And another series finishes
Multiple series are finishing up today, which strikes me as sad in that respect. While I wait for the others, let me summarize Shiki, now that it's over.
You can classify Shiki as many things, but deep down, it's a tragedy. It's one of the more depressing tragedies I've watched recently because absolutely no one in the cast is safe. Everyone endures such horrors and loss, whether or not they become part of the "problem".
I wasn't sure what type of outcome we'd get, since everything started falling apart and becoming chaotic since episode 18. The mob mentality generally bothers me, so to see it get played out in such an extreme didn't sit with me at all, but given the situation, it's only to be expected. I've also become very disappointed with Toshio's general behavior, but then again, he had become obsessed about ridding the town of the vampire threat. Thanks to Toshio, the town was doomed in another way. And no one bothered to ever wash the blood off themselves? D:
To be honest, I did like Megumi to a degree, so to see her get caught and killed was difficult to watch. While I thought Seishiro was quirky and weird, it wasn't fun to see him walk like a zombie into the fire. Implied death? Natsuno, for being someone who really tried to make a difference throughout the series, even if subtly, I was really sad to see him whip out the TNT sticks. :( Tatsumi isn't my favorite, but you have to feel bad for the guy; he threw away everything just to protect Sunako and got shot like a hundred times. It's shown somewhat and heavily suggested that everyone who became vampires was killed off before the end. From what I've read, apparently Natsuno never became a werewolf and actually died (never "rising") in the original novel? Perhaps his dialogue about "I've been dead since long ago" is referencing that.
Because everyone during the opening who was portrayed as vampire-like was shown to have become one (or a werewolf), the one "unknown" was Seishin. Yes, he was shown with the red eye stuff in the opening, but is that really the outcome? The answer is yes, and it was really obvious when they overlapped the dialogue about werewolves while they showed Seishin lying unconscious on the ground what would happen. It really is the only way to proceed, otherwise Sunako would be doomed. That's about the only time I mentally cheered this episode. Seishin finally got this possible wish, probable curse that I couldn't quite tell if he really wanted or not. At least he appeared to get his mind together and knew exactly what he wanted to do, and his loyalty to Sunako never wavered. They might become the only characters to get a "happy" sort of ending. I really hope that Seishin will find a way of making Sunako happy without resorting to turning entire towns into vampires.
At the ending credits, they had a brief epilogue sequence in place of the preview for the next episode. I had been wondering what happened to Yuuki-san off and on while watching this episode, but in the end, since he never showed up, I basically accepted that he might have been permanently insane after all and/or could have died. However, when he showed up during the epilogue, looking more or less "normal" (although his hair is probably a permanent lighter shade due to what he went through), I started crying. I'm so glad he made it out okay and alive. ;_; Natsuno probably helped him before sacrificing himself, so in that respect, I still feel bad for Yuuki-san because he's now completely alone.
All in all, I really enjoyed Shiki, and it was more of the suspenseful horror-type stories I've dealt with recently that kept me interested until the very end. I generally am not into the horror genre, let alone suspense thrown into the mix, but Shiki proved that you can still like a story that covers genre material that may not normally appeal to you. As a true tragedy, no one gets a completely happy ending, the death count is staggering, and only a handful (or two) of important characters are alive at the end. The story is so incredibly cruel, yet handled intelligently and keeps you guessing. There are no glamorous vampires here, either. No sparkles, no sexy powers, and lots of creepy factor included. That's classic vampire goodness I was really hoping to see again, so I'm impressed in that respect.
I don't know if there will be another anime series like this for a while, so I'll definitely miss the TV series that made me look forward to each new episode. I also am glad I got started when so many episodes were already out because it's proven to be one of the few series I really enjoyed marathoning, hahaha. Well, the manga series is still going on, so at least I can keep an eye out for that! Too bad it's rather slow.
Also, the Starry Sky anime seems to be split up per character after all, probably two episodes per character. Ep. 2 still followed my dude (Capricorn = Tomoe), but the preview segment showed that we'd get someone completely different next time. Actually, I really enjoyed the first two episodes, and they seemed to appeal to my interests. Then again, I'm also a Capricorn, so... There are multiple "destined" things about this as well, but that's another explanation for another time, haha.
You can classify Shiki as many things, but deep down, it's a tragedy. It's one of the more depressing tragedies I've watched recently because absolutely no one in the cast is safe. Everyone endures such horrors and loss, whether or not they become part of the "problem".
I wasn't sure what type of outcome we'd get, since everything started falling apart and becoming chaotic since episode 18. The mob mentality generally bothers me, so to see it get played out in such an extreme didn't sit with me at all, but given the situation, it's only to be expected. I've also become very disappointed with Toshio's general behavior, but then again, he had become obsessed about ridding the town of the vampire threat. Thanks to Toshio, the town was doomed in another way. And no one bothered to ever wash the blood off themselves? D:
To be honest, I did like Megumi to a degree, so to see her get caught and killed was difficult to watch. While I thought Seishiro was quirky and weird, it wasn't fun to see him walk like a zombie into the fire. Implied death? Natsuno, for being someone who really tried to make a difference throughout the series, even if subtly, I was really sad to see him whip out the TNT sticks. :( Tatsumi isn't my favorite, but you have to feel bad for the guy; he threw away everything just to protect Sunako and got shot like a hundred times. It's shown somewhat and heavily suggested that everyone who became vampires was killed off before the end. From what I've read, apparently Natsuno never became a werewolf and actually died (never "rising") in the original novel? Perhaps his dialogue about "I've been dead since long ago" is referencing that.
Because everyone during the opening who was portrayed as vampire-like was shown to have become one (or a werewolf), the one "unknown" was Seishin. Yes, he was shown with the red eye stuff in the opening, but is that really the outcome? The answer is yes, and it was really obvious when they overlapped the dialogue about werewolves while they showed Seishin lying unconscious on the ground what would happen. It really is the only way to proceed, otherwise Sunako would be doomed. That's about the only time I mentally cheered this episode. Seishin finally got this possible wish, probable curse that I couldn't quite tell if he really wanted or not. At least he appeared to get his mind together and knew exactly what he wanted to do, and his loyalty to Sunako never wavered. They might become the only characters to get a "happy" sort of ending. I really hope that Seishin will find a way of making Sunako happy without resorting to turning entire towns into vampires.
At the ending credits, they had a brief epilogue sequence in place of the preview for the next episode. I had been wondering what happened to Yuuki-san off and on while watching this episode, but in the end, since he never showed up, I basically accepted that he might have been permanently insane after all and/or could have died. However, when he showed up during the epilogue, looking more or less "normal" (although his hair is probably a permanent lighter shade due to what he went through), I started crying. I'm so glad he made it out okay and alive. ;_; Natsuno probably helped him before sacrificing himself, so in that respect, I still feel bad for Yuuki-san because he's now completely alone.
All in all, I really enjoyed Shiki, and it was more of the suspenseful horror-type stories I've dealt with recently that kept me interested until the very end. I generally am not into the horror genre, let alone suspense thrown into the mix, but Shiki proved that you can still like a story that covers genre material that may not normally appeal to you. As a true tragedy, no one gets a completely happy ending, the death count is staggering, and only a handful (or two) of important characters are alive at the end. The story is so incredibly cruel, yet handled intelligently and keeps you guessing. There are no glamorous vampires here, either. No sparkles, no sexy powers, and lots of creepy factor included. That's classic vampire goodness I was really hoping to see again, so I'm impressed in that respect.
I don't know if there will be another anime series like this for a while, so I'll definitely miss the TV series that made me look forward to each new episode. I also am glad I got started when so many episodes were already out because it's proven to be one of the few series I really enjoyed marathoning, hahaha. Well, the manga series is still going on, so at least I can keep an eye out for that! Too bad it's rather slow.
Also, the Starry Sky anime seems to be split up per character after all, probably two episodes per character. Ep. 2 still followed my dude (Capricorn = Tomoe), but the preview segment showed that we'd get someone completely different next time. Actually, I really enjoyed the first two episodes, and they seemed to appeal to my interests. Then again, I'm also a Capricorn, so... There are multiple "destined" things about this as well, but that's another explanation for another time, haha.