I wasn't really sure what to expect of this anime going into it. There were the obvious: horror, spooky things. But in terms of narrative, visuals, characters, I was completely in the dark. It's what made me kind of excited to finally dive into it this Halloween season. I haven't watched that many horror anime (one is really good, the other is Pupa) and while I wasn't looking to be terrified by anything, I was looking for an intriguing horror story. And in some ways, I did and did not get what I wanted in that regard. Shiki seems to be something else instead: a mystery.
Shiki is a 2010 anime series based on a manga which is based on a series of novels of the same title. It takes place in modern Sotoba, a small, fictional village in Japan. It's very rural, and the population runs at around 1,300 people. Our story focuses on Natsuno Yuuki and Dr. Toshio Ozaki as the town begins to fall apart around them, seemingly hit by some sort of epidemic after a European-style mansion is put in town. The villagers begin to grow paranoid that they may be the next to die and our two main heroes are stuck together to figure out what happens.
Right off the bat I'll say that I had a ton of fun watching Shiki's first few episodes...kind of. I shouldn't say that. I had a ton of fun watching Episodes 2-6 of the show.
The pilot episode really wasn't that strong of an episode to get me psyched for the series. It starts kind of with the opening tune of the series. While it isn't necessarily bad it's not something I would associate with a mystery/ horror series, and is more along the lines of what any generic anime opening song is. The pilot doesn't even really feature the two main characters all that much. They're in it, sure, but only to establish their most basic character traits. Dr. Ozaki shines through compared to Natsuno, but we'll get to that in a moment. Instead it focuses on a key character for Natsuno, Megumi, and boy is she a drag.
She's every over-exaggerated dreamer anime girl you've ever seen. She feels picked on by the town and has a superiority complex about her. The first episode really has little to do with the rest of the series save for the ending, as it really sets the series up to be a rom-com type story set in high school. Ugh. Yeah that wasn't the greatest thing to learn. Not that I'm sick of anime set in high school, since it's a trend that will never go away and I accept tat, but I wasn't looking forward to dumb, annoying teenagers being in a horror story.
However there is one thing that the first episode established well that would carry on for what I saw of the series: the town, Sotoba, seems to be it's own living character.
While it is important that one "shows" and doesn't "tell," the constant cuts to old men and women, a random assortment of characters around town, just bickering and gossiping about the characters and their dilemmas gives the town it's own life. It makes you wonder how word can travel so fast, and if all these people do is gossip. There's an eerie feeling to it all, as if you can't do anything without someone else noticing. It's something that's played up as a part of the story, and it is continued through the rest of the town.
Once we leave the first episode, though, we're running right out of the gate, as bodies are dropping at an alarming rate. The second episode is kind of where the characters seem to cement themselves as our mains. Dr. Ozaki begins taking on patients at a rapid-fire pace to handle this possible disease on their hands--a disease that he has no solutions too. What's good, though, is that we do see him actively trying to get results. He wants to save these people and does everything for the betterment of the town. While he isn't the most lighthearted guy ever, he is mostly an affectionate person. He literally sprints to patients that are sick, he doesn't want anyone to die in the town.
By the opposite token, our main character, Natsuno, never rubbed me the right way. He's bitter, cold, and just downright unlikable. Megumi just wants to talk to him and he shuts her out, just as he shuts out everyone. We're not given a reason why other than he just wants to be alone. Even the people he does get close with--one person--he can barely crack a smile at and sort of uses them for his own purposes to stay safe. Instead of showing a little care toward the dead he just ignores them and passes them off like they're nothing. There are some moments of humanity that we see from him, but they're far and few between and at this point I don't care for what happens to him.
Thankfully the events that do revolve around him are interesting and help drive the horror elements of the series. Those don't come on for a few episodes but they are incredibly intriguing when they happen. They remind me very much of Nightmare on Elm Street, only the line is blurred even more as to whether or not what's happening really is a dream and how much of it could be reality. There are some visual clues to when things are in a dream-state, but it's unclear how the dreams are affecting reality.
The epidemic itself is a great mystery, with subtle hints sprinkled around before the (somewhat of a) reveal by Ozaki. If you can catch them early on, like I did, you'll probably have a good time trying to piece things together. Even as early as the first episode you may catch a small hint at what's to come, and what the epidemic really is. Figuring out what it is has me intrigued to see the remainder of the series and see how the events play out.
So far the show hasn't really scared me so much as it has me thinking. Which is probably it's intent. There hasn't been very much scary imagery, just scary ideas, like the dead coming back to life and there possibly being a disease that's slaughtering the entire town. Sure some of the characters, like Sunako, are indeed visually disturbing and there are some moments in the dream world that are unsettling, but overall the scary imagery has been at a bit of a minimum to set up the more curious elements of what's really going on.
For the sake of spoilers I won't get into much else, as a lot does happen in the early episodes that really brings the tension up with each passing episode. There are a few more characters that are annoying but don't last very long and do play somewhat into the plot. The series also does a good job of not setting up characters just to die, they do have some relevance to our main characters and their journey toward figuring this out. Sure they don't seem to affect Natsuno since that dude is as dense as a brick wall but Dr. Ozaki was always the more interesting character anyway.
I'd say give Shiki a shot this Halloween season. The first episode isn't the greatest but trust me when I say it picks up significantly after that. It's still not quite a horror story as much as it is a murder mystery, and even then if you figure out the who it's the why that becomes fun to unravel. I'm certainly excited to dive right back into it.
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