Review of Shiki

It's been a while since I watched Shiki, but, it's certainly a memorable series for me. Art: 2/10 This is one of the rare occasions where I ... despise the art. It genuinely took away from a lot of other aspects of the show, but I would love to see a remake with less... "eccentric" art (and that's being generous) especially for the type of story it tries to tell. Shiki is a gritty, dark series without a lot of typical anime aspects— yet, its art takes some of the less pleasant aspects of anime art and uses them to an extreme degree. This is one of thecases where contrast doesn't add interest or depth — it just makes it hard to watch.

Horror genre requires good visuals — it's all about building atmosphere, and the art style really took me out of it. Luckily, this next category helped save it.

Sound: 8/10

I actually loved the OST— creepy, chilling, with some cool melodies and is quite interesting to listen to. I don't often listen to anime OSTs, but this was one of the few exceptions to that. This is probably one of my favorite anime OSTs overall, in fact, and in horror-type anime, sound is especially important, especially in a series where the visuals really fall short.

The OPs and EDs were nothing special, which is the only reason I haven't given a higher score for sound.

Characters: 6/10

Now, if this were a story that was driven by character development and depth, I would give this a much lower rating. But this show isn't about someone's emotional struggles, it's more focusing on the mob mentality aspect shown later in the series, and how a small, isolated village culture handles this situation.

It's almost a thought experiment, and so the characters are meant to be unlikeable in some cases, or caricatures of tropes, but thoroughly meant to represent stagnant humans, placed in an extreme.

Ozaki is easily the best character in the series, beginning with a medical approach to the sudden wave of anaemia hitting the village, and, when he discovers the truth, devolving into the mob mentality in a fascinating manner.

Story: 9/10

This is the highlight of Shiki. Sure, it has some pacing issues, some aspects don't add up, but that's not the point of Shiki. Shiki is a thought experiment, a philosophical outlook onto human nature in extreme scenarios, and it carries out this goal fantastically.

The story is dark and terrifying, not necessarily in the manner of other horror-genre series, not because of jump scares and sudden tricks, but because it is a gritty, shocking display of human nature at its worst.

Enjoyment: 9/10

Shiki is not an emotional anime. You don't get attached to the characters, they don't have emotional journeys or stories that tug at your heartstrings. Shiki is a philosophical, and dare I say, intelligent series— the horror is found in the actions.

It takes a reasonable enough approach to function as a thought experiment, and I would recommend watching it as such. Shiki is, ultimately, hideous to observe, but nonetheless, fascinating in the thoughts it brings.