Shana's Field Trip -Like a Night's Dream- (シャナの社会科見学～一夜の夢の如し～ Shana no Shakaika Kengaku ~Hitoyo no Yume no Gotoshi~) is the second track and first audio drama of the Shakugan no Shana II Splendide Shana Vol. I album.
After reading a manga about artisans, Shana was eager to become one and went to visit a melonpan factory.
Summary[]
In an announcement, Alastor stressed that this was a dream-like extra story, telling the audience to not worry about details and just have fun in the dream.
After school, Yūji returned home to find Shana and Alastor already waiting, as he had stopped at the convenience store. Shana had come because she wanted to have a bath and Wilhelmina had filled her residence with documents from Outlaw. Shana was eagerly reading a manga called "Manga Biographies of Shōwa Artisans" (漫画「昭和の職人列伝」), which she had taken from Kantarō's study. Yūji was berated by both Shana and Alastor for not recognizing his father's possession and its ability to guide people in today's information society, despite it being evidently about artisans of the previous era. Yūji noted that Shana and Alastor's personalities were different from usual. Shana claimed Yūji could learn from the endeavors of the artisans in the manga, though their names and endeavors were comical. She admired artisans for supposedly being quick to flip chabudai in anger, for throwing around knives, and for getting out of things when they've done wrong, like a typical old man. Shana announced she would become an artisan as she thought she was suited for it. Yūji agreed; Shana was stubborn and not honest with herself, was mainly interested in her work, and was blunt. Shana punched him for his statement. She told Alastor she would be both a Flame Haze and an artisan, the former on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and the latter on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and on Sunday she would go to school. Alastor agreed to the plan, assuring Yūji that it was easy to remember that being a Flame Haze was on burnable garbage collection days. Shana wanted to hurry and practice flipping chabudai to become an artisan, but Yūji's house didn't have one. Yūji advised that Shana had to do more than simply announce she would become an artisan and had to train as a pupil under a master, which she knew from the manga. However, when asked what kind of artisan she wanted to be, her reply was an artisan of chabudai flipping.
Exasperated, Yūji showed Shana a new melonpan product he had bought from the convenience store, which Shana had never seen before. The packaging advertised it as a "proud work with an artisan's spirit", which Alastor thought was destiny given Shana's new career plan. Shana ate it, and though it wasn't crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, stuck to her teeth, and had too much flavoring, she thought it was delicious because an artisan had made it. Shana decided to become the pupil of this melonpan artisan, though Yūji warned that the melonpan may have not actually been made by an artisan. On the packaging, Yūji found the address of the factory in Ōto City and decided to make an appointment for a tour of it. Alastor was impressed that artisans required appointments as opposed to normal visits. Shana was eager to begin her journey to become an artisan, but she and Alastor requested Yūji to schedule the tour on Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday; the burnable garbage days were the Flame Haze days.
A few days later, on the train to the factory, even Alastor was getting nervous. Since the tour required 3 people, Yūji had gotten Yoshida to come. Yoshida thought she would have fun with Yūji and Shana, but wondered why they were going to a factory. Shana explained that they were meeting a melonpan artisan and encouraged Yoshida to also become a pupil, with Alastor assuring Yoshida that her school education wouldn't be affected due to activities only being on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Yoshida whispered to Yūji that Shana and Alastor had the wrong idea, and Yūji had tried to explain it to them to no avail.
Shana was appalled to see the mechanical production line in the factory. There were no chabudai or artisans. Yoshida explained that an artisan couldn't mass-produce enough products. Shana argued that they could have lined artisans up to manufacture melonpan, stating that melonpan made by machines couldn't be good, contrary to her statement the other day. Shana claimed that this factory's melonpan were fakes and a nearby man agreed. The man was Mr. Ōmine, their homeroom teacher, though Shana didn't even recognize him. Ōmine believed that though the state-of-the-art factory could produce homogeneous melonpan without humans, those melonpan wouldn't be delicious or soulful, to which Shana agreed. Ōmine revealed that he was once a young and ambitious melonpan artisan who wanted to change the melonpan world. In despair at having failed in his ambitions, he completely left the industry to become a teacher. Ōmine claimed he had no lingering attachment to melonpan but Shana knew he was lying due to the manga she had read; though artisans could flip over chabudai, they would never flip over their own convictions. Ōmine screamed and collapsed to the floor but angrily said that Shana couldn't understand how he felt when overwhelmed by his limits. Alastor suddenly chastised Ōmine for giving up on his dream in a godly voice. Ōmine didn't know where the voice was coming from and Alastor told him that to see him, Ōmine would have to stop hanging his head and look up at the heavens proudly. Ōmine then knew he was talking to the GOD OF MELONPAN. Yūji and Yoshida mentioned how Alastor, Shana, and Ōmine were all acting weird that day. Both Shana and GOD sensed that Ōmine still had passion for making melonpan, and Ōmine was impressed that GOD could so easily see through him, though Yūji thought it was obvious as Ōmine was visiting a melonpan factory on his day off. Ōmine confessed that he still had an affection for the art, saying he sometimes saw his students' faces as melonpan dough and instinctively wanted to carve mesh patterns on them. He wanted to go back to making melonpan but was discouraged by his previous failure. In a revelation, GOD OF MELONPAN instructed Ōmine to keep moving forward so that a path for him would open. Shana said that she, Yoshida and Yūji would prepare for Ōmine a place to work and ingredients, and Yoshida encouraged Ōmine to continue making melonpan. Ōmine vowed to GOD that he will pursue his dreams again of creating his own unique melonpan as an artisan.
Ōmine took time off school for the following week and worked at the workshop Shana had prepared for him in order to create his ideal melonpan. Finally, the day came when it was completed and needed to be sampled.
At the workshop, Ōmine brought his freshly baked melonpan, which Yoshida, Shana and Yūji all thought looked good on the outside. Ōmine had suffered through a long process of trial and error, but said it was thanks to his students that he had made it so far. Shana took a bite and initially liked it but then groaned due to something in it. It was the secret to Ōmine's melonpan, a special paste to infuse the spirit of Japan into bread; wasabi. As Shana started squealing, Ōmine claimed that the GOD OF MELONPAN had inspired the idea in him. Hearing this, GOD praised Ōmine, which Yūji thought Alastor could say as he liked because he doesn't eat. Ōmine offered his melonpan to GOD, while Shana screamed that this wasn't melonpan at all.
Characters[]
- Alastor
- Yūji Sakai
- Shana
- Wilhelmina Carmel (mentioned)
- Kantarō Sakai (mentioned)
- Chigusa Sakai (mentioned)
- Kazumi Yoshida
- Satoru Ōmine
Locations[]
- Misaki City - Sakai Residence, Ōmine's workshop
- Ōto City - Melonpan factory
Quotes[]
- Alastor: "Unbelievable. It's foolishness, like taking a small boat and rowing in the raging waves of the ocean that is this information society with nothing to guide you. I always thought you had a careless side like that."
Yūji: "All because I didn't read one manga volume...?" - Shana: "It's not crispy on the outside or fluffy on the inside at all, it sticks to my teeth, and has too much flavoring, but an artisan made it! It's obviously delicious."
Yūji: "You're surprisingly gullible, aren't you Shana?" - Shana: "It's impossible for melonpan made by machines to taste good!"
Yūji: "You said they were good while eating them the other day..."
Shana: "Anyway, there has to be an artisan! Melonpan made here are just lookalike fakes!" - GOD OF MELONPAN: "You fool, what is with that cowering attitude of yours!? Don't you feel ashamed feeling that way about the dream you harbor!?"
Ōmine: "That voice... Who's there? Where are you?"
GOD OF MELONPAN: "You cannot see me in your present state, a brokenhearted fool looking down at the ground. If you want an audience with me, be proud, and look up at the heavens!" - GOD OF MELONPAN (to Ōmine): "I also feel it, the smouldering of your raging soul, sleeping deep within you. It hasn't ended yet... you're passion of making melonpan."
- Ōmine: "Please watch over me, GOD OF MELONPAN. I will challenge and attack my dream once more. I swear by my artisan soul that I will make my own unique melonpan with my own hands!!"
- Ōmine: "Yes, that is the greatest secret of the Super Ultra Great Delicious Wonderful Ōmine Melonpan to be offered to God. A special paste to infuse the spirit of Japan respected around the world into bread. It's name: wasabi!"
Trivia[]
Cultural References[]
- Two artisans Shana mentioned from the manga were Ameyama, an amezaiku artisan, and Sushiyama, a sushi artisan.
- The image of artisans that Shana got from the manga was someone wearing a twisted hachimaki and a happi.
- Ōmine made a pun by saying he was "madly in love" (メロメロ meromero) with "melonpan".
- Ōmine's reasoning for adding wasabi to the melonpan was to remind artisans of the importance of wabi-sabi, a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. This is another pun due to the similarity of the words' pronunciations.