Anime Review: Shiki
Genre: Horror, Supernatural, Mystery, Fantasy
# of Episodes: 22
# of OVA's: 2
# of Episodes: 22
# of OVA's: 2
Shiki is about a small town in the middle of nowhere
(Sotoba), and it’s rapidly climbing death rate. At first the deaths are an
unexplained phenomena thought to be caused by the summer heat, as it appears to
be only old people losing their lives.
The local doctor, Ozaki Toshio, is mildly perturbed however, when the
deaths start extending to include young people. As the death toll continues to
rise, people start to suspect the newcomers in town, the Kanemasa’s. The family
had just moved into the castle that had recently been built on top of the hill
overlooking Sotoba. It is soon discovered by a young teen (and the doctor, a little
later) that the dead are not, in fact, staying dead. After that it is all fantastical creatures and
gore.
Now on with the actual review.
The first episode’s focus is a pink haired girl Megumi who
can’t wait to leave Sotoba for her dream of city life. There are only two
things she cares about in Sotoba, the castle on the hill, and the main boy
character, Natsuno. This is all well and good until we find out about her
stalker tendencies. She literally hides in the bushes outside Natsuno’s bedroom
window and waits for him to show his face! (Hide your kids people!) For now we are
going to ignore the fact that she is a total creep, because she is where the
story really starts.
From Left: Megumi, Natusuno, Toru and Sotoba
Megumi dies very soon after she is introduced, and the plot
takes off from there. After that Natsuno is able to reopen his bedroom window,
because he thinks he’s not being creeped on. It’s not long however, before
Natsuno starts feeling watched again, and is beginning to lose sleep because of
it. It is then that we are introduced to Toru, who is Natsuno’s best ( and only)
friend in Sotoba. Tohru seems like an easygoing nice guy, who gets along with
basically anyone, up to and including Masao Murasako, the most self-centered,
ridiculous (and UGLY) prick imaginable.
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| Murasako |
Anyhow, Natsuno, for some reason still feeling watched at night, decides to spend the night at Toru’s claiming that it’s the only place
he can sleep well anymore. The second time he stays there his fears are
realized, as Megumi shows up in the middle of the night, and sucks Toru’s blood
(vampire style!) out of jealousy, rather than Natsuno’s. From there Toru is
drained of blood until his premature teenage death.
From Left: Tohru fixing Natsuno's flat tire, Megumi about to feed off Toru, Natsuno digging up Megumi's grave
By the time what happened finally catches up with Natsuno, Toru is already dead. Natsuno proceeds to gather a couple of people who might believe him and digs up Megumi’s grave, proving that she has risen from the dead. After this Natsuno is horrified to discover that his friend Toru has also risen, and offers him his blood so Toru will attack nobody else. He is soon drained and appears to have permanently died.
Meanwhile around town people are still dying, and many of
them are rising again. The doctor discovers this and is threatened into silence
by none other than the suspicious Kanemasa family. However, that doesn’t last
long as soon his wife passes away, and he experiments on her to find out how to
kill her. He injects poisons, cuts her open, crushes various parts on her body,
and finally drives a stake through her heart. This was one of the more painful
scenes of the show, because although the people are technically ‘dead,’ they
haven’t lost any of their personalities with death, and they have nerve endings.
It is like watching torture, and being privy to nearly every pained scream it
produces.
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| The doctor after the stake was driven into his wife's heart. |
However, through his experimentation he discovers the way to
kill the risen dead, now called ‘shiki.’ Once he discovers this he gathers the
townspeople to his side, and they work to slaughter each and every one of the
shiki. The humans attack during the day, so it is easy for them to win against
the comatose shiki. They chase them down tunnels, and stake all of them until
they run out of stakes. After that they tie the shiki to poles and wait for the
sun to come up. Shiki, being basically traditional vampires, burn to ash in the
sunlight. It is a painful way to go.
From Left: Toru as a shiki crying, Pile of bodies, Burning flesh of shiki
In the end neither side wins, as a few people from both
sides survive. Shiki is a gruesome horror story through and through. It was
really interesting to watch, as long as you can handle gore, and serious cases of
human cruelty. There is some comic relief, though, in the form of creepy
stalkers and ugly self-absorbed fools. You should not, however, expect slapdash
humor, or fluffy happy endings. This is a very poignant and serious show.
Overall Score:
8 out of 10
For little character development, but amazing insight into
human nature during troubled times.
