Review of Shiki

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS Shiki....Ah, Shiki, what do I do with you? The thing is that this anime is terrible and fantastic at the same time. It's quite the unique experience, so join me in this review as I explain the reason why I think of it like that. First of all, Shiki has a very slow start, which is not necessarily bad. The process of seeing the villagers die one after another before reaching the realization of the existence of the Shiki in episode 6 or 7 makes for a really good twist, especially if you're like me and don't even read the genres,let alone the synopsis before watching (got this anime on a roulette).

I was really enjoying myself for a bit, but then I realized that something was really bugging me about this show. And that thing were the characters. That being said, let's explore the "terrible" part of this anime that I mentioned earlier.
It felt like for every good character in the show, there were multiple bad ones, my most prominent example being Masao. That guy feels like a damn Looney Tunes character, which is not a good thing for a depressing, serious horror story. Everything from his voice acting and the way he moves to his psyche and actions makes him such an obnoxious character that completely kills every scene he was in (and he was in some pretty important scenes).
Another example is Natsuno himself. His character just felt so shallow. One second he's determined to stay human and fight the Shiki, but as soon as he hears his friend's voice he reaches his arm out the window. And literally all that happened since he became a werewolf is that he changed clothes. No matter how many situations he's been through, no development, no emotion. It's the same shallow husk of a character, from who all we got is "ugh man vampires sure do piss me off".
Some more examples of bland, undeveloped, shallow or unrealistic characters would be: Chizuru, Seishiro, Natsuno's father and of course the infamous Megumi.
On the other hand there were also some characters that were actually good, like Sunako, Toshio, Ikumi, and Muroi.
All the other characters I didn't mention, for the most part, are bland or boring. Which is kinda not good since a pretty big number of characters was involved with the main plot.

I imagine that first part was probably hard to digest so let's take a break to appreciate the show's OST and overall atmosphere. The tracks manage to range from spooky choral singing to funky hip-hop beats, while never really shifting the show's seriousness or its depressing atmosphere and I've gotta give the OST props for that. That, combined with the over-the-top character designs in a realistic environment, really makes Shiki a show that's not afraid to be a little experimental, which is something I can always appreciate in an anime.

The story is actually really good and this is where Shiki, in my opinion, really shines. Seeing the village die out, person by person is really depressing throughout the show, but it's only near the end that you realize why this show really is depressing.
Up until the end, for the most part, we are shown the human side of things and it's common sense for us that we are on the side of the humans who want to stop the countless deaths, and of course, the Shiki. However, as the story was approaching the end and I got to see the Shiki's perspective I started questioning who's side I was really on. The Shiki aren't necessarily all villains, they just can't live without human blood, and I think that Sunako's character tells that the best. Throughout the story she is shown as this mysterious character that could very well have a villain personality, however at the end we find out that she's just a girl who wants to live, and at that point I started feeling some kind of sympathy for the Shiki.
Suddenly torn between the two sides, all I felt was a bitter sadness that not many anime manage to spark in me. And that depressing tone wraps around this show very nicely.

In the end, I found it funny that the words of one of my least favorite characters, Megumi, would make me think the most, and those were the words: "You guys are the ones who're strange!".

Overall, I'd say Shiki was a potential masterpiece with too many problems to be one, and nearly all of those problems were its characters.