Category: Finished Series: Horror

I’m beginning to understand why people were saying that Shiki took a while to get going. This episode showed the series surpassing itself yet again, it was completely gorgeous, well built up, full of tension and atmospheric as hell. If this trend will continue for the second half, then we’re in for an awesome horror series here.

There was something very interesting going on with the graphics in this episode: they were very inconsistent, but I mean this in a really good way. There were a number of off models in this episode, or some hastily animated frames. But dear God, the good shots looked better than ever here. There really were quite a few shots and drawings in this episode that looked utterly gorgeous.

This episode was all about the counterattack of the vampires, but we do have to wait a while before we learn what happened to Natsuno and instead we see them pull a mass attack on doctor Toshio. It’s interesting that he’s one of the few characters that the vampires aren’t going to kill. I suspect that they see him as the one who keeps their attacks within the village: if he dies, there won’t be a doctor to treat the patients, and they’ll be moved to a larger hospital, which probably means trouble as soon as people there start to notice what’s going on.

I think that the fact that this is all happening in a remote town is a key here: that the vampires are relying on the secluded nature of the village and its residents, who tend to try and keep all of their business inside the villagers, and aren’t open to outsiders, even when possibly questioned by the police. And this episode showed that that’s indeed the case: Toshio hasn’t called the police yet: he wants to be the one to save his village. I think that that’s going to be one of the main problems of this series, though: stubborn is one thing, but there has to be a time in which Toshio needs to swallow his pride and involve the police, especially when so many lives are involved. Yet, since we have yet to see any kind of police in this series, I doubt that they’re going to play a role in this story, otherwise we would have seen some foreshadowing by now.

But yeah, when at this point I’m about to call something like that the major flaw of this series, it obviously means that I’m enjoying the rest of the series a lot. It’s been ages since the last good horror show ended, so I’m really glad to see how well this series is doing with its atmosphere. I especially liked how this episode built up its expectations of having a single vampire try to get into the hospital, only to show a whole army of those buggers at the end of the episode.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

I like Natsuno. He’s no idiot and continues to use his head. He’s not one to rush into a situation, and instead thinks before he acts, and his actions are so far all taken with the intent to learn as much as possible about what’s going on. More protagonists should be like this.

The vampires in the meantime aren’t stupid either: they’re not going to let someone like him walk around freely, as shown by the counterattack at the end of this episode (which was really well directed and creepy, by the way). With fourteen episodes left, I wouldn’t be surprised if this show would evolve into a thriller, something like “humans versus vampires”. When both sides are this formidable, I can’t wait for this second half.

And I guess that that’s why Masao and Megumi are so important here: they’re the vampires who have many sentiments towards these characters. In fact, I’m very interested in how that cat guy manages his vampires. This episode really made it apparent that someone is tightly controlling the different vampires. How do those vampires react exactly when they run into someone they know or hold dear? Megumi showed that they don’t lose their memory, Masao showed that they don’t exactly lose their self-conscience.

Also, the soundtrack is just getting better and better, and I really like what Yasuharu Takanashi did on it. To compare it with his other work, it sounds closest to the combination between Jigoku Shoujo and Toward the Terra’s soundtrack. Beyond that, it’s also interesting that he has been experimenting a bit more during the past year: the OST of Jigoku Shoujo and Toward the Terra (but also Mononoke, Before Green Gables and Seto no Hanayome) lacked this… “spark” that I did notice at Heartcatch Precure and Shiki’s OST. They feel like they have much more contrast, compared to his more subtle earlier works.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

One thing I love about horror series is how consistent they are: once they’ve got an atmosphere built up, they can keep this one going for episodes and episodes. This episode yet again was excellent in the way that it progressed the plot, and this solid atmosphere really helped in bringing up the creepiness factor even though this isn’t really scary. That’s the entire point of Japanese horror: it doesn’t intend to freak you out (that’s also why there are so few anime that are genuinely scary), instead it attempts to captivate its audience with exactly that atmosphere.

This episode focused on three different subplots: an exposition part Masao rising from the dead as a vampire (I knew it!) and receiving the explanation behind the nature of vampires in this series, a build-up part in which Seishin and Toshio prepare to try and catch the vampires, and a character-centric part involving Natsuno teams up with Kaori and Akira, and prepares to dig up Megumi’s grave. The latter was where most of the depth in this episode was, mostly thanks to Kaori. I mean, being forced to dig up the grave of your dead best friend. Who wouldn’t be disturbed? Natsuno in contrast is completely different: he hated Megumi when she was still alive, and he doesn’t really care for others’ feelings, allowing him to take such measures that a lot of others would find insane. Akira meanwhile… is just an idiot. He’s impulsive, but I don’t think that he really realizes what he’s about to do.

As for the exposition, I’m very curious why the creators chose Masao of all guys to show all of this. I mean, I keep feeling like his existence in this series is with a very clear future purpose in mind. He’s weird, what kind of a different vampire is he going to become because of that? There has to be something. Either way though, the vampires in this series are weak against sunlight, they can die when a stake is run through their hearts. And there are very rare vampires who are able to just survive in the middle of sunlight. I’m glad that this series is returning to the roots of vampires, rather than the generic schlock that they have evolved into in the past ten years. But yeah, the irony is that the vampire genre came to evolve the way it did, probably because the classic vampire stories were getting overused at the time.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

For me, this has been one of the best episodes of Shiki so far. it’s great to finally have another good horror series airing and this series is certainly pushing the right buttons. This episode continues the string of deaths throughout the village, but you can now really see how people are starting to change as the “epidemic” continues on.

Natsuno, who probably is the closest to the truth, is now finally trying to take measures to prevent himself from getting bitten. We also learn a bit more about Toshio and his father. A great doctor, but I can really see him lose his nerve when he’s failed to save so many lives. Seishin in the meantime is also very much trying to do something to solve the crimes, and he also has been close with his assumptions that something strange is causing the diseases. I blame this on his spiritual upbringing: with normal epidemics this would indeed have been useless, but this mindset is vital in this story, when suddenly we have a bunch of vampires that are attacking. If these three people would meet, and discuss their theories, they would probably crack the mystery. As shown at the end of this episode, where Toshio realizes that Vampires could possibly be behind everything.

I also love how this series has been developing some characters off-screen. When was the last time we saw Kaori and Akira? Well, they haven’t been sitting still as it turns out. It’s perhaps a matter of luck that Akira was able to see that vampire, but still, it just shows how these two have just continued with their lives and don’t just stop moving when the plot doesn’t need them for a while.

Also, I feel that the creators are building up to something with Masao’s dead body. It’s like they really wanted this guy to not have a burial, which is why they made him such an idiot who is hated even by his own family. Does that make him unique though? I’m not sure, really. I mean, in a village full of old people, I suspect that there have been more people who perhaps lived alone and therefore had nobody notice that they died. The difference here is probably going to be his connection to Natsuno.

Also… Ikumi. the horrifying image of what harem girls might turn into when they turn past seventy…
Rating: *** (Awesome)

This show just continues to up the body count here. We’ve really reached a point in which nobody is safe. But with this episode, it feels like the prelude is finally over, in the way that Natsuno is actively getting involved with the plot.

I’m not exactly sure what was up with that dream. So far, most of the events here could be explained through this vampire attacks, but with Toru in Natsuno’s dream things are a bit different. Somehow, a vampire attacked Toru somewhere, but not on the place we saw Megumi bite him (bite-marks were missing). So either Natsuno can somehow dream about things that happen around him, or the vampires are able to transmit their actions into other people’s dreams. The latter would be quite an annoying restriction.

Either way, Toru died. The strangest thing about this episode was what happened afterwards though, when the series suddenly decided to focus on Masao. And really, it did what it was supposed to do, and Masao became a lot more interesting to watch, because his character was just so goddamn flawed. He feels more out of place amongst his environment than Megumi did because somehow, he really doesn’t know how to be polite to people, even when someone close to him died. I actually thought that the creators would continue his plot a bit further… and then he died too. He’ll probably also be turned into a vampire, but we’re still not exactly sure what that means. I can imagine his vampire character to just be insane though.

What amuses me is that the town doctor… travels by bike. You’d expect in a village like this, that everyone would have the possession of a car and yet he chooses to just use a bike. Can’t he save at least minutes if he got himself a car? In a situation between life and death, it could make a huge difference. I’m also interested in how, even though the town is full of old people, you hardly see any of them using the local bus (which Natsuno strangely does use. In order to get to school or something? Then how do the other teenagers in the village travel?). This episode also shows a businessman and businesswoman making use of it. You’d expect them to have cars as well…
Rating: ** (Excellent)