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ShiKi
Anime Review
Ok, ladies, you've been overdosed with vampires that sparkle, are romantic, are handsome, charming, clever, and are basically 'Prince Charming' in a black cape. They've been the good guys, they've been the bad guys, but, just maybe, what if nobody on either side of the story was entirely good or evil?
So.... get ready for some real vampires. I don't even mean the Noferatu types where it's obvious it's a monster. No, Shi Ki presents us with a whole new dimension to what would otherwise be a tired, done-to-death genre -- instead, here's a vampire series that plays it straight, and turns the whole thing on it's ear, making the entire series come off as a simple fight for survival against an unknown, supernatural force that there seems to be no hope against.
 ShiKi presents the story from multiple viewpoints with a huge cast of characters, going as far as to introduce us to what we initially thought was the central protagonist, and then killing her off by the second episode. And no, death isn't immediate. The poor victim suffers for a while and is even treated by a doctor but to no avail.
And it is this heroic doctor who becomes our central protagonist, as at first, he thinks some terrible disease is sweeping through the tiny secluded village in Japan, as it mainly affects the old, and the summer has been unusually hot, so many in the town just chalk it up to old age and the heat... But the mystery deepens as the fatalities pile up, and pretty soon it's starting to look like some kind of horrific epidemic.
 And when the awful truth finally starts to reveal itself; that the epidemic is being caused by the undead -- a group of vampires -- and then those with the 'facts' are laughed at by the town; the residents simply refuse to believe it. And of course, as the evidence piles up, sooner or later things come to a head and then the moral questioning begins: If the town kills the vampires, are they no better than the vampires themselves? After all, the vampires have been killing for their own survival, and yet the townspeople, in order to survive, must also kill. The series takes no stand in one direction or the other, leaving the viewer to question right or wrong in the face of the situation.
 Although it starts off slowly, the tension builds and builds, and it gets better with each passing episode. And when the violence explodes, it's not for the weak-stomached. This is a fight for survival one way or another. And in this; SkiKi is truly a revolutionary series that transforms a well-worn genre into something new and exciting and, dare I say it; fresh and vibrant and original. Don't miss it.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, September 2012
Below: Scenes from ShiKi .
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