Review of Shiki

Throughout history, there are many myths and the topic that gets focused on the most is vampires and ghosts. These topics are controversial because they can’t be proven real, yet they can’t be proven false. There are documentations stating their existence, but most people would rather have firsthand experience to believe it. What led to this topic was the fear created by humans. We have a subconscious to think that supernatural events happen and we blame an oddity. Media however protrudes vampire is another essence. Vampires are seen as eerie monsters, but some may be seen in a different light such as romantically. A goodexample would be Twilight or Vampire Diaries for the Western media. An anime example would be Rosario Vampire or Vampire Knight. A manga example would be In Bura!. These are popular titles, yet they don’t show the true meaning of fear. What brought about these myths is the fear created by humans. Is it true to say that we don’t fear vampires and ghosts now?

I am a sucker for dark themes. I always enjoyed watching horror movies when I was young and would be frightened. It is the fear factor that made me watch it. I grew curious and soon attached to dark genres. What I do like about dark themes is that it shows what the author was thinking and how the director puts the story into place. Soon my attention was brought about to anime. I was suddenly in love with the vampire genre in anime. There have been many genres for vampire anime, but the best would probably be mystery and thriller. Shiki has the genre of thriller and mystery and I believed that it was brought out well throughout the anime. The plot started within the first episode and the suspense started growing.

The plot started off beautifully. It shows a young maiden that wants to achieve a dream that could never be reached. This is important because dreams are far from reality. Not only that, but we hope to achieve it. This is used to build up a bigger plot, the myth of deaths appearing in the village. This is pretty common when you see many people start dying suddenly in a small village. Not only that, but all the victims have two small marks. They were assumed insect bites…What is there to expect except superstitions.

As hell breaks loose in the village, what is the possible answer for the massive death toll? The only solution is vampires. What do you call people that died, but rose to life again? What do you call people that hide in daylight? What do you call people that feed on human blood? The only answer is a vampire. The aspect of vampire in Shiki is the fact that each villager is dying, yet some are turning into a vampire. Shiki means corpse demon, but then again, it fits to the questions I said before. Shall humanity fall into the hands of vampire? Of course not, we shall be the hunters, not hunted. We shall not cower in fear and we shall fight against. We have always been the dominant species. As we journey through hell, Shiki was an everlasting journey that brought happiness and sadness.

There are many other situations beside the main plot. Those small plots are well put and they do connect with the main plot. I would say that the more I watch this anime, the more intense it gets. It is very dark and I enjoy the aspect of it. Besides the dark scenario, what else can we have by a one sided love? The love is to an extent to stalking. I feel as if I have to keep my windows closed and have the shutters on. Hold up; let me turn on my night light too in case. Besides that, we also have a situation of seeing families corrupt and how to adapt to changes. It is truly a sad thing to watch, but I have seen much of it already. I felt that the anime took the right approach that humanity must do whatever it takes to retaliate.

The art style is alright. I wouldn’t say it is amazing, but if you look at it, the characters look extremely skinny for some reason. The hair styles are a bit weird, but some are fine. The colors are beautiful. I do love the color pink and they made Megumi look beautiful. Pink hair is just to kawaii. A bonus was that Megumi has twin tails. Megumi was the only character that I find favorable along with the doctor. Her character reminds me of Gasai Yuno from Mirai Nikki. You already know… “Yuuki-kun” in a kawaii voice. It also happens in this anime too. Now only if Megumi was a loli too… The eye colors are pretty too. The animation is pretty good. I have to give credit to the opening because the animation is high quality and well made. It wasn’t what I expected. The scenes were similar to those from a horror movie as the flashing, the camera angle and the fading.

The music is appropriate for this anime. The goal was to bring out suspense and was able to achieve it. I feel like the first opening is impactful. When you watch the first episode, you want to have a good impression. While I was watching the first opening for the first time, I was amazed. The lyrics are suitable and it does explain portray future thriller scenes. The first ending took a different approach. It is a slow pace song which is my type. It is beautiful in its own way. The vocalist’s voice is good. The piano is beautiful. I have always wanted to learn either piano or violin, but I didn’t have the effort to put in. This is my loss, but I still admire great musicians. The lyrics for the first ending are quite vague, but it brings back to the topic of dreams. If you recall, dreams are far from reality. We hope that one day we achieve it. The second opening was alright. The animation is superb, yet the lyrics were unrelated. The second ending was meh. The lyrics are good, but the animation is like half assed. The animation is good. The OST is slow paced. Slow paced shows the horror that is upcoming. Since this is also a mystery genre, you would want to hear some eerie sounds. The music was able to fit my expectations.

The characters are ordinary I would say. It isn’t like those characters that are perfectly made. First off, I would like to say that almost every character in this anime is important. Even though they are not the center of the spotlight all the time, they will have an impact on this show. The show starts off with a dark aura so there would be misfortune everywhere. There are antagonists, but I don’t think I should cover it. It would be pretty confusing if I were to explain the aspects of the antagonists. I believe the protagonists contributed more to the story rather than the antagonists. There are four main characters that the story relies on. Each character is an important factor because we see the story with their views. One of the main characters is Natsuno Yuuki. He was forced to live in a village and felt that he was out of placed. Due to this, he develops a cold behavior and tries to avoid anyone who gets close to him. We also have Toshio Ozaki. He is the doctor of the village and has to deal with all the cases of death. I would have to say that his character is the one that brought about the fear. Ozaki couldn’t discover the causes of these deaths and blamed the fact that there are vampires. There is no solid proof… but the village is filled with fear.

If you like gripping onto horror, Shiki is for you. I honestly thought there was no ‘scary’ anime at all. I was told Another was scary, but it was alright. I wasn’t terrified as much when I saw Shiki. The expressions the character had was true fear. I couldn’t think, but the animations, the lighting and the disturbed radio waves… It was just too good of an anime. Another aspect I like about Shiki is the creative titles. They are pretty good and I enjoy the title scene. If you are interested in Shiki, you should watch Another or Hellsing Ultimate. Another is another great anime that shows thriller and mystery combined. Hellsing Ultimate shows the true power of vampires. Hellsing ultimate however takes more into the action genre rather than vampires and thriller. Though, they are both well made and should get a spotlight. Also, before you watch Shiki, it is very gruesome. If you are a light hearted person, you should stop and go find some pictures of cute puppies. This anime is for those who wants to see despair. I have always questioned the fact that humans won’t survive till the end. After seeing Shiki, will humans still be the dominant species?