Review of Shiki

"Shiki is one of the very few horror series that works both as horror and as a cinematic commentary on our voyeuristic enjoyment of the genre." - Anime News Network WARNING: HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD After writing mostly negative reviews, I thought that I'd write my first positive one. It's not very often that I find an anime that is particularly thought-provoking, and really makes me sit back and think about the anime's entire message. Insofar, the only anime that have made me ponder the series' message have been "Psycho-Pass" and "Steins;Gate," both giving commentaries on the dangers of messing around with technology and time respectively. "Shiki"stands out as a horror anime because the horror is in the supernatural ambiance rather than blatant gore (although it covers that aspect pretty well too) or jump scares. It isn't so much as being "scary" than it is "unnerving," "creepy," and "suspenseful." I'm not the biggest fan of horror films, but thought I'd give "Shiki" a try and go out of my comfort zone. Suffice to say, this series was AWESOME. Let me extrapolate a bit on why, because it seems that many people seem to dislike "Shiki" for one reason or the other.

Art:
This might be the weakest part of "Shiki," but it's not even that bad either. I thought the slender and lanky frames of a good chunk of the characters to work out in the show's favor, giving the series an overarching skeletal vibe. Sure, the hair is pretty ridiculous, I'll give people that, but I felt the hair as a whole gave the series another supernatural overtone. While there's no shortage of wacky hair in the anime world, "Shiki" takes itself very seriously. The hair might make you chuckle or roll your eyes, but when the more series and deep moments of the show happen, you almost don't even notice it. Background is pretty substandard, but works for the time the anime was made, as well as helping establish the darker tones and themes of the show.

Story:
One major complaint about "Shiki" is that "it's too slow." While I can understand that complaint, "Shiki" is one of the few shows that works with slow pacing. I previously mentioned "Steins;Gate" as being a somewhat philosophical anime, and it, like "Shiki" has relatively slow pacing. Neither series would have worked in your typical twelve-episode time span. If you understand some of the inspiration behind "Shiki", you might understand why this show follows this progression. "Shiki" is undoubtedly based heavily on Bram Stoker's work "Dracula" (and by extension, Stephen King's "Salem's Lot", but that's besides the point). You have the more traditional qualities of vampires such as only entering places where they're invited, a disdain for religious symbols and sunlight, being the immortal undead, sucking blood and dying through a stake through the heart. Not the glittering or super-strength crap you see in modern vampire iterations. In the original work, "Dracula" plays out as a slow burn. Every person reading, from the start, is aware of the vampire problem, however, it takes the majority of the novel for the characters to actually figure out what's going on (not to mention in the original work, a doctor is the one to suspect vampires may be at play, sound familiar?). "Shiki" plays out the same way. It works up as a slow burn, introducing all of the characters, and their developing reactions to what's happening in the town. It would be unreasonable and unrealistic for everyone to start suspecting "VAMPIREZ" right off the bat. While characters like Natsuno, Ozaki, Kaori, Akira, and Seishin (and even Ikumi, although people think she's a doddering loon) figure out what's going on relatively fast, the rest of the townspeople don't figure out what's happening until evidence is presented directly in front of them (also, not unlike "Dracula" where Dr. Van Helsing reveals the vampiric Lucy). In an unrealistic, supernatural show, the reactions of each of the characters are absolutely expected. If such a situation occurred, it would be reasonable to say that some characters would catch on while others would remain partially or mostly oblivious. The slow pacing helps set up the suspense all to come together in one bloody climax.

Sound:
"Shiki" has two of the most underrated anime openings. Very rarely do you see either "Kuchizuke" or "Calendula Reqiuem" on "Top 100 Anime OP Lists," which is a shame because both are really good. Not only are the two of them extremely catchy in terms of vocals, but the thematic imagery represented in both openings perfectly represent the show. I recommend watching "Mother's Basement: What's in an OP" for "Kuchizuke," for more info, it really goes in-depth on why it's such a great opening. The background music in the first half drives home the suspenseful and eerie tone, while the music in the second half not only keeps that idea, but adds a thrilling undertone as well. And while this is more about the vocals and not about the sound necessarily, hearing the villagers sing "Three Blind Mice" was one of the most unnerving and ominous moments in the anime. This is also one of the few anime that you'll find out there in which the subbed and dubbed versions are both great. (Plus the use of violins during a few of the deaths works fantastically too).

Character:
"Where once they were built around the concept of the horror of their existence, today's vampires are built around how horrifically pretty they are." - Overly Sarcastic Productions

This quote will help me explain another one of the strengths of "Shiki" in terms of its character design. While certain shiki like Chizuru are definitely easy on the eyes, and other shiki like Sunako, Megumi and Tatsumi have unrealistic hair styles, the majority of the shiki that we see in the series are for the most part pretty ordinary. They're not all glamorous and attractive like "Twilight" and "The Vampire Diaries" would have you believe. Hell, even "Vampire Knight" romanticizes them and makes them ridiculously beautiful. They're simply regular townspeople. In a world where vampires are supposed to sexy, "Shiki" takes the more realistic approach and gives a good chunk of the shiki ordinary and unassuming designs. While the juxtaposition is pretty much only there to highlight the more uncommon designs of the more prominent cast, the designs makes the shiki seem both human and nonhuman at the same time. Plus the use of the slow pacing in the first twelve or so episodes gives a proper amount of time for almost all of the characters to be mostly or fully developed, right down to the elderly gossips that make intermittent appearances throughout the course of the show.

And while this next section is more of a spoiler-filled rant to explain my position, it's worth bringing up. "Shiki" is one of the few shows to keep the anime community divided well after the original run has ended. Not necessarily as divisive as "Is SAO good?", but it's pretty divisive. The question is, who was really at fault here? A good chunk of people will definitively say "the shiki" or "the humans". I personally am on the side of the shiki, but I'll explain the villagers first briefly. The reaction to the shiki was 100% realistic, and their desire to save Sotoba by ridding the town of a plague that killed their friends and family was justifiable, no one is arguing that. However, while I understood their plight, I lost any respect or pity for the villagers once "protecting our village" turned into a rage-induced form of psychotic paranoia. As I previously mentioned, the "Three Blind Mice" singing was one of the most disturbing parts of "Shiki" because it highlighted how the defense of Sotoba rapidly devolved into stripping the villagers of any humanity they had left. The indiscriminate killing of bitten villagers, those at the monastery or innocent shiki like Tae and Ritsuko further proves this point. And while Megumi was a morally abhorrent character who didn't have a single shred of goodness in her, going so far as emotionally tormenting the only person who showed any kindness to her, it was pretty hard not to feel bad for her in her final moments. Her final words weren't wrong, and for a second you forget everything terrible that she's done and hope that she's able to somehow escape the tractor tire and make it to the city.

Everyone brings forward the idea "why didn't they just have people donate blood?" or "why didn't they just NOT kill people?", there are answers to this. The first answer is a somewhat plausible solution, however, this is Sotoba we're talking about. In a town where Natsuno and Megumi are seen as freaks, I don't think that they would have reacted positively to the undead living in their town. The second answer blurs lines a lot, and gives more credence to the villagers, but it's still worth addressing. The simple fact is that Sunako had no such intention of coexisting, it was simply not an option. It was a Catch 22 for Sunako, she lost no matter how you looked at it. Either she lived alone for the rest of her sad, immortal existence, ostracized from society, or she tried to set up a community that was doomed to fail from the inception. Note how Sunako, while technically being the show's main antagonist, that despite killing, she does not do so out of malice or spite. This is where I think Tatsumi's role in the whole ordeal really comes in. Tatsumi is arguably one of the most intelligent characters in the show and one of the most interesting villains that I've seen thus far. He capitalized on Sunako wanting to have an accepting community to fulfill and satiate his desire for nihilism. He knew the plan was bound to fail. He has no desire for life and instead seeks violence wherever he can. This also plays into when more shiki enter the mansion. In reality, none of them needed or wanted to kill (aside from maybe Megumi and the librarian), but Tatsumi threatened each and every one of the shiki with torture or the death of a loved one if they didn't do what he said (although this is more touched on upon in the manga). Looking into this, you can absolutely sympathize with Nao Yasumori. A lot of people say that she had it coming, but by doing a bit more research, you realize she had a pretty horrible life. Her parents gambled and drank when she was a child, leading to her feeling alone. Once she finally had a husband, child and family, all of that was taken from her when the shiki took her life away. Tatsumi likely threatened her by implying her family would die either by her hand or by someone else. Desiring to be with some of her family, she kills in the hopes they'll join her, but none of them do. This simple set of actions show Tatsumi had no real care for Nao or her family and instead manipulated her emotions for his own fulfillment of sadism. She felt alone throughout her entire life, all the way until she was tragically put out of her misery by Mr. Hasegawa. It wouldn't be wrong to call her a tragic villain

In short what I'm trying to say is that each of the characters has some sort of compelling history behind them. While it's pretty easy to say that the shiki were responsible, ergo they deserve what's coming to them, it's just not that simple. For a large cast, the writers did not skip out on any characterization, and you can see the perspective of a good majority of the characters.

Only character I hated was Masao Murasako. This is why I gave the series a "9" instead of a "10" for characters. He had no purpose in the long scheme of things and was a narcissistic coward. Loved how his sister-in-law had the sense to put him down once and for all. Good riddance.

Thematically, there are a ton of messages you can take away from "Shiki." The idea of newer generations replacing older ones, the subversion and questioning of our love of horror as a genre, the idea of humanity and what defines it, the idea of change, the concept of death and the reactions surrounding it, the dangers of mob mentality, the religious and biblical themes present throughout, etc. There are just so many different directions you could take that writing an essay on the show would seem daunting.

I can definitively say that "Shiki" exceeded my expectations, and took its place as one of my favorite anime so far. Whether you're watching it casually, or from an analytical standpoint, you'll be sure to love it. Sure it's slow at the beginning, but staying for the roller-coaster ride that is this anime is undoubtedly and extremely worth it.