Throughout the Shiki series, there were these select times where this blue haired woman turned up. The last time was in a bathtub with a corpse, but we really didn’t know anything about her. This episode tells her story.
Having said that though, that particular story felt a bit too one-sided to me, and was the least interesting bit of this episode to me. I didn’t really “get” the insanity of this woman. Instead though, I loved just about everything that happened around her. This episode actually recapped the entire series from the eyes of some of the side-characters, tying things together in the process. It explains how the fire started, it shows a bit more about the family at the drive-by restaurant of the first episode (when that first episode aired I really thought that they would be important characters), we know who the asleep Shiki was in the house that Akira broke into. Oh, and the nurse also got stabbed through the heart. They didn’t show the process, but the aftermath was there.
What’s more is that Ozaki appears every now and then in this episode, and that surprisingly showed really well how his character developed through the series, and I also liked those tiny details like him trying to relax a bit after murdering his wife.
And so, Shiki is finally finished. There were a few plot threads that I would have liked to have seen a bit more of, for example what happened to Akira, or where that crazy occult woman went who once took over an episode, but overall it has been a wonderful series. Furthermore, I really wonder what exactly got this show 22 episodes of airtime in Noitamina of all things. What convinced the producers to go with what pretty much is a perfect formula if kept up with: Noitamina is big enough for this now.
I think it has a lot to do with the irony of Noitamina in Spring and Summer of 2010: it pretty much was the best half year that Noitamina ever had, delivering three utter classics with Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei, Sarai-Ya Goyou and Shiki, although unfortunately they pretty much flopped. My guess is that the producers are playing things safe for 2011 by not straying from the format they built up (which is something I can understand, after what happened to the Noise-timeslot), but I really do hope that 2012 will show more 22-episode series in the timeslot. That’s really something that can make a great timeslot even better.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
I don’t want to believe that Noitamina wants to stick to 11 episodes just cos of low ratings last summer! There are many other reasons for that.
Shiki is one of the best anime on Noitamina timeslot I’ve ever watched, and it’s because it has 22 episodes to develop everything. (it even has an awesome end to boot, which is very rare in anime)
But I guess ratings seem to decide everything.
Take note that Nodame and Honey and Clover has 20+ episodes too. And they were great anime. I was thinking that maybe if some Noitamina got the same treatment (Jyu Oh Sei, Kuragehime, Eden of the East, [C]) they might have more time to develop their unique setting. The time allotted to these series went against them.
Anyway, I’ve been waiting for this arc to be animated ever since I’ve read the manga. Motoko’s insanity was not properly portrayed though. She was much more dynamic in the manga. I’m guessing it’s because she was only slated for one episode.