Oh, I love series when they take unorthodox plot twists. I have to admit: the vampires’ counterattack went completely different from anything that I could have expected.Both with Natsuno and Toshio, their reaction was bold, creative, ruthless and effective. This episode again: it rocks for so many different reasons: the things they throw at Natsuno, Natsuno’s reaction to this, Natsuno’s relationship with his parents, the way that they finally portrayed the vampires as surprisingly human, and especially that twist at the end.
Of course death I this series isn’t exactly permanent, but I still love it when creators find a way to kill off their main characters. Natsuno isn’t exactly dead yet, but I do feel like the creators are really trying to turn this guy into a vampire. And while vampires doesn’t exactly equal death, it does seem like a pretty irreversible process. It really shows that there is no way that this is going to result into a “and they lived happily ever after”-endings.
It’s also great that the creators took this chance to show more about Natsuno’s relationship with his parents. They’ve got a very interesting chemistry with each other, showing that they’ve been living together for a really long time, yet don’t seem to fully get along with each other. Typical of puberty, actually and I like the subtlety in which the creators handled it.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
This episode made me finally download the manga to know what happened next. The suspense is too much, isn’t it. @_@
Wow cant believe Yuuki will turn into a vampire too, wtf? Then it will be just Dr Ozaki and the monk guy who can still fight them
Ahh… No idea where this is going
I don’t really see a happy ending here either, although they are gonna have to come up with some kind of anime-original ending (based on the original novel) since the manga isn’t finished yet (there are about 3 volumes past this point). Almost every one who I care about is already a vampire at this point 😀
excellent? this is basically like all the other retarded vampire shows where the main characters can’t use their brains.. if you’re gonna rag on densetsu for being stock crap you should be ragging on this show too. i bet you like true blood too.
Been so long since I made a comment, this episode totally threw me off.
I did not expect the late night intruder at Natsuno’s house to be Toru. Then later Toru, having the resolve to carry out the task assigned to him. But then again, I can’t say I am surprised by the ending. The minute Natsuno decided to open that window. I had the feeling it was all down hill from there. Yeah, I do get the fact he (Natsuno) said all the memories of the village had Toru in them, so he did indeed cherish Toru. But C’mon Friendship matters, but it’s now about survival. As he has been reaffirming himself “he will not die in that village” only to succumb to his emotion. Shame! All that research and time wasted.
I couldn’t help but laugh ridiculously when Tatsumi told Megumi she could have her way with Natsuno. Talk about psychopathic tendencies in fruition, not to forget she always wanted to be one to turn him. LOL – Best scene of the entire episode for me.
– This is related to both this episode and episode 9.
When Tatsumi made the comment to Toshio during the clinic invasion – “We won’t kill you. We’ve been told not to mess with you doctor. ”
I haven’t read the manga so I might be shooting for the stars here.
As Tatsumi as clearly identified the threats namely Natsuno and Toshio. Why Natsuno should be silenced and Toshio got me thinking the Vampires would want him to probably perform some unorthodox task in the future. I’m going to assume that as of the moment Kyouko Ozaki – Toshio’s wife is probably their prisoner, or would be used as some of leverage since Tatsumi approached the Clinic the other day only to meet the wife outside. More so, whatever role she plays, she will be killed, just to emphasize their seriousness and also to put him in the same situation as the other villagers – losing someone close.
@longjan
Densetsu IS stock crap. Shiki only has a very select amount which makes it that.
Natsuno was so jealous that Toshio was hogging all of the stupid he made a play to take the lead. Alas, Natsuno will have to actively work toward dooming the entire town to compete with Toshio for the crown. Simply killing himself won’t be enough.
Good idea: Go stay somewhere else.
Bad idea: Stay in your home.
Worse idea: Let your zombie friend in.
Prior to this Natsuno was prepared to engage in what would have been observed at best as grave robbing by the townspeople and resulted in his family being ostracized, and here he’s not really putting forth much effort to survive.
At some points in this episode I had the impression that the author was taking a few shots at the liberal lifestyle of Natsuno’s parents, rather than just expressing Natsuno’s frustration toward his situation. They’re modern nonconformists that reject superstition and their desire to raise their son in a community where they don’t have to live in fear dooms them to death. If you take this along with the attitude toward the crazy woman that surmises the coincidental arrival of Vlad and his family and the recent deaths, you get a situation where a bunch of rural people’s skepticism of magic and prejudice will be their downfall.
I thought the approach by Tatsumi and Megumi near the end was pretty cheesy. They looked like extras from a zombie film. Though that look on Megumi’s face when Toru comes out and bites Natsuno was so hilarious it made the preceding bit seem less so.
This show has some pretty good aspects, chiding aside. The night scenes have a decent look, doing projections from the character’s perspective of areas they can’t see has worked well, and the soundtrack has some quality elements. I kind of wish I could just watch the entire show in one sitting to preserve the atmosphere. I also like how gentle Tatsumi’s voice actor’s treatment of his dialogue is, when it’s clear that the character is such a bottled psychopath.
Do you know what annoys me most? It’s hearing some smartasses babbling that the characters in an anime are stupid while I really doubt that they can do anything better if they’re in a similar situation in real life.
@762217
Like what? Not opening the window when a corpse asks you to let him in? Or did you mean chasing down a corpse in the middle of the night? Oh wait, you must have meant hanging out while two corpses spend a few minutes discussing how they’re going to kill you.
I’m not sure what kind of people you know, but those things seem like not only common sense, but instinctive responses to the situation.
This episode was pretty disappointing to me. Natsuno instantly transformed from an intelligent, believable, logical character into a sentimental, weak anime cliche. Boohoo, it’s my dead best friend. I should let him in/chase him down in the middle of the night despite knowing that vampires are out to get me. Oh hey, look at this wrench I have to protect myself, but it’s so heavy, so I’ll just leave it in my room, along with the cross I was holding. I’ll just tell them I’m going to run as fast as I can, then stand around for a few minutes because, you know, it’s rude to not let a corpse finish their speech about my impending doom.
I would much rather have seen him bitten in his backyard because he jumped out to beat someone with that wrench. His actions/reactions in this episode felt way too out of character, and extremely generic.
@ m, kbot
I think the anime skipped some parts in the manga that would’ve made Natsuno’s actions at least some sense. Yes, he’s smarter than most protagonists out there, but in the end he still has emotion (that’s why he was scared from trying to kill that random shiki episodes before) and he’s just a teenager. I guess when he has parents like that, stuck in a village, unable to do the things he wants being able to meeting someone like Tohru must be a precious memory, since Tohru has good aura, treats him nicely etc. The manga did mention that Natsuno wouldn’t have cared (about killing them i guess) but Tohru was an exception.
(and seriously, even if Natsuno did try to run away I fear Tatsumi’s strength *shivers*)
I guess this emotion part was left out from the anime and therefore his actions seem a bit cliche.
(but mostly I like this episode because I like the 2 together X3)
– Opps –
For last paragraph, I meant to say
“As Tatsumi as clearly identified the threats to them (Vampires) namely as of now, Natsuno and Toshio. Why Natsuno should be silenced and Toshio NOT, got me thinking.
hmm… dunno if you’ve written about it before, but it seems like the OP actually shows which ones (of the main characters) die/get bitten. you know, those that got stripped(?) to their bones.
ummm… i want to know one soundtrack what was in shiki ep 10 ending when tooru bite natsume!! it sound like music box and i really want to know what soundtrack it is!! i just love to hear taht soundtrack and i want to know the song name!!!
Who the hell is “natsume”?
The ending and everything about Natsuno and Tohru’s relationship that follows is the reason the only doujins around are yaoi.
This is the reason why the only non-yaoi doujins we get are something that’s barely related, and horror.
Ugh.