{"id":113,"date":"2011-06-09T10:00:35","date_gmt":"2011-06-09T17:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/misakithursday.wordpress.com\/?p=113"},"modified":"2018-12-20T00:22:20","modified_gmt":"2018-12-20T07:22:20","slug":"wilfws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/flomu.net\/blog\/2011\/06\/wilfws\/","title":{"rendered":"What I learned from watching Shiki"},"content":{"rendered":"

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What anime aired in 2010?<\/p>\n

Durarara!!<\/p>\n

Angel Beats!<\/p>\n

K-ON!!<\/p>\n

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya<\/p>\n

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood<\/p>\n

Kuragehime<\/p>\n

Tatami Galaxy<\/p>\n

…and Shiki.<\/p>\n

Shiki is last on this list because nobody<\/em> watched it. \u00a0Some Higurashi ripoff? \u00a0I’d rather watch my anime about some stupid girl and her crossdressing jellyfish boyfriend! \u00a0I’d rather watch some stupid Kanade and her Kanade get a heart from Kanade Kanade should lose ISML<\/em> Kanade.<\/p>\n

Shiki is last on this list because it was also the best show of the year (Disappearance was a movie, durr). \u00a0I had the series on an external HD for the longest time, and I have to give a hand to Caraniel<\/a> for convincing me to watch the damn thing. \u00a0Before this season with Nichijou, AnoHana, etc., there was a two year gap where I constantly watched average anime. \u00a0I would often think, “Wow, anime has gotten so bad these days…”<\/p>\n

Shiki is the type of show that I should’ve watched earlier. \u00a0Maybe it would have restored my faith in the storytelling and animating power of the anime industry. \u00a0It’s an anime that sticks with you and forces you to think about it for weeks, months… even years (?), whether you like it or not.<\/p>\n

In this post, I’m going to talk about what watching Shiki has taught me. \u00a0There will be minor spoilers, but hell, it’s not going to make a difference.<\/p>\n

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1. Shiki vs. Higurashi is an unfair comparison<\/strong><\/p>\n

aka “Shiki is neither Mystery nor Horror”<\/p>\n

As the title says, Shiki is not a horror anime. \u00a0It’s not a mystery anime. \u00a0It’s a tragedy – and an incredible one. \u00a0When somebody says “horror anime,” I think of Higurashi. \u00a0It’s only natural, given that it’s the only well-known horror anime… and I only say “well-known” because I don’t know any other ones.<\/p>\n

Higurashi scared the shit out of me. \u00a0I was afraid to get out of bed at night to use the restroom. \u00a0Rena’s yandere face. \u00a0That fingernail remover. \u00a0Shion (or was it Mion?) popping out from weird places. \u00a0Throat maggots<\/strong>. \u00a0It was terrifying, and I was thoroughly terrified.<\/p>\n

Shiki was not scary. \u00a0It was not scary in comparison to Higurashi. \u00a0It was not even scary in comparison to Jigoku Shoujo. \u00a0Maybe it’s scary in comparison to Lucky Star. \u00a0Just maybe. \u00a0In any case, Shiki did not attempt to leave anything to the imagination. \u00a0It tells the audience straight-out that the enemies are a bunch of vampires. \u00a0It goes further to show the vampire mob’s activities in detail, even developing their characters. \u00a0It’s not like Higurashi, where every waking moment is spent on “OH SHIT, RENA’S GOING TO KILL ME. \u00a0She’s right behind me with that cleaver. \u00a0Oh shit! \u00a0Satoko’s going to kill me! \u00a0Oh shit, Shion’s going to torture me and then<\/em> kill me!” \u00a0The audience lives in a constant state of paranoia because we have no idea if Keiichi is going to suddenly explode into a gruesome shower of blood and maggots or not.<\/p>\n

Some main characters may have died in Shiki, but their deaths were sad – not terrifying. \u00a0The entire anime is built around characterizing the entire village and showing how both humans and vampires can turn from naive dreamers into crazy, bloodthirsty killers. \u00a0Nobody is saved from this fate. \u00a0Everybody sins, and it’s tragic when they do.<\/p>\n

Maybe I’m preaching to the choir here. \u00a0I haven’t seen many Higurashi-Shiki comparisons. \u00a0Then again, I haven’t seen many opinions on Shiki in general. \u00a0But if you do decide to see Shiki or judge it, don’t compare it to Higurashi. \u00a0The only thing they have in common is “shit happens in a small town.”<\/p>\n

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2. IGBIS is a semi-legitimate argument.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I first encountered the infamous “it gets better, I swear<\/strong>!” defense in sola<\/span>. \u00a0Now in that show, something happens midway through that makes the latter half “better.” \u00a0But the thing is, I didn’t find it better. \u00a0I thought it was terrible through and through. \u00a0It didn’t even get less terrible after the halfway point – it was just a different kind of terrible that was equally terrible as the first half’s terrible.<\/p>\n

Repeat for several shows.<\/p>\n

Then, enter Madoka Magica. \u00a0When I watched the first episode of Madoka, I thought, “Wow, this is kind of decent.” \u00a0Then college really kicked in and I had stuff to do (like playing TF2 and Minecraft instead of watching anime). \u00a0Three months later, I returned to the internet and holy crap everybody loves Madoka Magica for some reason. \u00a0Not to get too far out of the loop, I decided to do the one thing I said I would never do: pick up a dropped anime. \u00a0I’m not Scamp<\/a> – for me, dropped anime are dropped forever (though I guess it’s safe to say that he has now seen the light and also thinks that dropped anime should stay that way). \u00a0Madoka was the first<\/em>\u00a0dropped anime I’ve picked up and managed to finish.<\/p>\n

The thing is, Madoka Magica wasn’t that special. \u00a0I needed something more. \u00a0I stumbled across that IGBIS post on Behind the Nihon Review<\/a>. \u00a0Then I stumbled across Caraniel’s post on her top 50 anime, where Shiki was #2. \u00a0Then I stumbled across this massive folder in my external hard drive called “Shiki [umee].” \u00a0Then I stumbled and hit the mouse button twice to open up the second episode. \u00a0Then I stumbled into my chair and sat there for twenty minutes.<\/p>\n

Moral of the story: sometimes stumbling is good<\/em>. \u00a0It results in watching good anime.<\/p>\n

What I’m trying to say is that although I was semi-convinced by Caraniel’s IGBIS argument:<\/p>\n

Shiki is a slow burn to start with (although I hear its much less noticeable to those marathoning it) and only really kicks off in a big way midway through. \u00a0The painstaking buildup of atmosphere and character development in the first half, means that when the brakes are taken off in the second half, the series just never stops delivering fantastic moments!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I was fueled more by my desire to disprove IGBIS and to eventually write a post about how Madoka sucked and then Shiki sucked so therefore IGBIS is inherently faulty. \u00a0Q.E.D.<\/p>\n

But it turns out that Shiki is actually a great anime for proving IGBIS works! \u00a0The first half of the show is dull, boring, trite… did I mention boring? \u00a0Once the anime showed me that the vampires were just a bunch of people led by a cat-eared guy in a jumpsuit, there really was no suspense\/mystery\/horror for me to actually care<\/em>. \u00a0But when some unexpected things started happening in episode 14, I got hooked.<\/p>\n

imo Shiki is the exception to the rule. \u00a0No other anime gets better, I swear!<\/p>\n

tl;dr I wrote this section for no reason, really.<\/p>\n

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3. Recommend some disturbing shows!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shiki is best described as “haunting,” but not in the ghostly sense. \u00a0It’s a sick and twisted story about a village losing their humanity, both figuratively and literally. \u00a0If that isn’t chilling and disturbing enough, Shiki first develops these villagers’ characters and then kills them off\/makes them suffer in the most gruesome and\/or horrible ways. \u00a0One character is run over by tractors repeatedly. \u00a0One is experimented on and tortured before killed. \u00a0One is stoned, pinned down, and killed. \u00a0One is shot. \u00a0Three are axed. \u00a0Many are staked. \u00a0Many get their blood sucked.<\/p>\n

In short: blood, gore, suffering, despair, and very strangely tear-jerkingness. \u00a0That’s what I like about Shiki.<\/p>\n

That’s also what I love about Shadow Star Narutaru (save the tear-jerking-ness). \u00a0Narutaru was recommended to me by\u00a0Chii<\/a>\u00a0after I expressed my undying love for Alien Nine on Twitter. \u00a0In both Alien Nine and Narutaru, I got a very unsettling feeling, as if all the main characters could suddenly turn into cannibal snake demons and start eating each other in the goriest way imaginable. \u00a0Alien Nine makes killing aliens an elementary-schooler’s job while Narutaru corrupts a children’s anime into some sick show about peer pressure, murder, and torture. \u00a0Alien Nine always takes an upbeat tone, even when the main characters are tearing at each others’ throats. \u00a0Narutaru is consistently eerie, even when the main character is just walking down the street on a normal day.<\/p>\n

There is no “disturbing shit” genre for these shows. \u00a0The closest I can find is “Psychological,” but that’s not quite what I’m looking for. \u00a0I want to see more shows like Shiki, Alien Nine, and Narutaru. \u00a0I want to watch anime that are tough<\/strong>\u00a0to watch. \u00a0Marathoning Shiki was straight-out difficult – I needed to stop halfway through some episodes because it was just too much to bear.<\/p>\n

So in short: recommend me some shows that I could tear my hair out watching. \u00a0I want some anime that is so disturbing that I won’t be able to sleep at night.<\/p>\n

Useless aside #1: Though I liked Narutaru’s atmosphere and mood, I didn’t like the story. \u00a0It was sloppily done, as if the staff decided to abandon the first half of the show in favor of pursuing a completely different arc. \u00a0So if you go find my Anime-Planet list, you’ll see that I rated the show 2.5\/5.<\/p>\n

Useless aside #2: Anime-Planet and MAL are totally unhelpful because dumb users recommend Higurashi on the Shiki page, almost as if it were a reflex action. \u00a0“Oh, horror. \u00a0Must be Higurashiesque.” \u00a0In fact, A-P has a recommendation for Black Rock Shooter on the Shiki page. \u00a0Why? \u00a0WHY<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

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The hair… it all makes sense now. \u00a0That’s<\/em> why I like Mikoto and Misaki and Eurek- \u00a0wait.<\/p>\n

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4. More on disturbing\/shocking shows!<\/strong><\/p>\n

or “why Madoka did not appeal to me”<\/p>\n

Warning: Madoka Magica spoilers ahead!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

After watching Madoka Magica, I went online and read all the posts people made while I was off playing Minecraft and TF2 (all of winter 2010\/2011 season). \u00a0Most of the people who didn’t love Madoka argued that the characters were weak, especially Madoka. \u00a0Those who did love Madoka Magica with all of their heart and soul (99% of the aniblogosphere) mentioned that the anime was about despair… with a finale full of hope.<\/p>\n

The thing is, I’ve watched shows like Narutaru that take despair so much farther than Madoka ever did, so I didn’t really care about magical girls dying and turning into witches. \u00a0Okay, so it’s kind of dark and twisted. \u00a0Middle schoolers are basically making deals with the devil in exchange for some stupid wish. \u00a0Mami died, other people died, lots of people died.<\/p>\n

But hey, a lot more people died in Shiki and their deaths actually mattered to me because I cared about them. \u00a0The lack of good characterization in Madoka (in part due to its short length as a 1-cours show) makes me think of the characters as just a bunch of stupid little girls who don’t really know anything:<\/p>\n