Story-4
There are really two parts to the overall story of Shiki. The first is the "horror" part.
Vampires in a small village, mass killings, etc. The usual stuff. Shiki starts out well with this for the most part but plays the majority of its cards too early leaving for very few surprises in the endgame.
Shiki is rarely unpredictable when it comes to the plot, though that isn't necessarily a bad thing. By not trying to outwit the viewer, it can excel at times in presenting what you came to see, vampire horror. At least early on.
Unfortunately Shiki suffers from chronic horror movie. That being that for some reason, an entire village could be wiped out without doing anything more then saying "well, lot's of people have died lately. Maybe there is sickness going around?" The ending even felt like your typical horror movie. Which is not a good thing in any sort of way.
The real problem is that rather than build up the vampires into fearsome opponents, a 180 is attempted to have the viewer look at things from a new perspective. I'm sad to say that it is a sorry attempt.
Imagine reading a history book that tries to make you sympathize with Nazi soldiers working at a concentration camp. Seems laughable right? Well now imagine that same book, only with whiny Nazis who spent 3/4 of that book saying how killing prisoners didn't matter/was their right. All the while going "woe is me"...If that sounds good to you then Shiki is calling your name.
The above is primarily the second part of Shiki, the "ethical questions". The trouble is that except for one exception, there are no times in which I ever wondered what the right thing to do should be. The "grey" areas really are fairly black and white.
Art-7
The overall look of Shiki works well. Backgrounds, objects, movement, and such all work well. Character models are fine though some characters' hair may be jarring at first. When more intense scenes are done, the art style changes slightly for a more gritty look which can give off a reasonably discomforting feeling (which is a good thing). On another note, I could never figure out if the Shiki eyes were just for the viewer to discern who is dead and who isn't, or if the people in the village were able to see them as well, since 100% black/blue eyes are a bit of a obvious give away that nobody seemed to notice...ever.
Sound-7
Shiki's music isn't the kind that will leave a lasting impression on most people but it does its job and accomplishes it well. Both OPs are interesting and worth a few listens (though the 2nd OP doesn't quite fit Shiki's atmosphere). The music within the show, again, works well. Basically, the music adds to the atmosphere whether it's tense or philosophical or whatever.
Voice acting is pretty solid all around, with nothing to complain about.
Character-3
This will be lengthy as Shiki has lots of characters and some need to be mentioned specifically.
I recognized from the start that Shiki never really intended to have major character development. It was simply a matter of showing how particular kinds of people dealt with particular situations. That was fine, some of my favorite stories of any media use that kind of approach to characters. The trouble is that for this kind of approach to work, one either needs to be able to sympathize with characters, or appreciate some kind of morale situation they are forced to confront. Shiki, for the most part, doesn't allow for either.
Ozaki was the best part of Shiki. His character was the most interesting and developed. I genuinely liked him and thought he would be the push Shiki needed to turn into something truly engrossing. While it didn't turn out that way, it's fair to say that Ozaki was a solid character and worth singling out here.
Natsuno starts out fine and continues throughout Shiki at that same level of fine. Basically, he never changes. Ever. Which is a shame because instead of watching his progression as a character, he ends up being used as a kind of plot device who seems to get less screen time than other less important characters. At least he is likable I suppose.
Tomio Ookawa isn't even a truly important character but I had to mention him because I just loved this guy by the end. When he spoke (read: shouted in a manly way) I payed attention.
As for the rest, there is a large cast of village characters of varying importance and you will (surprisingly) most likely know the majority of their names. You may even start to care a little for them. Sounds promising right? Except that they never really do anything, or if they do then it's done off screen with only the barest mention of the occurrence later on.
Megumi-sympathy level=0. I'll just leave it at that.
MINOR SPOILERS CONCERNING THE BELOW CHARACTER
Sunako is a piece of work. I decided to withhold judgement on her character until the end of the show. I kept waiting for her constant "Philosophical" (yes it does deserve to be in quotations) speeches to start being, well, valid? That's a big mistake. On hand she cries about being "forsaken by god". On the other she sees nothing wrong with mass murder for the sake of her own life. The "forsaken by god" thing bother me especially. What does religion of any sort have to do with her condition? There was no mention of the afterlife to make me believe that she or any shiki would be damned or something of that sort.
A metaphor then for the way she must now survive? Well even that isn't fully explained. Perhaps the manga explains it better but within the anime no explanation (that I noticed) accounted for why she or any shiki had to kill people rather than just take a meals worth of blood and leave that person alone until they recovered, moving on to a new victim. From start to finish she sounds like a whiny, selfish, useless brat and that is just about the extent of her character.
END OF MINOR SPOILERS
Seishin is a horrible character. This man makes no sense at all (okay, he makes some sense but he is still a horrible character). He starts out as a kind of supporting character for Ozaki and then devolves into pure mush. After lots of thought about him I feel comfortable saying that I understand his character and why he chose to do certain things. The trouble is that his character isn't strong enough to get away with those reasons, leaving him look like he is just a puppet.
Enjoyment-3
The trouble with enjoying Shiki is this. Want horror? You can have it for maybe 3 episodes that are spaced out through the other 22 (24 counting OVAs). Want some grey area, philosophical questioning? Well you can have it as long as you don't actually think about what the characters are saying or said previously or you will then realize what a load of bull you are being asked to swallow (with the exception of one poor sap who just couldn't win and who sorta kinda got the girl, sorta). I actually laughed at (with?) Shiki more than I was nervous or thoughtful. That's right, I'll say it again. I liked Shiki more as a comedy than I did anything else. The 2nd OVA especially had me dyeing laughing at a series of events that was in no way meant to be funny. To be quite honest, If I re watched this series while going into it looking to laugh, I would rate it higher.
Overall-3
Shiki could have chosen to focus on horror or ethics but instead doesn't really succeed with either one. Art and sound are both fine. Majority of characters don't succeed in promoting any emotional attachment or ethical quandary.
