English Dub Review: Ishura “Shura”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Each Shura, with their motives, heads to Aureatia.

Our Take:

I would say that we’ve reached the end of the season.  However, that doesn’t mean everything will be all sunshine and rainbows from here on out.  For starters, the war has reached its conclusion, and most of the characters didn’t survive the onslaught, mainly the Shuras, whose dreams were shattered by their demises.  Unsurprisingly, the hits keep coming in the season finale, as Lana was the next to bite the dust after being mysteriously poisoned by Elea.  Of course, this war is due to Taren’s quest for power, which cost the lives of everyone around her, including her adoptive daughter.  As a result, she’s forced to confront Kuze and Nastique, leaving viewers to question her fate.  My guess is that she perished during the fight offscreen.

Fortunately, only a few characters survived long enough to continue their stories in the second season.  Some of them include Soujiro and Yuno, who recently escaped from the clutches of Dakai and continued to Aureatia.  The others include Kia and Elea, who attempt to control Kia’s extraordinary powers in time for the tournament.  However, their relationship could soon be tested in season two because Elea keeps Lana’s death a secret from the young Shura.  Finally, we have Alus the Star Runner, who now has a new reason to join the competition: to fight and possibly kill Hargent the Silencer.

We also learned from a flashback that Aureatia’s young queen, Sephite, was responsible for creating the tournament to help the kingdom choose the “true hero”.  This particular competition would undoubtedly serve as the concept for the show’s second season, which would hopefully invigorate my interest in Ishura.  Besides that, despite some of its narrative shortcomings, I thought the show had enough merits to deliver a depressing yet compelling depiction of war and hopelessness.  Considering that season two was announced in March, we should’ve gotten more news about when we’ll expect to reunite with the Shuras again.  Based on its conclusion, I hope the news comes sooner rather than later.