Let me clear one thing before we start the review. I hate twilight, but I love vampire stories. I always try to find something dark among the vampire lores. And it's pretty fun to explore every vampire stories in anime too.
Today I wish to review slow burn anime series named Shiki. At first look if you check the trailer, you won't be as excited as you get excited when you watch the trailer or series of Heilsing. But this slow burn drama horror however will keep you watching for some time.
Let's get started with our review of Shiki.
Image Credit: myanimelist
Considering the story is slow burn horror. It starts off with pretty much grim graphics and the slow character development. You come across new twists and turns in every episodes. The series has around 22 episodes along with side episodes which you can skip but they are worth watching. For those who like quick horror, I won't be surprise they may not like the story. But for me I kind of loved how slowly it moved.
In rural village, a lot of twists happen in the name of death, return of the dead and also the vampirish setup that is sown into the story like domino effect. In between you'd find pretty creepy graphics that would keep you hooked to the story. Though if you are tired of twilight type of stuff you may starting to hate the slow approach of this story.
The best part about the anime is the graphics. It is not your typical vampire graphics with the gore violence stamped all over. In fact you get more or less semi gothic and sadistic kingdom like vibe while you see the twists and the violence that happens all around the village.
Image Credit: myanimelist
They have drawn most of the graphics with pretty much care. However some of the character design like priests character sounds like bland. And also it does not give you much attention to some characters which are heavily painted and come across as annoying. However if you take overall series into the mind, graphics is pretty well done.
Anime has been pretty well setup for the bing watching. So if you are watching this anime on Netflix or the Cruncyroll. I'd recommend finish it in one setting otherwise you won't want to come back later as it takes time to settle yourself for the story and the way the progression goes for the story. It's slow burn anime for a reason after all.
Image Credit: myanimelist
You may find that the anime does not give you much of jump scare like most of the horror anime. However it has some twists in the story that would make you want to connect the dots and keep you guessing on what is about to come. And it kind of feels too dark at some time and too grim sadist vibe on the other.
I think there are lot of things to like about the anime. You will learn a lot about how the inhuman mentality works in the anime. And something about humanity and how hopeless it can be. You would love some of the points which kind of teaches you more about the society when the odds are placed around. Sounds track is also good. You would also love the graphics for some of the characters in the anime.
If you hate slow burn animes, then you are going to hate this anime. Also the horror and the dark vibes in the anime are pretty slow and sometimes give you wrong vibes about the plot holes. Which for most of the horror fans is easy to ignore and watch the series in a bing watch.
Yes, if you like horror then this series is worth going for. Though you are warned that it would be slow burn series and also pretty gothickish in it's graphics.
Unless you hate horror, you should definitely watch this anime.
