Review of Shiki

Ever heard of Studio Daume? Well, at least director Tetsuro Amino is known from such works as Iria, Macross 7, and Break Blade among others. He is a diverse talent and in order to make a compelling horror anime and something unique out of a vampire story needs a unique perspective. It is summer in the remote village called Sotoba. All of a sudden the village is stricken with mysterious and sudden deaths brought on by a strange case of anemia. The village doctor by the name of Ozaki Toshio is baffled and frustrated to find an answer. At the same time, a strange family hasmoved into a giant mansion up on the hill of the town. Will the doctor be able to put a stop to these deaths or will he need to rely on the town to pitch in as well?

Yes, a rather simplistic sounding story. However, it does revolve around a village slowly being taken over by the undead and a plot for vampires to reign supreme. How many bodies must stack up before one starts to believe in the unbelievable? Fun little questions and seeing the cast of characters adjust to the situation given to them over time is quite enjoyable. Each episode up until a point does leave plenty of cliffhangers to keep the viewer going. The story even diverts focus onto other characters perspectives ultimately leading to the same end result.

The use of sound in Shiki is at times top notch or obviously bad like static in a radio program. When done right, the use of sound be it contrasting amplitudes of bells to the creepy use of screeching and growling to invoke fear on both sides of the screen. This helps settle into a low toned and all be it lonely atmosphere within the village itself. Shiki is ultimately quite dark in lighting most of the time and visuals are brought into the foreground with the use of artistic hash-markings creating lots of moments of symbolism and foreshadowing in the story.

So what is wrong with Shiki then? Really it comes down to a mixture of character overload or focus and the misstep to the show’s message with losing one’s humanity. There are too many characters and whom one thinks is pivotal to the story never has enough resolution for their personal quests. The show is way too bogged down with nonsensical philosophical exposition mainly expressed through allegories and the like such as moments with the priest and “head” vampire. Characters remain so static with little to no character development that in itself the story becomes overwhelmingly static as well.

Is Shiki ultimately worth watching? If slasher films are found entertaining, then Shiki would be at least a hit in the ballpark. Otherwise, an unnecessarily large cast with an extremely slow pace plus exposition trying to be too smart for its own good might cause Shiki to be skippable.