Review: Shiki (Anime)

*WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!  SKIP TO FINAL PARAGRAPH TO AVOID RUINING THIS GREAT SHOW FOR YOURSELF!  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!*
Starting off with my first regular review and first anime review both in one, here is my review of Shiki!

Shiki is a vampire, creepy, horror anime set in a small town in the farmlands of Japan.  The first episode deals with new folk moving into the big castle on the outskirts of town.  Megumi Shimizu is a spoiled brat who wants nothing more to get out of the boring town and move to the big city.  Unfortunately, at the end of the episode, she is found dead after entering the castle of the new folk, hoping to meet people who understand her ambition.  The plot then develops into more and more people dying mysteriously, and noone can figure out why.  Now, I already said this is a vampire show, so why don't I come out and explain this right away?  Let me finish.

And the slaughter begins...

The main protagonist is shared between two people- Natsuno Yuuki, the stoic highschooler who wants nothing more than to be left alone, and Dr. Toshio Ozaki, the hard-hitting doctor who will do anything to save a patients life.  After the first episode and for about 10 episodes after, Dr.Ozaki is trying to find out what is causing so many mysterious deaths, as the signs of death are unlike anything he's ever seen.  Oh wait, whats that?  Something odd in that sentence?  That's right, it takes 10 EPISODES to figure out it's vampires.  Oh yeah, this is a show requiring huge amounts of patience.  Anyways soon Natsuno starts seeing Megumi at night, as she had a crush on him before she died.  Her obsession of him gets to the point where she even kills Natsuno's best friend whil he's sleeping.  This causes Natsuno to get paranoid and actually start thinking that Megumi has turned into what they call The Risen.  People who come back from the dead and feast on the blood of humans, can only be out in the night, can't go isnide without being invited and can't even touch or be near garlic.  Yeah, other than the name change it's not trying to be different; they're vampires through and through.  For the ten episodes where the Dr doesn't realize this, it can get pretty creepy.  The Shiki (which is what they are named later on in the series, ill just call them that now) have huge, black eyes and are seen capturing and slaughtering their victims.  Jumping from trees, coming from under the bed, you name it, they've done it.  But in an amazing scene of the first interaction between Natsuno and Ozaki, Natsuno finally tips off the Dr and now it all makes sense.  Ozaki baits one into coming for a sick patient he has at the hospital, and one comes hook-line and sinker.  This is where the good stuff starts.

The Dr in all his glory (I love this guy)

With the Dr now fully aware of the threat, he tries to kill them using crosses and abusing their weakness of not being allowed to enter unless invited.  Unfortunately there is a breed of Shiki that are like werewolves and can go inside without being invited, and even invite his own kind in.  Now before this entrie review turns into a plot summary, let me wrap it up in point form:  Natsuno gets killed, a TON and I mean a TON of humans get turned into Shiki, the guys who moved are responsible for it all, the Doctor can't convince anybody, Natsunos back as a werewolf working with the doctor still (woot!), the Dr uses his Shiki wife as an experiment in the most gruesome anime scene you will probably ever encounter (he literally cuts into her veins and they show EVERYTHING), finds weaknesses, wife of new folk bites Dr, Dr tricks wife, townsfolk shown the Shiki who have been killing their families, mass battle takes place between humans and shikis, this part is the best part of the show by far, just about every shiki is killed, entire village gets burned down, couple Shiki survive (dammit!) but most humans live.  And that my friends, is the plot of Shiki.

So what did I like?  Well you could probably tell- a LOT.  First off the art is fantastic.  It has a great gothic setting to it and the characters designs are cool as hell.  Each charcter has distinctively crazy and impossible hair styles, and the clothing can be very interesting and unique as well.  The Shiki themselves are rightfully frightening and really give off that menacing factor that is missing from today's vampires.  The sound is also top notch.  Has some great fear-inducing melodies, but also some great songs to get you pumped up for the human's attacking.  And I can't forget the openings;  they are wonderful.  The first one is more scary and mysterious, while the second one is more intense and catchy.  Each one serves it's purpose, dispalying the current theme of the show at the given moment.  While the pace is slow, it makes it all the more satisfying when the thing you've been wanting to happen since the beginning of the series, finally happens.  The over-arching story is really great and ties the entire plot all together nicely.  Also the gore is amazingly satisfying.  You'll not only see Shiki rip into humans, but humans absolutely dessimate Shiki, and the experiment scene I talked earlier about.  It's just a friggin awesome show.

Bout time!

But did I have any complaints?  Of course I do, I always do.  The main issue is how sluggish the show is with it's pace.  The first 19 episodes follow the exact same format and get EXTREMELY frustrating as it's just watching more humans you love getting killed by Shiki

Overall, this show was absolutely amazing.  Great plot, great characters, fantastic art and sound, and tons and tons of satisfying gore and killing.  But this anime is not for everyone.  I believe most will get bored about 5 episodes in, as not much really happens.  You have to invest the time to get to what makes Shiki shine so brightly.  If you do, this will be a very eye-opening experience for you.  Also, this show can be very tragic.  Like, REALLY tragic.  If the slow and painful deaths of people makes you uncomfortable, stay clear of this show.  For those who don't, you probably love this show.  This definitely won't be the last horror anime I ever watch!

Shiki gets a 9/10 BUT a recommendation of Look Into It, as this may not be for all anime watchers.

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