ADVISORY NOTE: This review contains and/or may contain strong language, graphic depictions and spoilers. Reader discretion is advised and if you haven't read it yet, I'd suggest staying on the first two or three paragraphs at most so you don't get spoiled too early. TLDR it's worth reading.After many delays (so many in fact that I managed to finish my thesis, four books and state exams before I even finished reading this) I can finally try and describe the mild rollercoaster of Shiki. I would not dare to call the experience milquetoast; on the contrary, Shiki was almost always an entertaining, thrilling read and managed to stay this way almost until the end, which so far for me is a first. First and foremost, this is my first published manga review on Anilist. While I may have reviewed some OVAs before this, I do not have a properly established hierarchy for manga reviews. Excuse the jank. Secondly, I'll be going thru a lot of past memories, some of which stretch to winter of 2022. If something from my review does not connect with your experiences reading Shiki, then that is most likely the reason. I'm simply just a guy, and even if I have abnormal memory at times, I don't think I can stretch it this far. Boy, where to start? I love vampires. Forgive the expletive, but I fuckin' love vampires. They're a fascinating concept to me, an idea that Bram Stoker popularized in the early modern era and that is only being constantly developed on. Shiki as such was high on my radar, and I'm glad to say it did not disappoint, outside maybe the ending chapters. Right, soooo...Art, appearance, aesthetics: 8/10Shiki is a solid, fine-looking manga to read through. Depictions of violence, graphic content, gore and such are quite forwards and in your face, yet know when to back down unless they're trying to establish a scene, which I believe the manga does quite well outside a couple exceptions where it looks mildly questionable. Distinguishing between characters is a little challenging at times; yet that has a valid excuse, and I cannot exactly find anything wrong otherwise with the art and the way it's drawn. Maybe it'll look a little too 2000s for some; for me, I have seen way worse and I can safely call this good.Story: 7/10Starting with very little delay, Shiki establishes the scene, the premise and the eventual gradation of the said story. I think the start may be quite polarizing for some; at first you may think you're reading through a comedy until the folk start disappearing. This is where I think the character descriptors don't matter much outside the main cast. Why should you care what someone looks like in a story where they will appear for half a chapter and then maybe later in an off-hand mention? For a while, you could say the story stays in a sort of linear phase, where the stakes aren't exactly raised (not yet, at least, in any way, shape or form..heh), but they've been established by the first third of the story as already quite high. You might have to prepare yourself for the last couple of chapters that accelerate that set of stakes into actual railgun ammunition, and then they suddenly hit a wall. Safe to say that the pacing is good until the final couple of chapters, the story is captivating and I'd say it's worth a read. I'll try..to avoid conveying more spoilers as I feel this is genuinely worth reading and I might have spoiled a bit much as-is.Characters: 7/10
Funnily enough, despite the main cast having plenty of time to establish itself on the canvas, I'd say the side characters and all the small stories are the most entertaining bit of characters. Yuuki undergoes interesting developments, and I really dig Toshio's entire character arc. Some of the others like Muroi I'm far less keen on, but I understand why they're there. Anyway, where did I leave off? Right, the side characters. It is not as evident at the start of the manga, but by the halfway point you can pretty safely see the turns the manga takes with your perception of it. A reserved, isolated, but quite happy village with all its colorful residents gets painted a certain shade of black and red. The backdrop, the locations, the chronological development is the film, and the characters are the developing bath the film is dropped into. And unlike some other stories, many of the side characters aren't dropped off, either! I may have said the contrary in a previous section, but you have to understand that not every character in the story ends up like that. Quite a solid cast stays on through the story in one way or another. It paints quite an interesting picture that I am fond of. Though maybe I'd appreciate less of the "we're not so bad" spiel that is plastered in near the end. It doesn't paint a pretty picture, but it does give some of the characters lacking humanity that they desperately needed otherwise.Enjoyment: 8/10I can safely say outside a couple exceptions, I enjoyed reading Shiki a lot. I'm a little worried about what's next in store for me, looking at my backlog, but Shiki will most likely stay in my higher-rated series.Overall: 7/10 // 70/100The things I find lacking in Shiki are few in number and not that great in size, either. I'd say my hunch was correct on sticking with this manga and actually finishing it, as I find it a solid title overall and one you should not be ashamed of having read through, or even given a cursory glance. It starts slightly weird, ramps up and keeps the tension going, and it doesn't even really spare you either, with its twists and turns that aren't common, but are there when they count the most. Shiki's good.Go read Shiki. 
