Shiki, also known as corpse demon is a story about a whole village turned into vampires. Strange things starts to happen in a small village of Sotoba when the Kirishiki family arrived. People slowly dying from one disease to another until the numbers became alarming that Dr. Ozaki Toshio starts to investigate the cause of the seemingly epidemic that slowly eating the villagers away. And he was about to get the shock of his life when he got to the bottom of it.
Seriously, I almost dropped this after the first half. Why? Because I was having a terrible headache watching things unfold. It was painfully frustrating for me. When it was still a mystery, I was really excited as to how things would turn out but when it did, I was like, "So, that was it. Then what?" Don't get me wrong. I think the series managed to deliver what it was supposed to deliver. No romanticizing, no sugarcoating whatsoever of what shiki is. They are bloodsuckers. They feed on humans to survive as humans feed on chicken, cows, etc. However, since shiki's are previously human it was a little bit hard to decide what course to take.
I must say that Dr. Ozaki Toshio and Muroi Seishin are two pivotal characters since their course of action has lead things to conclusion. While Dr. Ozaki has been decided since the beginning, Muroi was taking his sweet time deciding and I wasn't surprised when he choose what he choose. Because he was like the man in the novel he was writing, trapped and wanted to be free.
My favorite character has to be Natsuno. Let's just say, for most of the part I agree with him and probably would do the same thing if I were him. I almost feel bad for Tohru but changed my mind, anyway. I don't sympathize with the shiki's as I don't with humans. It isn't a question of who's the monster and who's not. Who's good and evil. Because we are both. Regardless of who and what you are, you are both good and evil. It just a matter of deciding what to do with it.
Who wouldn't be afraid of dying? Something unknown and vague as death is dreadful. That's why we try to live while we're alive. Because we'll never know when death would claim us. Regrets? Lingering feelings? We all have that. But death is absolute. Once you die, your time is up. Game's over, my friend.
Shiki is shiki. Human is human. Shiki hunts human to survive. And humans fight for their lives. Both have reasons to fight. If coexisting is impossible, then one must fall. Sure, I understand where the shiki is coming from but it doesn't mean human would just stand there and do nothing. We decide and fight for what we think is right for us.
But surely we are imperpect. Always confusing things. Fighting our own demons. We hurt people. We hurt ourselves. We make half-hearted decisions. That's human for you.
In the end, I still don't have clear view on shiki. And I still have headache. But it was something worth watching so you should probably give it a try, too.
