anyone else who is annoyed by the priests character?

Dec 10, 2:26 PM

onzichtbaard

Offline

Sep 2017

onzichtbaardDec 10, 3:21 PM

Dec 10, 2:55 PM

alba77

Offline

Apr 2022

Shiki is one of my most favourite shows. It is way more philosophical than just saying there is good and there is evil. What is good and what is evil? Is it a crime if you want to survive? If you are hated because of the things your ancestors did? This series is brilliant because it addresses different viewpoints on how to live and survive.
Of course there are some especially evil characters who kill just for fun.

If you can not see it from another perspective then either you did not understand it or this show just is not for you. And it is okay, people have different tastes. The more romantic viewpoint on coexisting with vampires would probably be the anime Call of the Night. Feel free to watch it and then compare it to Shiki :)

Dec 10, 3:04 PM

onzichtbaard

Offline

Sep 2017

Reply to alba77

@alba77 i didnt say they should coexist with vampires i said all vampires needed to be killed

and while the shiki have their own viewpoint that doesnt mean they dont deserve to die

but where this show fails for me is that the priest chooses to side with the vampires when it makes no sense for him to do so

i also didnt mean to say shiki is a bad anime just that the priest character was awful imo and that the anime is flawed in big part because of that

onzichtbaardDec 10, 3:14 PM

Dec 10, 3:16 PM

alba77

Offline

Apr 2022

onzichtbaard said:
@alba77 i didnt say they should coexist with vampires i said all vampires needed to be killed

and while the shiki have their own viewpoint that doesnt mean they dont deserve to die

but where this show fails for me is that the priest chooses to side with the vampires when it makes no sense for him to do so

i also didnt mean to say shiki is a bad anime just that the priest character was awful imo and that the anime is flawed in big part because of that

I understand your viewpoint, I have another opinion. It is a bit radical to say all vampires are evil and should he killed. The vampires are not guilty for existing.
About the priest, I don't remember it clearly but to make a guess what I had in mind when I watched the show the last time was something like he just gave up on humanity and on himself and lost his belief. Maybe that's why he thought that it doesn't matter which side he takes.
But this is just a guess, maybe I am wrong here.

Dec 10, 8:42 PM

Laplace_kun

Offline

Nov 2019

2643

The priest got the full front seat of seeing the vampire PoV, so he gets the license of possibly bringing about a change from the usual human vs vampire dynamics.

He couldn't care less about betraying anyone. The doctor killing his own wife and the villagers killing their own folk just out of sheer paranoia made him side with nobody. He just cared mostly for the girl, it just turned out she was deep in the vampire side.

Both the villagers and the vampires shows the human side. The vampires are a thought experiment on what human can become it they are suddenly gifted with powers that only thrive with harm. While the villagers themselves show the human capability for both violence and intellect to overcome unknown threats, the priest himself represents the human tendency to also have the capability to transform or assimilate from within, on empathising with a subject that feels antagonistic from the surface. Also the power of human emotions, which can drive them to do things that crumble the natural flow of things for something they rationally or irrationally want to protect.

From the very beginning, this show was always about humans, including the seemingly supernatural beings.

"All truth is meaningless. In the end, 'meaning' comes from the mind of each individual human. Even when there is a single truth, it can mean different things to different individuals. The truth has no meaning in itself!" - Erika Furudo

Dec 11, 5:13 AM

Piromysl

Offline

Jul 2015

13774

Vampire cunny made him act unwise.

Dec 11, 7:43 AM

Mizukie07

Offline

May 2023

Honestly, I get why his character frustrates people, but for me that’s kind of the whole point of his arc. The priest isn’t meant to be “logical,” he’s meant to be broken. He’s someone who has lived his entire life feeling powerless, ignored, and morally conflicted, and when the Shiki enter the village, he finally finds a twisted sense of purpose that the humans never gave him.

He doesn’t side with the Shiki because he thinks they’re right — he sides with them because he’s lost his faith in the villagers long before the killings start. His choice is more about his own guilt, loneliness, and disillusionment than actual loyalty to the vampires. It’s selfish, hypocritical, and tragic… but that’s what makes his downfall interesting to me.

I don’t agree with what he did at all, but I think his character works because he represents how fear and hopelessness can push even “good” people into doing horrible things. The finale hit harder for me because his arc is so uncomfortable.

Dec 11, 4:57 PM

queenofautism

Offline

Jan 2025

156

I would absolutely side with a vampire loli over some smelly villagers. If anything, the priest is one of the most relatable characters ever.

Dec 11, 6:00 PM

DUFFAL0

Offline

Jun 2024

No. He’s actually my favorite character. He shows compassion and empathy, and he doesn’t just blindly exude an air of violence without thinking deeper about cause and effect.

Yesterday, 7:07 AM

#10

texasfangirl1999

Offline

Jul 2017

210

Some of the folks in here simping for Sunako is hella weird, she's still a child lol

That being said, I can kinda see where you're coming from, but Seishin is a very misanthropic individual, he was forced to take on the role of priest because of family and societal pressure even though he didn't want to, and he feels constantly pressured from trying to live up to these high expectations from everyone around him, to the point where it drove him to attempt suicide before the main events of the story.

I don't really like Seishin or agree with what he did, and I don't find him relatable just because he decided to save a genocidal vampire loli, but considering everything he had been through up to that point, and his general disdain for humanity and lack of faith, in some ways I can see how he thought siding with the Shiki was the only way out, to finally escape the village and escape the pressures of his family and the ungrateful villagers.

If he was mentally ill enough to slit his wrists before this, after all of the horrors that end up going down afterwards, I can kinda understand from his perspective why he chose to give up his blood to the Shiki, basically out of a desire to die, not sure if he knew he would become a Jinrou or not by willingly giving his blood, the mechanics behind Jinrou aren't too well-explained anyway.

As someone who has both watched the anime and read the manga, I also fully agree with the OP that most of the Shiki are irredeemably evil and the humans have every right to fight back. If a lion breaks into your house and kills and eats your entire family, do you suddenly not have a right to defend yourself because "oh well it was just hungry"?

Very few Shiki actually show any hesitation or remorse for killing, many of them straight up revel in it and enjoy it, so how the audience is expected to feel bad for them when the humans finally start defending themselves after the Shiki killed so many with carefree, reckless abandon just did not work for me at all. As much as I adore this series, the attempt to "humanize" the Shiki in the latter half was just really poorly executed.

texasfangirl1999Yesterday, 7:26 AM

Yesterday, 12:17 PM

#11

User476674

Offline

Jul 2023

Idfc what your opinion is about rn, I'm soooooo happy to see people are discussing about Shiki

Yesterday, 12:27 PM

#12

Lucifrost

Offline

Feb 2016

15776

@texasfangirl1999
I feel the same way about Shiki. It is hard to find a fellow fan who feels this way about the anime.

LucifrostYesterday, 12:31 PM

その目だれの目？

See All Discussions

Poll: » Shiki Episode 22 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) tsubasalover - Dec 30, 2010	976	by Alkimia »» Dec 11, 9:16 PM
» False dilemma? lordJahoo - Mar 4	7	by onzichtbaard »» Dec 10, 2:54 PM
Poll: » Shiki Episode 20 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Oosran - Dec 16, 2010	295	by ToothlessWolf »» Nov 10, 11:26 AM
Poll: » Shiki Episode 18 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) tsubasalover - Dec 2, 2010	319	by ToothlessWolf »» Nov 2, 6:55 AM
Poll: » Shiki Episode 17 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) tsubasalover - Nov 25, 2010	230	by ToothlessWolf »» Oct 25, 1:47 AM

anyone else who is annoyed by the priests character?

More topics from this board

Poll: » Shiki Episode 22 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )

» False dilemma?

Poll: » Shiki Episode 20 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )

Poll: » Shiki Episode 18 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )

Poll: » Shiki Episode 17 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 )

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters