wabshire - 2014-03-29 17:12:52

This is anime I thoroughly enjoyed, but it may not be right for everyone. The plot and characters are excellent, and it comes close to earning the title of horror mid-way through the anime with some truly disturbing moments. The art style is a mixed bag unfortunately. Some characters look great and I quite like the eyes, the downside is that some hairstyles look completely out of place. Another gripe I have is that some characters look like they have been drawn by a completely different artist. Their art style is so different, I thought at first said characters had been edited in. Overall, Shiki is a truly interesting anime, with solid and absorbing plot and characters which approach the plot from multiple perspectives, as well as making it hard to decide which side is truly good.

okeeling - 2014-03-02 19:36:06

In nowadays when someone hears the word vampire the first thing that goes to your mind is the total abomination twilight.But that hell ends now.Now lets get to the review.

1. Story.The story is maybe one of the things that make the show so awesome.For me personally its the second greatest story after death note in all anime/manga history.Ever since I first read it I knew that that was going to be the anime for me.
2. Animation.For an anime of 2010 the animation was pretty good. I never had problem with it.
3. Sound.One of the best soundtracks i ve heard in any anime.Because of the sound I got the exact feeling of the atmosphere in the show. But at some times the sound was really funny.
4. Characters. Shiki has one of the biggest character cast in anime. But to be honest i kinda was able to remember pretty much all of them.All of the characters were really likeble to me,I just loved them all.
5. Enjoyment. Shiki is one of the best horror anime/manga in history at least for me that is.I really enoyed it. I watched all episodes in one day . I don t know if there is any other anime that i wached with such interest as shiki.I recommend it to any horror lover.
6. Overall. Overall I d say that shiki is one of the best animes i have seen and i don t think i ll see a horror anime as good as shiki in the future. I give SHIKI a solid 10/10.

della.rippin - 2013-12-24 13:36:39

SHIKI REVIEW by Btooomouine

!!This review contains massive spoilers so read it at your own risk!!

once upon a time, when the countless worlds bordered on each over, and the line between god and human was vague , there was a certain family whose story of love and reb... Wait this is not kyousougiga ? oh well fuck it !
___________________________________________________________________________

first of all i would like to thanks anyone reading this review ! this is my first one , i would like to apologise for my bad english , i am actuly a french guy !

soooo let s go on ! ... shiki is certainly not an anime like any over when i watched shiki for the first time , i seriously didn t like the show . i gave up in like 5 episodes , but i finally woke up and watched the entire show ! so just to explain my opinion i will say that i need to cut shiki to 2 parts for this review :

Part1 : episode 1 > 12

Part2 : episode 13 > 22 + 2 OAVs

i will actuly note the full review by a global note so don t be influenced about what i say about the first part of the show

so i actuly wanted to start by reviewing the characters of this show for many reasons..

i would say this guy is the main reason for it :

Masao murasako , this guy is certainly one of the worst characters i ve ever seen my whole anime-watcher carrier ! he ruined like 30% of the first part of the show! it would take me too long to expain why and how much i hate this guy , so in one word that guy is an ASSHOLE ! simply because that guy plays his role PERFECTLY ! and the role of this guy is actuly to be a dickhead so yeah that s it !

luckily masao started being absent in the second part and stopped ruining the show so yeah Thanks god !

I can actuly complain about some ... weird haircuts in shiki , but i don t know if this actuly fits the character section

ok , now let s be some serious !

Main Characters

there is 4 main characters in this show : Natsuno yuuki , toshio ozaki , seishin muroi aaaaand sunako kirishiki , the main antagonist

Natsuno yuuki :

so this is that guy that guy that u found in every mistery anime , that mysterious guy that is always the first one to wake up about the real nature of the deaths ! in this part i would say that Natsuno is a really bad character , he is absent in many episodes and do nothing expect walking the the forest , looking for dead bodies and talking with his "best friend" tohru , that actuly killed him !

Toshio ozaki :

yeah , so ozaki is probably the only good character in this first part , he is serious , badass , good looking and he is actuly one of the first ones to wake up about the vampire invasion !but he actuly started being more interesting in the second part ...

Seishin muroi :

This guy is one of the most useless characters of the show in this part , all he does is chatting with some psychotic little girls and writes books , so better skip him now cauz he actuly starts being a real character in the second part

Sunako kirishiki :

Nothing to say about her she nearly never apears in this part expect for chatting with muroi

Secondary characters

the secondary characters are one of the most important factor of this show but in this part of this show , they re pretty bad and i actuly don t need to focus on them

i would just complain about megumi who is annoying as fuck even when she is one of the most important secondary characters

Globaly i would give for the characters section of this part1 : 2/10

Opening 1 :

Ending 1 :

Main ost :

Well all i can say about the sounds is that the first opening is good the ending is ok ! and the ost is awsome , i won't say that shiki ahs the best sounds ever but ... it's ok !

Sounds : 7/10

i really liked the animation in some points but globaly it was pretty bad for a show since 2010 .

i don thave so much to talk about so i will just give it : 6/10

the story is really slow to start in beggining it only shows people diying and shit ! it easly start being annoying and casual after some episodes so i won t talk so much about it : 4/10

The biggest difference between the first part of the show and the second is clearly the character , in this part nearly all the characters turned into shikis , some new characters started being focused on !

this section clearly made a 180° flip and started being the best part of the show

the only disturbing factor of this part was the amout of #SWAG that suddenly apeared on tatsumi

Main characters :

Natsulo yuuki :

in this second part after a long absence of 3/4 episodes natsumo finally apeared ! he became a really good character and finally gain a real important role in the show by becoming the first protagonist Jinrou (were-wolf) ! Natsumo became really badass in this part !

Toshio ozaki :

in this part ozaki had big changes in his personality ! he was already a good character in the 1st one but in the 2nd he became way more badass by being the "Madscientist" of the show , and the leader of the rebelion on the shikis ! he actuly has one of the bigest role of the show that makes him my favorite character from shiki !

Seishin muroi :

"sunako, after all this happened, finally realized..." that he is an asshole !

in the second part muroi joind sunako and started being her ally for non apearent reasons ! and i seriously can't get this chose !

i ve never like this character , because he has always been so useless but even when he started being usefull by saving sunaku in the last episodes , i still can t like him !

Sunako kirishiki :

the 2nd part of the show focused more on sunako , it actuly shows another face of her pesonality that is pretty good ! in the last episodes the show made a flip and the predators became the preys and that was awsome !

Secondary characters

well , in this part of the show many new secondary characters apeared all of them was interesting and had a single creepy story ! but i won t focus on every one of them

globaly would give for the character section of the 2nd part a : 9/10

opening 2 :

Ending 2:

nothing to say pretty similar the first part : 7/10

in this section i will focus on the ending more than anything else ! cause WTF WAS THAT ENDING ! that was certainly the best ending i ever seen in any over anime if you know how to look at it by the psychologic way ! this ending was full of feels the best way of it is how no one of the "Good" or the "Evil" wins in the end it s a draw ! everyone is dead , everything is ruines ! even the villagers that lived started being psychotic killer that killed their own family ! and that s what i call a REAL ending !

in one word the ending was EPIC

actuly shiki i didn t really like shiki , the first part of the show ruined it completely ! but the second part and the ending pushed him up and helped the show to become way more better !

My opinion is that shiki is "ok" and a good anime to watch ! and i would say that the ending is incridibly awsome !

nkrajcik - 2013-11-10 18:47:17

I went into this anime expecting it to be a dark take on vampires, but it ended up being completely different.

The story was intriguing and immersive, as the reasons why everything was going on were unknown, but when they were found out it wasn't really a surprise, although I still wanted to know what was gonna happen next. The problems were that the ending left some loose ends and other things weren't explained. 8/10

The animation was really good, the backgrounds looked great, there were different styles for the characters. My complain is that in about 3 shots in the entire series the framerate dropped. 8/10

The sound is where the series didn't stand out for me. The openings were great, I never skipped them and even listen to the songs from time to time, but apart from that, nothing else stood out. 8/10

For the characters, while I liked them, they didn't develop at all, with the exception of one. 6/10

Despite the problems it has, I highly enjoyed the anime, as I was intrigued by the story and enjoyed the last part of the series. There was one moment in special for which I give this anime another point. It was the death of a character and it made me feel excited. 9/10

Overall the anime had a good soundtrack, great animation and it was enjoyable, so my final score is a 8/10

elda.heidenreich - 2013-09-08 14:54:29

shiki is a show that not everyone will like but i would still recommend you give it a try.

It can be a bit slow to really get started for some people but for others it might be just fine, but once everything gets started there are cunning plans, the supernatural, interesting views on right and wrong and some very nice gory this is a show the needs to be watched with a mature mind set and a openness to a difference in opinion for it to have the full effect on you.

shiki shows parts of human nature that are as bad as they get and that most of us wish we didn't have, it can also play with your morals bending and twisting what you considered wrong and right so at the end of watching you might have a different opinion to things from when you started watching this.

shiki is a very good show full of strong emotions and interesting views and it is all put together very well it looks good ,sounds good and leaves an impression so give it a try.

abernathy.soledad - 2013-07-23 19:50:28

Shiki is an Anime not everyone will like. It has a few problems but still ranks as one of the best shows i´ve seen. I´m going to try to give you a few reasons why i think this Anime is a masterpiece.

Story:

The Story of Shiki starts of quite similar as other horror anime. You have a small Village in the mountains and shortly after some new people moved there, people start dropping dead one after another. And now its the task of the doctor of the village, Toshio Osaki, to find the cause of the deaths. And sooner or later everything becomes a massacre. But i have to warn you that it takes a few episodes of suspense and mystery until the plot really starts rolling. But once it starts it really becomes a steam engine of a plot (meaning it gets better and better and better until it explodes(meant in a good way)).

Animation:

The animation is actually quite well done and is really fluid when it needs to be.

Sound:

This is, in my opinion, the animes strongest point. Not only matches the soundtrack the atmosphere perfectly, it is even able to create all those feelings on its own and is definitely worth listening to, without actually having seen the show. Overall the Atmosphere is one of the best i´ve seen in anime.

Characters:

This is probably the one point were everyone got his own opinions. First of all: the characters aren´t bad. The main cast develops quite a bit and everyone will find some character he/she likes and will cheer for. But the problem is that: 1. There are way to many characters to even remember all of their names (most of them aren´t important anyway). 2. For some of the characters the designs are just...plain shit. And overall has this anime an obsession with hair so stupid it can compete against the One Piece character designs. This is, in my opinion, the main flaw that this anime has.

Enjoyment:

The problem, with describing why i enjoyed it so much, is probably because everything that makes this anime so exiting is to be found in the later episodes and telling you about that will lead to spoilers. So to keep it short: I enjoyed it a lot.

Final Verdict:

Shiki is a Mystery Thriller with great atmosphere and a totally new aspect of vampires. Personally it would be a 10, but i think i should at least try to be a bit objective. So if you can overlook the shitty hair designs and want something dark and gruesome, go watch it. But please dont expect horror, you´ll be most likely disappointed. If you want real horror go watch shiki and than the two OVA episodes because those are scary as fuck.

caitlyn.hackett - 2013-07-19 20:50:42

Shiki, or Corpse Demon, is effectively the story of a village in the middle of nowhere being subjected to a mysterious string of unexplainable deaths. If you want to watch this anime and go into it 100% spoiler-free, even though this is not much of a spoiler at all, look away now.The deaths are, of course, being caused by vampires. While they take their sweet time coming out and saying it, it's pretty obvious from a really early stage. But don't tell any of the characters that, because they don't half take their sweet time working it out. Over half the story is dedicated to watching the cast struggle to grasp something you worked out by the second episode, which is effectively this show's most crippling weakness.Now stop. Do not hit the "Not Helpful" button just yet. Before you have a knee-jerk reaction to this, let me clarify my point quite firmly: No, I do not, by any stretch of the imagination, think that assuming the existence of vampires to be true is a logical conclusion. Not by a long shot. However, there are several very simple logical steps they should have gone through that would have lead them to it.The most glaring of these is shown through Shiki's focus on the medical aspects of the show. One of the few things that sets the story apart from every other vampire story is that we see the doctors dealing with all the deaths trying to work out and explain what is going on. This would be a lot more compelling if they didn't miss an obvious sign. They promptly go through every aspect of the deaths, but leave one thing out: every victim shares a pair of bitemarks on their neck. Aside from the symptoms themselves, this is the only thing that every single victim has in common. But the medical staff don't even try to explain it. On top of that, every patient died of severe anaemia, but had no rational way of losing so much blood. Except the bitemarks, the only possible explanation and a plain and simple way of putting the only two loose ends together.Now, once again, let me clear this up: I do not think that the bitemarks shoudl have instantly made them realise vampires were behind this. But so much about it makes it clear that vampires would have crossed their minds. Even if they initially brushed it off as implausible, they would have thought of it. Instead, this thought takes a long time to occur to anyone, and when it finally does, they are bizarrely accepting of it.But even once they do realise it, they have to spend a long, long time convincing everyone else. In troper terms, this effectively leads to the villagers Dying Like Animals from sheer stupidity. Which leads to a highly drawn-out stretch of episodes consisting of Dr. Ozaki trying to stop the villagers from essentially jumping headfirst into their own graves.On that note, the characters of Shiki are, to put it generously, less than likeable. There is only one personality in the entire series that is simultaneously interesting and does not make you want to punch them in the face, and that is Dr. Ozaki. The remaining cast are either boring, or sociopathic for no apparent reason. There are also a small handful inbetween who are mildly interesting but very stupid. Effectively, this is both the best and worst thing about Shiki. On the one hand, the cast is utterly insufferable. On the other, they die. A lot. And it manages to be gloriously, gloriously cathartic.It is also what makes Ozaki such an empathetic character. Ozaki is the only sane man in the entire village. And he is just as frustrated as you are at their complete lack of survival instinct. Also, despite some earlier absences of common sense, Ozaki really manages to pull out some incredibly impressive tactics. And I mean REALLY impressive.In spite of all the show's failings, in the final act it really gets it together and does a complete 180. This leads to an incredibly impressing finale, that is nothing short of a war. It leads to the point that anyone can (and probably will) die. Sadly this is only for the last 6 episodes, and at this point it is too little, too late. While these episodes were absolutely stellar, they don't quite justify watching the previous 16 episodes.From a technical aspect, Shiki ranks to the latter on the scale of good vs OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!. The art style is about as awful as they come. The hair on the characters is the most stupid I've ever seen. Anime, as a medium, is known for its love of stupid hair, but even among them Shiki manages to be unbelievably appalling. The sound is quite a bit better, being a user of eerie ambient music. The first OP is also quite an excellent song, excellently merged with the animation. The remaining OP/ED themes are fine, but unremarkable.I mentioned earlier that there were three ways that Shiki attempts to stick out from the vampire crowd, the first being the medical aspects. While none of these were very well-executed, they are still interesting: The other two being that the humans vs. vampires war is portrayed as simply being two opposing forces simply trying to survive, rather than good humans vs. evil monsters... and the third, being that they focus on the angst of those forcibly turned into vampires, having to kill people they once knew to survive.Overall, Shiki has a lot of good ideas but in the end doesn't really execute them every well. It's a mixed bag, with enough upsides to keep it watchable earlier on, and with an excellent finale. Still, it really isn't worth watching in the long run.Story/Plot: 5/10Animation/Graphics: No seriously, what?/10Music/Background: 7/10Characters: 3/10Overall: 6/10For Fans Of: Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, Dance in the Vampire Bund.

travon.schuster - 2013-07-19 09:38:42

I recently finished the series. Also I may not keep a record of everything, but some things. It may contain spoilers, so view at your own risk.Story - 8We have this "unknown" village and suddenly the hot summer sun blasts most of its heat upon this village. Suddenly a rich "family", called the Kirishikis, has decided to stay in the village and was rather unique to the villagers. They lived in a Western Styled mansion and not to mention their taste of fashion. As soon as they arrived, people started dying one by one. They had tonnes of symptoms and sicknesses at once, which is rather odd. Anemia, organ cancellations, you name it. Also, a few who have died by these strange diseases were able to come back to life. In order to survive they needed human blood. So these blood sucking undeads, or simply vampires, start rising. Humans die one by one in such a short amount of time. If I recall correctlyl, 19 died in a month or two.Art - 8Simple, but I can't stop laughing at some of the hairstyles. Oh! I'd like to name some of them tooSeishins dad - Santa's ghost ( i know its just a beard but... yeah)Sunako - the crazy waterfallMegumi - The Tree branchesKyoko - The flower bedAkira - Tsunayoshi's/Giotto's haircut.That's all I can name.Otherwise I really loved everything else.Sound - 9I wasn't a big fan of the first OP, and yet I usually skipped the OPs and ED's, but the OST within the series gives you that creepy feeling. Also the SFX is well done.Character - 9You get some of the bitchy ones, you get some of the smart ones and then the idiots and ones that don't matter.But Toshio Ozaki has to be one of my favorites of all time - he was just that badass in the end.Oh - and one thing. I know the blast amount of fanart, but there is no Yaoi. I just wanted to say that since I saw a bunch of fanart of Tohru and Natsuno.Enjoyment - 8Slow start, but at the end you may wonder how it will finish off. It rather does become repetitive and you may know what will happen next, but the story and Shiki itself is really, really interesting.Overall - 8

brady14 - 2013-07-10 06:20:28

Story: Nothing too crazy about the story, most of the things that happen you can predict - however sometimes you hope your prediction is wrong. So although the story is predictable in the end it isn't what is driving this show.

Animation: The major characters are animated very well. However the backgrounds and minor characters are so bland that they stand out in contrast to the main characters, and it makes you wonder why they look so odd when you realize that it is just the way it is presented. You get used to it, but it doesn't make it any less unfitting.

Sound: The voice acting is decent, but what really got to me was the audio pieces that just creeped me out. Combined with the atmosphere that this anime does a good job of creating, it just leaves you very on edge. This is a good thing and really what drives the show.

Characters: The characters are believable and another major draw to the show. They really make you fear for them if they are in danger and they behave how you would expect. They change as time passes and grow into new characters.

Final Thoughts: If your tired of the whole "us vampires aren't so bad, just misunderstood" thing, then this is a breath of fresh air. The vampires in here aren't nice people and you are genuinely creeped out by them. This anime provides a creepy atmosphere that I have yet to find in anything else in anime.

richard.tillman - 2013-05-30 13:04:15

Shiki is more than just a horror/thriller anime. This series really transcends the genre and is actually more a drama.

The story is about the decline of a little town and maybe even the downfall of mankind. 

This series gives us some interesting perspectice on things like

1. The power of the mass
   
2. The hypocritical reasoning of mankind
   
3. When is killing ok?
   
4. What is good and what is evil?
   
5. What happens when mankind isn't on top of the food chain anymore?
   

One of the major themes of the series is when killing a living organism is accepted? 

In this case the shiki needs human blood for surviving. The killing  of a human is necessary for the shiki. 

In the series the mass/doctor think of this as evil. But isn't this a little hypocritical? We, humans, also kill living organisms like animals for their flesh. But this flesh isn't even necessary for a human to survive...

Why is the one labeled evil and the other one accepted?

The figure of muroi seishin is struggeling with this question. And when he see the doctor who killed and experimented on his wife, he made a choice to choose the side of the shiki. Moroi Seishin is dissapointed in mankind. He objectively tries to judge the situation. Who is the good side here? and who is the evil side?

Sheishin is the objective point of view in the series. When all of you think objectively about this situation (and maybe replace humans by other animals of which the shiki need blood of) , we would all understand and take the side of the shiki. They need the blood to survive.

But now, because we're talking about humans, the majority take side of the humans. We can infer this from the fact that a lot of the viewers couldn't understand/ hate Muroi Sheishin. I think that this figure is necessary in the show to confront the viewer with his radical ideas and think about this actual hypocritical reasoing.

I don't want to blame anyone for taking side of the humans (I did it as well) but it's confrontating in my opinion. It's also mainly because of the fact that we can't imagine to be part of the food chain...

The second theme is the power of the mass. 

When the mass discovers that the shiki were the cause of the deaths, they begin a genocide against the shiki. While some people didn't want to kill (like the bar-owner in the specials) they are eventually forced to kill because they are afraid of the mass. 

This power reminded me of Nazi-Germany were the Germans who were at first against the ideas of the regime, eventually just "blended with the mass." This idea makes me think of the fact that for an individual it's very hard/ maybe even impossible to resist against the mass.

In the series the humans who begins a genocide against the shiki are in the beginning a little bit scared to really kill a shiki. However when they realized they couldn't get punished for this, they all "made the click" and began to massacre these like human-looking creatures. This is made really clear when the mass begins to kill other humans like in the temple.
This is also happening on the side of the shiki. At first they dont want to kill but it becomes a habite...

This all is expressed by the quote of Tohru "Once you realize that you won't be punished for killing people, you get used to the guilt pretty soon."

Also Louis CK made an expression like this in his newest show : "The law against murder, is the number-one thing préventing murder." 

This really made me think, and it's really difficult to get an answer on this one. Would humans really act like that if they dont get punished?

Maybe, I dont know...

For a conclusion I can say this:

I think Shiki is really good show wich makes you really think about things. 

While the story was just mediocre (the underlying themes/symbolism are more important), and their were some unnecessary charachters, I really liked the animation and the soundtrack was top class. 

In my opinion the shiki specials are the best two episodes of the show. They really show all the underlying themes and give some cool charachter development.

I really enjoyed this show and it really makes me think...

I can say this is a must-see show for everyone. It makes you think about some interesting morale and psychological debates. Dont be put off by the genre!