Shiki

Heya~

Story: 6/10
"Who's the real evil?" Who cares? It seemed pretty black and white to me logically. (Personally: If you're dead, stay dead.) I didn't feel any sympathy for either side. So I didn't end up contemplating life. Also I already knew humans are terrible. I guess a reminder didn't hurt? (Concept was good enough for bonus points in story rating. But, mainly, the endless blood showers ♥)

Art: 3/10
I still remember when my brain just said, "Deal with it, it's episode 17 already." The drawing style is unique but I didn't find it beautiful, it was bizarre. I guess it suits how messed up the anime ... is but it doesn't change things for me; didn't like it. Bonus points: Managed to live with it.

Sound: 7/10
I actually liked the music and anything sound related, it was the one thing I couldn't complain about. It wasn't painfully out of place or too weird.

Character: 2/10
Oh wow. In one word, UNLIKEABLE. Most of them were painfully annoying or despicable. Even the kind ones were annoying to me, like that best friend guy that kept crying. I can't explain without spoilers but ask yourself, "Is it worth ruining my day for?" Not really. "Why do that?!" or "Just do it!!" moments are too many a person should ever experience in a single series.

Enjoyment: 5/10?
I managed to sit through 24 episodes overall so it's compelling in its own way. Who's gonna die next?? Is everyone a piece of *** or will they actually grow as characters?? Tbh, it actually took me a few episodes to understand what was going on so there's some major potential this could have been shorter than it was.

Overall: 6/10
100% would not rewatch. 6 is actually generous but I base my ratings on concept potential usually. Don't get me wrong, it was compelling enough to keep me interested, BUT, it was compelling in a bad way. I kept watching to see if anyone of those fudgers actually pulls through for me.

Conclusion: If you like messed up stuff, this could be for you.


Everyone's review seems to be raving about how good Shiki is and so I'm just wondering maybe there is something wrong with me. (Well, there must be if I managed to get through this bloody anime without losing my appetite but that's another issue.) Why did I bother to write this you may ask?? I think it might be nice for other people to have some closure that they're not abnormal for not raving about it and that it's not for everyone, I'm like Batman of the anime world. Thanks for reading.

Shiki had such an awesome premise, however, from my perspective it fails to do that premise any justice. I will try my best to give a feel for the story, spoiler free of course. The story and artwork just weren't my cup of tea, but I understand some might enjoy this type of story / cast so I will attempt to avoid outright trolling.

STORY
I was very disappointed in the story for a lot of reasons. It progresses painfully slow, and the character development eventually drops just about everyone in the 'gray area' between good and bad. So basically by the time the climax comes ... around you have nobody to root for. You don't care if any of the main characters survive, shiki or human.

ART / SOUND
This is what ruined it for me. I probably would have enjoyed the story more if the art wasn't so ridiculous. The hair on some of the characters...the hair. It's like Super Saiyans on crack. Gravity defiant, logic defying hair that makes the living humans look undead even though they're still alive. The elderly and even some of the young characters (Masao in particular) look hideous right from the start. It's not scary, in my opinion it's just unpleasant to look at. There's not much to say about the Sound. It didn't really leave an impression. The sound effects weren't always used the best way (I.E. Excessive cracking noises coming from a Shiki that is barely moving it's neck)

CHARACTERS
A lot of the characters are so incessantly obnoxious to the point where you want them to die. Then they die. Then you realize crap this is Shiki, I have to wait for them to die a second time before I'm through with their BS. Even the characters you like in the beginning betray those good qualities by the middle / end. One more thing, chain smoking doctors aren't cool. You're supposed to be a doctor dammit, save those cigarettes for us non-doctors.

CONCLUSION
Shiki failed to live up to my expectations. I feel like Shiki never intended to give you a likeable cast. The point of the story is to submerge you in moral ambiguity with a bunch of mediocre characters and slow moving plot. Most likely the goal was to have the viewer ask him or herself in the aftermath of the climax "What was (morally) good? What was bad? Was anybody really in the right?". It's left up to the viewer to decide without the anime deciding which side was 'right' for you. Unfortunately, at least in my case, by the time I got to that point I didn't really care enough about the story, the characters, or the ending to think too hard about it.

Shiki, or Corpse Demon, is effectively the story of a village in the middle of nowhere being subjected to a mysterious string of unexplainable deaths. If you want to watch this anime and go into it 100% spoiler-free, even though this is not much of a spoiler at all, look away now.

The deaths are, of course, being caused by vampires. While they take their sweet time coming out and saying it, it's pretty obvious from a really early stage. But don't tell any of the characters that, because they don't half take their sweet time working it out. Over half the story is dedicated to ... watching the cast struggle to grasp something you worked out by the second episode, which is effectively this show's most crippling weakness.

Now stop. Do not hit the "Not Helpful" button just yet. Before you have a knee-jerk reaction to this, let me clarify my point quite firmly: No, I do not, by any stretch of the imagination, think that assuming the existence of vampires to be true is a logical conclusion. Not by a long shot. However, there are several very simple logical steps they should have gone through that would have lead them to it.

The most glaring of these is shown through Shiki's focus on the medical aspects of the show. One of the few things that sets the story apart from every other vampire story is that we see the doctors dealing with all the deaths trying to work out and explain what is going on. This would be a lot more compelling if they didn't miss an obvious sign. They promptly go through every aspect of the deaths, but leave one thing out: every victim shares a pair of bitemarks on their neck. Aside from the symptoms themselves, this is the only thing that every single victim has in common. But the medical staff don't even try to explain it. On top of that, every patient died of severe anaemia, but had no rational way of losing so much blood. Except the bitemarks, the only possible explanation and a plain and simple way of putting the only two loose ends together.

Now, once again, let me clear this up: I do not think that the bitemarks shoudl have instantly made them realise vampires were behind this. But so much about it makes it clear that vampires would have crossed their minds. Even if they initially brushed it off as implausible, they would have thought of it. Instead, this thought takes a long time to occur to anyone, and when it finally does, they are bizarrely accepting of it.

But even once they do realise it, they have to spend a long, long time convincing everyone else. In troper terms, this effectively leads to the villagers Dying Like Animals from sheer stupidity. Which leads to a highly drawn-out stretch of episodes consisting of Dr. Ozaki trying to stop the villagers from essentially jumping headfirst into their own graves.

On that note, the characters of Shiki are, to put it generously, less than likeable. There is only one personality in the entire series that is simultaneously interesting and does not make you want to punch them in the face, and that is Dr. Ozaki. The remaining cast are either boring, or sociopathic for no apparent reason. There are also a small handful inbetween who are mildly interesting but very stupid. Effectively, this is both the best and worst thing about Shiki. On the one hand, the cast is utterly insufferable. On the other, they die. A lot. And it manages to be gloriously, gloriously cathartic.

It is also what makes Ozaki such an empathetic character. Ozaki is the only sane man in the entire village. And he is just as frustrated as you are at their complete lack of survival instinct. Also, despite some earlier absences of common sense, Ozaki really manages to pull out some incredibly impressive tactics. And I mean REALLY impressive.

In spite of all the show's failings, in the final act it really gets it together and does a complete 180. This leads to an incredibly impressing finale, that is nothing short of a war. It leads to the point that anyone can (and probably will) die. Sadly this is only for the last 6 episodes, and at this point it is too little, too late. While these episodes were absolutely stellar, they don't quite justify watching the previous 16 episodes.

From a technical aspect, Shiki ranks to the latter on the scale of good vs OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!. The art style is about as awful as they come. The hair on the characters is the most stupid I've ever seen. Anime, as a medium, is known for its love of stupid hair, but even among them Shiki manages to be unbelievably appalling. The sound is quite a bit better, being a user of eerie ambient music. The first OP is also quite an excellent song, excellently merged with the animation. The remaining OP/ED themes are fine, but unremarkable.

I mentioned earlier that there were three ways that Shiki attempts to stick out from the vampire crowd, the first being the medical aspects. While none of these were very well-executed, they are still interesting: The other two being that the humans vs. vampires war is portrayed as simply being two opposing forces simply trying to survive, rather than good humans vs. evil monsters... and the third, being that they focus on the angst of those forcibly turned into vampires, having to kill people they once knew to survive.

Overall, Shiki has a lot of good ideas but in the end doesn't really execute them every well. It's a mixed bag, with enough upsides to keep it watchable earlier on, and with an excellent finale. Still, it really isn't worth watching in the long run.

Story/Plot: 5/10
Animation/Graphics: No seriously, what?/10
Music/Background: 7/10
Characters: 3/10

Overall: 6/10

For Fans Of: Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, Dance in the Vampire Bund.

I was directed to Shiki by a fellow anime fan who, like me, enjoyed more horror based anime. He insisted that Shiki was superior to shows like Another or Higurashi, since it created "characters you cared about".

Having now watched it, I am wondering what he was smoking.

I'll go through each aspect individually. Tharrrrr be spoilers (at least in the plot section), so read at your own risk.

Art = 5
I'm torn on this one. On the one hand, the backgrounds are great. It looks like a small village. They are beautiful, though a bit colourful at times for an anime which is supposed to be "dark". ... Points also go to this one for mixing up the character designs and not having all the characters as beautiful supermodels. Though not excessively gory, the blood and gore aren't skimped on either, another important point.

On the other, there are big problems with the character designs. Some of the characters look utterly ridiculous. Seriously, what is with their hair? It detracts from the "horror experience". The best horror anime have characters who look vaguely like real people, not people who have had their hair styled by Ronald McDonald. Okay, enough about the hair.

Another nitpick I had about the art was how obvious it was when a character was turned, so to speak. Red eyes, glowing white skin, just unnatural looking. It might have been more interesting if it was hard to tell the two groups apart.

I am pretty forgiving when it comes to art so I can ignore a lot of ugly if the story is decent.

Sound = 7
Credit where credit is due here. The majority of the voice acting worked for me. Everyone had a distinct voice and most of them were fitting. I couldn't tell you what any of the minor characters voices sounded like (or if they were "off") but that doesn't bother me in the slightest.

The music is ... interesting. The openings are fine, for the most part. Ending songs aren't quite as good but still passable. Some of the in-show music works very well, in a creepy subtle way. By that token, there is also some that are too subtle and fail to evoke any mood. And then there's the weird pop-techno blend song that comes in once in a while. Each time I heard it, I spent the entire time trying to figure out what popular song it sounded like.

The sound is pretty good. It works. No real problems here.

Character = 3
We start off by sticking close to a pink haired girl named Megumi. She is a stuck-up bitch who hates the town she lives in (and many of the people, including some who go out of their way to be nice) and has an unhealthy obsession with a boy named Yuuki. Think she's the protagonist? Nope.

What about Yuuki? He's the outsider who's just moved to a new town and is slowly making friends. Again, not really the main character. We spend a good portion of time with him until about a third of the way in.

The people we spend most of the time with are the Doctor (Ozai) and the Junior Monk (Seishein). This is a mixed blessing, since Ozai is perhaps the most interesting and likeable character in Shiki. Megumi is, for the most part, annoying as all hell, though she gets better as the series goes on (and her role is downplayed). Yuuki is tolerable but never really breaks out as a character. He's the stoic (semi-)badass who says he doesn't want friends but has a good heart. Seishein is ... horrible. I know I'm supposed to agree with or sympathize with him since we spend a decent chunk of time with him, but he's a drag in every scene he's in. Ozai is perhaps the most logical and realistic of the characters. He realizes something is wrong and he ATTEMPTS TO FIX IT!

The problem with the characters is development. There is a large cast of characters, the majority of which aren't important anyway, which means we don't spend enough time with any character to get too attached to them. And very few of these characters change in any meaningful way. Most of the characters are the exact same whether alive or dead, though the dead do angst a bit.

The character I had the most sympathy for was the girl in the track suit. She's young, unprepared for this, forced to choose between doing unthinkable things and dealing with friends and family who have risen. Her increasing instability is one of the few interesting changes within the series. Too bad she's downplayed in the second half.

Plot = 3
There are spoilers now. You have been warned.

Shiki is about vampires. If you didn't know that going in, you would have figured it out by the second episode at the latest.

It takes the rest of the characters at least another three or four episodes to catch up. The plot is sloooooow. Most of the mystery, if there was any to begin with, is dispelled right away. Every once in a while, something interesting would happen and I felt like I wanted to see what was next. Then the plot would drag its feet a few episodes with no substantial progress being made.

To sum up the first 2/3rds of the plot, the vampires are killing people. A lot of people die. Only Doctor Ozai, Seishein and a few kids realize what's going on. Then the kids drop off the face of the earth for a while and barely factor in again (with one exception). Most episodes in this bit focus on Ozai trying to do something, the townsfolk doing nothing and Seishein being tormented. Should he do something? (YES!!!!)

To repeat, the vampires kill a good portion of the population and no one is all that disturbed about it.

In the last 1/3rd, the show does a 180 and tries to make us sympathize with the vampires. This might have worked if they hadn't been mercilessly slaughtering townsfolk for half of the series. There are some moments where you genuinely think the vampires have been dealt a shitty hand (not choosing to become one but being forced by whoever bit them), but they are few and far between. Suddenly, the humans are the bad guys for protecting themselves and their families against the immortal people who have been murdering them.

While many of the humans who are cleansing the vampires are obviously enjoying the experience waaaay too much, it's hard to argue that they're wrong in doing it. Should the vampires survive, the humans will just be mined for blood until there are none left. You can complain that the vampires want to live too and they've retained their memories, but the bottom line is that their existence is just to kill former neighbours and friends.

And then there's just moments of incredible stupidity.
-At one point, it's suggested that the Shiki want to convert all the humans they can so the village is entirely Shiki. This would make sense, if you forgot that they NEED the humans for sustenance. Without them, the vampires starve.
-A third to half the town is wiped out and everyone is content to believe it's an epidemic, yet make no effort to do anything about it.
-No one questions why there are now large populations of people who work only at night, why many families have just disappeared and where the death records have went.
-Ozai makes a tape of him dissecting his wife, proving the existence of Shiki .. then shows it to no one.
-If you can figure out Seishein, you deserve a cookie, his entire character and motivations make no sense.
-The technology problem prevalent in horror. Why does no one phone about this?

The final few episodes make an attempt to tie everything together but it only partly satisfies. Many of the characters motivations are still stupid and there are jumps that we're never shown.

This isn't to say that there isn't ANY depth in Shiki. There is. It just happens to be muddied by other aspects. In the second half of Shiki, we start being presented with questions about the value of life, whether it is ethical to kill (if your life is on the line), the propensity to deny rather than act. The questions are interesting. It's the way they're executed that doesn't do them justice.

Enjoyment = 4
I wanted to like this series. I really did. And there were some positives. I liked that they used some old-school vampire tropes (not being able to enter buildings without being invited ect). I liked the tracksuit girl. I liked Doctor Ozai, who has a couple of badass moments (though not enough!).

It's the pacing and the plotting that really let this series down. For every thought-provoking idea ("is it right to kill someone else so I can live?") or genuinely nice/interesting moment, there is much more padding. And stupidity. No one (besides a few characters) seem to ever catch onto what's happening before they kick the bucket. Everyone is so complacent that you wonder whether they're all too stupid to live. I was ready to scream at these characters sometimes. DO SOMETHING!

Overall = 5
See above, really.

Shiki has potential, but squanders it by dragging everything out and failing to make any compelling characters.

Look ma, no Twilight references!

Alright, this is my first time with a review so bear with me!

Story: 8
Shiki did pretty well in this category. It was refreshing to watch a vampire story that didn't make you want to become one. They went back to the old school myths, where vampires can't be killed unless you put a stake through their heart, and they fear things like relics and crosses. They were actually the bad guys. There are already a lot of great romanticized vampire stories out there, so it's really nice to find the opposite.

The episodes were well paced, and the anime as a whole did a great job ... at keeping you on your toes and making you want to watch the next one. It did start out a little slow. The first few episodes were mostly just to give you a perspective on what the villagers were like and how future events would effect them, but at the same time you couldn't really skip them because there were bits and pieces you would need to see in order to understand anything that happened later. Once that was past though, the anime picked up really fast, so much so that I had a hard time waiting to see what was going to happen next. Watching an anime that's like a book you can't put down is a huge plus.

The plot itself was a little holey. As someone who likes a little science behind their fiction, I was disappointed that they didn't delve into the facts about why the vampires hated sunlight or what made them rise. But that's a minor mishap. My real problem was that there was no real back story to the Kirishikis at all. The main antagonists in the story were completely left without any context. While they hint at things here and there, you never really know anything about them. Especially Seishirou, and that really bugs me!

I have to applaud them for not being afraid to kill of characters, though. Far too many horror anime are hesitant to actually kill anyone, and sort of beat around the bush, instead. Especially when it comes to prominent characters, or younger ones. That probably sounds harsh, but it's really frustrating when characters just barely make it out alive, by miraculous events, over and over.

Art: 6
This is where the anime really falls apart. To be fair, the art wasn't truly bad. It was clean and well drawn, and the backgrounds were definitely on a higher scale. The real problem was the style. This especially in the character designs. Almost every character in the show, whether main or just a filler, had the most ridiculous, gravity defying hairstyles. It was annoying to say the least, and incredibly out of place in a horror anime. Even in a comedy, these hairstyles would be considered over the top. The eyes were just as bad. Not only were they too big for most of the character's faces, they were so awkwardly colored. Especially Muroi's, I will never understand why his were so different from everyone else's. The eyes also took away an element of surprise that the show really could have benefited from. If only they hadn't made the vampire's eyes such a dead give away.

The animation was on the crappier side, as well. It seemed to be quickly, and cheaply, thrown together. Many shortcuts were taken. In many scenes the people don't even walk, they just sort of fade in and out across the screen. And there was a lot of still pictures that just slowly zoomed out.

Overall, the art was way too distracting, and I almost dropped the anime because of it.

Sound: 5
I don't normally pay as much attention to this category as the rest. The music sounded okay to me. Nothing I'll be putting in my iTunes, but it worked with the show.

What really brings this category's score down was the dialogue. Now I only watched the dubbed version, so I can't speak for the original Japanese! But Christ, this was terrible. So many of the lines were awkwardly placed, or seemed to be missing a lot of context. And a lot of the characters would say things that completely clashed with their personalities. Again, this could just be because of poor translation, but as an official dub I really think they should have done better.

Character: 5
I was so disappointed with the main characters in this anime. All three of the most important ones had almost the same personality. Distant, a little cold, and angry (at either themselves or just everyone in general). There was no diversity! I know it's a more serious anime, but they should have branched out a little, at least between characters. The amount of generic personalities nearly killed me. Other individuals seemed a little displaced, especially Megumi. I know she was supposed to have an outsider kind of feel to her, but they went a little too far with it, and she seemed like she didn't even belong in the story at all.

The worst part out of all of it is they never gave you a character you truly got attached to. There was no emotional connection, none of the characters were really likable. Megumi was obnoxious, Natsuno was too reserved for you to even really get to know who he was at all, Dr Ozaki was way too cold, ect ect ect. There was at least one reason to hate every character. I really could care less who died and who survived, and that really took a toll on my experience with this show.

Enjoyment: 6?
That being said, I did still enjoy the series as a whole. Yes, they could have done better in a lot of areas, but I still kept watching regardless of it all. It's got it's own way of making you want to watch it. If not for any reason other than who's gonna die next, will that person rise up, and is everyone kind of evil or will there actually be some character development? I will definitely never re-watch it.

I'm not entirely sure I'd recommend this anime, though, especially if you're new to it! Don't ruin your first experience with something that's so-so. If you're really looking for an intriguing, gory horror story, go watch something like Mirai Nikki instead.

While Shiki is definitely not the best thriller anime out there, I wouldn't go as far as saying it is a complete waste of time.

Despite the fact that the story is not really original (vampires and werewolves, yeah), it still manages to not be a copy/paste of others fictions (at least from the ones I know). The rule for people to "rise" (aka becoming a shiki) is actually a bit different from what you can usually see, and makes the plot more interesting.
Also, the characters are not that original either (or unforgivable), but they still manage to make the view more enjoyable. The ... doctor and the teenage lead are the characters you can identify the most, and both make an acceptable job to advance the story. Then, you have the bitch girl, the pathetic teen, the scared-but-decided-to-act children, the 50-year-old brute, the nice-mean-guy, the seductive succubus, the little girl a bit scary, etc. The only one I don't get is the Junior Monk, which personality and motivations are unclear from the beginning and all along the story ; but he still manages to bring something to the plot.

I think the main problem of the anime is its pace : even if they shortened it by 5 episodes, it still would be too long. It would have been better to go for 12 episodes. Indeed, it starts ridiculously slowly, and NEVER accelerates ; consequently, the narration becomes quickly unbearable. Besides, they have the annoying habit to shelve the important facts, and sometimes you have to wait for 3 or 4 episodes to get your answer to what happened - and it's often very incomplete.
Anther thing I disliked is the way they want to make you sympathize with one or either side ; I know it's usual in this kind of show, but still, their arguments are so shallow that it just bores me. Yes, the shikis have to kill humans to feed and survive - yes, the humans have to defend themselves from their former friends if they want to survive too - but the way both are presented successively as monsters or as people who can't do otherwise diminishes the impact of the show. Should I remind that the point of a thriller is to scare the viewer, at at least to make him feel uneasy ?
Well, there are also some details that are not really explained, which is quite annoying too.

The last critic I would make is about the art : what the hell is wrong with their hair ? I mean, I could handle their funny (not to say ugly) faces, but the haircuts are too much. One guy literally has ears on his head, like a dog, and nobody notices a thing ! And what about the girls whose wig look like gravity doesn't exist ? Or the old guy with a beard going up ... You get used to it after 20 episodes, but it's still unsightly.


Well, I made a lot of critics, however the show is still somehow enjoyable and perfectly fulfills the job of distracting you for a few evenings. It's probably better to watch it at night (with an open window), and to not split the views too much - but don't expect too much from it either, since some parts might get you bored anyway.

I found Shiki to be a very un-original Anime. The plotline involves a small, isolated village that is faced with an epidemic of sorts during the summer due to some sort of paranormal/supernatural cause. Thing is, I've seen that plot with Higurashi. While it started in 2006, the series didn't really end until 2009. And then there is also Ookam Kakushi, which aired summer of 2010. It isn't even two years since these series end and we're faced with another of the same plotline, almost as if someone saw that these proved to be cash cows and decided to adapt Shiki for that particular reason.

And ... then we get into the whole vampire issue. I think to many people are jumping onto this Anime simply because it isn't Twilight and it isn't Vampire Knight, which have been concidered some of the poorer vampire storylines out there. However, this series is a far cry from Anime such as Hellsing, Vampire Hunter D and Blood Brothers, not to mention some of the other good, dark vampire classics in Anime that have their roots in Dracula. Even sola is better with it's 'our vampires are different". It simply doesn't have any charm to it, anything to make it stand out on its own.

Putting those two things aside, the plot is extremely slow. There is little action going on within the story. Not to mention, there is information overload. How does one keep the days straight? That in itself isnt' an easy task as the series progresses. Not to mention, there is tons of storyline that could have been chopped out, simplified. Of course, this is an adaptation of something else, so the fault in that lies in the original source, not the actual Anime adaptation.

One of the strong points is that a good deal of the characters have very fleshed out personalities. Unfortunatly, there are some problems with them being this good. The viewer isn't given long enough to get to really know and relate to the characters before they are even gone, either through death, or off screen time. The other problem, which relates to the previous one is, there are too many characters to keep track of. Truth be told, the same story could have been told with fewer characters put in here.

And then their is the artwork. I love the experimentation that the animators put in, but the thing with experimentation is, it doesn't always work. I know Anime hair is supposed to defy gravity, but some of the hair on females REALLY takes the cake, even more so then some of the really wierd hair cuts on some of the male characters from Asura Cryin'. While this does fit with the horror aspect of the show, some of it was taken overboard. Not to mention the light and dark sides of things don't mesh or blend well.

I'll admit though, the anime did happen to give me nightmares. Not the kind that causes you to wake up screaming, but the kind where you are restless and your dreams wonder. But... I wasn't watching this for the fear factor, I was watching for the storyline, which basically is no existant, at least through the first third of the storyline, which is all I am choosing to watch at this point. But I think the best thing to say is, don't get caught up in the hype that has resulted from people's frustrations with Twilight and such. The story... it simply can't compare to the greats in Vampire Anime.

As the Sun sets below the mountain peaks, the rural village is masked completely in an inescapable darkness. Silent. Untouched. Tranquil. Unknown to them, the horrors that lurk outside, the villagers sleep on in blissful ignorance, as the creatures of the night gather in the confines of the woods. Darkness is broken; tranquilly smashed, to the sudden crimson red glow of eyes, illuminating the area with the red allure of blood. The Shiki have arrived for their next meal...

Horror and anime are rarely synonymous with one another, and, despite the medium barely producing anything horror related to begin with, the few horror titles that ... are out there don't exactly evoke fear in me. They either become unintentional comedies, such as in the case of Another, a show that took itself way too seriously, featuring the plot of a B-movie, while I laughed my ass off at every single stupid plot revelation and death (as I type these words, I feel more like a sociopath since I keep repeating the scene of the girl falling down a flight of stairs unto an umbrella, with it piercing her throat, as I chuckle to myself in amusement), or the character designs for the show are too distracting for me to take seriously and end up ruining the horror elements, such as in the Higurashi series. The only anime that has ever actually lulled me into a state of fear is Shiki, a show way back from 2010, and is one of the few vampire-esque anime I can think of that doesn't use their vampires for yaoi fanservice (although to be fair, Shiki does feature some hella pretty boys!) However, while excelling in the audio-visual department to create a genuinely creepy atmosphere, Shiki's narrative is less than stellar unfortunately, reducing it more so from a show with themes about morality in regards to the idea of survival and human instinct, to instead that of a campy B-movie, with a finale that is an absolute bloodbath, reminiscent of the level of gore found in 90s OVAs! Anyway, I've talked for too long now. Let's grab our stakes, our torches, and slaughter some Shiki!

During a particularly hot summer in a rural, isolated village in Japan, a young, 15-year-old girl dreams of a glamorous life in the city, free from the hardships that come from living in the countryside, until she mysteriously dies, causing a stir in the once quiet community. This subsequently triggers a series of mysterious deaths within the village, which just so happens to coincide with the arrival of a new family by the name of the Kirishikis (no surprise, that, from their name, this family are indeed the "Shiki", the family of vampires who have been indulging in the blood of the villagers). As this unknown epidemic begins to take more and more lives, the town's doctor slowly loses his own humanity in order to solve this mystery, and to discover the true intent behind the new family's arrival!

One can divide Shiki's narrative into three main arcs. The first arc in which the villagers attempt to learn what this epidemic actually is, and what is causing all of this death, mainly serving to slowly build tension and atmosphere, the second arc in which we see the Shiki transforming other people into vampires (or killing them, as the viewer learns that when bitten, some turn into Shiki themselves, or just simply die), and the battle between the humans and Shiki for survival right at the very end. While this concept does sound good paper, it's execution leaves a lot to be desired.

For starters, Shiki's pacing, especially at the beginning, is rather slow and tiresome, although the slow pacing can perhaps be argued as a positive element as it helps to build narrative tension, resulting in a rather fun payoff, and helps to create more mystery surrounding the Shiki themselves. Not only that, but the setting of the narrative complements this idea. Since it is set in a rural village, deep into the mountains, it creates a feeling of paranoia and isolation, which only grows more and more as the episodes go along, so the pacing is important in establishing atmosphere. However, the slower nature of the show always came across as more aggravating to me, than anything else, since many of the characters are stupid beyond belief! While the villagers originally believed that the cause of these deaths was that of Mosquito bites, it takes them a rather long time to figure out that Mostiquto bites do not come in pairs, nor are their bites always at the same distance from one another. Of course, I'm not expecting them to jump to the conclusion immediately that vampires are indeed behind this, since that seems rather far-fetched and silly to assume in reality, but the amount of time they spend on the Mosquito bite theory is truly annoying, since, we, as an audience, already know what is happening and just want the plot to actually go somewhere. The narrative attempts to try and hide the fact that the Shiki are vampires and slowly stretches out the answer, which, not only ruins any chance people may have of possibly re-watching the series since the revelation is so obvious, but it can also be rather tedious to watch. Hell, Stevie Wonder could have figured it out before these guys could!

Another problem the narrative faces is the sheer amount of characters introduced, and the lack of much time to flesh out anybody, making it hard to remember who is who. That's not to say that there aren't some decent characters, however. Take, for example, the doctor who I mentioned before, Ozaki, who is the only character actively trying to discover the secrets plaguing his village! Ozaki's transition of losing his humanity for the survival of the villagers is easily one of the most interesting parts of the show. We see him slowly transform from man to monster and this is handled well enough to never feel forced; the transition feels natural and well-paced taking its time throughout the duration of the early parts of the series as we see this man become more and more obsessed with finding the truth. As such, it makes for an interesting character study of a man's internal turmoils regarding ethics and survival. Another somewhat interesting character is the leader, so to speak, of the Shiki, a young girl (only in appearance mind you!) called Sunako, whose back-story was actually pretty interesting and was enough to somewhat justify why she acts the way she does, which helped me greatly in being able to sympathise with her and her struggles. Her character allows the viewer to understand the Shiki and their way of life, as well as the inherent hardships that come along with it. She brings attention the idea that the Shiki have no choice but to kill the humans for their survival otherwise risk being killed themselves, bringing forth interesting ideas about how ethics and morality change dependent on the context in which one views it from.

The rest of the cast, however, were just really unlikable, and I honestly didn't care if most of the cast survived or died. The worst example is a girl called Megumi, who I mentioned at the very start of the review, and was the first person to "die". I put die in inverted commas, because, even though she did technically die, she came back as a Shiki. While the other characters who do come back as such are played out in a tragic way, represented more so as victims of circumstance, and while Megumi falls under this to a certain extent, she takes active pleasure and delight in killing the humans with very little justification as to why she would do this, aside from, perhaps, because she had a crush on a guy who paid her no attention, as we are told in the fourth episode of the show. By the time she inevitably kicks the bucket, the show tries to convey it as a tragedy and expects us to feel sorry for this twat, which doesn't work since she had been such a horrible person the entire time. It's this sudden juxtaposition in victimisation that rubs me the wrong way and is present a lot in the show. Every time a character in Shiki does die, they expect me to be sad, through the use of victimising them, instead of actually building up a character I can care for; it feels more cheap and lazy if anything else.

It's hard to care about the tragedy in the narrative since most characters acted like idiots, and got what they deserved, with the humans killing their reborn loved ones, without any remorse or sympathy. The show tries to convey the idea of who the real monsters in the show actually are: the humans or the Shiki themselves, but since each bunch of characters are so unlikable, I didn't give a damn really. In order for this tragic story to work, we needed to have characters in which the audience could care about as actual people, instead of the cheap victimisation the show utilises to try and manipulate us into feeling something for these cardboard cut-outs. That's not to say that the show is completely devoid of emotion, however, since it is effective in one or two places. One such example is in the first episode of the Shiki OVA, but the scene was mostly enhanced by the music and voice acting than the actual writing itself. It's not as bad as some of the other moments in the show, like Megumi's final scene which uses cheap writing, since, in the OVA scene, Nao's character, a human turned Shiki, is given time for one to learn about her ordeals and regrets at being a Shiki, while being tormented by those in which she has killed out her hunger, which actually results in a very emotional moment. If the show had more scenes like this, it would have improved the overall.

As a spectacle, however, Shiki is entertaining as hell! The bloodbath at the end of the series is extremely entertaining to watch unfold and is pure blood-shed, fan-service in its purest form! Not only that, but the music and the atmosphere this show evokes is fantastic! Each track is eerily creepy or heart-wrenchingly sad, enhancing each scene wonderfully. My favourite tracks being "Day and Night", "SHI-KI" and "Requiem". The two openings end endings are also of a pretty high quality, with both openings representing their respective story arcs very well. As a fan of horror, Shiki was a treat to watch, and there were many scenes in the early parts of the series that were handled with a lot of care and made me feel genuinely frightened. The best example of such is the ending scene of episode four, where we see Megumi, now a Shiki, stalk her crush, one of the other main characters by the name of Yuuki, who is staying over at his friend's house. The scene builds tension perfectly, and, after both we and Yuuki let our guard down as we believe we are safe from Megumi, she appears from underneath the bed, sliding and twisting her body; the sounds of bones and joints clicking into place, her cold crimson red eyes staring directly at both us, and Yuki. Everything about the scene is intensely disturbing and creepy and has stayed as a vivid image in my subconscious for years to come, and there are many other scenes like this too! Visually, Shiki is consistent but also pretty bizarre in terms of its character designs, with each character having insanely strange hairdos; it feels pretty gothic-like, which is something I can always dig; it's like a romanticised version of Bram Stocker's classic novel.

When it comes down to it, Shiki is a fun show to watch due to the sheer amount of blood and death, while genuinely creating a horrific atmosphere all the while featuring an amazing original soundtrack. However, the script falters in many areas, unfortunately, and aside from maybe two or three characters, I didn't care for the rest of the cast at all. It's one of those shows you watch for the spectacle of it alone, rather than a well-written narrative or developed characters, and I certainly believe Shiki achieves its goal on that end. While its use of victimisation to make the audience feel for a character that hasn't been built up is not as bad as other shows I have talked about before, such as Elfen Lied, it does feel somewhat lazy and cheap to do so, but, despite all that, I still had fun watching the show, and I believe that's important. Shiki, to me at least, was fun! It's shlocky, sure, but watching Shiki, especially for the final third, is an incredibly enjoyable time, and for that, I'd recommend giving the show a shot!

Story: The series started out a bit slow, but it quickly picked up the pace and delved into what started to feel a bit like Higurashi. It has a similar atmosphere of mystery wrapped up in the cloak of a peaceful environment. However it became quickly and dully apparent what was killing the villagers and from this point deteriorated what feels like a very contrived form of despair. Most of the characters (and there a lot of them) seem to possess no real intelligence or logic and have very few realistic reactions to the events that keep occurring around them. This eventually infects the "main" ... characters and things go even further downhill from there. I wonder if these people have ever heard of a telephone?

Animation: The style in this is very unique, I have only seen it used in one other anime which I can't remember at the moment. I thought it was a bit weird at first but it kind of grew on me and I also appreciated the fact they disguised the characters so well. Rather than trying to make all the characters attractive as many anime do, there is a large variety of appearances to distinguish everyone. Ugly, fat, average, old, young, middle age, and a few good looking characters -- making it quite well balanced.

Sound: The music seems fitting for the setting and I have no complaints about the voice acting. Other than the fact a few people have awkward appearance / voice combinations.

Characters: As mentioned in the story section, the characters are very shallow. It seems like the creators purposely made them all stupid in order to allow the antagonists to rain free without any real thought or purpose.
Update: It seems the doctor in the village does possess some intelligence as well as strength of will, but he doesn't seem to want others to know what he does. It's like... oh I saw a guy with a axe walk by the window outside, but I shouldn't tell the others that are staying in the house... right.

Enjoyment: The story had some potential initially, but the mundane characters and progression are slowly destroying any enjoyment I may have had in the initial and very short lived mystery.
Update: The only mystery left is why in a town of 1300+ people no one has seen fit to tell anyone outside the town about the very bizarre events that have been taking place. Even diffusion of responsibility has it's limits, or perhaps I am overestimating the villagers? I suppose there is nothing strange about 6 members of my family suddenly dieing in a short period of time when they had no prior health problems.

Overall: If the story had been set about 100 years ago it would of probably been much better. Being based around modern times and people however, makes it absolutely horrendous due to a utter suspension of reality. The writer needs to take technology and education into consideration when trying to write about vampires in modern times. Particularly since the plot clumsily tries to deal with it, if they had outright ignore it as least the viewer wouldn't have been compelled to think about it.

"Onegai", let me first ask for your indulgence if my writing it's not as accurate as I'd want; English is not my first language...
Bear in your mind that you may find some SPOILERS in this review!!!
I just wanna talk about the characters. I've never found that many bunch of numbskulls in all the time I've watched animes.

1. If you Know there are shiki/vampires in your village, make you a favor and don't go out at night; if you do, knowing that, carry at least with you some countermeasures like charms, crosses, Buddhas or whatever thing you may think that works against them.

2. Vampires ... needs to kill people in order to survive, therefore they are killers (I'd daresay murderers) Killing people, murder is not as a grey area as one the main characters (the moral one) thinks and this anime depicts; it's something very bad, a crime, a sin... Once said this, I don't understand why one of the main characters, the one that should how to deal with demons, defend these creatures on the basis that they are beings on their need of surviving. Idiot, their survival means the dead of humans, your kin!!! family, friends...
The conversations between the priest and the girl should be awarded as the most dangerous relativism pedant nonsense of the year...

3. If your best friend, brother/sister, parent... has turned into a vampire; remember that he/she is no longer your kin; don't let him/she suck your blood out of sympathy, it's most likely that you'll regret it in the end.

I thought that it was a serious anime when I started it, my mistake. My hopes for a mature story about vampires or demons, were turned down and flushed down to the privy by the author of this dumb light novel/manga/anime.

Overview:

Shiki is an unusual anime. This is an anime that tries to tell a very Western style vampire story, but set it in a small Japanese village. The entire first episode follows this obnoxious, bratty girl that it wants the viewer to think is the main character...then kills her off. In fact, there is no one main character. You see things from the perspective of several characters on the human side and several on the vampire side. It is up the viewer to determine which side they sympathize with and want to root for.

Horror factor:

Shiki is first and foremost a horror anime, so is it ... scary? Honestly the answer is no. Not in the slightest. Shiki lacks the atmosphere, psychology, and pacing to be actually creepy. It doesn't have effective jump scares. Even the 10 year old girls that scream in every Paranormal Activity movie or "The Bye Bye Man" wouldn't be scared by Shiki. Instead, Shiki has a sort of cheesy charm to it that reminds me of the old Hammer Dracula films. Sadly, it doesn't have Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee to carry a lackluster script.

Addiction factor:

What Shiki DOES have going for it, is that it is compulsively watchable. You end one episode and just have to see what happens next. Even though I disliked most of the characters and I wasn't a huge fan of the series, I just couldn't put it down. That's actually a skill to make your series so addicting and Shiki pulls it off.


Story and characters: (SPOILERS if you haven't seen Shiki and are interested!)

People are just dying in droves in a small Japanese village and a local doctor named Toshio Ozaki must solve the mystery. Ozaki is our Abraham Van Helsing stand in and is by FAR the most likeable character in the series. The vampire faction is being led by Sunako, who takes the appearance of a little girl, but is actually centuries old. Sunako plans to wipe out a village of around 3,000 people and turn several hundred of them into vampires. She wishes to establish a paradise for vampires where they don't have to live in fear of human reprisal. Shiki is a 24 episode battle between these factions and viewers are often fiercely divided between them.

The biggest problem with Shiki is that it tries SO hard to emotionally make viewers sympathize with the vampires, but gives no logical reason for doing so. The vampire faction's plan is bullshit and is horribly thought out. I know I'm not the first reviewer to say this, but it's SO true. There are a few higher vampires called "Jinrou" who are able to eat normal food and survive in sunlight. Over 95% of vampires including their leader Sunako, must eat around 1 human victim a week in order to not starve to death. They are shown drinking glasses of blood, so apparently they COULD survive on medical blood, but Sunako has no consideration for human lives. Sunako's village won't be able to just live in peace, free of human discrimination. If you establish a village of 300 vampires, they will require roughly 15,600 new human victims to not starve to death in just the first year. In Shiki, roughly 10 percent of all vampire victims come back as vampires. That means the first year will produce 1,560 new vampires. In order to survive just the 2nd year, the vampire town would require 96,720 new human victims. The problem snowballs from there and keep in mind the vampires are immortal with infinite life expectancy, so they require infinite resources. Sunako's "plan" is completely unsustainable and would wipe out all of Humanity and thus all vampires as well within just 50 years. One vampire is moral and desides to starve to death rather than eat humans. However, the other vampires make the decision that their own lives are worth an infinite number of human lives to sustain. Since they still have free will and voluntarily make such a selfish decision, it is unarguable that every vampire displayed in this series deserves to be staked.

The series ends with the worst character in the anime, a human monk turned Jinrou Vampire, saving the life of Sunako by killing the villager that was finally going to put an end to her. Even Sunako was willing to admit her fault and face death, but the Monk convinces her that a righteous God would never allow vampires to exist. Since God must not exist, there is no evil in the world and everything is permitted. I hate you shitty anime Smerdyakov. I hate you SO fucking much. The worst vampire leader ever flees into the woods with bootleg Smerdyakov to kill more people and start this whole saga again. The village burns during the final battle, so Dr. Okazaki stares off and wonders if it was all worth it. YES! Are you fucking kidding me!? Saving humanity is worth one small town burning down. What kind of a philosophical question is that?!

Lets look at another vampire series that did this plot WAY better. There is a manga called Dance of the Vampire Bund. The vampire leader is a many centuries old "little girl" just like Sunako. However, Mina Tepes is a strategic mastermind whose plan to establish a vampire utopia actually makes sense. Using hundreds of years of medical knowledge, her scientists create an artificial blood that can be mass produced. The vampire population is kept strictly in check so that they don't over consume resources. She uses 800 years of stored treasure and compound interest to amass an absurd fortune that she uses to bribe politicians and create an ultra influential lobbying force. Her plan is fully sustainable and meticulously calculated. She is not a moral paragon, but due to her intelligence and not simply being evil, there is no reason for human readers not to sympathize with her and support her. Mina would impale Sunako and all of the Shiki in this series for being idiots and bringing human wrath down on vampires. She would be absolutely right to do so.

Art and music:

The art is fine considering this was a 24 episode anime made on a budget by a small studio called Daume. Even larger studios often see the budget stretched by a 24 episode run time. For a small studio to pull this off without the animation going to total diarrhea by the last quarter of the series, is actually impressive. Toei would have fucked this up. Those guys simply can't go more than 13 episodes and have it not be a visual disaster. The music is fine. It's the lady that did all the music for Naruto and Fairy Tail. She's not my absolute favorite of all time, but she's pretty good. Look at it this way. If she was a bad composer, she wouldn't get hired to score the most popular and lucrative anime in existence.

Overall:

Shiki is an anime that grabbed my attention and held onto me...even as it careened over a cliff. At the end of the day, Shiki just isn't a good anime in my book. However, it isn't simply a horrible anime. It does enough things right that it deserves at least an average rating. I've seen so many bad anime that I've learned to appreciate basic competence and reward it when I see it. If you loved "Let the Right One In", own 5 Hammer Dracula movies, and REALLY want to see a Western Vampire anime, you could do worse.

Tl:DR review: Still a better vampire story then Twilight.

Shiki tried hard to present a sort of a grey world where there was no clear cut good and bad and both sides were justified in their actions. Well it tried.. But it failed terribly.

From the opening to the almost 18 episodes, all the vampires are shown to be these cold, calculating killers who are methodically exterminating an entire town and all of a sudden after episode 18, the show asks us to feel bad for them. Why? Because humanity decided to fight back. Yeah thats it. The show is peppered with pointless philosophy which ... is prattled on by a fucking retarded no-balls priest. This shitty priest is so addled with the retarded philosophy he spouts that he goes on about how humans shouldn't judge the actions of vampires when there are people dying by the dozens day by day. Great job priest. To add to this irony, this fucker decides that joining the vampires makes the most sense because "no one understands him like Sunako" Dude was probably just a closeted lolicon.

Lets not even get started on the Vampires. They waltz into the town and systematically start wiping out the populace and yet somehow they are tragic, misunderstood creatures. Yeah right. Seems pretty black and white to me. Oh and the hierarchy makes absolutely no sense. Why in the blue hell is Sunako the leader when she is neither wise nor good at fighting? By all accounts she is utterly average. But muh loli vampire mascot.

The show does nothing to make the vampires relatable. Megumi was a spoilt, self-entitled teen who remained the same albiet more psychotic post death, Tohru was a somewhat likeable guy who becomes a wailing cry baby post death, Nao was a loving mother and wife who systematically kills her son, husband and in-laws post death and Masao was cowardly dick pre and post death. Why the fuck should I care for any of them? Ohh bu-bu-but humans will killed them.. good fucking riddance.

The show is saved from being an utter trainwreck by a decently characterized town doctor Ozaki who seems to be the only one who actually acts like a normal person would and its easy to get behind him. The human side is generally relatable. A close knit village decides to resort to violence when faced with the threat of extermination. I can not only relate, I also wholeheartedly support their actions. They didn't start the fight, they didn't kill anyone. They lived their lives peacefully until vampires came in and forced them to fight. Bu-bu-but they are violent. Well you should thought about that before killing half the village shouldn't you.

Character models is alright. A number of them sport outrageous hairstyles that defy the very laws of gravity and physics. There is nothing to write about in terms of animation. Its serviceable. The music in parts is surprisingly good.

In spite of all its shortcomings, I founds myself wanting to watch more and finish the show. The story is deeply flawed but in spite of it, dare I say enjoyable. The last few episodes are essentially a gore fest where they try so hard to portray the humans as bloodthirsty, violent creatures where in fact they are simply fighting for their existence. Overall a good decent watch.

Shiki originally came out during a time which vampire related media was on somewhat of an upswing content as a result of a certain novel/film series that was maligned by pretty much everyone who wasn't 13 or under female. It received much praise for going against the trend set by the accursed franchise by presenting a more classic take on vampire lore with an attempt to weave in some questions regarding the ethics of taking lives. That means premise-wise you can safely rest assured knowing at least what Shiki has to offer is more Salem's Lot with Higurashi vibes and less Vampire Knight or Twilight.

The ... first half of the series makes for a very, very, slow burn as an "epidemic" begins sweeping through the small village of Sotoba located in the middle of bumfuck nowhere Japam. The answer to said epidemic is made very obvious by the 2nd episode, or even before the series if you already know the premise and it takes a long time before the characters pick up on it. As a result the 1st few episodes focus on clinic owner Dr. Toshio Ozaki and local priest Seishin Muroi's attempt to get to the root cause of the "epidemic" by going off on red herring trails that audience should already know are completely off. Meanwhile, characters on the side continue to die from anemia, while all sharing the same two slight punctures wounds next to each other. It takes about a third of the series for anyone to have the slightest idea as to what might really be going on.

Much of the time early on is spent introducing characters. A lot of characters. Far too many characters. The enormous cast wasn't something struck me as a huge issue early on since I was hoping that this would lead to some interesting character arcs from at least some of them. Towards the end, it became extremely obvious just how much the show was overburdening itself. A lot of the individuals that become shiki (the term used to describe vampires in this series) end up being rather disappointing as characters as they cling to maybe one or two character traits from beginning to end. Characters that ought that seemed like they would contribute more only end up providing simple side stories and nothing the central story. If that wasn't enough a problem, for some of the human characters there are times in which a suspension of disbelief is necessary to make sense of what they do. Would anyone, for example, attempt to hunt vampires at night with only a couple of companions without telling anyone? Or better yet would anyone lightly bury an unconscious vampire with a few teaspoons of dirt and hope that someone else will find and deal with it before it can wake up? Dr. Ozaki is the easiest character to get behind, probably for being neither useless nor moronic. It honestly wouldn't be much a stretch to say that if Ozaki was removed from the series that the majority of the plot progression would leave with him. His method of dealing with the threat is as cold as it is pragmatic, but with no alternatives presented, I found him to be hard to disagree with.

Ironically, the thing I take issue with in Shiki was what I was most looking forward to seeing handled, that being it's themes. The way in which the script-writers attempted to shoe-horn the black and white conflict of the story into some moral quandary regarding "who the true monster is" is inherently problematic. For any conflict to wrap me into a moral grey area it has to convince of what good will come from either side coming out on top, and this is where Shiki fails miserably. From the beginning of the series to the end there was never any question from me that the shiki are a collective menace that ought to be curbed with one quick stake through the chest at a time. As much as the series tries to make you sympathize with the shiki, the simple fact they must prey on and kill humans just to survive puts them in the wrong. This could have worked if the whole idea of coexistence between the two sides was looked into properly, yet the series never really explains why they have to kill. Shouldn't sucking non-lethal amounts of blood be enough? It gets even worse when you consider what would happen should the shiki be allowed to continue to do as they do. More and more shiki would arise and eventually and the death toll would rise until there aren't any more people to kill. Then what would they sustain themselves with? It kind of makes the plan to make the village a den of bloodsuckers seem ridiculous once you consider how that might actually play out. The attempts to humanize the shiki in the last 3rd feel a bit some of them easy feel sympathy for (particularly the Goth loli Sunako and one of the side characters featured in the 1st of the 2 episode specials) but at no point was I convinced that the retaliation at the hands of people was wrong. All the shiki do for the majority of the story is attack people so they can selfishly continue their crappy lives. That said the massive pity party thrown for them in the final episodes does not at all ring true. There's also unnecessary references to the tale of Cain and Abel to demonstrate the show's central idea regarding the loss of humanity or something that came off as rather heavy-handed. To the show's credit I will say that it was nice that cliched PETA logic was never invoked to take the humans off of their moral high ground as if to say the lives of people are equal to those of livestock. Now that would have sucked.

When it comes to the audio/visual merits there's one aspect that screams to be addressed, which of course means this is the part where I address frilly haired elephant in the room, the silly character designs. One can only assume that a good deal of the characters must have had their hair done by lobotomized hairstylists as the end result is rather hideous. Hair motion is noticeably absent as well so the wacky hairdos of the characters just seem to hang in place as if they are wearing strangely sculpted papier-mâché hats. Not only that but their bodies kind of have CLAMP's signature slim and gangling look, with chins about that look sharp enough to jab vampires through the heart. Designs aside the rest of the production soundly nails the kind of eerie vibe needed for this type of series. The visuals do what they can to convey dread and uncertainty with fantastically drawn night time background shots and visual effects. Glimmering red eyes being used to denote mysterious evil is not a novel idea by any stretch of the imagination, but tiny dots of red light to signify a nocturnal predator is nearby works nonetheless. This is anime that knows how to imprint lasting images into the minds of its audience with rather disgusting imagery, like burning flesh, bubbling and spurting blood from being impaled with a stake. Shiki can be a rather messy title, so be prepared to wince at least a couple of times once the violence begins to pile on. The OST isn't likely the type one would seek to listen to on its own (besides maybe the openers, between which I happen to vastly prefer the 1st). Music selection overall runs the full gamut of "spooky sounds" from the dissonant sounds and ensemble chants, and even some downer melodies to convey the heartbreak of losing loved ones. The seiyuu work for Shiki can be notably over the top, which works in well considering how extreme emotions often run high throughout the story. The more simplistic characters tend to have more exaggerated voices like the wimpy Masao, or the shrill and vain Megumi. Mood swings are deftly handled with the stand out being Haruka Nagashima as Kaori who exhibits the perfect range of fear/sadness to rage/terror needed for the role.

As nicely as it was directed, to me the series overall came off as overly bloated with unimportant characters either doing nothing of interest or killing each other. I understand the point of of the enormous cast was to show the effects of mass hysteria and culturally based delusions on a universal level, it came at the high cost of having interesting individuals. All whilst being tied together with some weak rhetorical argument that assumes moral equivalence between two sides when there isn't any. It might work a bit better if for those willing to let appeals to emotion overtake logic. A series like this ought to leave its viewers emotionally eviscerated by the end, so it's a shame that I came out the experience as cold as I did. I still recommend watching this series all things considered. As much as I found the series hard to agree with in the end, I can't accuse it of not being thought provoking on at least some level.

"Meh". This is the best way for me to summarize my experience of watching Shiki. This review is spoiler free, and aimed at those wondering whether or not to watch this series.

I found this show a constant frustration to watch, and I almost dropped it but decided not to after looking on the forums. Many suggested the second half of the show (and specifically the ending) were worth seeing the show out. Having completed it, I'm not sure this is the case.

The shows has a very frustrating sense of pacing for most of the series. There is enough development to keep you watching, but only ... just. The ending is indeed quite good, but if you are expecting a great twist or something spectacular you may be disappointed. It ends well enough with some hearts wrenching moments, interesting moral questions and great action. But also leaves you with a feeling I can only describe as "meh".

This also applies to the tone of the show overall. Does it create a scary Horror vibe? Not really. it's kinda "Meh". Is it a great mystery? Not really. Kinda "Meh". Deep Philosophical questions? Kind of, but kind of "Meh". Action? "Meh". You can apply this to basically every element of the show.

It is not that it does anything badly, because it doesn't. It in fact does most things quite well. But it also fails to shine in any one area. I was hoping for it to be scary, but it wasn't. If it wasn't going to be scary, I was hoping the mystery would be intriguing with a great twist. But that never came either. It was quite predictable, a lot of violence, and then ends with a bang - but a foreseeable bang that left me wishing there was some great twist or reveal that would have made the agonizing pace worth it. Again, no delivery.

Should you watch it? Well, if you like gore, a dark tone, interesting premise and a big action ending then it has all these. If you however were looking for a genuine shock, plot twists and a great 'mystery reveal' ending, you'll be disappointed. It does enough right to get a score of 6 (for technical reasons) but I don't really recommend watching this one.

Story: 6, Art: 7, Sound: 7, Character: 7, Enjoyment: 5, Overall: 6

first of all, i would say that i really love and hate this anime at the same time. There is no character that I can like even one in this anime but all of the characters the author made was reminded me that human being is a silly and fatuous deity. it made me think again of human being and solidify my way of thinking. it also reminded me that all of anime i have ever watch in my entire life is a fiction, no doubt. you dont need to think the moral conflict that author made in this show at the first place because ... it never gonna happen in real life, but since we are the great human being we have minds, a common sense, that makes it such a something to give a try to watch and think. so that is why i love and hate this anime.

for the every aspect i will elaborate it like these;
story: 8(very good)/10
art: 7(good)/10 (it still enjoyable for me even though the anime has been a decade old)
characterizations: 9(great)/10 (silly human deity)
sound: 7(good)/10
enjoyment: 6(fine)/10

overall: 9/10

i put it on "mixed feeling" because not everyone can enjoy this show, its some deep anime and less enjoyment if you are not into horror mystery genre.

So. I was very excited to start this show, especially after hearing part of the soundtrack on Youtube. Having heard that it took the darker route with the ever-popular theme of vampires was very encouraging to hear, especially since so few anime seem willing to explore the concept of "dark and light", morality, and death.

However....

They absolutely dropped the ball. There was so much potential for this series but it just completely missed the mark. They could have (and should have) deeply explored the intricacies of self vs other, can you justify/how do you justify taking the life of another being, does morality apply in ... a hunter/prey scenario, survival in the face of the unknown, etc.

Shiki didn't do any of that. They just cracked open their paintcan of generic, store-brand morality and bathed in it. There was virtually no concern given to any of the many possible psychological and philosophical elements they could have explored.

Story & Character: I'll discuss these together because of how closely related they are in Shiki. The plot is entirely character-driven, so character and story are inseparable. Unfortunately for Shiki, as a result they are both terrible. The story is told mostly from the point of the villagers, the "good guys". Regrettably, they used one of the most common and most frustrating tropes commonly found in horror flicks - absolutely, utterly, how-do-you-even-survive-from-day-to-day braindead stupidity. Every Single Human Villager Is Completely And Utterly MORONIC. And that's what the entire plot relies on. Without idiotic villagers, the series as it stands would last maybe 6-10 episodes. It was so bad I started rooting for the vampires halfway through the series. It was my sincere hope that every single villager would be massacred and that "evil" would prevail. That's how frustrated I was at the ineptitude of the humans.

The only villagers that were at all likable were dead ones that had turned into vampires. There was one vampire that I really liked, which is why I gave Character a 3 instead of a 1. I think if the story was told from the perspective of the vampires, trying to infiltrate the village and take over, the series would have been much, much better. Unfortunately, this isn't the case, and we're left with this mess. There isn't much else to say - there's about 18 episodes of stupidity, some stuff happens at the end and then series is over. Very disappointing.

Sound: As I said in my intro, the soundtrack is what led me to this series, and it certainly delivers throughout. It's a shame that the actual substance of the anime was so lacking, because the music was hauntingly beautiful and did an amazing job of setting the mood. Similarly, I had no complaints about the voice acting (for Japanese; English dub was god-awful as it usually is) - it was well done and all the voices matched the characters very well.

Art: Gorgeous. Some reviews I read said that they hated the art, so I suppose like anything it's a matter of personal preference. However, I have to say Shiki has probably the most gorgeous, intriguing, captivating character design I have ever seen in an anime. The vampires especially I found to be exquisitely well designed, so in that regard I have to absolutely respect the animators. Beautifully well done. The visual aspect was the only reason I actually slugged my way through the last 12 episodes or so.

TL;DR: Almost non-existent character development for protagonists, use of common horror trope "all good guys are braindead" ruins any potential this series had from a storytelling perspective. Sound and especially art are the saving graces of this anime - consequently, if you do not like the art, I would absolutely not recommend this anime.

Overall - 5/10

✪ Genre: dark fantasy (vampires), drama, seinen (violence)


✔ Positive Aspects ✔

◧ Pretty cool animation, somewhat reminiscent of Kuroshitsuji: colors of medium to high saturation/medium vibrancy, distinct character designs though not that close to live-action series as far as details go.

◧ Simple yet interesting concept: a 'family' of vampires slowly taking over a geographically isolated village in order to create a safe haven for vampires.


... ✘ Negative Aspects ✘

◧ A virtually absent soundtrack, as if nothing was playing in the background.

◧ The unfolding of the plot was peculiar. Even though the series was gradually, and even-handedly, building up the story over the first 10 episodes, it hit a major slump over the next 8 or so episodes. During the initial build-up, the series was oscillating between drama, horror, and suspense, whereas during the slump, it was stuck on a 'horrorless', melodramatic loop. The last 4 episodes were characterized by a fairly anti-climactic ending, despite the fact that the first 10 episodes were promising something completely different, and with the very last episode ending too abruptly to not question whether the viewer may have missed something.

◧ As far as character development goes, the series did not do a bad job, compared to other series, in depicting the primary characters', secondary characters', and antagonists' intentions, beliefs, emotions, and thought processes, but, overall, it was lackluster compared to what itself was aiming at. Instead of gradually and coherently building up, it was randomly dropping material.


Overall: A series that had some solid potential but did an excellent job wasting it on I don't even know what.

Concerning Shiki, I have to admit that I have mixed feelings about this anime.
While watching it, I was convinced that I would give it a 7 or 8, because I really liked and enjoyed watching it. I was intrigued by how the story and the characters had been built up and was looking forwart to seeing how they were going to develop - only to be utterly disappointed.

Shiki could have been a really good anime, really. It had lots of potential but, sadly, it hasn't been handled well enough.
This anime entertained me, got me all excited to the next episodes and I truly had hoped ... that it would also continue to doing so until the end.
Naturally, it had his faults and some things I didn't quite like, but every anime has this, but near the end of the anime the quality drastily drops - it's only my opinion though. I had the feeling that all the building ups has been put into waste because they really got me hyped up for seeing their development but in the end nothing has truly been properly fleshed out.
This has been the most crucial point for my rating.
For being honest, it wasn't the ending itself that didn't please me.
First of all, it didn't feel like a proper ending at all. It was anything but satsifying. I had the feeling that they just cut the rest of the story away and glued something else there. Perhaps it's also like that, I haven't read the manga yet.

I had Shiki on my Plan to Watch list for a long time,yet I was so indecisive and because of that it stayed there for several months.One day I forced myself into watching Shiki and I was pleasantly surprised.It had a nice start,it had that mystical feeling that I wanted it to have.It was creepy and it was somewhat thrilling but everything changed.Instead of having a decent pace throughout the whole series,most of the series seemed slow paced and dragged out and then the end was rushed.It changed from intriguing to "clusterfuck" before you even realized it.
The first thing that you are going to ... notice about art are the colors and the design of characters hair.
Sound was great at the beginning,it really worked great with those creepy scenes.
My main problem with this show is pacing and characters.We didn't know anything about characters at all and they all had a ridiculously small amount of screen time.I didn't feel anything for any of the characters and I doubt it will be any different for any of you.Story became boring and it felt too rushed,pacing was terrible,sound was somewhat good and I was enjoying it at first.

Shiki - The long boring road.


Shiki is an anime about vampires. You know this right from the get-go, as the intro pretty much lets you in on that right off the bat. Unfortunately, the anime is a long slog towards the subject matter, and it's a fairly mediocre production except episodes 19-21. The ending is pretty meh.

Story.

The problem I have with Shiki is that it is too long. It has a good story, but tries to pretend that you don't know it's an anime about vampires, and spends 10 episodes pretending that it's about a "epidemic" of Anemia, which isn't even a thing.

A lot ... of time is spent on random 1 shot characters who stop going to work, get tired, then "mysteriously' die. While I like big character rosters, there isn't really a main character in Shiki, so it's hard to know what you should be focusing on.

Art.

The visual styles are pretty different. They do a few things I don't like, for example large stiff hair that defies all nature, even for anime. The eyes of all the vampires switch from being large charcoal scribbes to LED red light rings, so there's hardly any suspense wondering who is who.

They do some good things too. There's a lot of color, they spend extra animation time on important scenes, and some character designs are pretty good and varied. Not much moe here, except for 1 or 2 exceptions.

Sound.

The sounds and music were okay after the opening and ending songs switched midway through. The voice acting was good, especially on some characters. On the flip side, when it was poor, it was very poor. This anime introduced me to my new most hated voice (and drawn) character in anime, so there's that.

Characters.

There are a ton, but no one really has a focused story. You get random scenes of random characters, and some are very powerful. A doctor comes to grips with realizing that his wifes been bitten, and he hasn't had a single vampire to study. A little girl fails to grow old because of the affliction, and struggles with her relationship with god. A monk questions how far he values life, all life, including those of the risen.

In spite of some great character pieces, some times you can't help but feel like your wasting time onscreen with some random people who really don't affect anything in the story, and not to set up a following scene either.

Enjoyment.

4 is decent, and that's the best word for this. If it were 12 episodes, I might not have disliked as much of it as I did. There were moments I thought, "Finally! It's gotten good!" , then realized it was happening on episode 19.

There were times I caught myself skipping 5 minute chunks of screen time waiting for the plot to continue and to get out of old lady rice-cake's inn where her dog was sad at her sick husband.

Then the ending, which did tie up most things, was unfulfilling. Every character decision and resolution basically turn out to be for nothing, and things continue on much how they began. Unlike well written "here it all starts again" endings, this one executes poorly.

Overall.

The anime -was- okay. Decent, or good. I suppose I should rate it somewhere between a 5 and 6, but there were parts I liked. I would prefer this as a novel, as opposed to a manga or an anime.

If you like.

-Vampires who aren't really superhuman, and are more human than not.
-Lots of information about lots of characters without a real focus on any one.
-"Skinny-body" art style with "spiral loopy hair".
-Slow burn plots.
-Light fighting. (Seriously, there's violence, but maybe only 10 punches thrown.)
-"Is it evil if I have no choice" moral quandaries.

This anime might be for you.