Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Gsarthotegga
Shiki is one of the rare horror anime to stand out at all, falling under a "revisionist/social commentary" kind of banner; it has a decently creepy atmosphere, imagery, and an adequate plot, though the gravity-defying rainbow hair and bizarre hip-hop-like music makes this an eccentric title. The writing can be fairly condescending with its depiction of ruralites and villagers: there's a cosmopolitan smugness expressed throughout, with the pink-haired girl, who only cares about cute boys in the city and being an idol, being the best representation of the contempt for the countryside. There's not much presented here that would make anyone yearn for a life outside of the city.
For the relatively long running length of 22 episodes, it takes most of the protagonists a ridiculously long time t…
Read at the sourceLIQfilms
As the Sun sets below the mountain peaks, the rural village is masked completely in an inescapable darkness. Silent. Untouched. Tranquil. Unknown to them, the horrors that lurk outside, the villagers sleep on in blissful ignorance, as the creatures of the night gather in the confines of the woods. Darkness is broken; tranquilly smashed, to the sudden crimson red glow of eyes, illuminating the area with the red allure of blood. The Shiki have arrived for their next meal...
Horror and anime are rarely synonymous with one another, and, despite the medium barely producing anything horror related to begin with, the few horror titles that are out there don't exactly evoke fear in me. They either become unintentional comedies, such as in the case of Another, a show that took itself way too serio…
Read at the sourceAsunkuro
While Shiki is definitely not the best thriller anime out there, I wouldn't go as far as saying it is a complete waste of time.
Despite the fact that the story is not really original (vampires and werewolves, yeah), it still manages to not be a copy/paste of others fictions (at least from the ones I know). The rule for people to "rise" (aka becoming a shiki) is actually a bit different from what you can usually see, and makes the plot more interesting.
Also, the characters are not that original either (or unforgivable), but they still manage to make the view more enjoyable. The doctor and the teenage lead are the characters you can identify the most, and both make an acceptable job to advance the story. Then, you have the bitch girl, the pathetic teen, the scared-but-decided-to-act chil…
Read at the sourcexDaydreamer
Shiki had such an awesome premise, however, from my perspective it fails to do that premise any justice. I will try my best to give a feel for the story, spoiler free of course. The story and artwork just weren't my cup of tea, but I understand some might enjoy this type of story / cast so I will attempt to avoid outright trolling.
STORY
I was very disappointed in the story for a lot of reasons. It progresses painfully slow, and the character development eventually drops just about everyone in the 'gray area' between good and bad. So basically by the time the climax comes around you have nobody to root for. You don't care if any of the main characters survive, shiki or human.
ART / SOUND
This is what ruined it for me. I probably would have enjoyed the story more if the art wasn't so rid…
Read at the sourceSmugdear
Based off the light novel written by Fuyumi Ono in 1998. Shiki is not your typical vampire themes, it is a rare breed of an anime. If we discuss vampire in anime, many words that come out. The phrases that often comes out are romance (Rosario to Vampire etc), and action (Hellsing and Trinity Blood) Many vampire anime got mixed up by those set-up while Shiki did a different thing than the others. Shiki throws tons of mystery to the plot, the story itself is more focused to the plot and fewer fillers. The story set-up in Sotoba. A village with large numbers of mysterious deaths that never happen before. The villagers didn't know what threat that will come to haunt them.
Another interesting from this story are they take a different viewpoint of the storyline. It's just so rare to found an a…
Read at the sourceAnthony_DiGrande
If you want vampires done right then this is the show for you.
The story of Shiki takes place in a rural Japanese village called Sotoba that the only thing the residents do is gossip. New residents called the Kirishiki's moved into town and from then on mysterious deaths occur throughout the town and there are reports of the dead coming back to life. The one that suffers the most because of this is Toshio Ozaki, the doctor of Sotoba, because he wants to know why these mysterious murders have been happening. He later believes that the cause of the deaths are something more supernatural and decides to investigate. Until he reaches a conclusion that the vampires are the cause of the murder and from there on it's just mass genocide of the vampires where the town decides to eliminate the epide…
Read at the sourceTiri
Alright, this is my first time with a review so bear with me!
Story: 8
Shiki did pretty well in this category. It was refreshing to watch a vampire story that didn't make you want to become one. They went back to the old school myths, where vampires can't be killed unless you put a stake through their heart, and they fear things like relics and crosses. They were actually the bad guys. There are already a lot of great romanticized vampire stories out there, so it's really nice to find the opposite.
The episodes were well paced, and the anime as a whole did a great job at keeping you on your toes and making you want to watch the next one. It did start out a little slow. The first few episodes were mostly just to give you a perspective on what the villagers were like and how future events…
Read at the sourcemomiji-no-kimi
Heya~
Story: 6/10
"Who's the real evil?" Who cares? It seemed pretty black and white to me logically. (Personally: If you're dead, stay dead.) I didn't feel any sympathy for either side. So I didn't end up contemplating life. Also I already knew humans are terrible. I guess a reminder didn't hurt? (Concept was good enough for bonus points in story rating. But, mainly, the endless blood showers ♥)
Art: 3/10
I still remember when my brain just said, "Deal with it, it's episode 17 already." The drawing style is unique but I didn't find it beautiful, it was bizarre. I guess it suits how messed up the anime is but it doesn't change things for me; didn't like it. Bonus points: Managed to live with it.
Sound: 7/10
I actually liked the music and anything sound related, it was the one thing I co…
Read at the sourceAyoooCee
Okay, lets try this again since my last review didn't go so well :p
I finished Shiki just recently and i was very pleased with it especially in the beginning. The exposition was suspenseful and exciting. I noticed some people didn't like the slow start, i guess it's preference because i seemed to enjoy the build up. There was a vast cast of characters, typically these characters would be cannon fodder or they would lack substance. The cast of Shiki was the opposite. The show made you care for the characters and developed them well. Dr. Ozaki specifically had an really good voice acting performance. There were one or two characters that were slightly annoying and came off as whiney, or were slightly underused, but saying this is nit picking. Now back to the story, there was a slow build up…
Read at the sourceFear_the_Reefer
Something strange has been going on in the quaint village of Sotoba... Ever since those wealthy outsiders built their lavish mansion at the top of Kanemasa Hill, there has been a succession of mysterious deaths... People of all ages will become lethargic and anti-social, refuse to go to the doctor, and then die after only a few days... Could it be an epidemic? Some new disease? And are the rumors true that the dead are still walking around?
Those newcomers are certainly strange, and Sotoba does have ancient legends about Okomiyagi, or the dead coming back to life... But those are just stories, right?
Based on a series of novels from 1998, Shiki tells the story of an entire rural Japanese community as it deals with one mysterious death after another, slowly whittling their population dow…
Read at the sourceKD7BWB
OK Lion Tamers, we'll look at "Shiki"!
I decided to give this thing a look. And I think most people, who like suspense thrillers, might actually go for this thing.
I am usually quite picky about Vampire offerings, because people have done this thing to death (pun intended). More importantly, while almost every authorship has done Vampire stories (comics, novels, plays, movies, and now anime), what is worse is the slow evolution from the original rules for Vampires; a la Bram Stoker- to something where the original idea has begun to evolve into a completely new beast.
While even I have created a new type of Vampire from time to time, in fan-fiction; it is refreshing to find a story that actually sticks to most of the original rules of the game.
"Shiki" is such an offering. Even the char…
Read at the sourceAviJii
Shiki was my first anime that is all about vampires and werewolves. If you are a vampire story enthusiast then you will like this one. Ja! Vampire enthusiast or not read my simple review so you can get an idea on how did I finish this one even though I am not into vampire stories.
Maybe at first you will hesitate to watch this one and I admit that I am one of them but for some reason I managed to finish the story and leave me "Amazed" and "Satisfied"
Ja! Let's start this one.
Art 7/10 : Art for location is really nice. Simple and very detailed. Art for Shiki is not totally good when it comes to its character. I can rate it as an above average only. Lines are too sharp especially on chins, and there are also some issues when it comes to colours. Especially when it comes to the "Risen" f…
Read at the sourceMind-freak
Death is terrible for anyone. Young or old, good or evil, it’s all the same. Death is impartial. There is no especially terrible death. That’s why death is so fearsome. Your deeds, your age, your personality, your wealth, your beauty: they are all meaningless in the face of death.
Shiki is a very hard series to talk about without spoilers. It’s a show that you really need to see for yourself. Still, I consider this to be the best show to have debuted during the past half year, so I’ll at least try to vaguely explain why I consider it such an awesome and unique series.
Shiki is another one of those series set in a tiny Japanese village that’s set in the middle of nowhere. One thing that immediately stands out is how well it manages to colour that village: even the simplest of residents ar…
Read at the sourceFragmentary
I'll be honest; this is my first review. As so, I am open to all criticism and feedback. After all, I'm here to inform you, not fan-boy rant or spew obscenities about a show. So, without further ado, onto the review! (I promise that was not intended to rhyme!)
It's been a while since I dared to pick up a vampire anime. The modernization and romanticism of these blood-suckers in titles such as Twilight and other anime like Rosario + Vampire left me with much despair for this genre.
Luckily, Shiki rekindled my appeal towards the night stalkers.
After watching the entire series, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I went in not expecting much, and came out finding a hidden gem among anime. But, Frag, what makes this show such a gem? I'll do my best to answer that question in the foll…
Read at the sourceBishounen_Hunter
Shiki is definitely one of those nice surprises you didn't expect would be so good, considering the level of uninspiring and unoriginal anime fluff we see on the shelves nowadays. Despite receiving rave reviews by so many people from all walks of life, I was still a total skeptic especially when it comes to people praising any modern anime. Mainly since there is very little modern anime has to offer... beyond titties, panty-shots, moe, toothy grinning shounen-types with big weapons or powers, and giant robots... miraculously all within some kind of school setting. If you've seen one, you can basically say you've seen them all. So imagine my surprise when i picked this title; after seeing these kids with bizarre hair and the cheery (somewhat simple) art style, I genuinely expected some type…
Read at the sourceTheHand
Am I the only one who thinks the whole "humans doing inhuman things" as really trite and cliche?
Well, if you think that this is an utterly original and deep idea, then I have the show for you: It's Shiki, where the vampires don't sparkle but do rival the Cullen's tendency toward being vanilla as hell.
Shiki's main praise seems to be that it isn't Twilight and it's more about traditional vampires. However, most of the people who say this have no knowledge about traditional vampires in the first place so you shouldn't put too much stock in that.
No, the switch midway through to the humans being the "bad guys" doesn't make this show intelligent. Perhaps if it was executed decently, you might be able to argue this but Shiki doesn't manage that.
Doctor Osai has been the most interesting a…
Read at the sourcethenhk
I was directed to Shiki by a fellow anime fan who, like me, enjoyed more horror based anime. He insisted that Shiki was superior to shows like Another or Higurashi, since it created "characters you cared about".
Having now watched it, I am wondering what he was smoking.
I'll go through each aspect individually. Tharrrrr be spoilers (at least in the plot section), so read at your own risk.
Art = 5
I'm torn on this one. On the one hand, the backgrounds are great. It looks like a small village. They are beautiful, though a bit colourful at times for an anime which is supposed to be "dark". Points also go to this one for mixing up the character designs and not having all the characters as beautiful supermodels. Though not excessively gory, the blood and gore aren't skimped on either, anothe…
Read at the sourcejet2r0cks
Vampire anime has never been my cup of tea. I’ve seen a fair amount of such anime and for me, they usually turn out to be really corny (such as Dance in the Vampire Bund), boring (such as Shingetsutan Tsukihime), shallow and chockfull of fanservice (Rosario + Vampire) or just plain lame (Black Blood Brothers). I’ve gotten tired of seeing vampires presented to be as majestic, perfect, idol-like creatures, leading glamorous lives and just happen to suck blood for nourishment. Are vampires really monsters, or just sissies?
Then I saw Shiki.
It’s surprisingly good. I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece but it’s interesting, not to mention actually quite frightening, as horror stories should be. The first few episodes hint on what is happening, but you’re not completely sure what it is until the c…
Read at the sourceJusticeUndone
Until maybe a decade ago vampire stories were at their prime. I, as well, used to be a big fan of such stories. In my eyes, those tales were thrilling, grasping me the whole way through and leaving me mostly utterly terrified. After hundreds of movies, books and tv series based on the vampire myth,though, vampires started to lose their original shine. They were just so overused that one could easily stop caring anymore. If anyone of you came asking me what I believed a vampire was I’m not quite sure of what my answer would be. Can they die from sunlight or do they glitter like the sun? Are they really fearsome or do they look like they just came out of a beauty pageant? Questions like these, that many of you might have, at one point, thought, made me stop watching about vampires whatsoever…
Read at the sourceLindle
Shiki, or Corpse Demon, is effectively the story of a village in the middle of nowhere being subjected to a mysterious string of unexplainable deaths. If you want to watch this anime and go into it 100% spoiler-free, even though this is not much of a spoiler at all, look away now.
The deaths are, of course, being caused by vampires. While they take their sweet time coming out and saying it, it's pretty obvious from a really early stage. But don't tell any of the characters that, because they don't half take their sweet time working it out. Over half the story is dedicated to watching the cast struggle to grasp something you worked out by the second episode, which is effectively this show's most crippling weakness.
Now stop. Do not hit the "Not Helpful" button just yet. Before you have a…
Read at the source