Story: 8
The story the best thing about this anime. Shiki displays vampires in a refreshing way that cleanses my palate of the abomination that is Twilight and other similar sparkly vampires that have suffused mainstream media lately. The potential for the plot was definitely there with the mystery and supernatural elements reeling me in.
Art: 7
Standard colorful, spiky haired anime characters with decent design on the faces. Overall, I thought the art was classic anime fare, but without anything particularly distinguishable. That is to say, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. Just kind of... meh.
Sound: 8
I enjoyed the music in this actually. It definitely captured the horror setting and they matched the music with the scenes fairly well, leading to some good ole goosebumps every now and then. It was fitting and it sounded good. So no complaints here.
Character: 3
Now this. This is what completely ruins this story for me. The characters in this show were thoroughly unlikable. This presents a major problem because of the story's goal of forcing the viewer to ask the question "Who is right?"
But instead of being in contemplative mental torment due to the moral ambiguity of the story, I was left completely apathetic by the end of it all. There were two sides to potentially root for, but both failed to provide an emotional connection. The Shiki's were supposed to be pitiful slaves to their natural urges who you would sympathize with due to their individual internal conflicts. Instead, due to the piss poor depictions in the show, they come across as psychopathic murderers that take great pleasure in their systematic mass slaughter of the inhabitants of the village. The only Shikis who I felt even slightly sympathetic for were Richan and Tohru. But that wasn't nearly enough. Especially with filth like Megumi, Chizuru, and Tatsumi running around. The villagers, on the other hand, were equally disgusting. They reacted completely contrary to my expectations after watching those god-awful funeral ceremonies in the funeral home. They were a little surprised, but there wasn't nearly enough outrage at all. Furthermore, some of the villagers were repulsive before they even became Shiki, like Masao. Most importantly, however, they're a barbaric, cruel group of people. The fact that they murdered innocent people near the end of the show and called it a just cause made me give zero shits about all of the gruesome things that happened to them over the course of the series. Still, at least Kaori and Akira didn't make me hate them. They were pretty okay.
Enjoyment: 3
Due the previously mentioned issues, my enjoyment was greatly hampered. Characters are extremely important to me and without properly developed characters, no matter how great the setting and plot are I'm going to end up hating a show. Besides. The ending was absolutely awful. I was honestly hoping most of the villagers would die in the forest fire at the end of the show. And the priest and Sunako lived? Why? The little girl (who I treat as a woman due to her established age) is a mass murderer. With zero sympathy for her victims. She engages in some bullshit pseudo-philosophical tirade every time you see her and never displays any care for all of the horrible events she has set in mention. But when the old bastard is about to kill her, she actually has the gall to attempt to evoke sympathy by acting all meek and scared. Fuck no. After all the disgusting things she did and caused to happen I had zero sympathy. In fact, if I saw that stake go through her heart, I probably would have rated this series a point higher. Speaking of extra points, I would have given another one if that repressed pedophiliac subhuman priest died too. He actually joined the Shiki after all the disgusting things they did. He, for some reason, felt that they were pitiful creatures after all of the slaughter they engaged in. Well, maybe they would have been if they were a little more guilty, but after seeing countless smiling shiki sending people off to the grave over the course of the series, I had no pity at all. Besides, why would he even listen to that bullshit Sunako spewed. All creatures wish to live? Death is impartial? Oh please. If that's true, Mr. Priest, then you shouldn't be so judgmental about the humans who are trying to protect themselves from creatures who live only through the murder of humans. So it's okay if the shiki kill off all the villagers, but when the villagers, who our subhuman priest has known all this time, kill the shiki to protect themselves it's cruel and evil? Spare me. Talk about putting the cart before the horse. Tsk. Can't believe that asshole actually lived.
Conclusion:
Don't watch this if you don't want to pull your hair out. Story seems cool, but the miserable execution and shitty ending completely ruined any potential that was previously present at the beginning.
