Back to TemporaryPortal's Profile TemporaryPortal's Profile

I don't hate this manga, but I do wish in a way that I never read it.

I picked up Shamo after reading all these MAL reviews calling it a 9 or 10 and praising it as some sort of 'philosophical,' 'existential,' 'masterpiece.' In the reccomendations I see it wrongfully compared to Berserk, Vagabond, Punpun, and...Holyland...


I'm not afraid to admit that Shamo has lots of good aspects to it:

- (Most of) the fights are technical and lots of strategy goes into them
- The art is very appealing
- The author does a great job of making you love or hate characters
- The characters are pretty ... much all unique and different
- The main character is developed decently, just decently.


The problems I have with Shamo lie in its abundance of flaws. I'm not here to nitpick, I can usually look the other way when a story has some flaws if it's executed well overall, but there comes a point where there are just so many issues that I just can't ignore them anymore.


If you don't like:

- Meandering storylines (no logical through-line, motivations, or goal)
- Characters taking one step forward and 2 steps back constantly
- Main characters (mostly the antagonists) getting written out of the story for no reason
- Unsatisfying endings to most character arcs
- Plot conveniences
- Flat characters
- Lack of explanation for almost anyones motivations/reasonings
- Weird fantastical breaks from an otherwise grounded story
- Following characters for many chapters that ultimately have no impact on the overall story
- Fake depth to compromise for poor writing/ideas

Then you probably wont like this manga.

The first 2 arcs (prison arc, and the lethal tournament arc (and the Ryou-Sugawara finale)) were very splendid and well written. I was glued to my laptop reading, and I'd recommend that everyone at least reads those.

The rest I can really take or leave, you wont be satisfied with the development or endings of any other arcs. They do have some good elements, but at the end of the day they aren't worth the read UNLESS you're just reading Shamo for the fights and action.

(Note* I also thought the Ki arc was dope, but I admit it wasn't executed well and had no business being in this story*)

This anime is criminally OVERrated...

Aesthetically it's a good looking anime with great music. Conceptually the themes are interesting on their own-but fall flat.

While watching, I found myself asking "why?" many times; mostly due to the lack of explanations or reasons presented in the show itself.

This anime is way too long, yet ironically 26 episodes isn't enough to present an idea, build on it, and flesh out a relatively small cast of characters.

Interesting ideas and problems that characters face are forgotten by the next episode, and characters that do absolutely nothing to progress the story somehow get boat loads of screen time.

There is no tension ... in the show at all. The special abilities that characters posses are not explained at all and the "Alter ability" generally has no rules or limits. Characters use and gain special powers and abilities out of nowhere just because something has to progress the story. This became more noticeable during the mid-end portion of the show.

The anime also suffers from not having a main antagonist. The show realizes this pretty deep in and tries to bumrush you with cannon-fodder villains to close it out.

If you want to watch a simple anime with constant fighting then try s.CRY.ed, but in the end that's all it is.

Spoiler-Free.

I'll give Shiki credit, it had a compelling (enough) story, and the spooky parts were spooky-ish. The art is odd but unique, and the sound fits the tones/mood well.

Now, the not so good.

I'm fine with a slower paced show, but if it's gonna spend so much time focusing on multiple characters that end up doing nothing in the end or do nothing the whole time, then JUST CUT IT. (This show could've been a solid 18 eps)

This show introduces so many new characters each episode that after episode 3 i stopped trying to remember names and faces. In the end it doesn't matter if you ... know anyone outside the "main" cast, since they either aren't important or wont last.

Who is the main character? I still have no idea who the main characters actually are. They make you think that it's some people, only to have them disappear for half the show. Or to have other people do nothing until suddenly they take up all of the screen time in the last 5 episodes.

The logical thinking and progression of the characters in Shiki was laughable. Not one character actually feels or thinks like a human being, which is deeply unsettling. The show repeatedly bashes the same motifs and themes into your head": "who is the REAL monster, humans or demons???" The answer is EVERYONE, they all suck and you're not clever!!

Finally, let's talk about the very foreign idea of character motivation, because the writers may not know about it. The characters in Shiki either do things for no reason, do nothing at all, or act like they'll do something, but do nothing. It's impossible to predict what any of the characters are thinking at any moment, because they will act completely out of character, become non-characters until it's convenient for them to return, or are just there in the first place to die.

Too many characters, too long, no logic, and it tries to be way more clever and meta than it should be.. Only watch this show if you're looking for a shallow spooky supernatural mystery (with good music).