Shiki Specials Episode 1 Discussion

I would say your line of argument in this post is the more common one I hear on the topic which is why I said so and referenced it in my post above, but ultimately, it's not like it's entirely wrong either. It's a question of perspective and I just strongly disagree for the reasons stated.

I don't think the human characters actually did anything wrong or illogical either. Killing, least of all intelligent humanoid creatures who can speak your language, is not an everyday occurrence for most people, so it's unrealistic to assume a conflict of this scale can be waged in such a clinical, dispassionate manner without affecting the psychology of those involved. Many were "cruel" because it's even more illogical and unfathomable to them to kill their former friends or neighbors or anyone at all for that matter in a calm and measured way. People on average have to psyche themselves up individually and collectively for this type of brutality and it's why the mental state of soldiers overseas, particularly in long protracted conflicts without clearly defined end goals, is usually adversely impacted. The humans here were just being human. They're not machines.

And real or perceived collaborators have basically always been targeted in every war ever. Since they were dealing with, however you see it, either biological or supernatural phenomena that the ordinary uneducated villager didn't understand to the extent of a medical professional like Dr. Ozaki did, it isn't like they understood clearly that the hypnosis effect from the bite on a medical level made their actions literally outside their control and them not responsible for them. They just saw the humans working with shiki (minus Muroi, Muroi Sr., and Seishirou the acting Kirishiki patriarch, who weren't under hypnosis) as traitors and traitors in wartime have always been handled in such a way back to the earliest days.

Just because something is theoretically physically possible it doesn't mean it's likely to be the first choice of a person or a species. Technically humans can survive without meat. It doesn't mean most will choose this. Many won't for reasons of diversifying the protein sources in their diet and daily intake, ease of access, and yes, comfort, convenience, and preference. No one needs to eat a bacon cheeseburger to survive. Yet it's done and on a mass scale without any second of pause for a trace of remorse or moral concern in the vast majority of people doing it.

Humans, at least in the developed world, consume diets that might not even be sustainable, nevermind to the environment, but themselves in the long-term (obesity, heart disease, artery clogging, cholesterol spiking, etc.), out of sheer whim and pleasure.

As I said in my post, any shiki or human character is charged with considering not only the survival of themselves as an individual person, but their species' collective survival. And survival goes far beyond the immediate sense of staving off impending attack/starvation. I'm talking about the long-term as well. Sunako could meet her immediate survival needs by killing slowly on an individual basis. She was interested in establishment of a project beyond herself - the creation and securing of a safe base for all shiki-kind deep in the mountains. She wanted to transform more of her surroundings to suit her, which is effectively what humans and all species do - reproduce and expand by any means available to them (whether hunting, parasitism, sex, asexual reproduction, animal husbandry, deforestation and colonization, etc.)

Yes, but that's what's so wonderful about having a large cast in focus for this show - I prefer ideally two strong main characters, usually settle for accepting 3 - 5, and almost uniformly dislike large cast ensemble shows, but I've rarely seen a show where it works more perfectly than this. Every single villager whose actions and personality were spotlighted could conceivably be a real person I have no trouble at all believing exists. If you take a sample size of any random town like that you're going to have cruel people, merciful people, dumb people, intelligent people, socially awkward people, rebellious people, conformist people, and on and on.