屍鬼 (Shiki; Corpse Demon)
Have any of you seen Shiki, the creepy as all hell anime that deals with vampires and has Gackt in it?
I’ve pretty much been watching it on repeat (that’s what happens when you’re spending time at your boyfriend’s house and don’t have access to ANY of your image editors or web content.)
WARNING, (minor) SPOILERS AFTER THE CUT ( ﾟ-ﾟ)( ﾟﾛﾟ)(( ﾛﾟ)ﾟ((( ﾛ)~ﾟ ﾟ
It begins (sort of) with the disappearance of Megumi Shimizu, a pink haired girl who is fed up with how “uncool” her home village of Satoba is. There are two major things that she’s obsessed with: The family who will occupy the “castle” that suddenly sprung up in one of the districts (Kanemasa) and Yuuki Natsuno, a city boy with dusky purple hair who keeps to himself and wants nothing more than for people to leave him alone (he won’t even look at Megumi).
After the credits roll (BUCK-TICK’s “Kuchizuke“) we’re brought back to the day before of Megumi’s disappearance, where the small district (three residents total) of Yamairi are found dead in their homes, some seemingly torn apart by wild dogs. How this fits in with the story I’m not sure, but it introduces us to the village’s junior monk, Muroi.
That night, however, things begin to get interesting as the new family of Kanemasa move in. At two in the morning. This just peaks Megumi’s interest (she daydreams of being adopted. I day dream of having glossy, straight hair.) and, becoming frustrated with the sudden arrival of her less-than-cool classmate Kaori and the information she passes on about the family (no chance of Megumi being adopted), she decides to take her little spiked boots and yellow day dress and march up the hill and meet this family, but falls and twists her ankle along the way. Enter creepy music, and the front door opens, revealing a dark shadow with weird hair and rose petals. Scene changes, and Megumi is gone. And this begins the downward spiral for Satoba.
I’m actually kind of pleased with how they find Megumi (I’m not revealing anything with that), as it made it seem more real. What follows is pretty much mayhem that involves a disturbing little girl and her obsession with a monk.
I’ve watched this full series probably three times within the past year, it’s that good. Yes, it has to do with vampires (something I tend to avoid), but the cast of characters more than makes up for it. Ozaki Toshio (the doctor who starts a vampire hunt), Kirishiki Sunako (creepy little girl), Murasako Masao (I hate him. Watch, and you’ll hate him too.), and an assortment of others really give this series some depth, and humor. Granted, in one of the episodes it became so graphic that I almost gagged, but it was just that one episode.
So go on and give it a try (if it’s your kind of genre), and let me know how it was for you.
Heh, I’ve kept wanting to watch this series, but I’ve never had the bandwidth to be able to. :/
I think I was able to watch the first five minutes or something, not that I really remember it, since it was a while ago. D;
Yes, it does vaguely remind me of Higurashi, but that’s kind of the allure for it (to me), especially since I haven’t watched any Higurashi in maybeeee…a year and a half.
Do you know if they have a manga for it?
Damn your lack of bandwith! D;
It reminds me of Higurashi, as well, and I think that’s one of the things that drew me into it, as I loooooove Higurashi. Loves it.
There is a manga for it, but I haven’t had the chance to read it,
Ooh how interesting, it reminded me of Higurashi too! :D My sister and I have started watching the anime because of your suggestion here! We’re really enjoying it so far though we’re not very far into it!
I figured, if it’s nodame approved, it’s great taste approved ;D
I’m glad you guys are enjoying it :D I’m watching it for the fourth time as I type this x_x
Oh hooo hoo hooooo you’re going to make me blush #n_n# I’m super picky about my anime, and if I don’t enjoy it thoroughly, then I won’t recommend it.
[SPOILERS: IF YOU'RE AN ASIAN POP ATTACK READER INTERESTED IN WATCHING THE ANIME DON'T READ THIS COMMENT, THANK YOU <3]
Oh wow we just finished the anime ;-; Wow… wow, amazing, I'm still speechless! HAHAHA the characters are so intricate and so easy to fall in love with even when they're vampires :'( (Chizuru's death got me crying so hard) At the beginning it's so easy to judge them and root for their deaths, but from the moment on when Toshio kills his wife, our feelings take a complete 180º and I really had no clue who I was rooting for in the end :'( I love how the humans were more monstrous at the end than the vampires themselves, that was also a great twist! That last truth that the monk obtained before he ran off was also really deep and I thought it was very interesting to include that sort of mentality in the anime.
Thank you so much for writing about this anime! I loved it to death! :D I'm also super picky about my anime so I guess we have similar tastes!
They really layed into Chizuru, didn’t they? While I wasn’t really a fan of her, even I was in shock over how hard they came down on her. I have to admit, though, that I stayed anti-Sunako pretty much throughout the whole anime (there was just something about her that annoyed me), and I loved the doctor. He was so badass~
You’re right, there were great twists, and I think that’s one of the things that kept me hooked on it XD
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I’m trying to write about Higurashi, but that one can be kind of hard o.O I’m actually working on the Japanese movie “Goth” as well as the Chinese movie “Dumplings”, both of which I LOVED.
I couldn’t stand Masao -_-
OMG he was so annoying!!
OMG I couldn’t stand Masao either! I was so happy when he died hahaha
Yayy! :’D I’ll keep an eye out for your upcoming reviews, then! I think we have similar tastes of magical rainbows and sunshine <3