amredthelector (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
amredthelector) wrote2011-01-05 10:35 pm
amredthelector) wrote2011-01-05 10:35 pm
Entry tags:
shiki review
So, for only the second time ever, I've been watching an anime as the official subs are released week-by-week on Hulu. The first anime I did this with was FMA: Brotherhood, but I kind of fell behind on that and wound up archive-binging about the last two month's worth in a single week. This time, though, I picked up a show about three episodes in and watched it loyally, week-by-week, until it finished. And that show was Shiki. And it was worth it.
I only really started watching Shiki because I saw a video on TGWTG.com about 'Top 10 Anime Openings of 2010' or something along those lines, and Shiki was pretty high up on the list. It seemed like a pretty cool opening and the quick premise sounded interesting, and since it was on Hulu, I checked it out. I am so glad I did.
Shiki is about a small town in modern rural Japan that starts experiencing multiple deaths and disappearances one summer, after a new family moves into the big house on the mountain nearby. The deaths are handled really well in the first few episodes, giving just enough info about a strange disease and showing how slowly it starts, then suddenly picks up the pace. It has multiple characters, but the main two are two adult men, a priest and a doctor, who are childhood friends and both have serious parent issues. And then it's revealed in about episode 4 that the 'disease' is vampires.
I'm going to just go ahead and say it - I am so fucking sick of vampires. A show or movie about vampires really has to have something special about it to get me to stick with it. Shiki does. There's a lot of slow build up around the vampires and what they are capable of, showing that they really are quite monstrous, and that they don't want to live side-by-side with humans, but want to rather kill all the humans in the village and set up their own little vampire village, which they would eventually expand. The vampires do have some sympathetic points, but it comes not from their mourning a loss of humanity (which seems to be the vampire standard anymore) but from their fear of another death or sadness that their family members aren't rising up from the grave (these vamps have no control over who they can turn). They also aren't romantic or sexual, which has become a stable of vampires that I HATE.
The show moves at a very slow pace, letting you see how long the events take to unfold. This isn't a bad thing, though - it allows for character development and a lot of meditation on the nature of humans. Once the doctor character, Toshio, starts to probe the science behind vampires, things take a wonderfully dark and frankly, somewhat disgusting turn. His character reminds me a lot of Robert Neville from the novel I Am Legend, starting out with good intentions and then just becoming so engrossed in his work he gets unsettling and creepy.
I'll avoid spoilers, but I will say that the pay-off to all the build up is amazing. Again, a lot of shades of I Am Legend. Examinations of humanity and mob mentality.
There are a few things I have problems with, though. For one, I kind of hated the art. The faces looked okay, but holy hell, this show took anime hair to new and bizarre extremes that really looked out of place in such a dark and realistic series. There where a lot of characters as well, and not all get equal development, leaving me to wonder how much exactly I was supposed to care about the huge supporting cast, because... I really didn't. I was invested in the doctor, the priest, and the head vampire, but not much else. Still, very, very good show. If you're into deconstructions of humanity and vampire fiction that doesn't follow every current popular stereotype, check it out.
I'm starting to think I should stop using the 'short review' tag, since all my reviews are seriously long any more. TL;DR - despite some kind of weird art, the series is a great, fresh look at vampires and the darker side of humanity. I highly recommend it.
I only really started watching Shiki because I saw a video on TGWTG.com about 'Top 10 Anime Openings of 2010' or something along those lines, and Shiki was pretty high up on the list. It seemed like a pretty cool opening and the quick premise sounded interesting, and since it was on Hulu, I checked it out. I am so glad I did.
Shiki is about a small town in modern rural Japan that starts experiencing multiple deaths and disappearances one summer, after a new family moves into the big house on the mountain nearby. The deaths are handled really well in the first few episodes, giving just enough info about a strange disease and showing how slowly it starts, then suddenly picks up the pace. It has multiple characters, but the main two are two adult men, a priest and a doctor, who are childhood friends and both have serious parent issues. And then it's revealed in about episode 4 that the 'disease' is vampires.
I'm going to just go ahead and say it - I am so fucking sick of vampires. A show or movie about vampires really has to have something special about it to get me to stick with it. Shiki does. There's a lot of slow build up around the vampires and what they are capable of, showing that they really are quite monstrous, and that they don't want to live side-by-side with humans, but want to rather kill all the humans in the village and set up their own little vampire village, which they would eventually expand. The vampires do have some sympathetic points, but it comes not from their mourning a loss of humanity (which seems to be the vampire standard anymore) but from their fear of another death or sadness that their family members aren't rising up from the grave (these vamps have no control over who they can turn). They also aren't romantic or sexual, which has become a stable of vampires that I HATE.
The show moves at a very slow pace, letting you see how long the events take to unfold. This isn't a bad thing, though - it allows for character development and a lot of meditation on the nature of humans. Once the doctor character, Toshio, starts to probe the science behind vampires, things take a wonderfully dark and frankly, somewhat disgusting turn. His character reminds me a lot of Robert Neville from the novel I Am Legend, starting out with good intentions and then just becoming so engrossed in his work he gets unsettling and creepy.
I'll avoid spoilers, but I will say that the pay-off to all the build up is amazing. Again, a lot of shades of I Am Legend. Examinations of humanity and mob mentality.
There are a few things I have problems with, though. For one, I kind of hated the art. The faces looked okay, but holy hell, this show took anime hair to new and bizarre extremes that really looked out of place in such a dark and realistic series. There where a lot of characters as well, and not all get equal development, leaving me to wonder how much exactly I was supposed to care about the huge supporting cast, because... I really didn't. I was invested in the doctor, the priest, and the head vampire, but not much else. Still, very, very good show. If you're into deconstructions of humanity and vampire fiction that doesn't follow every current popular stereotype, check it out.
I'm starting to think I should stop using the 'short review' tag, since all my reviews are seriously long any more. TL;DR - despite some kind of weird art, the series is a great, fresh look at vampires and the darker side of humanity. I highly recommend it.