Review - Shiki

 

I to be honest, was not expecting to write a review of Shiki, but having not been able to stop watching it and binging it to completion within a day, I could not stop myself.

Shiki is a very intriguing take on vampirism that ignores the most common trope in the genre which assumes vampires as simply bloodthirsty monsters. The undead characters distinctly retain much of their humanity and values from before death. Each vampire, is faced with a moral and philosophical question: "Should I kill to survive". And most answer, yes. After all, who would not take a second chance at life?

Shiki, is both a horror, but also a tragedy. In my opinion, the best part about this anime is how the decisions made by both the humans and shiki lead to tragedy - one that could have been avoided had the two decided to attempt to cooperate. However, as is the case with people, with human nature, such a thing tends to be vastly difficult, especially when each side has their own goals.

There are some plot-holes however. The somewhat short-sided goals of the shikis to begin with. It should have been a consideration that was explored, at how the rate at which shikis were born would lead to a population problem, as is caused with any unbalance in the food chain. Nevertheless, this is not so much a plot hole since this end problem did not matter given the decisions each side made anyway. So it's more that I wish it was a possibility that was considered. Because without it the worldbuilding ends up being rather shallow and it makes it difficult to suspend by disbelief about the show. It also stands out to me as being contradictory to the other philosophical question of the show. Did the writers write themselves into a wall? I'm not sure, because of the lack of information I have on things I'm mostly speculating.

Nevertheless, the show brings a convincing story. The horror is brought not by shallow fear and jumpscares (which is way to often used in today's horror), but by philosophical contemplation of the grim actions taken by the townspeople. And that is where it shines.

The art was professionally produced, which checks all the marks in my books (I'm not a stickler for art which is subjective anyway). The soundtrack was also well done - I enjoyed the variety of styles. There were some parts, where I felt like the genre of music chosen for some scenes did not fit (An upbeat electric drum beat is not fitting for a scene with large amounts of gore and serves as a disconnect from the visuals the scene shows).

Rating: 6