I read a few blog posts on this series as it was airing and it sounded
delightfully horrifying, which is prettymuch right up my alley.
Finally got around to watching Shiki anime Crunchyroll and as such, here is the review. (I don't think
that second sentence was quite necessary, was it?)
Shiki is one of those small town anime series, taking place in Sotoba, a
place with just over 1000 residents. It's a typical, boring place (they
all seem typical and boring at first, don't they? Hinamizawa, anyone?)
until a family moves into Kanemasa, an extravagant home that doesn't fit
the rest of the town at all.
When they move in, people begin falling ill and dying at a high rate; it's
no secret to anyone watching that the new residents aren't exactly human.
Shiki Anime Review
As time goes by in the town and people keep dying, every resident wonders
why, and most suspect and epidemic of some sort.
Others take the initiative to find out what's destroying Sotoba, their
neighbors, friends and family. They discover the answer that was obvious to viewers the residents at
Kanemasa are vampires.
The series spirals into death from the beginning, merciless to the
characters, with people dying only to rise again...all to please one
little vampire girl.
The Characters: Shiki
While the population of Sotoba is tiny, the series doesn't hesitate to
throw character after character into the mix...granted, plenty of them die
right around the time you meet them.
The number of primary characters is
blessedly smaller. I had mixed feelings about the characters of this series.
Yes, they're all
pretty realistic (given they live in a vampire-infested setting, anyway),
but I did take issue with some of them.
My favorite character at the beginning was Seishin Muroi, the town priest.
I'm not going to go into the details of why, because I avoid spoilers at
all costs, but by the last episodes I hated him and was sitting there
praying he'd be added to the death toll. That's never happened to me
before.
The other issues I had were pretty basic. Like why are you doing that, why
do you seem to be such a weak person, why in hell does your hair look like
that?
This question came up for several characters, not the least of whom
was Tatsumi. His wasn't even the weirdest.
On the whole, though, I was appreciative of the characters. A minor
character turned into my replacement favorite by the end, and I have a new
yaoi pairing to ship. I was pretty content.
The Music: Shiki
Oh my god. In watching Shiki Crunchyroll, I fell in love with the music prettymuch
right off the bat and knew then that the only real option for this section
of the review was the music. Or the hairstyles. (I'm sorry. I had to.) But I went with the music.
There's a fair mix of beautiful and just plain
weird music when it comes to Shiki. I found out midway through the series that it was composed by Yasuharu
Takanashi. Well, that explained a whole heck of a lot.
My very first review, Jigoku Shoujo, had music for this section, and for
anyone who doesn't know, Takanashi was responsible for the music there as
well.
Evidently I adore him without even realising it's him. That's how great he
is.
Conclusion?
Shiki was a hell of a ride. The constantly rising death toll was pretty
amazing, for one. And honestly, I haven't been even a little creeped out
by vampires since I was like six...Shiki actually managed to creep me the
hell out.
It wasn't outright scary or anything, and the creepy only occurred to me
when I woke up at like 3am; I think what made the vampires so disturbing
to me on occasion was the fact they were feeding on their friends and
family. That got to me.
There was wonderful action, it was great watching how some of the
characters changed when it came to dealing with the Risen, there were
truly horrifying moments, the series never tried to be too funny which is
something that can seriously detract from a serious anime.
All-in-all,
Shiki was great, though I wouldn't suggest getting too attached to anyone.
My rating: 9/10
It was actually a perfect 10 for me until this one little thing I wanted
to happen did not happen. And I raged about it.
So the series lost a point
for that. Just the one though. If it had been just a little anger it
wouldn't have lost any, but when I say rage, I mean rage.
Fan Art: Shiki
Shiki | |
| Episodes | 22 |
|---|---|
| Genre | Horror, Supernatural |
| Aired | June 27, 2010 to December 30, 2010 |
| Directed by | Tetsuro Amino |
| Producers | Aniplex, Daume |
| Opening Theme | Kuchikuze by Buck-Tick / Calendula Requiem by Kanon x Kanon |
| Closing Theme | Walk no Yakusoku by Nangi / Gekka Reijin by Buck-Tick |
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