Review of Shiki
In the modern world, society is obsessed with vampires. Vampires have enough mysteriousness and data on them that various writers and directors throughout all mediums of media love creating stories about them. However vampires tend to get a bad rep through works such as twilight and the anime series Diabolik Lovers. These types of stories tend to paint vampires in the light of being bishounens or physically appealing to certain people so that they would be more appropriate for romance stories. However Shiki is different. There are no frills no punches pulled and it's a refreshingly dark take on said genre. Shiki is ahorror anime. Horror was never quite my thing but there are always exceptions to every rule and shiki is definitely one of them. The plot takes place in a secluded Japanese village and follows a group of people that move in and basically a doctor and a student try to prevent the village from becoming infested with vampires.
The storytelling in shiki is very methodical in nature. The first seventeen or so episodes of this anime follow a very gradual plot progression. I both liked this and didn't liked this. I say this because on the plus side you realize that it's a country village and it becomes all the. Ore sweeter when the people finally realize what's going on and then the real fun begins when things finally explode. However on the negative side it can sometimes be rather dull when you're just kind of waiting for things to get on however the plot progression feels natural at the least.
There are various interesting themws and social commentaries running through the heart of this anime and the concept of gray morality is explored to the fullest. One thing I always look for in a series or a movie is that the line between good and evil is continuously blurred. This keeps the story Intersting and always keeps the viewer guessing and thinking about the story and characters. The references to biblical stories and the social commentary about eating other species were some or my favorites.
Another great thing this anime did was the atmosphere the atmosphere was amazing and it really ramped up the ominous fear factor. Some scenes literally can have you guessing until the very last moment and the chilling atmosphere did well in enhancing various scenes and really made it feel like a horror anime. However a major problem with the story is that it can feel a bit fragmented at times. What I mean by this is that they will start showing what is going on with one character than cut it off right before the climax and then return to the character's situation a while later. This creates a lot of lose ends throughout the story and in some cases they show you the end and you kind of have to assume what happens. The vampires themselves are awesome design wise and have a relatable cause so you dont automatically hate them or see them as a villains because both sides have truly awful people.
Regarding the characters I personally felt that they were quite mediocre. The main issue is that they were way too many characters in this anime. And when they were dying I felt that I couldn't care. However the Doctor and the monk were good characters and some of the vampires were great aswell. However I felt that many characters could have had more development and fleshing out in general. One major aspect of the characters to point out is that they behave very realistically. Their fear and actions were very human like. Also character interaction was good with some characters such as the relationship between natsuno and tohru.
The animation of shiki was great. As this a fairly modern anime it had crisp animation that really enhanced the viewing experience. I did also enjoy the character designs and had no problems with them. I saw this anime with English subtitles and I thought the voice work was very good. The music was top notch as well, the atmosphere that was being built was great and made me feel spooked at times and the opening and endings were very good as weall.
In conclusion shiki is a breath of fresh air compared to many other vampire stories in modern media. It's an awesome supernatural horror thriller that gives vampires the respect they deserve. Despite problems with the characters and the rather slow build up and some fractured story telling, shiki has enough atmosphere, narriative, and thematic material to be a great and worthwhile anime series.