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Curiosity kills the cat. In Hyouka, curiosity is one harmless puppy.

It is important to note that Hyouka is an anime with borrowed elements from the mystery genre and the slice of life genre and it never totally devotes itself to one side. The anime plays out with both genres seamlessly like the classical music theme of the anime. Nobody dies, there are no murderers and the cops hardly ever gets involved with the cases in Hyouka. It's light-hearted tone is derived from the fact that each mystery solved doesn't really make much of an impact to anyone involved in it. It is just a bunch ... of high school kids solving little mysteries that happens in school, such as the case of the locked Geography room and the case of the blunder of the Maths teacher. At times, it seems as if the anime is unnecessarily extended with fillers. A case could have been put to a satisfying end in under 3 episodes but in Hyouka you get 6 episodes and some people may be put off by the slow pace. Characters sit around and discuss the cases giving theories and dispelling them. Even as the mysteries are being revealed and solved, there are little intense moments that may fail to grip the hearts of hardcore mystery fans that hails from the Detective Conan series.

Hence, if you are a heavy mystery fan, this may not be the anime for you. This is a mystery anime that does not forget its slice of life genre.

THE STORY is based upon several cases which the 4 main characters: Oreki, Satoshi, Chitanda and Mayaka comes across in their first year of highschool life. Though each cases are really of little importance in general, it is impressive to see how much deduction can be put into these little 'insignificant' cases which makes Hyouka worth watching. For example, an entire episode based upon deciphering what a short 5 seconds announcement by a teacher blew my mind. The level of detail covered in that one episode and the theories that built upon theories baffled me. How did anyone manage to think up of all of that? I'll not post any spoilers but the attention to every small details that comes back to become a huge clue in the end of each cases shows that Hyouka is a well thought out thinking-men's anime. Despite its small mundane mystery, Hyouka manages to make solving each of them fun and enjoyable. -8/10

THE ART is incredible, and completely fitting of Hyouka. It has incredibily detailed backgrounds and each supporting characters are memorable and you can really see the effort spent in making each little detail stand out. The sunset-painted classroom is a pleasure to see and really sets the mood for Hyouka. Furthermore, its abstract art that comes alive when theories are being made are creative and has a distinct taste to it. All I can say is it is the art in Hyouka is thoroughly enjoyable, and helps make the anime an enjoyable experience. -9/10

THE SOUND is paired up wonderfully with the beautiful art. I find the OPs and EDs of the anime soothing and sets the tone well. I hardly skipped any of them. Most notably, the Cello Suite was one of my favorite tune in the entire anime as it is just so elegant and moving, almost as if describing the pacing of Hyouka. I love it. -9/10

THE CHARACTERS in Hyouka were all unique and fun. I especially enjoyed Oreki Houtaro's energy conservation lifestyle and always marvel at how he manages to solve each case even though he is basically a sloth in human skin. Chitanda Eru, at first glance seems to be a typical ditsy ojou-sama, always curious, always looking forward to Oreki's deductions and answers. At first, I found that to be rather annoying, especially her "I'm Curious" phrase which made me peeved. However, there would be no story without her striking Oreki's match of motivation to solve the case. I grew to like her eventually. Satoshi Fukube is almost a generic cheerful character and he makes watching the anime fun. Without him, Hyouka may become really dull. And he dresses up as Saturn and inspires to be a Quiz King. That's all it takes for me to like him. I'm actually most interested in Mayaka Ibara, especially in how her character will develop eventually. She shows the most emotion, the counter-opposite of Oreki and I am really looking forward to how her relationship with Fuku-chan will unfold. -8/10

ENJOYMENT wise, I love Hyouka. I do, I really do. It's a welcoming change of pace for me who was indulging in action anime all this while. Hyouka is funny, smart and intriguing. The ending to each cases never fails to surprise me as the twist and turns takes me for a ride down to enlightenmentown. It's slow pacing is a merit to its story and character development which makes Hyouka an interesting watch. -8/10

OVERALL, I was a little disappointed that Hyouka ended in a rather anti-climatic way. I am really looking forward to a second season. As a whole, Hyouka may not be top anime of the year material, but there certainly is potential in becoming my favorite anime. It's the most pleasant and relaxing anime I've seen in a while, and it comes with its own share of emotional dispute that is seen in a slice of life anime, not forgetting to solve the mystery at the end of the day. I believe that Hyouka can inspire to be a little more, as it tends to stay in the safe area. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it may make for a more interesting experience is Hyouka deals with slightly more controversial cases instead of always sticking to common everyday curiosity cases.

Also, I'm secretly interested about Oreki's sister. Please show more of her (face!) in the next season! I am curious!

First, before I jump right into the review of Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, there are some things to be said. Let me level with you for a sec:

Characters in the anime:

Niwa Makoto: A dumbass going through puberty, but is probably the most normal person around.

Touwa Erio: As intelligent as a puppy.

Mifune Ryuuko: As smart as a six year old.

... Maekawa: Wear cosplay to work and evening walks.

Touwa Meme: Mentality of a sixth-grader despite being 40 years old.

Hoshimiya Yashiro: Dresses up as an astronaut to play baseball.

Tamura (the old coot): Pretty senile. Obsessed with cattle mutilation.

And they are involved in a comedy.

When you have loony characters in a comedy, you can expect the intellect of the show to be pretty much in the drains. Despite that, there’s actually morals to be learnt which I will go through later in the review. There’s a lot of similarity between Denpa Onna and Arakawa Under the Bridge (also directed by Shinbou Akiyuki), and I will be constantly mentioning them in the review because it is just ridiculous how much Denpa Onna borrows from Arakawa.

Story: 7/10

The plot is extremely vague. Check out the synopsis. Everything written up there are the original bits of the anime that makes it interesting. So like Arakawa, there is a pretty girl who claims to be an alien. The interesting and most original part is that she wraps herself in a futon mattress as a way to avoid the society. She’s a typical hikikomori(social withdrawal). Then her cousin Makoto moves in and helps her get back into society. This is the proposed plot. Up to this point, there’s nothing wrong with this main plot. However, the plot constantly wavers to the side-lines as Makoto flirts with all the girls. There’s this one episode where he goes out with Ryuuko, and then the next episode, he hangs out with Maekawa. There are only 12 episodes to find out the mystery behind the disappearance of Erio for six months, where Elliot (Erio’s irresponsible dad) is, who Hoshimiya really is and which pipe hole she crawled out of and 2 goddamned episodes are wasted on building up the relationship with the two girls. Not that this is wrong or anything, but there’s just too much unexplained mysteries in Denpa Onna. How the hell can Meme (Makoto’s 40 years old aunt) look 18 years old?
The worst of all is the way Denpa Onna ended. Okay, here’s how it works: the city is divided up into two, the City and the Shopping District. They have a baseball match involving the main characters and the winning side would have the upcoming festival taken place in their area. This is cool and all. It is a good scenario to allow the characters to interact with each other. But this is the last episode. The LAST goddamned episode! Why the hell are they playing baseball when they should be solving one or all of the above mysteries? Then things took a turn for total shitstorm when they decided to end it off with Makoto talking to some old guy about life lessons rather than using that time to show us footage of the festival. It ended very disappointingly, just like Arakawa did.

The story isn’t nearly as linear as the plot suggests. An event happens and even though it could have been summed up in a single episode, three episodes were aired instead to show the same event from three different character’s point of view. This is without a doubt, derived from the creative mind of the director. Now let’s talk about the morals that can be taught in Denpa Onna. It teaches the viewers, behind the slap-stick Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei-like humor that if you try your best, you will succeed. Also, there’s the part about finding courage to return back to society, among various other things to be learnt from Denpa Onna. I expect Denpa Onna to come up with a second season to explain everything.

Art: 9/10

The art is really beautiful. It can be compared to Bakemonogatari or 5 centimeters per Second. All the girls are incredibly pretty and well designed. That’s pretty much all to be said. You won’t be disappointed with the art in Denpa Onna. That is a given. The main reason why this anime got a score of 8 from me depends heavily on the art.

Sound: 8/10

I am not a big fan of the opening and ending song. Initially, the opening song sounded like a squeamish toddler singing into my ear, but I have come to liked it because the song suits Denpa Onna very well. The ending song was really emo but I guess it was calming. The background music in Denpa Onna is pretty good. There’s the light piano music when Makoto hangs out with one of the girls, which builds up the mood. There’s good music to be found here.

Character: 7/10

Now I’m about to rant about how original/unoriginal some of the characters are, so forgive me if I write out of topic. I can’t help but notice how Makoto is a mirror image of Ryuugamine Mikado in Durarara!! I mean, the hair is just uncanny! I found myself typing Mikado rather than Makoto many times in this review. Ryuuko might as well be the twin sister of Minori Kushieda from Toradora! I mean, aside from the hair color, she’s basically a more childish version of Minori. They have the same ‘overly-energetic-attitude-that-makes-me-shout-out-everything-in-my mind’ personality. Then, obviously Meme can be found in the thousands of anime which have ‘Moe’ in it. All this characters kind of make the cast unoriginal, but then, there’s Maekawa. God, she is the best character in Denpa Onna. She likes to cosplay a lot, which isn’t an uncommon anime character trait. But in a certain episode, she dresses up as a Xenomorph from the Aliens series. A freaking Xenomorph from Aliens. I could not even begin to comprehend how awesome that was. I must have replayed that scene more than ten times. The way she nonchalantly walks into the baseball field with that costume. That was pure genius.

Enjoyment: 8/10

Well I must admit that I have cracked up a couple of times when Makoto tries to be the straight man against his aunt Meme and fails miserably. So that makes Denpa Onna pretty enjoyable. I don’t particularly hate being drowned in Moe when Erio, Meme or any of the female characters come into the scene either. The weird score board that determines Makoto’s adolescence points is pretty entertaining as well. I was intrigued by the unexplained mysteries but soon gave up on the hope of ever achieving the answers to them.

Overall: 8/10

Denpa Onna is like the Arakawa it never was—Arakawa with Moe. I guess the director realised that having half the cast being whacked out wierdos wearing freaky masks wasn’t going to win the hearts of the viewers. Denpa Onna is then created to make up for those mistakes, replacing crude old-men’s humor with cute Moe comedy and toning down the level of weirdness of the cast. Still, it is unique in its style and comes about to be a pleasant anime to watch.

Ps. Oh by the way, it probably wasn’t the best idea to have the hottest character of the anime be a 40 year-old aunt. Seriously, Meme is hotter than her 16 year-old daughter and the majority of the school girls Makoto ever had the pleasure to meet.

I am horrified to find out that no one have tried to write a review for this anime. As far as mystery type of genre animes goes, Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo is definitely at the top. Even though this series have been frequently compared with Detective Conan, it was never as popular as Detective Conan because of its slightly milder themes. However, I am not here to debate on which is better, Conan or Kindaichi since Conan is longer running and will have a larger fanbase and better art. If you are an avid fan of the mystery genre, then read on.

... Kindaichi Hajime is a genius with an IQ of 180, despite his sloppy attitude. Just like many other detective animes, he is apparently cursed to end up at the exact places at the exact time when horrifying murder cases occurs. Each case usually lasts 3-4 episodes, usually ending with the murderer repenting and reminiscing about the painful past that leads to the motive. Although the pattern becomes clear to the viewers very soon, it never gets old. Just when you thought that it is another same old case where they get trapped in a confined area, the show throws in an unexpected case such as the Kidnapping Case of Hayami Reika. It follows very closely to the manga, even though not all cases are present in the anime.

What is splendid about this anime is that it invites the viewers to try and solve the mystery before the last episode that will reveal all. The show makes sure that the viewer gets all the clues possible before revealing the culprit in question.This makes for a pleasant experience for the viewers and they won't feel left out of the anime. This also allows the viewers to root for Kindaichi because he will always reveal the answer to the mystery. It is always awesome to hear Kindaichi announce: "All the mysteries have been solved!" Commence anime swooning.

As far as the art goes, it is not incredible in anyway, and for a anime made in 1997, there shouldn't be much expectation to match animes of nowadays. I have no complains either way as it does not affect the experience and the creepy cases still gets to me all the same. The terrible scenes of the bodies being found never cease to instill fear in me. It does not matter if they were hanged, drowned or stabbed. It is always horrifying, despite the art being behind times.

The sound can get quite repetive, with the same music playing in the background when: someone screams, chase scene, rushing to another area, corpse found and when they realise something horrible. This cannot really be avoided since Kindaichi is made up of several cases. The incredible openings of each season easily make up for these few flaws. I cannot imagine anyone skipping past the first opening Confused Memories or Kimi Ga Iru Kara... simply because the music just suits the theme of Kindaichi so well. It is a perfect start to a new mystery or case as things gets more and more intense or bloody.

As far as characters goes, I absolutely love the main characters. There's Kindaichi with his humorous 'FAILS' with Miyuki to fix and reprimand him for. The police inspector Kenmochi proves to be slightly useful by providing information and using his authority to Kindaichi's whims. Then there's the rivalry between Akechi and Kindaichi, as well as some famous villians that never gets caught. It is always a fascinating experience to be first spooked by the murders, then to laugh at some of Kindaichi's aloof jokes later on. Thankfully, there's 148 episodes worth of enjoyment.

If you can't tell by now, I really enjoyed Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo. I still continue to read the new stand-alone manga releases and will always be hungry for more. Hence, if you enjoyed Conan, please try out Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo for a similiar experience that is slightly different. Personally, I think that both animes stand out in their own ways but Kindaichi is a little less annoying. It's true, having little kids solve mystery gets to me. Personally I find Kindaichi more realistic. But enough of that. If you enjoy a good mystery with complex and ingenious methods involved, you must definitely check this one out. There have got to be more Kindaichi fans.

AD 2012. 01. 01 01:13:24:89

It's me.

In an effort to escape the onslaught of the Organisation, I have time leapt to this time to enjoy the fireworks of the New Year, as well as to write a review.

Steins;Gate is pretty fucking awesome.


Originally a visual novel game for the xBox360, Steins;Gate easily becomes one of the most popular anime due to its unique qualities. Like many other animes which were derived from visual novels, its selling point is its unique and creative storyline.
...
Basically, you have a self-proclaimed mad scientist who stumbles upon a time machine that is capable of sending messages into the future. Accompanied by a cute ditzy girl and an otaku/super haker, they form the Future Gadget Research Establishment and perform various experiments out of curiosity. The number of members increase as the story moves on.
Steins;Gate has a story built upon suspense and twists, and that is exactly what I loved about it. It keeps me guessing all the way, from episode 1 to 24. Various hypothesis and theories keep popping in my head like popcorn. However, this does not mean that Steins;Gate have a confusing story. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Steins;Gate is so interesting that I was completely absorbed into the story and I go "OMG" everytime something is revealed. Other than the intense 'MOMENT OF TRUTH' scenes, the anime constantly switches to its light-hearted slice of life storyline which usually have me laughing myself off the seat.

The voice acting is top-notch. The voice actor of Okabe truly outdone himself. I get the shivers every time I hear him say "El Psy Congroo". Also, we have the cute voice of Mayuri going "Tutturoo~" and Kurise's tsundere voice. Absolute euphoria. As far as the sound goes in the anime, I can mostly only hear cicadas crying in the background, but it suits the setting of Akihabara damned well. Of course, later in the show there's this superb piano play which makes the scene very dramatic. I love the OP very much because of its high-tension beats. A fantastic opening for a fantastic anime.

Okabe Rin- I mean Hououin Kyouma is the most awesome dude in the whole anime. He is literally the life of the anime. Not once have I gotten tired of his 'outburst'. I can see why he's quite the ladies man. Steins;Gate would probably suck without him and he should have a book of his famous quotes published immediately.
The other characters are pretty lovable too, with all the girls being cute in their own way and Daru being a cool haker and all. I don't think I dislike any characters in Steins;Gate.

The art is perfect. Nuff' said.(or not apparently) It is almost impossible for me to fully convey how much I love the art of Steins;Gate, but i will try my best. Take a look at this emoticon :). Now compare it to the Mona Lisa potrait. This is how much better Steins;Gate is than other animes. Okay, too much exaggeration. But I will have you know that I love all the visuals in the anime. The characters are very well designed and somewhat original.(Well maybe Kurisu looks kind of like Hitagi from Bakemonogatari) Akihabara looks detailed and goes well with the cicada cries. It is on par with the beautiful Ikebukuro from Durarara! Then, shit gets real when the intense moments happens and the distinct difference with the peaceful days and the dark desperate scenes never fails to mesmerize me. Just when I thought "Wow, the art is pretty good! Everything is detailed and sharp, the bright colors really tells the joyful mood", everything turns dark and hazy as the unexpected happens. Somewhat nuff' said.

I thoroughly enjoyed the show because it keeps me guessing until the end and the comical daily lives of the characters keeps the anime interesting. I loved every second of Steins;Gate and I wish that everyone would watch it. It's an outstanding anime which deserves all the attention it is getting.

El Psy Congroo!

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kira. What a disaster.

This is an OVA to the popular and thoroughly enjoyable Higurashi anime series. I was utterly disappointed with Kira. Nothing in Kira even remotely made any sense and it seems to be just full of fan-service and parodies of the original Higurashi series. Now don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against fan-service. I welcome them with open arms as long as they make the anime more interesting. But in Kira, it is completely disgusting and it adds no value to the Higurashi series and in fact insulted each of the lovely cast.

Seriously, this anime is as ... bad as having gay scenes mixed together with magical girls. I know what you are saying. “WTF that was completely unnecessary and this is just an exaggeration to defame the anime. Now I can’t get the image out of my mind. Screw you!”. Well actually, Kira DOES have a gay scene and transforming mahou shoujos battling bad guys.

Yes, this is true, stop rechecking to see if you have read wrongly.

Now lets revise the plot (lol*) of each episode shall we? No this is not considered ‘SPOILERS’ because you are never going to have to waste precious seconds of your life to watch this piece of sh*t.

Episode One: Protagonist Keiichi contracts the ‘true Hinamizawa syndrome’ and becomes a delusional pervert. Mion fires a friggin’ AK-47 almost point blank at him and all six billion shots misses. He successfully escapes. Thankfully, Keiichi, who we at this point have no idea whether he’s in a delusion or not, finds himself in a classroom alone with three middle-aged men who smiles evilly as they corner Keiichi and closes in on him. Keiichi screams. The episode finishes. It won’t take an Einstein to theorize what had happenned to Keiichi. However, the million-dollar question is: Will Keiichi survive the gang rape? Well, I guess we’ll find out in Episode Two, wont we?

Episode Two: Nope! Apparently this whole chapter is about two lovely little girls transforming into magical girls to save their friends as they battle a gay giant nail-ripper monster. Gee, this completely ruined the heart-wrenching moment when Shion was forced to pull out three of her nails to save the one she loves earlier in the Higurashi series. What was meant to be one of the most iconic moments of the Higurashi anime to represent the sacrificial spirit of the character was crushed, diced, and flushed down the toilet along with the other crap.

I guess the producers thought that the fans will be satisfied with scantily-clad little girls, nurse and teacher as well as the gay scene for the 10th anniversary commemoration of Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni. “Fans good! Fan-service good! We give good fans good fan-service! We good!” And then the director goes >:0 WHOA THIS IS THE BEST FRIGGIN’ IDEA EVER FOR A 10th ANNIVERSARY! LET’S DO IT !

Here’s a slight rundown. (According to MAL)

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni #84

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai #44

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Rei #639

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kira #4859

The series is still airing? Don’t give me that bullcrap.

Nothing about this anime is remotely funny and as a Higurashi title, it completely fails. Heck, I even enjoyed Rei because it still had an actual arc that actually made it INTERESTING and WATCHABLE. Kira? Yea right. More like Kill Us.

Now for the ACTUAL REVIEW. This anime is utter genius and it really expresses the human emotion well along with the unexpected twists and-…pfft BWAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH SOMEBODY HELP ME THE PAIN WON’T GO AWAY! TOO RIDICULOUS! TOO MUCH BULLSH*TTERY! GAH!

Kira does not deserve a serious review from me. It should not even count as a Higurashi title.

Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS but this may help suppress your murderous intention to harm the producers and director of this anime. Kira dies! OK? Kira dies in a completely different anime that involves a notebook. All right? Calm down!

And if you liked this anime, I apologise. But remember, succumbing to ecchi is never anything to be ashamed of. However, I still curse the existence of this anime as the innocence of the original Higurashi series is tainted.

AnoHana is the worst anime ever!

Just kidding, this is just to get your attention. Quite the opposite actually, AnoHana is one of the best anime I have seen. When I was first recommended to this anime by my brother who claims it to be the ‘Best Anime Ever’, I brushed it off and thought, “Meh, with that weird name?” I cursed my stupidity for putting off this anime for 2 months before finally getting to it. I have always thought of myself to be a fan of the dark and mystery genre but this is the anime which completely changed that mindset.

AnoHana starts out ... as a rather light-hearted slice-of-life anime as we are introduced to ghost girl Menma who pesters Jintan. A lot. The characters are the main charm of this anime as each character are unique and have their own personality and way of thinking. Before you ask, no, this is not a romantic comedy of any sort. The main focus of this anime is about getting over the death of a dear friend, about overcoming grief and guilt, sorting out relationships among friends and moving on with life.

Very few anime have made me felt extreme emotion. These are the types of anime which should be considered a masterpiece. When watching AnoHana, you should be ready to bawl your hearts out. It is not a simple tear-jerker that ‘tells’ you to cry when you watch the anime. “Hey, the girl Menma died. Yea, it’s sad because everyone misses her and she’s really nice and cute and all. Poor her. So you should start crying.” No, it does not get pity from the audience and collects cheap tears. Instead, it skillfully orchestrates the viewers to actually be in the shoes of the characters and feel what they are experiencing. You will honestly CARE for the characters and understand the actions of each characters to cope with their grief or loss of their dear friend. It is in no way a manipulation of emotion and AnoHana can create moments where I can relate to myself in life.

Story: 9

Okay, so maybe you may think that from the synopsis that this kind of story has been done before. The dead comes back and wants her wish granted so that she can move on. Well, DUMP THE SYNOPSIS! This story is pretty damned original if you ask me, despite the similarities of childhood stories such as 20th Century Boys. The story is simple but beautiful. The themes in the story are straight forward and I felt that I learnt something by the end of each episode. Friendships, families, death and life. What if one day someone dear to you died? What changes would occur? Will you grieve over the person for years to come or accept it and move on with a stronger heart? If I died, will my family and friends be sad? Will they remember me or forget me? One word: DEEP. The story is seriously deep for a 11 episode anime. You will come to realize that it is not as light-hearted as it seems. Oh and there’s the crying. (From me mostly)

Art: 9

I really cannot complain about the art. It is absolutely beautiful. It has a clean and crisp look and everything is sharp. Watch it in HD and you will know what I mean. In fact, there’s a slight difference in lighting between the past and present, where the past have brighter colors and the present being slightly moodier. If you have watched it already, watch it again and spot the difference, if not, pay attention to every grain of detail AnoHana has to offer. The character design is pretty good and everyone loves Menma so no arguments there.

Sound: 10

I love all the music in AnoHana. The opening was relaxing and sweet, accompanied by the smooth animation. I literally have to stop myself from floating into the midst of the light-hearted melody. Then we come to the ending. I can tell you guys a long story about the band Zone and how the song was made 10 years ago and how the lyrics are meaningful in both the anime and in real life. Instead, I’ll just rant about how cute the 3 girls from Super Peace Buster frolicking around in the drifting flower petals look. The song complements everything. I have not skipped past neither the OP nor the ED once throughout the 11 episode. I never got tired of hearing it. That is just how good it is.

Character: 9

From how Jintan loves Menma to how Yukiatsu is obsessed over the same person pretty much displays all the difference between each character. Both of them have feelings for Menma but the way of expressing it is very different. This is what I liked about AnoHana. Even though they are all friends, they have their own way of ‘achieving their goals’ and take up different path even though they have the same feelings for Menma. Jintan is relentless and never gives up to help Menma and while certain others wants to give up so as to not hurt Menma’s family’s feelings. Of course, the best moments are when you see how these great characters change over time and how eventually their hearts are as one and move forward together on the same wavelength.

Enjoyment: 9

I enjoyed the series very much. Yea that’s all I can really say. It’s just really good and even though crying is not really much of an enjoyment, they are happy tears so I can deal with that.

Overall: 9

This is a very refreshing anime, a good change from all that gore fest anime I have been watching. I am sure it would lighten your mood some after watching AnoHana and it will probably fight some stress off. I cried and then felt much better after that. Man, this is almost like a therapy anime! This is completely irrelevant but I think I will get myself some AnoHana goods and re-immerse myself into the anime because it is really good. Everything about this anime is great, from the art and characters to the brilliant sound. Watch it. You will not regret it. In fact, you will regret not having to watch it earlier and hit yourself for it soon after like me.

In conclusion, oh what the heck is that all not enough to convince you that this is a good anime and that you should watch it?

Warning: If you have a solid ‘reputation’, I suggest you watch this anime by yourself in an enclosed area. Also, parents freaks out when their child walks out of their room teary puffy eyed chanting “You found me…You found me…You found me…” . Enjoy the anime :)

Alright this is my first review.

I would first like to say that I had different expectations from Shiki. I started watching this anime knowing nothing more than the sypnosis written, and was expecting epic guns-blazing demon-exorcising action. But I did not get any of that. The first few episodes dissapointed me as there is literally no action going on, and then it soon dawned upon me that this is a dark mystery genre of anime.

Shiki starts out slowly(snail's pace until episode 7 or so) and the first few episodes were almost identical to me. There was nothing exciting going on other than the mysterious deaths ... that happen frequently. Just when i was about to give up...BAM the anime starts heating up and I was suddenly pulled into the distorted world of Shiki.

I think that this is a very unique anime and is unlike other vampire animes I have seen. It focuses more on the human emotion and ethicity, from both the humans and the Shikis side. Should I kill others to survive myself? Is killing humans a sin as a Shiki? Can I ever enjoy a pink-frosted chuncky chocolate donut? Yes, serious dilemmas surfaces and it is just interesing to see what horrible choices the characters 'chooses'. I found myself constantly associating Shiki with Higurashi, due to the smiliar setting and the genre of dark mystery and gore. Though I don't think it compares to Higurashi, it certainly holds its own charms.

Story: 8
Now I wouldn't say that the story is amazingly original, because I'm sure we have all seen such scenarios where a isolated village gets terrorised by monsters. However, what differs this from other typical storyline are the characters.

Characters: 9
The regular Shiki, or vampire or walking dead are not like the ones we see in movies. They don't mindlessly feed on humans. Instead, they have the exact same personality and emotion when they were human and this is transfered to the Shiki persona, which is what makes Shiki interesting. Honestly, I cannot give a damn to most human characters. They just strike me as boring, with the exception of the doctor. The real main characters, in my opinion, are the Shikis as the portrayal of the Shikis bring life to the anime.

Art: 9
Just stunningly beautiful, and when the main hero Yuuki looks like the same hero from a Shonen Ai manga, you know the art is good. Just kidding, but seriously, the village is very detailed and the lighting in the day and the night differs tremendously, displaying different moods so you can really be absorbed into the anime.

Sound: 8
To be honest, I was not really paying attention to the background music, and the OPs and EDs aren't exactly my type of music, but i guess the use of silence to create suspense is pretty masterful in this anime

Enjoyment:8
HELL YEA-...well I guess I enjoyed it mostly even though the ending is a cliffhanger and it makes me mad that they did not give a proper ending to satusfy the viewers. Even though Specials Episodes were made, it only serves to explain certain events, but not all, and I feel a little bit cheated out of the experience. However, I did enjoy all the suspense created and the good ol' bloodfest.

Overall:8
Shiki is the kind of anime you would watch for five minutes and wonder "Did that just seriously happen? It delivers all its 'messages' well and at the end of the anime, you will feel that you have learnt something and come to understand the drastic changes in almost all the characters. And I just like a good gorefest and Shiki gives it to me rather excessively.Everything is refined and leaves the viewers wanting more.

In conclusion, if you think you can stomach some blood,(who am I kidding, I'm talking tons of blood, heck I wouldn't be surprise if the amount of blood fills a swimming pool) and just loves mystery and suspense genre of anime with beautiful art, then watch Shiki. If you can withstand its slow takeoff,you will find yourself immersed in the world of Shiki in no time.

Warning: If you had just watched a straight-up full-blown comedy like Gintama or Baka to Test, DO NOT watch Shiki. You may not handle the rough transition from laughs to screams. Well,enjoy it anyway :)