momiji-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 animeis 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 couldn't complain about. It wasn't painfully out of place or too weird. Character: 2/10 Oh wow. In one word, UNLIKEABLE. Most of them were painfully annoying or despicable. Even the kind ones were annoying to me, like that best friend guy that kept crying. I can't explain without spoilers but ask yourself, "Is it worth ruining my day for?" Not really. "Why do that?!" or "Just do it!!" moments are too many a person should ever experience in a single series. Enjoyment: 5/10? I managed to sit through 24 episodes overall so it's compelling in its own way. Who's gonna die next?? Is everyone a piece of *** or will they actually grow as characters?? Tbh, it actually took me a few episodes to understand what was going on so there's some major potential this could have been shorter than it was. Overall: 6/10 100% would not rewatch. 6 is actually generous but I base my ratings on concept potential usually. Don't get me wrong, it was compelling enough to keep me interested, BUT, it was compelling in a bad way. I kept watching to see if anyone of those fudgers actually pulls through for me. Conclusion: If you like messed up stuff, this could be for you. Everyone's review seems to be raving about how good Shiki is and so I'm just wondering maybe there is something wrong with me. (Well, there must be if I managed to get through this bloody anime without losing my appetite but that's another issue.) Why did I bother to write this you may ask?? I think it might be nice for other people to have some closure that they're not abnormal for not raving about it and that it's not for everyone, I'm like Batman of the anime world. Thanks for reading.

xDaydreamer

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 comesaround 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 ridiculous. The hair on some of the characters...the hair. It's like Super Saiyans on crack. Gravity defiant, logic defying hair that makes the living humans look undead even though they're still alive. The elderly and even some of the young characters (Masao in particular) look hideous right from the start. It's not scary, in my opinion it's just unpleasant to look at. There's not much to say about the Sound. It didn't really leave an impression. The sound effects weren't always used the best way (I.E. Excessive cracking noises coming from a Shiki that is barely moving it's neck) CHARACTERS A lot of the characters are so incessantly obnoxious to the point where you want them to die. Then they die. Then you realize crap this is Shiki, I have to wait for them to die a second time before I'm through with their BS. Even the characters you like in the beginning betray those good qualities by the middle / end. One more thing, chain smoking doctors aren't cool. You're supposed to be a doctor dammit, save those cigarettes for us non-doctors. CONCLUSION Shiki failed to live up to my expectations. I feel like Shiki never intended to give you a likeable cast. The point of the story is to submerge you in moral ambiguity with a bunch of mediocre characters and slow moving plot. Most likely the goal was to have the viewer ask him or herself in the aftermath of the climax "What was (morally) good? What was bad? Was anybody really in the right?". It's left up to the viewer to decide without the anime deciding which side was 'right' for you. Unfortunately, at least in my case, by the time I got to that point I didn't really care enough about the story, the characters, or the ending to think too hard about it.