For Shiki, I rate it 2 out of 10 overall, and I consider that to be generous. Why? Well, damn, here are the reasons why I hate it so much.
THE CHARACTERS:
Okay, I’ll be honest here I dislike most of the characters in this anime, with the exception of one or two; Nutsuno Yuuki and the two kids who figure out it’s the vampires who cause all the sudden deaths in the village. But even for them, I find my likable-meter struggling because of their lack of action, stupidity, and naivety. Well, I’ll give them some credit for at least taking some sort of action, sleuthing around for evidence to prove their theory that the dead really does turn into vampire or Shiki or whatever... but that’s all.
The character I dislike most is the stupid priest. God, he annoys me with his attitude of ‘I won’t kill whether it’s human or animal’. Are you kidding me? Dude, I understand you’re a priest and you don’t kill because of your religion and your belief, but can you really just stand by and watch your friends and the people you care about in the village getting killed? The guy manages to further roil my temper by aiding, yep you read it right, he’s aiding the vampire escaping and all that shit. Of course I understand that he himself got turned into a vampire as the story progresses, but hell, he has this sort of weird connection with the girl vampire since the beginning, liking the fact that she comforts him when he’s depressed because of the mounting deaths and the fact that she likes his novels, raves on about it, and moves into the small villages because it. Freaky! Needless to say, I simply don’t care whether this dude is dead or alive, which of course he’s both being a vampire. ^_^
Then of course there’s the doctor. Dude, I understand you’re a doctor. I totally understand all of your explanations about normocytic, normochromic anemia and PHN and hemolysis and all those hematology terms because you know what? I’ve studied those at university and have been working in the hematology lab analyzing and diagnosing blood samples for a number of years. I totally appreciate you explaining all of those because, man, that’s awesome. But heck, you’re a doctor, shouldn’t you alert the citizen if you suspect there’s an epidemic going on instead of keeping the damn thing to yourself? You should tell your nurses to put out posters to warn people about the possible infection and all that jazz. You should be telling them to immediately come into the clinic for an examination with the first sign of suspected symptoms. Jesus! There are so many loopholes in this story in terms of simple logic that it makes my head spin. What doctors in their right minds want to keep such an important discovery to themselves? They’d be eagerly sharing their findings/results, and more importantly, worries with other doctors in a group meeting/consultation, because you know what? That happens on a weekly basis in a normal clinic/hospital where cases are presented in a conference among doctors and nurses and other medical professionals, sharing possible causes, diagnosis, and cures. And in a small village like this story, surely they have a main branch in which they could consult? Oh yeah, there is another bigger hospital in a town close to the village, isn’t there? So why the heck doesn’t that so called smart doctor drive over and have a damn consultation? Instead of consulting a priest of all people who has questionable past (the slit scare on the wrist) and questionable mentality? Even better, ask for support and help say from the government? Surely, after nineteen consecutive deaths it should ring an alarm bell? Heck, three to four deaths with similar symptoms in the same area should already ring an alarm bell where the medical team would spring into action like the devil is on their heels to claim their heads.
One last character that needs mentioning in term of my dislike is the stupid pink hair girl. God, she annoys me with her day dreaming fantasy about super stardom. Ugh! Grow up and get a life, girl. Needless to say, I’m totally satisfied when they hack her in the end. Thank God! She deserves that painful death. Although I’m not sure if she can feel any pain since she’s a vampire. But the screaming….?
THE ART:
Is okay for most of the characters of the village citizen, and of course, the mains. But the vampires and some odd-balls with questionable personalities? Definitely not a fan. The hair, the eyes, and the clothing looks like they belong in a theatre doing opera instead of a dark anime. Sorry, but they’re weird. Heck, I like weird and quirkiness art, but this is not one of those. To prove a point, I love the art of Mononoke. One of the best anime and art form I’ve ever seen. The story line is superb and the voice acting brilliant. In saying that thought I love Sakurai Takahiro, so I am a bit bias in that regard.
So on to the VOICE ACTING/SOUND then:
It’s okay. No comment. End.
THE STORY:
In my opinion, it’s full of bullshit and loopholes where no simple logic comes in to play and where normal people would have never acted the way the characters act in this story. Heck, I could probably come up with a better plot than this. In a nut shell, vampires move into the small villages. They kill and turn people into vampire-like-zombie-servants. The main characters (doctor, priest, high school dude with blue hair, and the siblings) figure it out and works together to kick these bastards out of their town for good, killing them in the most awesome action-packed, gore, thrill ride ever! HAPPY, SATISFIED ENDING!
All right, I do apologize for my ranting, but the anime just frustrates me, and I can’t hold back. Yep, I’m so frustrated I have to skip a few episodes, and you know what, I don’t think I’ve missed anything that important.
OVERALL:
So here’s my recommendation. If you hate stupid, unlikable characters, plot full of stupid loopholes, slooooooow built up that makes you want to throw your laptop against the wall, and barely satisfied ending, then DO NOT WATCH this anime.
If you’re still keen, however, go right on ahead. You might have a different taste and you might like it. Who knows? We’re all different, after all. Now I need to find a good anime to watch to wash away this disgusting after-taste that is resulted from this anime.
