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)
So… Masao didn’t get on your nerves? I couldn’t stand him. He was over the top annoying, maybe that was the point, but there wasn’t much else in this episode.
After scoring other episodes of other series low, for focusing on flawed and annoying characters a lot (Bunmei from Occult Gakuin and Kida from Durarara), I fully expected you to give no stars, or one star at most to this episode.
(also, this might be a spoiler, but I’m just speculating):
About the bite marks, in other works Vampires can erase the bite marks if they lick them afterwards. Not sure if this is the case here though, but the show does seem to draw a lot from other established Vampire fiction.
Also, the writer of the shiki novel, said it was an homage to Salem’s Lot. I’m still waiting waiting for Shiki to differentiate itself from Salem’s Lot though, so it can be considered an homage instead of a complete rip off.
Small Village – Check
Weird Mansion in the Village – Check
Vampires move in the Mansion – Check
Focus on a teenager, a doctor and a priest – Check
(in Salem’s Lot there was also a writer, but i guess he was merged with the priest here).
Also, don’t google Salem’s Lot and read any summaries because you’ll probably be completely spoiled for shiki (or so it seems, I hope I’m wrong).
Clearing Toru’s death! ^_^ They deleted a scene where when natsuno wakes toru up and says good night he is scratching his head and he has two “insect bites” on his arm.
It just struck me how similar Masao and Natsuno are. They’re both seen as “cold” and have no feelings, and they both are viewed and see themselves as outsiders. It’s just they react to stuff differently ^-^
Love the music in this. Takanashi Yasuharu is amazing.
What is more troubling is that with people dropping like flies and obvious epidemic the Japanese equivalent of CDC is not there yet. I wonder if the author couldn’t come up with rational for this.
Concerning the Salem’s Lot references (damn, and I was trying to be discreet about it in my last comment lol) they are still strong because it more or less is a direct reference to Stephen Kings novel. The novel even has the subtitle ‘To Salem’s Lot’ add to it. But I still think it is also able to stand on it’s own feet and I like both stories for what they did concerning vampire fiction.
@psgels: About public transportation and cars…but this is only what I know from personal experiences and friends.
Sotoba seems to be one of those tight knit communities where you deal with every problem within the community, so making larger travels shouldn’t be that common. That means or most people, except larger families, a car would be a meaningless expense.
Also, being a rather undeveloped smalltown, the road system is supposedly very unpractical for cars, with narrow streets, many corners, house entrances in rather inaccessable places. So by walking or using a bike your actually much quicker than by using a car or a bus.
It’s quite probable that people do have cars (like the doctor), they just don’t use them that much because their more of a burden than a gift.
The same goes or busses, meaning that there is just no real use in using them. You should be able to walk from one end to another in no time. Also those country busses are normally not really well ventilated. There are also probably only two stops in Sotoba at all and even if you used the bus, you’d probably have to walk more than if you had chosen to walk in the first place.
Those businessmen and women are probably working outside of Sotoba and only using the bus to get there and back home as public transportation is normally paid by your employer.
I know shiki is supposed to be an homage to Salem’s Lot and the writer is not hiding it, but it kind of feels it’s just a loose translation of Salem’s Lot to Japanese. Like he got a job to translate it, but was too bored to do it word for word so he filled in stuff he couldn’t remember with his own 😛
An homage has certain elements the same, but is different in its core. Here it feels like the core is exactly the same and only the fluff is changed.
Anyway, it’s too soon maybe it’ll differentiate itself a bit later.
I am a bit surprised that they managed to stuff so much into one episode. Sadly thanks to that a lot of stuff was cut, including the explanation on where Toru was actually bitten.
Anyway seeing reactions to this episode yet again made me feel disgusted of anime communities – “Yay Masao, you got what you deserve for being neglected by society and having flaws”.
Masao was an interesting character. A character that just feels out of place from the serene idiotic countryside community he was born in. Unlike with Megumi who had social skills, but was driven by hatred and pride, Masao wants to fit in, its just that he has absolutely no idea on how to do that. The fact that his family is so messed up most likely played the role too.
Far too often in present day society you have situation where one son is favored and thought of as “someone who never does wrong” while other son is abandoned and left to his own, even hated by his family as the “black sheep”. Masao’s life most likely would have turned out differently if he was not born in such stereotypical family full of flaws of present day society. After all, all what was needed is understanding.
Its actually sad to see almost entire SHIKI community react to masao in the same way as his family and surroundings did. Of course its not surprising because pretty much every generic cookie-cutter anime fans seems to have developed an intense hatred for flawed and or somehow different characters. Every one who is with a flaw is somehow at fault for not being perfect or not fitting into stereotypical “perfect” definition created by that viewer. Be it Masao from SHIKI, Rei and Hirano from HoTD, Omaeda/Yammy from Bleach, Kikuichi from Samurai7 or pretty much every and ANY character that does NOT follow the stereotypical society-perfection road. While this case does nothing more than just confirm my thoughts on generic anime-fan audience, sadly this strange mutation of society stretches far further than just your generic entertainment or fiction.
Now onto episode flaws:
Hated how they did the librarian attack. He was…Realistically scary in manga, as manga used the whole color inversion REALLY well. In anime it was…”oh a floating guy…yay?”. Sadly this was the case with pretty much every inversion scene, starting with the driver in first episode and going through pretty much every episode. That takes away a LOT from the flavor of Shiki.
Second big bad thing was the things they cut – namely Toru waking up in the morning scene. They could have incorporated the bite marks latter on or something to keep the “was it all a dream” suspense, but they did not. They just conveniently forgot that Toru had two “insect bite” marks on his arm, leaving that suspense there when it was no longer needed.
ANd the last big bad thing was the execution of the last scene..Seriously did the guys who did the Megumi scene last ep take a break and let the janitor direct it?…