Shiki
a review by KarmaNotFound
a review by KarmaNotFound
First of all, vampires are -
Yeah, that’s it. Google says.So what being can be more terrifying than the corpses that feed on your blood in the middle of your sweet dream and drain your life away? Are there any creatures like that?
There are.
Yes. Humans. That’s the truth I got from ‘Shiki’ in the most brutal way possible.
About the context of the story.
I doubt there is anyone who hasn’t heard about Count Dracula. The concept of the vampires in ‘Shiki’ actually comes from that and almost imitates that. That is, the vampires of ‘Shiki’ are almost like the ones in Dracula.
In the quiet, peaceful, remote village of Sotoba, people suddenly started dying. One by one. The local doctor of that village and one of our protagonists, Toshio Ozaki, struggles to find the reason for their sudden deaths. “What’s causing their death?” He notices the strange similarity in their symptoms and concludes that -
There is an epidemic. And he was so bent on it that he shrugged every other possibility.
But again, he was the one who found out what’s causing the deaths.
Yes. He was the one who proved the existence of Shiki.
Now about the Shikis.
Shikis are vampires. Plain and simple. The name given to the vampires in this anime is Shiki. This name came from a novel written by another one of our main characters, Seishin Muroi. Shikis live in a mansion called Kanemasa in the village. The villagers don’t know this fact, obviously. Shikis feed on the blood of the living villagers. And once a Shiki has bitten a human they kind of become hypnotized and follow the order of that Shiki unconsciously. Ultimately when enough blood is sucked out, they die. But after death two things can happen. Either the deceased remains deceased or that deceased wakes up as a Shiki.
Seishin Muroi is the young priest of Sotoba and also a writer. He writes novels. In one of his novels he mentioned Corpse Demon and named them ‘Shiki’. One of his fans, Sunako Kirishiki, apparently the head of the Vampires, likes that term and renames their kind as ‘Shiki’.
Now, last but not least, Yuuki Natsuno. A high school student and other prime characters of this series. He was another one who was suspicious about the things going on in the village. Megumi Shimizu, a local and his classmate who desperately loves Natsuno, one day died. But Natsuno spots that dead girl a few days later because apparently even after death she was stalking him. To make sure what was going on Natsuno decided to dig up her grave and when he did that, surprise surprise,
It was empty.
Now what makes ‘Shiki’ so amazing?
Every creature wants to survive in this gruesome world. And most will do whatever it takes just to do that. Shikis are no exception (I am considering them as a different species). Shikis feed on human blood. But for what reason? Do they want to do that? Most of them, No. They don’t want to drain the blood of another human being, much less their family members. But do they have a choice here? No, they don't. They have to feed on human blood otherwise they will die. Some of them might prefer to die rather than sucking blood out of their family. Then again, the will to survive is a brutal thing. That will will force you to do some things you will never imagine doing normally. That’s exactly what happened here.
Some will consider the Shikis as villains of this show. Well obviously. They were killing HUMANS after all. They must be evil. Right?
They are evils. But from whose perspective? From the perspective of humans. Yes, humans decided that the Shikis were evil because of what they were doing. Which pegs the question, “Were the Shikis wrong?”
No. I don’t think they were. They were only doing what they had to. They were only trying to survive here.
Humans show their true color when their backs are against the walls. Their deepest, darkest nature is exposed when their life is on the line. ‘Shiki’ is one of those rare animes that pointed out that fact. When Toshio Ozaki discovered the truth behind the deaths he was desperate to find a solution. He needed to experiment. And he experimented on his -
Wife.
Toshio’s wife became a Shiki herself after being bitten. When Toshio realized that he researched on the weaknesses of the Shikis with his wife as the guinea pig. He tried various different methods. Long story short, he tortured his dead wife brutally. Even though she was no longer a human, does that justify Toshio Ozaki’s actions?
I think it does actually. Toshio Ozaki was also a victim there. He was also trying to survive and trying to keep the village safe. So he was also forced to do whatever he did.
The last couple of episodes of this anime are the most chilling episodes I’ve ever seen. The final showdown - Humans vs Shikis. Toshio exposed a Shiki in front of everyone at a festival. He gathered capable individuals to fight back. And most of them did. The Humans destroyed the Shikis in One Night. One Night. What took Shikis months to build the humans finished in a single night. The piles of corpses who were once human beings were made.
The fear of getting eradicated. Up until that point, the Shikis had the upper hand but the combined willpower of humans turned the tables instantaneously. Their fears turned into power, their anger turned into desperation. This is the capability of humans when they need to live.
Humans are more horrifying than the blood sucking monsters. There was one scene that stuck with me, that proved this statement. In desperation the Shikis also pointlessly fought back a couple of times. When one was captured naturally they swung around their hands and feet. During those times some of the humans also got injured by the Shikis. Guess what the others did. They killed those humans too. “What if he also turns into a Shiki? What will we do then? It’s better if we kill them now when we have the chance.” A human will never turn into a Shiki just from a scratch. Yet they killed them. Brutal. But isn’t that what most of us would have done in a situation like that?
So who is the real villain here? Who knows.
The anime ‘Shiki’ proves one big, harsh fact.
Everything else of this anime was just as convincing as the premise was. The art and music department played a huge role in making this anime so much horrifying. The moments where the art went from colorful to black added more fear to the audience’s minds. The portrayal of Shikis here was solid. The style of the art perfectly blended with the setting of the story.
And about the soundtracks. Yasuharu Takanashi is a genius. The soundtracks he composed and their perfect placements along with the art made everything more than good enough.
There's another version of it. It's a slower but sublime one. Hear it too.
‘Shiki’ is one of a kind. The kind of atmosphere it builds is rare in horror animes. You just don’t get horror like this nowadays. It had a message worth understanding. So, in the end, ‘Shiki’ is so far the best horror anime I’ve seen and will most definitely recommend it to someone who is looking for a ‘True’ vampire show. Now, give it a shot.
P.S:
There are two special episodes, 20.5 and 21.5. Make sure you watch them too.
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