Shiki

Life is idyllic and unassuming in the small town of Sotoba, a simple place where everyone knows everyone. However, tragedy strikes when Megumi Shimizu, a young girl with high aspirations, unexpectedly passes away from an unnamed illness. Over the torrid summer months, as more unexplained deaths crop up around the village, the town's doctor—Toshio Ozaki—begins to suspect that something more sinister than a mere disease is at play.

Toshio teams up with Natsuno Yuuki, an apathetic and aloof teenager, and siblings Kaori and Akira Tanaka, two of Megumi's friends, to unravel the dark mystery behind the deaths in Sotoba. With their combined efforts, the investigation leads them toward an eerie secret pertaining to the new family in the Kanemasa mansion.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ozaki, Toshio Main

Ookawa, Tooru Japanese

Yuuki, Natsuno Main

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Muroi, Seishin Main

Okitsu, Kazuyuki Japanese

Kirishiki, Sunako Supporting

Yuuki, Aoi Japanese

Shimizu, Megumi Supporting

Tomatsu, Haruka Japanese

Mutou, Tooru Supporting

Okamoto, Nobuhiko Japanese

Tatsumi Supporting

Takagi, Wataru Japanese

Kunihiro, Ritsuko Supporting

Sasaki, Nozomi Japanese

Murasako, Masao Supporting

Takahashi, Shinya Japanese

Ookawa, Tomio Supporting

Ishii, Kouji Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Amino, Tetsurou Director, Sound Director

Hata, Yoshito Episode Director

Fukumoto, Kiyoshi Episode Director

Reviews

May 27, 2024

LevixAckerman

Recommended

Review of Shiki

+ Story
- Vampires/Fallen/Shiki attack a village. A battle for survival begins, humans against vampires. Who will emerge victorious? Or rather, will there be a victor at all?

+ Horror
- If you like the horror genre, you'll feel right at home here.

+ Characters
- There are three main characters: Natsuno, Seishin, Toshio.
...
- Natsuno has one wish: to leave the village for the big city! He studies diligently for this goal. He doesn't want to form connections with the people in the village because he doesn't believe they will last once he leaves. He seems very cold. This is evident when Megumi shows interest in him, but he remains indifferent. The only one who manages to get through to him is Tooru, a boy around his age who also lives in the village. Over the course of the story, Natsuno changes significantly. Great character development.

- Seishin is the village priest. A flashback shows that he was suicidal. I didn't like his character at all because, when it mattered most, he only thought about himself and didn't care about the villagers. In the end, he even betrayed the humans.

- Toshio is the village doctor. Nothing was more important to him than finding out why villagers were suddenly dying one after another. He used the most extreme methods to do so. He made great sacrifices to prevent even greater ones.

- The side characters are one of Shiki's strengths. Whether it's Megumi, Tooru, Sunako, Tatsumi, Akira, Kaori, or the others, almost all are interesting and contribute to the plot.

+ Music
- Full marks.

+ Animation and Character Design
- Solid and fitting for the anime.

Shiki does many things right and few things wrong. Both in terms of story, characters, and music. Sure, there are some inconsistencies or logical errors here and there, but they are well hidden.

Conclusion (8/10)

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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May 31, 2024

Yanfei_Stan

Mixed Feelings

Silly, campy, vampire schlock. Fairly self-contradictory and as a result lacking of any real depth, but if all you're here for is blood, guts, and scantily-clad vampire babes then you're in for a good time. Extraordinarily frustrating at moments in the way that many shows falling under the genre of horror can be (Read: Stupid characters, lack of common sense, melodrama, etc.), but there's always enough going on to maintain interest, and it makes things all the more satisfying once the ball really starts to roll in the last 5-6 episodes. The show is, admittedly, a little bit too ambitious with its scope, and there ... are more than a couple plot threads that barely resolve or never resolve at all, but the ones most central to the plot are wrapped up neatly enough for my tastes.

In terms of production and artistic vision, I really enjoyed the more unconventional lineup-- very distinct, visually interesting character designs are often woefully nonexistent outside of battle shonen, and the way Shiki embraces the oddity and exceptionality of its cast is very much to its benefit. Not only do the eccentric designs help to build up the odd and obtuse atmosphere of the show, blending well with the frequent use of dream sequences and surreal imagery, they also do a wonderful job helping the viewer keep track of the different characters in the show's many different plotlines. For a horror series, the scene direction is well-managed; tense, uncomfortable shots linger just enough to unsettle without overstaying their welcome, while much of the violence is fast moving and eclectic, flowing quickly from cut-to-cut to embody the abrupt, chaotic nature of death. The directors really knew how to portion their gore, keeping the gratuity on a leash for most of the show before finally letting lose in a brutal, bloody fashion that perfectly accentuates the finale. All of this is to say that while Shiki probably isn't going to blow anyone away animation-wise, it certainly has its charm and I personally prefer its unique nature to a lot of the uber-polished, stylistically drab stuff coming out nowadays. I don't have anything of substance to say about the sound-design or OST; besides a pleasantly disgusting cracking noise when ailing thralls turned their necks, it was all pretty much standard fare. Oh, and bonus points for having the best dog designs I've ever seen in an anime.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jun 22, 2023

nyaieko

Not Recommended

Shiki was honestly a disappointing watch to say the least. It was one of those stories with great potential, but just didn't make the cut.

CHARACTERS: 1/10

The characters were probably the worst part of the whole series, which is sad because this easily could've been rated higher if the characters were well made. This is a series that I feel like was heavily carried by the characters, their personalities, their interactions, and their development. Yet none of the characters stood out that much which made the anime a drag to watch. All of them were generic, predictable, and honestly? Not that likable. Some were okay and ... others were down right annoying.

PLOT/CONCEPTS: 7/10

Now I'll give Shiki this, the concept drew me in. The Shikis or vampires were not glorified nor romanticized which was refreshing. The anime captured the sad reality of what vampires are thought to be and that alone made me push through to watch the series. Sadly, this alone wasn't enough because the ending SUCKED SO MUCH.

I get what they were trying to do. It was similar to AOT (Attack On Titan) in a way. They used perspective to show that the Shikis weren't bad nor malicious beings. They were just beings who wanted to survive just like any human. Where they went wrong imo was when they tried to paint humans as these terrible, malicious, people for not wanting to die out. Honestly speaking, it's our nature as the living to want to survive so just as the Shiki weren't wrong, I don't believe the humans were either. I get where they were going but AOT executed this theme WAY better that Shiki.

ENJOYMENT: 3/10

I'll be honest, this series wasn't all that bad UNTIL we got to the midway-end point. It got boring and predictable partially because of the boring and generic characters. This series could've easily gotten at least a 7/10 if the creators spent more time making the characters unique and gave them more development. The ending was also just so disappointing. It was mediocre, predictable, and drawn out. No matter how interesting the concept was, it really means nothing if the characters are bland and bad. Some of the best anime's out there are good because of the unique characters and their development. Yes, storyline is important but not at the expense of the character.

OVERALL RATING: 4/10

Wouldn't recommend sitting down and watching this if you're expecting something different. The premise might be intriguing but it doesn't match up with the end result.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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