SoundClip's Anime Review

 

Anime Review: Shiki

Genre: Horror, Supernatural, Mystery, Fantasy
# 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.

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.

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.