Review of Shiki

Now, this is just my opinion. I'm not under the impression that my opinion is objective, so it's cool if you disagree. Story 9/10 The story doesn't sound like anything that impressive. A small village called Sotoba begins to have a ton of mysterious and unexplained deaths as soon as that family up at Kanemasa move in. Now, I think many people really underrate the story. It think it does SO many things right, and other Anime seem to lack the thematic impact and values that Shiki doesn't. What do I mean by that? Lets take a look at what Shiki sets out to do. First,it sets out to conjure mystery. If you haven't seen the reviews here, or read any synopsis', you would be hard pressed to even figure out that the Antagonistic force of the Anime are actually vampires until the bite marks show up. Their mechanics and temperament begin to slowly materialize to the viewers over time. It keeps the mystery drawn out while staying entertaining. I think that's admirable. Too many Anime and Visual Novels (looking at you, Umineko) reveal too much too soon.

Well, lets take a look at the Theme next. First, it's a question of what Survival means to you. As you progress and you see the main characters begin to get a clue, you get a look at how each of them react to the discovery of the Shiki. Do they go on a crusade? Do they remain neutral? Dare i ask, do they sympathize?
Of the Three main characters, each of them react completely differently thanks to the experiences they have gone through. It's a joy to watch.

Then there's the question of what does it mean to be human? Where is the line between monster and human? At the beginning, the anime does a good job of coloring your view. As it progresses, you'll have to ask yourself once or twice, who are the monsters? By the end, that's all you'll ask. I'll say no more on the matter other than the Anime does a spectacular job on keeping things morally grey. There is a great deal of nuance.

Art: 5/10

Eh. Again, this is opinion, but I couldn't stand the art. For one, it was far too light toned. It looked like some Shoujo romance to me. But I also couldn't stand the hairstlyes. I mean... some of them were just ridiculous. Some of the humans were all out of whack. And some of the antagonist, looking at you blue haired dude with the dog ears, just looked extremely un-antagonistic. It was hard to be intimidated by some.

Sound 7/10

It had a view really good soundtracks, but by the end you'll have heard the same sad song that's used over and over again. At first, it's really powerful. I mean, it's a really riveting song. But it's overused. The rest of the soundtrack does it job well enough.

As for the voice acting, I only really experienced the English Dub, and I have to say, it's pretty good. It's one of the few high quality English Dubs that may even rival the JP voices. There's one infamously horrifying scene in episode 20.5 that is almost unbearable to watch thanks to the high quality of the dub.

Character 6/10

There are a ton of characters in Shiki.

I'll tell you this much, the main three characters (Natsuno, Toshio, and Seishin) were all quite good. They had inner demons, and each of them takes a different path in the situation simply due to their experiences. All of them develop amazingly, and, staying true the theme of the anime, it's hard to tell who is good and who is evil.

The major and supporting characters are quite one-dimensional. Unfortunately, some of them simply spend FAR too damn long on the screen for my liking. Even though they are annoying, however, if you look at what they actually DO, you'll probably be pretty impressed of what each of them represent. They further the theme. And that's why I can't bomb this rating, and why I love this Anime. I can't find a single character that doesn't represent something and play it out sufficiently.

Enjoyment 9/10

I couldn't turn it off. This may just be me, but I believe it's one of the most well-written Animes I've ever come across. It doesn't waste your time with unnecessary scenes, it doesn't throw a bunch of useless overused cliches at you. It keeps you hooked and does a great deal right. If they improved the art and the archetypal major characters that got on my nerves, I'd be pretty happy to place this in my top 5 Anime of all time.

Overall 9/10

Find me an anime that does it's themes half as good as this anime does, and I'll shut up. It's a pretty entertaining Anime, and even early on it hits you in the feels. By the end, it will give you that slightly stunned feeling that keeps you thinking for a couple of days.