Today, a review of the critically acclaimed anime, Shiki, another entry into the vampire genre.
-Story & Characters-
Taking place in the fictional village of Sotoba, our story features two protagonists: Natsuno Yuuki, a high school student who hates living in the sticks, and Toshio Ozaki, the local doctor. A mysterious string of deaths have been occurring, and each victim has one thing in common: A bit wound on a part of their body. These bite marks are caused by the Shiki, or vampires.
One of the most brilliant things that Shiki does is its unique take on the vampire genre. When someone dies, there is a chance that he or she will come back to life as a Shiki, who are immortal, and can only die by a stake to the heart, decapitation, or prolonged exposure to sunlight. When someone becomes a Shiki, however, they actually have to learn how to live and adapt to the Shiki lifestyle. Shiki cannot go a certain period of time without sucking blood, or else they will die: However, the Shiki, while dead humans, are still human. They have emotions, they can be happy, sad, or angry, and are always reluctant at first to hunt humans for nourishment. It’s things like this that make us sympathize with the Shiki, and how they aren’t monsters at all. They didn’t choose to come back to life, they didn’t choose to have to hunt humans in order to survive, it’s simply a cruel twist of fate.
The story itself, for the most part, had a good pace, aside from the halfway point, where it felt slow. It was this rough patch in the middle of the show that actually made me want to drop it because of how uninteresting it was. Luckily, though, it picked itself back up, and didn’t let up. The atmosphere is always eerie and unsettling, and it sometimes borders on the scary side of things, and while there weren’t any plot twists, it didn’t need any because of how well told it was. The closing episodes also featured some of the saddest moments that I have ever seen in any anime, and the final episode in particular had me teary eyed.
The characters, on the other hand, are a mixed bag. A good bunch of them are likeable and interesting, such as Kaori and Akira, and some of the Shiki, such as Sunako and Megumi. A lot of them, unfortunately, are on the underdeveloped side, with some of them being either bland or annoying. Toshio was another interesting character, as he started off as a compassionate doctor and ended up going through a massive transformation.
While the story suffers from a really big downfall in the middle and has some weak characters, it’s very dark, gritty, and, most importantly, engaging.
-Visuals & Sound-
The visuals are rather hard to describe. The backgrounds look great and the Shiki look unsettling, but it’s the designs of the characters that I simply cannot look over. The tone of the show is very dark, yet most of these characters look like they’re part of a circus troupe. Freakishly long, zig-zag hair, a full-on beard that looks like a boat anchor, huge fishy lips, and the list goes on. It was really hard for me to take some scenes seriously when the characters look that outrageous.
The dub is very solid. I haven’t heard of most of these voice actors with the exception of maybe one or two, but I’d like to see them in more shows, because they really nailed their performances, and perfectly matched the personalities of the characters. There was no overacting, and every actor delivered their lines nicely.
Speaking of the audio, it would be a crime if I didn’t mention the absolutely gorgeous musical score. Considering how dark the show is, this composer managed to make it even darker and more effective with its melancholic tone and haunting vocals and chimes. I consider this to be one of my top five favorite soundtracks of all time because it was so effective and managed to give me emotion to scenes that didn’t even have any. While I felt that some of the songs were overplayed at times, I didn’t mind it, because of how beautiful the tracks were. Buy this soundtrack at full price if you have to, it’s a must-own.
-Conclusion-
Shiki was an anime that really caught me off guard. It got universal critical acclaim, and while I can’t say that it’s quite as good as people say, it’s still a high tier anime that deserves to be on everybody’s shelves. With a captivating story and gorgeous soundtrack, it’s hard not to recommend Shiki to anybody who loves this genre.
Give this one a shot: You’ll love it.
+Compelling story
+Eerie atmosphere
+Visually pleasing
+Solid dub
+Phenomenal soundtrack
-Laughable character designs
-Opening episodes of the second half was completely uninteresting
-Some characters are likeable, others aren’t
Final score:
8.5/10
