuji. Actual hatred for Yuji himself is not present.
- Those Two Guys: Along with Eita.
Tanaka Eita
Voiced by: Takayuki Kondo (JP), Alistair Abell (EN)
One of Yuji's classmates, and Keisaku's friend. After meeting Margery, he starts helping her along with Keisaku.
- Beta Couple: With Ogata.
- Cool Big Sis: Viewed Margery as this until she temporarily killed Ogata in a Fuzetsu.
- Eyes Always Shut
- Japanese Sibling Terminology: For some reason, always calls Margery "Ane-san" ("elder sister").
- Mission Control
- Mistaken for Gay: In the first season's OVA, while visiting a hot spring Tanaka and Keisaku race each other up a set of stairs, which, unbeknownst to them, local tradition says guarantees marriage between any two people who go up it together. Ogata, who is crushing on Tanaka, is understandably upset about this and Hilarity Ensues for the rest of the episode as she tries to derail Tanaka and Keisaku's budding "relationship".
- Those Two Guys: Along with Keisaku.
- Opt Out: He decides to never deal with Flame Hazes after seeing Margery kill Ogata in Unstoppable Rage (Ogata got better). It doesn't stick for long, though he finally goes through with it near the end, explaining that he trusts Snake of the Festival Yuji's plan to save the world, and throwing away the Phlebotinum that allows him to operate inside a Fuzetsu as a sign of his faith.
Ogata Matake
Voiced by: Yumiko Kobayashi (JP), Nicole Bouma (EN)
One of Yuji's classmates. She is tomboyish, extraverted, and very social. She often suggests that the group do things together when everyone else is too shy.
- Applied Phlebotinum After Margery accidentally kills her. She was able to get better because they were inside a Fuzetsu.
- Beta Couple: With Eita.
- Genki Girl
- Huge Schoolgirl: Not huge, but she stands a head taller than Shana, Kazumi, or Konoe. She is also the only freshman allowed to play in the volleyball game.
- Morality Chain: For Eita.
- Muggle: One of the few characters who don't know about Flame Hazes.
Hirai Yukari
Voiced by: Masumi Asano (JP), Ashleigh Ball (EN)
She was Yuji's classmate. She dies when Friagne's Rinne Marianne appears on her way home, essentially killing everyone in the vicinity of the attack, except Yuji, who is rescued by Shana. Shana makes a Torch of Yukari, and everyone who was involved, that same day. Unfortunately, her flame burns out on the next day and her existance disappears as a result. Shana then uses the remains of Yukari's existence to shift the perception of others' identification of Yukari Hirai as herself.
- Back from the Dead: In the final novel, she is revived by Kazumi, who uses her memories of Yukari's power of existence.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend
- Genki Girl
- Girlish Pigtails
- Hair Decorations
- Ret-Gone: Semi-averted. She would have disappeared completely after her Power of Existence was consumed, if Shana didn't take her identity, thus preserving everyone's memories about her.
Tenmoku Ikko
Voiced by: Takayuki Sugo (JP), Mark Gibbon (EN)
A Torch who created Nietono no Shana. Reputed as the worst Mystes in the world.
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: He can cut Fecor's Magnesia with the Nietono no Shana. A feat that no Crimson Lord has ever matched.
- Badass Normal: If you think about it. A single Mystes (which is merely a Torch that contains a Treasure Tool) able to strike fear into the hearts of Denizens and even Lords.
- Death Seeker: He wanders Japan searching for someone worthy of Nietono no Shana.
- The Dreaded/Memetic Badass: Among Crimson Denizens.
- Sealed Badass in a Can: His spirit stays in Nietono no Shana, and can manifest physically if needed.
- Ultimate Blacksmith: He made Nietono no Shana, after all.
- Walking the Earth: And looking for a fight.
Johann
Eternal Lover
Voiced by: Mitsuki Saiga (JP)
The former Mystes and one of the creators of the Reiji Maigo. The Reiji Maigo was created to ensure eternal life to Johann and for Pheles to cease consuming humans. However, due to a fight against the Bal Masque's assassin Sabrac that severely wounded Johann, she sealed her lover into the Reiji Maigo. She was unaware that Sabrac had also placed the Silver into the Hougu simultaneously. Reiji Maigo then transported itself into Sakai Yuji, who is currently possessing it.
- Bishonen
- Eyes of Gold
- Gadgeteer Genius: As mentioned above, helped invent the Reiji Maigo and invented bandages that cancel out Sabrac's deadly Stigma. Unfortunately, the latter did not stick.
- Hannibal Lecture: A rare non-evil example. After being released from the Reiji Maigo, Johann delivers one to Snake of the Festival Yuji. Ironically, Johann is not criticizing Snake of the Festival Yuji's goals, which are noble, or even the means by which he's trying to achieve said goals. He's condemns Yuji as too selfless and too logical. Johann rebukes Yuji for not trusting enough in the power of love and emotions, and for his intent to separate himself from Shana as penance after the creation of Xanadu. He disagrees with Yuji's belief that in order for everyone else to have happiness, he by necessity needs to sacrifice his own. He'd rather Yuji forego the penance (which ultimately does happen) and be with Shana.
- Hot Dad
- Sealed Good in a Can
- Star-Crossed Lovers: With Pheles. Pursued by the relentless Sabrac until he succeeded in mortally injuring Johann, which forced Pheles to place Johann's soul in the Reiji Maigo. The Reiji Maigo, being a Treasure Tool, relocated to a new Torch, Sakai Yuji, setting the stage for the entire series. When Pheles attempts to force Johann and Yuji to switch places (Johann would take Yuji's Power of Existence and have a body, while Yuji would be locked within the Reiji Maigo), Johann convinces Pheles to let him go. In the final light novel, Johann is released from the Reiji Maigo (without harming Yuji) and he finally is reunited with Pheles.
- Theme Naming: Named after Johann Faust.
Flame Hazes/Crimson Lords
Shana
Flame-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter
Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya (JP), Tabitha St. Germain (EN)
Shana is the female lead and a Flame Haze. In the beginning of the show, Shana is solely concentrating on her duty as a Flame Haze. Fighting all the time she doesn't even bear a name. One day, during another fight, Shana meets Yuji. She sees Yuji as nothing more than another Torch though, an object interesting only because of its status. However she slowly opens up to him, coming to think of him as an actual person. Going through many different battles together, Shana eventually comes to fall in love with Yuji. Yuji eventually names Shana after her Sword, Nietono no Shana. Shana has a funny habit of saying 'Urusai' ('Shut up!') three times in a row whenever Yuji makes a remark which disturbs her way of seeing things. Also Shana is very fond of melon bread.
- Absolute Cleavage: Demonstrates this twice with her Badass Longcoat. Once after beating up Yuji for dropping in while she was changing, and again when her school uniform is slashed neatly down the chest by Sorath.
- The Ace: She's the best athlete in the school and gets perfect grades without ever needing to study. Following The Spartan Way and being the vessel of a god probably has something to do with it.
- Action Girl: The standout case for the series.
- Action Girlfriend: Famous for it.
- A-Cup Angst
- Badass Adorable
- Badass Longcoat: Shana frequently forgoes the sleeves and wears it as a Badass Cape. Technically a fragment of Alastor's wing, and contains Hammerspace where she stores weapons.
- Badass Long Hair
- Bandage Babe: In her early days.
- Barehanded Blade Block: Subverted, as she is visibly injured.
- Battle Couple: With Yuji.
- Betty and Veronica: Veronica to Kazumi's Betty.
- Big "Shut Up!": Her Catch Phrase. "Urusai, urusai, urusai!"[1]
- Blade Reflection: The Trope picture.
- Break the Cutie: Snake of the Festival Yuji utterly beats Shana down, captures her, strips her powers, enslaves and chaines her; ALL OF THIS after he already confessed his love for her and is still confessing at any time given, because for the now twisted God making his lover powerless is better to protect her while he builds a new world. She got better though and even became his mistress while the Flame Hazes were preparing the ultimate comeback.
- Brown Eyes: In her "human" form.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Played to ridiculous lengths: she either stops talking of her own will, or is cut off by a Moment Killer.
- Catch Phrase: Whenever she gets frustrated, she'll shout "Urusai, urusai, urusai!"[2] Her chibi form in the omake uses a childish, slurred form of this. Enough to qualify as a Shout-Out when done by her VA in similar roles (see Pigeonholed Voice Actor).
- Chinese Girl: Shana was found originally in Hong Kong, likely making her this in ethnicity. She even wore a Qipao during her training prior to being a Flame Haze.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Shana doesn't take it well when Yuji hangs out with Yoshida or Konoe but can't bring herself to openly show affection for him. She once thinks of cutting Yoshida down while the latter is frozen in a Fuzetsu.
- Clothing Damage
- Cry Cute
- Curtains Match the Window: When she's in Flame Haze mode.
- Dangerously-Short Skirt: Famous for it.
- Defrosting Ice Queen
- Drop What You Are Doing: Shana drops the cell phone she's using when Margery informs her over the phone that the immensely powerful Crimson Lord they sensed entering Misaki City is Yuji, who had been missing for several weeks.
- Empathic Weapon: Nietono no Shana, due to containing Tenmoku Ikko's spirit.
- Fiery Redhead: Literally, but only when she activates her Flame Haze powers. Normally, her hair is dark black-brown.
- First Kiss: An entire episode is devoted to explaining her the "milestone" nature of this. She reacts as expected.
- First-Name Basis
- Flaming Hair: While normal in form, when she activates her Flame Haze powers her hair is colored like a blazing flame with ember like sparks flying off.
- Flaming Sword
- Fun Size: Shana-tan.
- Girlish Pigtails
- Godiva Hair: Several times when she stands up in the bath.
- Goofy Print Underwear: The first episode of Season 3 shows that Shana wears panties that have a rather childish anime character on the seat.
- Gratuitous English: This happens when she corrects the teacher during English class. The sentence "That which we call a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet" can just barely be understood.
- Hammerspace: Her Badass Longcoat can appear out of nowhere, and she keeps her sword in it. Of course, it is explicitly magical.
- Hot-Blooded
- Hot Chick with a Sword: More precisely, Flaming Tsundere with a Nodachi.
- Hot Wings
- Idiot Hair: Despite being an excellent student. She's a bit of a Leeroy Jenkins at first, but becomes more strategic later.
- In a Single Bound: Before she gets wings.
- Innocent Fanservice Girl: Used to be one. Fortunately Sophie Sawallisch managed to shame her out of it before she met Yuji.
- Jerkass: She's a rather big one at first. And her usual treatment of Yuji doesn't help. Justified due to limited social interaction.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: A bit later in the series after continuous interaction with Yuji, Chigusa and Kazumi.
- Katanas Are Just Better: A nodachi, to be precise.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Initially doesn't have much strategy besides charging in headfirst. Averted after losing to Margery.
- Ms. Fanservice: Shana has a few issues with keeping her clothes on during the series and has at least two Furo Scenes.
- Mundane Utility: She mentions that she doesn't need to bathe, since she can just use Alastor's "purifying flame" to cleanse herself.
- Named Weapons: Her nodachi, Nietono no Shana. In an interesting twist, her sword has a name, but she doesn't. So Yuji names her after her sword. Apparently, in Misaki City, sword names you.
- No Social Skills: Especially evident when she doesn't know about kissing.
- Older Than They Look: But probably not by much, seeing as she became a Flame Haze outside of a very modern-looking city. She's small and flat, but it's never specified what age she was when she stopped aging, she could easily have been eleven or twelve, or she could have been in her late teens... The point is, assuming she doesn't end up Killed Off for Real, she'll eventually become Really 700 Years Old.
- Playing with Fire
- Power Dyes Your Hair
- Power Fist: Made of fire.
- Power Gives You Wings
- Rapunzel Hair
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: When she activates her Flame Haze powers.
- Red Headed Heroine: When she activates her Flame Haze powers.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Yuji's Blue.
- Short, Dark and Bishoujo
- Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: Shana is the penultimate Flame Haze, but her training left her crippling ill-equipped to deal with life when it came to things besides combat. While there are some humorous consequences to this (such as her innocently asking Yuji and his family how babies were made), the trope is played very seriously as well. In the early story arcs, her incomprehension of her growing feelings for Yuji caused a lot of angst and frustration on her part.
- Sarashi: In a few episodes.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: This is how she falls in love with Yuji.
- Sitting on the Roof
- Shana Clone: The original. Meaning technically she isn't a clone but the one who began the trope.
- The Spartan Way: She was raised for combat, and Alastor -- being as he is a god -- failed to see the importance of pretty much anything besides that.
- Supporting Protagonist
- Sweet Tooth: Melon bread in particular, but any sweet food in general. In manga omakes depicting Shana's first encounter with Sophie Sawallisch, Sophie attempted to find a nickname for Shana (this occurred before she encountered Yuji and was dubbed "Shana" by him). She fires off a series of pet names and notices that Shana reacts to some of them, only to realize that's responding not because she likes the names, but because some of them have sweet connotations like "Candy". Shortly after, Shana responds to a coming ice-cream truck with such seriousness that Sophie at first assumed that she somehow sensed a Crimson Denizen that escaped her notice.
- In the Shakugan no Shana manga, Yuji offers her coffee, which she promptly spits out proclaiming that she's never tasted anything so bitter...after Yuji had emptied several packets of sugar into it.
- In the first episode of Shakugan no Shana S, Shana consumes several pounds of ice cream. She was in Yuji's body at the time, and Yuji's body doesn't quite have the same tolerance for so much junk food as Shana's.
- The Ageless
- The Mentor: She begins training Yuji to fight Crimson Denizens after the latter learns he'll not being disappearing like most Mystes and Torches.
- They Do: Shana and Yuji end up in a romantic relationship at the end of the series.
- Token Mini-Moe
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Kazumi's Girly Girl.
- Tomboyish Ponytail
- Trademark Favorite Food: Melon bread. I mean, good gods. She's rarely seen eating anything else, and the few times she smiles is before and while eating the stuff.
- Tsundere: So much so that she is TV Tropes' Goddess of Tsundere. Also justified, see The Spartan Way above.
- What Is This Thing You Call Love?: The Spartan Way was skimpy when it came to romance; never even being taught what love was helps explain why she reacts to her obvious feelings the way she does. At one point, she starts asking everyone how babies are made, which makes for some really awkward moments...
- Less humorously, this trope was a major issue in the early part of the series, where her growing feelings, which she did not understand, caused angst, frustration, and self-doubt that Margery and Friagne ruthlessly exploited in their fights with her.
- When She Smiles
- Zettai Ryouiki: Somewhere between grade B and grade A. She even wears her black thighhighs in gym class.
Alastor
Flame of Heaven
Voiced by: Masashi Ebara (JP), Paul Dobson (EN)
The Crimson Lord to whom Shana is bound. He expresses his will through a pendant as his divine vessel, called Cocytus. Alastor is considered to be one of the strongest of all Lords or Denizens; in fact, he is one of the true Gods of the Crimson Realm. But even so, he tries to keep the Denizens from consuming Power of Existence. Alastor is like a father-figure to Shana and cares for her, as he had watched over the future Flame-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter as she grew up.
- Amulet of Concentrated Awesome: His vessel.
- Technically, Alastor resides within Shana, the amulet, or Cocytus, is his mouthpiece.
- God Is Flawed: Alastor does have his short comings. His emphasis on raising Shana to be the perfect Flame Haze meant that Shana was very ignorant of human interactions and relationships. The worst example of this was how Shana used to strip naked in front of others and let Alastor purify her instead of bathing, something Sophie Sawallisch managed to shame her out of (thankfully before she met Yuji). And, more seriously, Alastor made the mistake of imprisoning the Snake of the Festival in the Abyss out of fear that the Snake's plan would fail catastrophically, a fear that thousands of years later proved misplaced.
- God Is Good
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Potentially. Alastor was instrumental in defeating the Snake of the Festival during the first war with Bal Masqué, his motivation for doing so being the same as the second time he waged war: he and his allies feared that the Crimson Denizens would not exercise restraint despite having limitless Power of Existence, and they would could continue to consume humans' Power of Existence, eventually causing the world's destruction. However, at the end of the series, the Crimson Denizens, despite being victorious, agree to allow their paradise Xanadu to have a restraint preventing them from devouring humans' Power of Existence, suggesting that Alastor's fears were misplaced. On the other hand, this was after the Crimson Denizens were forced to roam Earth for three thousand years and learn more from humans, without this they may have not had the same respect for human life as they came to develop. On the other other hand, if Crimson Denizens had learned to admire humans in those three thousand years, how much better could it have gone had they not needed to subsist on humans, but had a harmless alternative? Ultimately, this is a case of YMMV Trope and a what if.
- Parental Substitute: To Shana.
- Physical God
- Worthy Opponent: The Snake of the Festival views him as this.
Margery Daw
Chanter of Elegies
Voiced by: Hitomi Nabatame (JP), Janyse Jaud (EN)
Margery is a tall, "well-endowed" and mature blonde Flame Haze with a drinking habit. She uses the book Grimoire, which is the divine vessel through which Marchosias, to whom she is bound, expresses his will. Her main powers focus around chanting spells and turning into a werewolf. She casts spells by chanting "Improvisational Poems of Slaughter".
- Absolute Cleavage: During the Beach Episode (water park technically).
- The Alcoholic
- Angst Coma: She spends the beginning of Season III in one, after Snake's "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
- Blood From the Mouth: She gets better, though.
- Blood Knight
- Blue Eyes
- Bottle Fairy/Lady Drunk
- Broken Bird
- Catch Phrase: Whenever Marchosias gets on her nerves, she'll punch the grimoire and say "Odamari, baka Marco." ("Shut up, stupid Marco.")
- Cool Big Sis: Sure, she's jaded, cynical, and drinks herself retarded whenever she's not doing anything else, but she also has a fair bit of insight to offer (she is Really Seven Hundred Years Old, after all), and does come to care for the rest of the cast at least a bit.
- Dark and Troubled Past: The reason she drinks so much.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Somewhat.
- Despair Event Horizon: She nearly crosses it after the Snake of Festival reveals to her what the Silver actually is. However, her feelings for Keisaku manage to save her from it and give her a new reason to live.
- Doppelganger Spin: One of her signature moves early on.
- Everything's Worse with Bears: Her fighting form is some sort of cross between a bear and a wolverine. It's also purple.
- Gag Boobs: During the festival. It's pretty ridiculous.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: She suffers a mental breakdown after Snake of Festival Yuji explains to her that the Silver is actually a projection of her emotions, a mirror of her hate towards everyone who abused her and has done the things Margery secretly wanted to do to them on her behalf. Her realization of her feelings for Keisaku are the only thing that prevent from crossing the Despair Event Horizon and gives her another reason to live.
- Godiva Hair: In her flashback.
- Hair of Gold
- Hot Librarian
- Ironic Nursery Tune: She is named after one and uses them for her spell chants.
- Kuudere
- Love Epiphany: After Snake's "The Reason You Suck" Speech and nearly crossing the Despair Event Horizon, she realizes of her feelings for Keisaku and these give her a reason to live.
- Meganekko
- Scary Shiny Glasses: At times.
- Specs of Awesome
- Ms. Fanservice
- Multiple Head Case: Her multi-headed werewolf form.
- Mundane Utility: She shrugs off her heavy drinking, telling her Lord she can just use the flame to make herself sober if she needs to fight.
- Official Couple: With Keisaku. It's both May-December Romance and Mayfly-December Romance.
- Purely Aesthetic Glasses
- Rapunzel Hair
- Tall, Blonde and Bishoujo
- The Power of Hate: Her hatred for Crimson Denizens is her reason for being (until a certain point, at least). She does not distinguish between good Denizens and evil Denizens.
- Unstoppable Rage: When Yuji casts a fuzetsu during Pheles's attack, revealing his silver flame. She goes absolutely insane.
- Walking Swimsuit Scene: Again, in the semi-Beach Episode.
Marchosias
Claws and Fangs of Violation
Voiced by: Mitsuo Iwata (JP), Trevor Devall (EN)
The Crimson Lord to whom Margery is bound. He expresses his will through the divine vessel Grimoire, which takes the form of a book. He talks wildly, makes comments without remorse, and often teases Margery, often earning a retaliatory punch. He does genuinely care about her, however, perhaps not in the form of friendship, but as a companion in battle.
- Blood Knight
- Mad Libs Catchphrase: "My [adjective] [noun], Margery Daw!"
- The Hyena
- Large Ham
- No Indoor Voice
- Tome of Eldritch Lore: At least in appearance (though again, Crimson Lords reside within their Flame Haze, and their divine vessels is how they communicate).
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Marchosias and Margery regularly abuse each other verbally, but when Shana defeats Margery after she attempts to kill the Crimson Denizen Lamies, he threatens to kill Shana and Yuji if they harm her.
Wilhelmina Carmel
Specialist of Everything[3]
Voiced by: Shizuka Ito (JP), Anna Cummer (EN)
A young lady that wears a maid's uniform all the time and the one who took care of Shana during the girl's training. She is bound to "Crown-and-Sash of Fantasies" Tiamat, whose will resides in the divine vessel Persona, which shifts forms between a headband, and a mask when in battle.
She is one of the great Flame Haze from the age of the great war, fighting alongside her friend, Mathilde Saint-Omer (the previous "Flaming-Haired, Blazing-Eyed Hunter"). Her ability is the power to control an infinite number of ribbons which appear from around her. Wilhelmina, who always speaks in an overly formal and polite manner, has nearly no expression.
- Arch Enemy: Sabrac.
- Bandage Babe: Literally, which she uses as weapons.
- Battle Butler/Ninja Maid
- Chekhov's Gunman: A distinctive, heavily-burdened Meido is occasionally shown trudging through exotic locales without any explanation; she eventually appears in the main setting and is introduced as an important character. In the movie, she walks past the camera (and turns to look at it) in two news reports in the span of a day -- one in the Gobi Desert and one on Mount Everest.
- Combat Tentacles: Her ribbons.
- Heartbroken Badass: Wilhelmina was in love with Merihim, a Crimson Lord who in turn was in love with Mathilde Saint-Omer, Shana's predecessor as the Flame-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter, who was in love with Alastor. Merihim died protecting Shana from the Denizen Orgon, never returning Wilhelmina's affections, even platonically. Part of Wilhelmina's resentment towards Yuji and distaste for Shana's budding relationship with him is her fear that Shana might end up like her.
- Heroic BSOD: When Wilhelmina thought Shana died using her ultimate technique, she could not stand on her own. More humorously, she enters one when Yuji, in Shana's body (something she was unaware of), unabashedly proclaims that "she" loves her. While this is true, Wilhelmina's stoicism and Shana's Tsundere traits meant that this was never openly stated by either of them. Wilhelmina is frozen in shock, not sure how to respond, when Yuji and Shana make their get away before she can deduce their body swap.
- Hopeless Suitor: Towards Merihim, who himself was a Hopeless Suitor towards Mathilde.
- I Am Your Opponent: Wilhelmina declares this when she must buy time for others during battle.
- Lady of War
- Lethal Chef
- Limited Wardrobe: She always wears a maid's uniform. Lampshaded in the third season, which shows that she has several identical maid uniforms.
- Mask of Power: Tiamat's transformed form. Changes form for no apparent reason between the first and second seasons.
- Meido
- Parental Substitute: Is the closest to a mother figure that Shana has ever had, and practically raised her from childhood. For example, Shana's love of melon bread? It's her fault.
- Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Tiamat's ribbon-adorned mask form achieves a very similar visual effect.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning
- Rose-Haired Girl
- The Spock
- The Stoic
- Tall, Pink-Haired and Bishoujo
- Trademark Favorite Food: Gingered Pork. Hail Pork.
- Tsundere: Nowhere near Shana's level, but she could never openly admit her affection towards Merihim, and referred to him as a "detestable person".
- Verbal Tic: ~de arimasu. "Indeed" in the dub.
- Tiamat also has a habit of adding short two-word comments to Wilhelmine's sentences.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Afraid that Yuji was distracting Shana from her purpose as a Flame Haze, she attempted to kill him and remove the Reiji Maigo. Shana was not pleased about this.
Khamsin Nbh'w
Mobilizer of Ceremonial Equipment
Voiced by: Junko Minagawa (JP), Cathy Weseluck (EN)
Contracted with "Steadfast Sharp Peak" Behemoth whose will resides in the divine vessel Sabia (the bracelet he wears), Khamsin Nbh'w[4] is supposedly one of the oldest Flame Hazes in history, but looks like a young boy that hasn't reached his pre-teens yet. Unlike most Hazes, Khamsin acts as a tuner, dispelling the distortion caused by battles between the Flame Haze and Tomogara.
- Ambiguously Brown
- Disappears Into Light
- Dishing Out Dirt
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has scars across his mouth and under his eye.
- Hey, It's That Voice!: Death Note fans note that Khamsin shares the same English voice actress as Near.
- Humongous Mecha Golem: He can summon one made of rocks.
- Really Seven Hundred Years Old
- Simple Staff: His Treasure Tool.
- Taking the Bullet: He shields Kazumi and Hyakki Yakou van from a barrage of fireballs, getting badly burnt in the process.
- The Unpronounceable
- Verbal Tic: Adds "ah" at the begining of every sentence. Similiary, Behemoth starts every sentence with "mhmm".
- Warrior Prince: In his backstory.
- You Shall Not Pass: In the final battle, during Kazumi's escape with Pheles and Johan, he stays behind to protect her from Dantalion's mechas. It ultimately gets him killed.
Mathilde Saint-Omer
Flame-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter
Voiced by: Akemi Okamura (JP), Kelly Sheridan (EN)
The previous owner of the title "Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter". She was Wilhelmina's friend and companion. She was in love with Alastor.
- Badass
- Blade on a Stick
- Curtains Match the Window
- Flaming Hair
- Heroic Sacrifice: Died using her ultimate technique, though she was already mortally wounded.
- Idiot Hair
- Lady of War
- Magic Knight
- Playing with Fire
- Posthumous Character
- Red Eyes, Take Warning
- Red Headed Heroine
Rebecca Reed
Scatterer of Sparkling Light
Voiced by: Houko Kuwashima (JP)
Rebecca Reed is a Flame Haze, one of the Outlaws. Her contractor is the "Widened Eye of Incineration" Balar, whose will resides in the golden bracelet she wears, the divine vessel Cruach.
- Bokukko
- Brown Eyes
- Having a Blast
- Hot-Blooded
- Running Gag: Early on -- being showered by fire sprinklers, startled by her explosion.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: Upon hearing about Shana and Wilhelmine's troubles, she takes off to help them, despite the Outlaws in general refusing to intervene.
- There Was a Door: She tends to blast doors rather than opening them.
Sophie Sawallisch
Braider of Trembling Might
Voiced by: Masako Katsuki (JP)
A Great War veteran and the supreme commander of the Flame Haze Army. She is bound to "Thunder Blade of Banishment" Takemikazuchi, who expresses his will through the divine vessel Donner, a blue-star shaped cross on Sophie's veil. Her flame itself is not flame at all, but lightning.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: She is the commander of the Flame Haze army, and she one-shots Decarabia.
- Blue Eyes: Blue-Green.
- Cool Old Lady
- Kick Chick: Her most destructive attack is a lightning-infused flying kick.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Sophie's killing of Decarabia, and her victory over his forces in general, awesome though they were, was this. Due to Decarabia's enormous amount of power, Sophie had to use most of her energy to kill him. This proved unfortunate, since Decarabia was not performing a Last Stand, but a Delaying Action. Sophie and the Flame Haze were left exhausted from their fight with Decarabia and his soldiers, which is precisely when a much larger Bal Masqué army arrives. The ensuing battle turns into a rout so devastating for the Flame Haze that, with the exception of Shana and a few like-minded individuals, the Flame Haze are knocked out of the war.
- The Mentor: While Alastor, Wilhelmina, and Shiro taught Shana how to be a Flame Haze, their single-minded focus on combat left her woefully inadequate when it came to social skills and norms. Sophie set about rectifying this and taught Shana basic social skills and encouraged her to be more open to her emotions. Ultimately, Yuji would have an even greater impact than Sophie when it came to causing Shana to embrace emotions and view herself as more than just a Flame Haze, but Sophie laid some groundwork for it. Thus, Shana came to see Sophie as her primary source of advice when it came to emotions (while Yuji caused her to open up to her emotions, the personal nature of Shana's emotions, especially since it concerned him, precluded her going to Yuji for advice).
- Shock and Awe: Unusually, her "flame" takes form of purple lightning.
Snake of the Festival
God of Creation
Voiced by: Show Hayami (JP)
Along with his peer Alastor, the Snake of the Festival is the most powerful of the Crimson Gods. The leader and founder of Bal Masqué, he attempted to create a paradise for Crimson Denizens with unlimited Power of Existence to feed on. Fearing that his plan would disrupt the balance and destroy both Earth and the Crimson Realm, an army of Flame Haze and Crimsons Lords (Alastor among them) defeated him, sealing his body in the Abyss and his soul in the Reiji Maigo. His followers continued to work relentlessly for three thousand years to restore him, with the Reiji Maigo often being at the crux of their plans. This causes several clashes between Shana, Yuji (who carries the Reiji Maigo within him), and their allies and Bal Masqué. Ultimately, Yuji is convinced by the Snake of the Festival, speaking to him from within the Reiji Maigo, to merge with him and help him accomplish the establishment of Xanadu, pitting Yuji against his beloved Shana.
- A God Am I
- Anti-Villain: Type IV.
- Anti-Hero: Type III.
- Batman Gambit: Snake of the Festival Yuji is one step ahead of the Flame Haze the entire third season, and the only reason that the Flame Haze partially succeed in their goals is because the Crimson Denizens entreat him to allow them to.
- Big Bad: Or not.
- God Is Evil: When he first appears (merged with Yuji), the Snake of the Festival appears to be this, particularly due his ruthless nature and due to the fact that Shana and the Flame Haze are the protagonists. However, the final light novel reveals that...
- God Is Good: Just not nice.
- Hero Antagonist
- Hero with Bad Publicity: At least with the Flame Hazes.
- Magnificent Bastard/GuileHero
- Physical God: Both when merged with Yuji, and even more so with his original body.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Actually Sealed Good in a Can
- Sharing a Body: With Yuji Sakai.
- Split Personality Merge: While Yuji and the Snake are not technically split personalities, they fulfill this trope pretty well.
- Story-Breaker Power
- The Extremist Was Right
- The Maker: He is the God of Creation, and he's capable of creating powerful Treasure Tools and entire worlds (though Earth and the Crimson Realm were not created by him).
- Well-Intentioned Extremist
Samuel Demantius
Guardian of Steady Passage
Voiced by: Akio Nojima (JP)
The veteran Flame Haze bound to "Peaceful Shield of One's Scales" Zirnitra, whose will resides in the divine vessel Tábor, a thumb-sized silver cup. He is known by alias of Sirotci and is the one who coins the name "Flame Haze Army" during the Great War.
- Cool Old Guy
- Dishing Out Dirt
- Four-Star Badass
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has a large scar on the left side of his face.
- Heroic Sacrifice/Last Stand/You Shall Not Pass: He stalls the Crimson Denizens to allow the Flame Haze army to retreat.
- Ridiculously-Fast Construction: His speciality. In the beginning of the attack on Seireiden, he creates a fortress in span of several seconds.
- Worthy Opponent: Enemy general Haborym viewed him as this.
Chiara Toscana
Archer of Aurora
Voiced by: Ai Kayano (JP)
A young girl who holds a contract with a Crimson Lord with two personalities named Outreniaia and Vetcherniaia, "Forerunner of Daybreak" and "Successor of Twilight", respectively. Her choice of divine vessels, named Zorya, is two arrowheads that she uses as hair accessories.
- Cool Plane: She uses a plane made of fire for transportation.
- Genki Girl
- Hair Decorations: Two arrowhead-shaped accessories, which are also her contractor's vessels.
- Ramming Always Works: One of her attacks is ramming the enemy with her Cool Plane. She chopped Mammon in half with that.
- Split Personality: Sort of -- her contractor is a Crimson Lord with two personalities who use separate (albeit complementing) vessels.
Sale Habichtsburg
Puppeteer of Devilish Skills
Voiced by: Shinobu Matsumoto (JP)
The Flame Haze contracted to "Gorgeous Hanging Strings" Gizo, who expresses his will through the divine vessels Länge and Saite, a pair of wooden crosses.
- Arch Enemy: With Dantalion.
- Artificial Human: He was created by Dantalion.
- Cowboy: He has the appearance.
- Deadpan Snarker: At times. Dealing with Dantalion will make you that.
- Marionette Master: Gizo's vessel is a pair of puppeteer's crosses, and Sale uses puppeteer strings to manipulate his surroundings.
- The Mentor: Was this to Chiara. She is now his partner.
The Four Gods of Earth
A group of Flame Haze based in Americas, consisting of four powerful Flame Haze who protect the American continent from attacks of Crimson Denizens.
- Big Good
- Neutral No Longer: Initially, they don't join any of the warring sides. It changes when one of them is killed by Bal Masque.
- The Nicknamer: They use special titles for Flame Hazes and Crimson Lords, different from their "standard" ones.
- Non-Indicative Name: They are not gods, and neither are their contractors; "The Four Gods" only references the Theme Naming.
- Theme Naming: Their contractors are named after Aztec gods: Tlaloc, Quetzalcóatl, Tezcatlipoca, and Chalciuhtlicue.
Centerhill
Invoker of Brightened Dew
Voiced by: Yutaka Nakano (JP)
The Native-American Flame Haze contracted to "Drum of Exceptional Love" Tlaloc, whose will resides in a a squarish-shaped stone medal as his divine vessel. He and his contracted Crimson Lord are widely feared by many Denizens, calling him a "monster". In all four, he is least excels in combat and fighting.
- Bare-Fisted Monk
- Field Power Effect: His Unrestrictied Spell Tlalocan, which covers an area with heavy rain, allows him to Flash Step freely inside its limits, and turns slain Denizens into trees.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He stays to fight Sydonay to allow others to retreat, despite losing an arm earlier.
- Reluctant Warrior: He is said to be the least willing and able to fight of the Four Gods.
- Sacrificial Lion: He is killed by Sydonay, causing the other Gods of Earth to enter the war.
- Super Speed: When inside Tlalocan barrier.
Eastedge
Summoner of Star River
Voiced by: Kenji Nomura (JP)
The Native-American Flame Haze who runs the Outlaw disguised as a news agency in New York. He is contracted to "Flute of Enlightenment" Quetzalcóatl, whose will resides in a stone medal with engravings as his divine vessel.
We are the stars.
We are the singing stars.
We are the stars who sing with dazzling light.
We are the birds.
We are the birds who show disapproval.
We fly the sky free.
Therefore, we, the stars and the birds...
...Turn into a burning galaxy.
- Badass Long Hair
- Early-Bird Cameo: He is first seen in Season II, in Margery's flashback.
- Death From Above: His Unrestricted Spell, which rains falling stars upon his enemies.
- The Slow Walk: When he enters the battlefield in Misaki.
- Playing with Fire/Star Power: His Unrestricted Spell.
Southvalley
Evoker of Demon Horde
Voiced by: Yuuki Kaji (JP)
The Native-American Flame Haze who is contracted to "Pipe of Hesitation and Fear" Tezcatlipoca, whose will resides in a pointed stone medal as his divine vessel. He runs one of the Outlaw branch in the United States after the clash between the Four Gods of Earth and fellow Flame Haze known as the Civil War.
- Artificial Limbs: He has a wooden leg prosthesis.
- Blood Knight
- Dishing Out Dirt
- Eyes Always Shut
- Smug Super: Looks down on normal humans, referring to them as "commoners".
- Weapons That Suck: The Dead, his army of clay soldiers, can devour their enemies and multiply themselves.
- Zerg Rush: The Dead, again.
Westshore
Waver of Great Billows
Voiced by: Mikako Takahashi (JP)
The Native-American Flame Haze who is contracted to "Bell of Cleansing Flutter" Chalciuhtlicue, whose will resides in a undulating contour-shaped stone medal as his divine vessel.
Yuri Chvojka
Leader of Spirits
Voiced by: Yuko Sanpei (JP)
A Ukrainian immigrant who lost his family to a Crimson Denizen attack while crossing the Atlantic to immigrate to the United States during the late 19th century, he formed a contract with the Crimson Lord Valac, "President of Reptiles". He slew the Crimson Denizen responsible for his family's death, so a lust for revenge never developed within him. He became an agent of East-edge, leader of New York City's Outlaw branch. After a year of service as a Flame Haze, he met Margery Daw and attempted to become her partner, only to be killed fighting Sydonay and the Crimson Denizen Annaberg, who were being hunted by Margery.
- Knife Nut: Valac communicates to him through his family heirloom, a dagger, which he also uses in combat.
- Lawful Good: Unlike the majority of Flame Haze, Yuri actually cares about humans, and his goal as a Flame Haze is neither revenge or protecting the balance, but protecting humanity. This makes him unique, as most Flame Haze are Lawful Neutral at best and Sociopathic Heroes at worse. Other Flame Haze view his compassion as a liability, noting that Valac tends to choose hosts similar to Yuri, and that they have short life spans.
- Skilled but Naive: Margery views him as such, and there is some truth to this. She shuns his attempts to become her partner until the end, at which point he bravely but recklessly attacks the much more experienced and powerful Hero-Killer Sydonay, resulting in his death.
- The Beast Master: Yuri's Power of Unrestraint is the ability to control insects and other small animals.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth
- Trial by Friendly Fire: After being severely injured by Sydonay, he is caught in the crossfire between the Crimson Lord and Margery Daw, who ruthlessly fired Power of Existence at him save her own skin due to the fact that was she obsessed with obtaining her revenge on the Silver, even at the price of killing her ally and admirer.
Crimson Denizens
Sydonay / Chi You
Thousand Changes
Voiced by: Kenta Miyake (JP), Eli Gabay (EN)
Entitled "General", he stayed outside of the Bal Masque, preferring the freedom to do as he pleases, with "personal bodyguard" as his hobby. Upon finding the Reiji Maigo, he's returned to the Bal Masque, leading the Denizens in their war with the Flame Hazes. A shapeshifter, he usually looks like a tall, middle-aged man with sunglasses and dark-colored suits.
- Arch Enemy: Margery may view Silver as her archnemesis, but Sydonay and Margery often end up fighting each other whenever the two are present in the same battle.
- Authority Equals Asskicking
- Badass
- Badass in a Nice Suit
- Four-Star Badass: Sydonay is the leader of Bal Masqué's armies.
- Blade on a Stick
- The Brute: Far from stupid or malicious, but he's the most action-oriented of the Trinity.
- Hero-Killer
- Lolicon: If his actions and words around Hecate are indicative of anything.
- Parodied in Shakugan no Shana-tan specials.
- Morph Weapon: His Treasure Tool, a spear that can change shape and size at will.
- Reincarnation: The Snake of the Festival spends most of his time sleeping while waiting for the Crimson Denizens' desires and faith to grow strong enough to awaken him so that he might grant their wish. Each time, Sydonay (if he has perished) and the rest of the Trinity (if the other members of the Trinity have perished) are reborn to prepare the way.
- Smoking Is Cool: Most likely unaffected by tobacco, too.
- Suicide by Cop: After the successful creation of Xanadu, Sydonay decided to stay behind, both to help Sakai Yuji, as well as to die so he can be together with Hecate.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting
Hecate
Supreme Throne
Voiced by: Mamiko Noto (JP), Brenna O'Brien (EN)
Entitled "Priestess", Hecate is a small girl with a Nice Hat, a staff and a white cape, who controls the movements of Seireiden, the base of the Bal Masque. Melancholic and quiet, frequently lamenting herself as "empty", she habitually prays, but to nothing in particular, which Bel Peol finds odd.
- Blue and Orange Morality: The only way we can explain her habit of praying, really.
- Caught the Heart on His Sleeve: Konoe to Yuji, all the time because she's an apparition sent by Hecate to monitor him. Non-romantic example, but the other characters think it is.
- Character Development: Gained quite a few feelings, most notably love, following contact with Yuji as Konoe (but not like that).
- Cloudcuckoolander: As Konoe. She's usually seen chasing birds and butterflies, when she's not spilling her books on the floor and wondering why they won't come up again.
- Friend to All Living Things: As Konoe.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In order to fully awaken the Snake of the Festival's power so that he might create Xanadu, she has to sacrifice herself. It is not without some hope, as her spirit resides with her master until the time comes for her to be reborn.
- Hopeless Suitor: Hecate also joins the loser side about the same time she starts developing strong feelings for Yuji. That was when he already became Snake of the Festival and had only Shana in his mind.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: She attempts this on a powerless Shana in the third season.
- Nice Hat: So nice, it's the current trope picture.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: While Konoe was gathering memories and feelings during Season 2, she was fascinated by birds and kept having them land on her hands. After Hecate transfers said feelings/memories and the stolen Reiji Maigo into the Statue of Pride, cue a Curb Stomp Battle between it and Shana/Yuji. Unable to get close enough to attack, Shana tries one last attempt by flying towards the statue. During that attack, the statue sees Shana like a little bird, which causes the it to reach out with its hand instead of attacking her. Shana and Yuji then use this opportunity to reclaim the Reiji Maigo and leave Hecate wondering what the heck just happened.
- Reincarnation: The Snake of the Festival spends most of his time sleeping while waiting for the Crimson Denizens' desires and faith to grow strong enough to awaken him so that he might grant their wish. Each time, Hecate and the rest of the Trinity (if the other members of the Trinity had perished) are reborn to prepare the way.
- Rei Ayanami Expy
- Simple Staff: Her Treasure Tool, Trigon.
- Third Option Love Interest: As Konoe.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair
Bel Peol
Judge of Paradoxes
Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara (JP), Paula Lindberg (EN)
Entitled "Strategist", Bel Peol is a tall, three-eyed woman with an eyepatch over her right eye. Scheming and manipulative, she holds no qualms with sending off her subordinates to die, but she can inspire loyalty in many, all the same.
- Blue and Orange Morality: Unlike most Denizens (indeed, most antagonists in general), she enjoys the obstacles that come against her plans, feeling that overcoming challenges makes life interesting.
- Chain Pain
- Eyepatch of Power: The missing eye was used as the seal for the Snake of the Festival's real body.
- Eyes of Gold
- Manipulative Bitch
- Ms. Fanservice: Less so than Margery, though.
- Power Nullifier: She can use her chains to suppress others' abilities, such as Shana's Flame Haze powers or Kazumi's Giralda.
- The Strategist
- Tall, Rose-Haired and Bishoujo
- Third Eye
Sabrac
Destructive Blade
Voiced by: Takaya Kuroda (JP)
An assassin infamous for killing Flame Hazes, he was hired by the Bal Masque. As a hobby, he collects bladed weapons, from swords to katanas, and he actively used them in fights, a la General Grievous.
- Arch Enemy: With Wilhelmina.
- Badass
- Choosing Death: Sabrac deliberately allows himself to perish in the Abyss after seeing the Snake of the Festival's true body.
- Cool Mask
- Curb Stomp Battle: Sabrac throws Wilhelmina around like a rag doll and severely injures Shana before Yuji figures out how to defeat him. In his second battle with the Flame Haze (that we see in the series), he inflicts brutal damage on the Flame Haze before losing his will to fight upon viewing the overwhelming power of the Snake of the Festival.
- Despair Event Horizon: Realizing his (relative) impotency when compared to the Snake of the Festival, he chooses to die in the Abyss, the void between Earth and the Crimson World. At the same time, he enjoys his feeling of despair, realizing that it finally caused him to understand and connect with Mare.
- Dual-Wielding: Sabrac uses twin swords, summoning replacements as they are broken.
- The Faceless
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: He has permanent glowing eyes (but other than that, no visible face).
- Hero-Killer: Sabrac was responsible for the death of Pheles' lover Johann. In each of his defeats, it took the combined power of some of the most powerful Flame Haze to beat him, and in the final defeat his loss was due mainly to his being distracted by the Snake of the Festival's emergence.
- It Only Works Once: Sabrac alters his Stigma so that Johann's countermeasures no longer affect it.
- Implacable Man
- Power Nullifier: His Unrestricted Spell Stigma is applied to his swords, which nullify a Flame Haze's Healing Factor on any wounds caused by said swords. Stigma actually causes the wound to rapidly worsen as well. Wilhelmina and Shana use bandages specially devised by Johann to cancel out Stigma, but by their next encounter Sabrac has altered Stigma so that the bandages no longer work.
- Professional Killer
- The Quiet One: When outside of combat.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Doesn't merely throw his swords, but rockets numerous swords at his enemies.
- Villainous Friendship: With Mare.
Pheles
Beautiful Whim
Voiced by: Marina Inoue (JP)
A green-haired Denizen that isn't aligned with the Bal Masque, Pheles fell in love with a man named Johann (not that one). Forged the Reiji Maigo with Johann so she doesn't need to consume other humans' power of existence; she can get enough to survive from Johan without him being in danger of disappearing. She's also friends with Wilhelmina, whom she once saved from a trap set by Sabrac.
- Blow You Away
- Cleavage Window
- Curtains Match the Window
- Faux Action Girl
- Fingerless Gloves
- Fire-Forged Friends: With Wilhelmina, to an extent.
- Green Eyes
- Hot Mom
- Rapunzel Hair
- Scarf of Asskicking
- Shoulders of Doom
- Star-Crossed Lovers: With Johann.
- Tall, Green-Haired and Bishoujo
- Theme Naming: Named after Mephistopheles from the story of Faust.
- You Gotta Have Green Hair
Dantalion
Seeking Researcher
Voiced by: Nobuo Tobita (JP), Michael Dobson (EN)
A Mad Scientist of Bal Masque, he's even disliked by most Denizens.
- Arch Enemy: With Sale.
- Ax Crazy: Minus the violent part.
- For Science!: Ad absurdum. He seems to have no qualms about blowing up the universe as long as he gets to watch.
- Gratuitous English: In the anime, he likes using this while... commenting... on the situation.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He is killed by an explosion from his own robot (which he himself set to self-destruct), launched at him by Sale.
- Idiot Hair: After returning to the Seireiden at the end looks like he got a bad afro.
- Large Ham
- Mad Scientist: He doesn't care if his experiments succeed or fail, as long as they do so spectacularly. For Bonus Points, he looks just like Alexander Anderson.
- No Indoor Voice
Friagne
The Hunter
Voiced by: Junichi Suwabe (JP), Trevor Devall (EN)
A powerful Crimson Lord. Unlike other Crimson Lords and Denizens, he doesn't associate with the organizations like Bal Masqué.
- Bishounen
- The Collector: He collects Hougu.
- Curtains Match the Window
- Death Dealer: His "Regular Sharp" artifact.
- Hero-Killer: Notorious for killing Flame Haze.
- Marionette Master
- One-Hit Kill: His artifact "Trigger Happy" forces the targeted Flame Haze to unleash their Crimson Lord, killing them in process.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair
Sorath and Tiriel
He-Who-Loves-Himself (Sorath), She-Who-Loves-Others (Tiriel)
Voiced by: Ryoko Shiraishi (Sorath, JP), Aidan Drummond (Sorath, EN), Yukari Tamura (Tiriel, JP), Jocelyne Loewen (Tiriel, EN)
A pair of blonde, blue-eyed villains who start sloppily making out any chance they get without care for their surroundings (which leads to an aesop for Shana about what love really is).
- BFS: Sorath is the original owner of Blutsauger.
- Blond Guys Are Evil/Blondes Are Evil
- Blue Eyes: Both of them.
- Brother-Sister Incest: In a negative, even downright disgusting light. Considering what they are, though, genealogy may be a moot point.
- Creepy Child: Both of them.
- Crucified Hero Shot: When they caught Shana in episode 12.
- Cute Shotaro Boy: Sorath.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: Tiriel.
- Hair of Gold: Both of them.
- Half-Identical Twins
Merihim
Rainbow Wings
Voiced by: Katsuyoshi Konichi (JP), Brian Drummond (EN)
One of the Nine Eternal Divine Scales, the nine great Crimson Lords gathered under the organization of Töten Glocke. He was crazily in love with the previous "Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter", Mathilde Saint-Omer, who in turn, loved Alastor. After her death, he hid his last portion of Power of Existence which would be used for the last purpose; to test the successor of "Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter" and changed his shape into the skeleton known as Shiro. He trained Shana along with Wilhelmina and was eventually defeated by her.
- Bishonen
- Dem Bones: As Shiro.
- Everything's Better with Rainbows
- Eyes of Gold
- Heel Face Turn: Mathilde defeated Merihim in battle and made him promise to train her successor. Due to his love for her, Merihim agreed.
- Heroic BSOD: When Shana pranks him into falling into a pit filled with tomato paste, Merihim flashbacks to when he was covered with the mortally-injured Mathilde's blood, and he absolutely loses it.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He uses the last of his Power of Existence saving the-girl-who-would-be-Shana from Orgon.
- Hopeless Suitor
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy/White-Haired Pretty Boy
- Love Redeems: His Heel Face Turn stemmed from his love for Mathilde. He promised to no longer devour humans to sustain his existence, which ultimately causes his collected Power of Existence to dwindle until he uses up the last of it in one final battle.
- The Mourning After
- Posthumous Character: He is only seen in flashbacks.
- The Power of Love: Merihim, as he lays dying, teaches Shana about this.
Multiple-character tropes
- Love Triangle: It can be either Shana-Yuji-Kazumi, or Hayato-Kazumi-Yuji.
- Really 700 Years Old: All of the Flame Hazes either already are, or eventually will be this, as none of them age. All of the Crimson Lords and Denizens are already Really 700 Years Old.
- Back to Shakugan no Shana