Shana Clone

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Clockwise from top left: Taiga, Lotte, Mio, Louise, Victorique, Aria. Center: Shana.

Urusai! Urusai! Urusai!!! (Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!)

The Shana Clone is a character archetype originating in Japanese Light Novels, Manga and their Anime adaptations, begun by the popularity of the character Shana from the Light Novel series Shakugan no Shana.

The Shana Character Archetype includes the following:

Though perhaps not the actual Trope Maker, Shana certainly popularized this specific combination of characteristics and they are becoming an extremely common archetype, especially in Light Novels. This series of characters even had direct shout outs to the original, effectively identifying them as Expies of Shana, but then came some other, indirectly related characters following the formula, resulting in the formation of a whole new archetype rather than a collection of Expies, in much the same way as the Rei Ayanami Expy came to be.

Adding to the archetype are a number of more 'optional' traits which have come to be associated with these characters, some of which did not originate with Shana herself:

  • The character is voiced by Rie Kugimiya, who after voicing Shana in the anime adaptation of Shakugan no Shana went on to voice a series of similar characters, further emphasizing the similarities (five of the seven characters in the page image are voiced by her).
  • The character addresses the Love Interest in some extremely demeaning manner, such as treating him as her property, as being lower than human, or lower in status, even using belittling names like "dog", "slave", or "toy" instead.
  • The character may be a Big Eater, especially of a certain kind of food, usually sweet breads (Shana's was melon bread).
  • The character comes from a wealthy family, justifying her high-and-mighty attitude towards the Love Interest, who is often a 'commoner'. This probably started with Louise.
  • The character may carry some type of weapon, commonly a katana or whip, which she uses to beat the male Love Interest with when he defies her. (Louise actually has a riding crop, which she sometimes uses to whip her familiar/LoveInterest, Saito.)
  • The quote provided on the top of the page ("Urusai! Urusai! Urusai!"/"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!") will often be uttered by these characters.

Compare Rei Ayanami Expy and Char Clone for a similar phenomenon. This trope is a subtrope of both Tiny Tyrannical Girl and Tsundere.

Examples of Shana Clone include:

Anime and Manga

  • Before Shana, this archetype was preceded by Kotetsu from The Adventures Of Kotetsu.
  • Shana is the Fiery Redhead Action Girl who made this archetype famous in Shakugan no Shana. The rousing success of Her performance has since inspired many writers to imitate or outright copy her personality, as seen in the following examples. Rie Kugimiya point: 1
  • Shinku from Rozen Maiden could be considered the Ur Example. She's (even) smaller than the other girls on this list--Justified by her being, well, a doll—but she has the same proportions and hair, and while she's not conscious of her body like later examples, she otherwise retains most of the typical personality attributes; she is bossy and abusive to Jun and basically takes over his domestic life (this despite his technically being her master), but deeply cares about him as more than just her medium. It's unclear whether she is romantically interested, but Suiseiseki (who definitely is) recognizes that she shares the closest bond with him out of all the dolls.
  • Hayate the Combat Butler: Nagi Sanzenin shows all the signs except for being slightly friendlier to her Love Interest, making him into her toy with crossdressing cosplay and having him be her Knight in Shining Armor. Rie Kugimiya point: 2
  • Aisaka Taiga from Toradora!, though her story is more of a Love Dodecahedron Dramedy than a typical Harem Series. Rie Kugimiya point: 3
    • She's actually a more realistic version of the trope. Taiga's small body, flat chest and childlike appearance are the cause of several inferiority complexes and nearly-unrestrainable anger issues, and her Tsundere nature comes not from ingenuity or love confusion but from serious problems with her parents. And to get the guy she loves, Ryuuji, Taiga actually has to tone down her aggressive nature, without fully losing herself.
  • Astarotte Yngvar from Lotte no Omocha!, whose childlike body is justified by being a 10-year-old. Rie Kugimiya point: 4
  • Louise the Zero, from The Familiar of Zero. A Tiny Tyrannical Tsundere with long pink hair who is a noble and witch, and whose Love Interest, Saito, was summoned by her from Earth onto her world to be her familiar. She brutally beats him with a riding crop or a whip and refers to him as 'slave' and 'commoner', as well as having Grade A Zettai Ryouiki and in competition with Saito by a number of other girls. Oddly, despite being the most popular case of this, she's also the most different to Shana personality-wise. Rie Kugimiya point: 5
  • Aria from Hidan no Aria, quite possibly the Fifth Tsundere Wonder. Rie Kugimiya point: 6
  • Mio, from the late, lamented MM!, who is only different from most other examples in that she is tied in a Balanced Harem with her main rival, not a clear lead character.
  • Victorique from Gosick who more of a reserved version of Tsundere and is not violent in general but is incredibly bossy and has been known to kick her Love Interest or smack him if he defies her. She has the long blond hair, tights, body-type and is partial to sweets. She is more directly based off of Shinku, who herself is an Ur Example.
  • Mina from Dance in the Vampire Bund has all theses traits, except she's more of a type-B tsundere.
  • Mahou Sensei Negima: Evangeline Athanasia Katherine McDowell—a long-haired Elegant Gothic Lolita, stuck in a 10 year old body, often wearing Zettai Ryouiki, very strong type A Tsundere. She compliments Negi twice in 300 chapters, and usually tortures him via Training from Hell. Any hint of her dere side is quickly called out by Chachamaru and followed by a fast "I do not!".
    • However, Negima started only half a year after the Shana novels started, so this one may just be a coincidence.
    • Also, Anna Yurievna Cocolova, 11 years old twin-tailed Tsundere, a literal Fiery Redhead. While on a First-Name Basis with Negi, she is still very violent when it comes to things concerning her Love Interest: her first appearance since chapter 1 (in chapter 170) is to deliver Anya Flame Kick to Negi for not coming home.
  • Mio Aoyama from The World God Only Knows is a deliberate homage to this trope, most directly based off of Nagi.
    • Tsukiyo Kujou also resembles this trope in many ways, although in this case it doesn't get Lampshaded.
  • Dalian from The Mystic Archives Of Dantalian is another, probably heavily based off of Victorique from Gosick, considering the heavy similarities in the series. Dalian is a much more reserved Tsundere than many of the others so far in the anime, but still has a demanding bossy attitude towards the male-lead Huey, occasionally kicking him, or having him wait on her as if she were the Lady and not he the Lord. She has an outfit almost identical to Victorique's, dark unkempt Rapunzel Hair in her human form and light haired Twin Tails in her Archive form (which unfortunately doesn't seem to have a tsun side). She is also very short, flat chested and wears tights, though her dress is too long to tell the grade. She also loves sweet breads which is a major plot point in some episodes. Same voice actress as Shinku but with a different voice.
  • Kodama Himegami from Maken-ki! shows many typical aspects of this trope, but her body height is normal for her age.
  • Shugo Chara plays it straight with Rima Mashiro, but at the same time subverts it with Two Episode Wonder Yua Sakurai, who may fit the archtetype physically but is overall quite a nice girl.
  • Index of A Certain Magical Index is mildly Tsundere for Touma, has a huge appetite and Rapunzel haired, is pretty petite, and has a habit of biting Touma's head whenever she gets angry. As far as Shana expies go, Index is pretty tame.
    • Especially compared to her female co-protagonist Misaka Mikoto, who takes everything but the appetite and the Rapunzel Hair (and replaces the biting with thunder), and goes to town with it.
  • Haruna from Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?, except that her hair is short like a bob cut, not Rapunzel Hair-long. And she's a Jerkass Genius Ditz Genki Girl who only occasionally dabbles in Tsundere.
  • Alice from Pandora Hearts fits this trope precisely. She has a petite Pettanko body and Rapunzel Hair, a dominating Type A Tsundere personality, and despite Oz being her "contractor" (basically, her master), she refers to him as her manservant. But darn, she's just so adorable When She Smiles.
  • Fear from Cubex Cursedx Curious. Tsundere? Check. Nice Guy Love Interest? Check. Check. Rapunzel Hair? Petite Pettanko? Check. A-Cup Angst? She attacks a more well-endowed girl and proclaims her an "enemy of the flat-chested". And that's only the first episode. Still, she's a relatively endearing version. Most of the time.
  • Klan Klan from Macross Frontier fits the bill when in her Micronian form, though her Love Interest is The Lancer rather than The Hero. When macronized, by contrast, she's fifty feet tall, very stacked and somewhat more cool-headed (though she does smack Michel around once when he's in his mecha).
  • Ririchiyo Shirakiin from Inu x Boku SS is a somewhat different take on this trope. Ririchiyo is a rich Older Than She Looks childlike Type A Tsundere with black Rapunzel Hair and Zettai Ryouiki. The interesting thing about her is that she acknowledges her tsundere behavior, regrets it, and is actively trying to change. Also her Love Interest, who specifically asks her to call him a dog and treat him like one, is such an Extreme Doormat she actually finds it very difficult to do so.
  • Holo of Spice and Wolf doesn't always wear dresses (or anything), but otherwise fits the model very well: she's apparently a teenaged Petting Zoo Girl who's actually much older, has long orange hair, is the female lead and main love interest of the male lead (after his other love interest tries to kill him), tends to act high-and-mighty to the male lead and other humans (what with being an ancient wolf goddess and all), is somewhat Tsundere and spontaneous-punchy towards her partner, and eats impossible amounts of food, especially apples.
  • Lina Inverse has all but one or two of the qualities listed above... and was famous a decade before Shana.

Fan Works

Video Games

Visual Novels

  1. In fact, the "Grade S" classification of Zettai Ryouiki is based on a similar concept to this trope