Shiki

[crusader88]

Glad some others CAAers like Shiki. The first episode was a bit poppy, but after that it got good fast.

[blkmage]

Yep, this week is the week I've been waiting for ever since I read it in the manga.

[Atria35]

I saw episode 13. I wasn't impressed. I just want people to start, y'know, thinking. It's not like half their village has disappeared and the other half dying. WTFreak do the remaining think is happening? And why aren't they getting away?!

I think they ALL deserve to die because they're idiots.

[blkmage]

This week is episode 14.

[Atria35]

Since yesterday morning when I watched it, Hulu only had 13 episodes. Today they have 14, so I watched it and....

Excuse me while I curl up into a corner and cry. That was horror-movie material right there.

[blkmage]

Yeah, Shiki (and Kuragehime) airs Thursday nights just before midnight JST, so it'll be available on streams for us sometime in the afternoon on Thursday.

[MightiMidget]

Not a fan of that type of horror (episode 14). It was rather traumatizing and "I don't want to turn my light off" and I got my cat out of the garage to keep me company so I could sleep. :/ I love Shiki, but hope desperately "slasher doctor" (I know, I know, there were many a reason, and I can reason out the whys in my head, but it was still traumatic and insane) is. um. never again present. ^_^

[blkmage]

It was definitely a lot more disturbing watching it than reading it. But, the reason I liked it is because it never happens.
[SPOILER]Seriously, when was the last time you've seen a doctor have the guts to do something like that, being super prepared, and going through it so clinically to figure out just what those things are and how they work?[/SPOILER]
Also, I guess you got your wish: someone started thinking.

[Atria35]

Also, I guess you got your wish: someone started thinking.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Be careful what you wish for.

... And I suppose I wouldn't want this episode exchanged for any other. I mean, they really have no way of knowing how to kill these beings, or what makes them live again. So as horrible as it was, it still was absolutely necessary. Someone had to do it, and the doctor having the nerves and stregnth of soul to do what he did shows that he is willing to do anything to save the people of the villiage. After all, who else would try to figure out their weaknesses? Who else believed?

At least it was tastefully gruesome. We were spared the worst of the gore and violence with angles that maximized the implication without showing what exactly was going on.

[MightiMidget]

It was very tastefully done indeed, and the scene added a sense of realism and strength. Now that I actually managed to sleep last night--I watched that at 2am. -_- --and looking back on it, it was well placed...I am grateful for not seeing the entire bloody aftermath.

Is the manga licensed in the US, btw?

[Atria35]

Is the manga licensed in the US, btw?

You mean the light novels? Nope. Not yet, at least- they might at some later date release them.

[MasterDias]

Is the manga licensed in the US, btw?

You mean the light novels? Nope. Not yet, at least- they might at some later date release them.

I could be mistaken, but I don't believe they were technically light novels. I think they were actually regular adult novels.

The manga adaptation is actually what the anime is being based off of. It's being done by Fujisaki Ryu who is mostly known for Houshin Engi in Shonen Jump, which explains the Shiki anime's stylized character designs.
At any rate, neither manga nor novels are licensed currently.

14 was pretty interesting. I'm still enjoying this. But I am curious as to how they plan to end the anime though. The novels may be complete, but the manga isn't as of yet.

[MightiMidget]

You mean the light novels? Nope. Not yet, at least- they might at some later date release them.

Sorry, I don't know the difference between light novels and manga. Are manga volume compilations of the chapters released in magazines and light novels published AS a compilation? bad wording.

Ahha! Okay, thanks. =)

[mechana2015]

Light novels are short fiction books, usually with some illustrations throughout them. They exist independent of manga and anime, but inspire both manga and anime.

[Fish and Chips]

Sorry, I don't know the difference between light novels and manga. Are manga volume compilations of the chapters released in magazines and light novels published AS a compilation? bad wording.

Mech got it close.

Essentially, light novels are young adult literature, heavy on dialogue and sometimes narration, sparse on detail, lending the imaginings of characters and certain events to illustrations scattered about the book. They tend to read a bit like rough Anime scripts, which is probably one reason why they're a popular source for adaptions.

Manga, of course, are comics.

I should note it apparently doesn't take much actual writing talent to succeed in the world of light novels, but there are a few greats here and there. Not that it matters because I don't think most people read them for anything beyond cheap entertainment anyway.

[ich1990]

Episode 13:

Again, people are acting dumb, and I am trying to decide if it is actual lack of IQ or hypnotism. Hey Doc, you just got between a clan of vampires and their prey, did it ever occur to you that they might be angry and attack your loved ones?

Natsuno's death can only mean one thing: a Natsuno and whats-his-name (Toshio? The vampire that was feeding on him) two person rebellion against the vampire clan! Look for it......

Well, here is to hoping that someone realizes that this is a war and gets serious about it.

Also, is it just me, or is it hard to take the head, super-vampire seriously with those cat ears?

Holy crap Episode 14:

I always thought that if anyone was going to get something done about this, then it would be the Doc. Learning the rules by which the vampires operate is essential to the town (and his patients) survival, so I expected him to be among the first to offer organized, intelligent resistance. I even expected him to try to kill one with a stake. Holy crap, I didn't expect him to do so to his own wife! And so professionally besides! I am very much a fan.

This is a fantastic turning point to a show that was rapidly becoming dull. I will be honest and thought that stuff like this would have happened somewhere around episode 8, not episode 14. Hopefully the pace will pick up now. Oh, and the Doc had better realize what kind of a target he has made of himself. He is vampire enemy number one, and he had better start coming up with a way to survive.

[Atria35]

Episode 15- WHAT IS THIS I DON"T EVEN-

*deep breath* Well, it looks like they went back to the agonizing slowness of utter stupidity this episode. All the action and intrigue and whatnot that we were promised? Yeah, no.
[spoiler]The doctor decided to go with Utter Stupidity when dealing with the Shiki and instead of letting them go on their merry way and just get the freak out of the village with the papers and get an investigation going from the outside, he decides to tell them that he knows everything. Really? Really?[/spoiler]

I honestly don't know whether I want to continue the show at this point. I hope that they all die horrific deaths. Horrific, painful deaths.

*aside- where on EARTH did the curtain and lounge chair come from when the doctor was visitng the heath department? Random and so out of nowhere!

[blkmage]

I think you're all suffering from a case of having way more information than what the characters are privy to. I don't know about you, but generally, people don't migrate from villages because of outbreaks, and especially not rural villages, where everyone who's still there is either old and doesn't want to move or can't. Not everyone has unlimited social mobility! Secondly, please explain to me how you plan on convincing someone that your remote, rural village is overrun with vampires.

Yeah, I know you know that it's because of the vampires, but that's entirely because you know you're watching a show about vampires. And yeah, bite marks and all that evidence points to vampires, but you're all forgetting that vampires aren't supposed to exist. We didn't think that life spectres were robbing us of our breath when SARS hit Toronto and none of us moved away in hysterical fear. I don't know why you're expecting the people in this show to.

And finally, you're also forgetting that these are normal people, not vampire hunters. Do you know how to fight a vampire? I sure as hell don't. I mean, sure the doctor was able to kill one that didn't know what was going on and was tied down. And vampires are presumably good at killing humans without them knowing (and even with them knowing), otherwise they wouldn't still be around.

As for action: this isn't Higurashi.

[Atria35]

But even when they're sitting there saying that they don't believe in vampires, they refuse to dig up the graves just to double-check. If people are running around claiming it's vampires, isn't that the fastest way to stop the rumors?

I think the SARS virus isn't a good example, since half the country didn't start dying. By the headcount in the show, probably a good quarter of the inhabitants have died- it's not a big village. The villiage apparently has less than 2,000 residents. That's a huge percentage of the population.

But even if the villagers didn't leave, the doctor could have- if he'd just left with the discrepant paperwork that he waved around instead of yelling at the vampires working in the health department. And if he'd notified the government (which reminds me- why do they not have something like the CDC so he could just call and say that there's paperwork showing unusual amounts of deaths and discrepancies so that they could get on it? And he could have faxed that paperwork on so that the government could send in people) then even if they didn't believe that the undead were stalking the town, the vampires might have been forced to move on.

[blkmage]

Let's go ask a grieving family to dig up the grave of one of their recently deceased because we think there are vampires running around. I really hope you can see the absurdity of this request.

Anyway, regarding the stuff about the village, the reason why they're pretty much on their own (much like Higurashi until it was really too late) is a function of the unique demographic, bureaucratic, and cultural circumstances surrounding Japanese rural villages in modern times. It's one of the reasons why the setting is what it is and it's probably one of those things that doesn't work very well if you're not familiar with that kind of cultural context.

[MightiMidget]

While I am not familiar with the setting as it pertains to the actual culture, I've been loving the pacing and the believability of it so far. While there are moments of "really! check the graves!" it is refreshing to see these people cling to their human suspicion over their turning into a paranoid mob. Also continuing to look forward to how Natsuno is going to be handling things. I'm seriously loving him and Ozaki.

[Atria35]

But if they aren't worried about people being vampires, then why would they start talking about graverobbing once the idea of digging up the graves was brought up? Do they have reason to believe that there are graverobbers about? And wouldn't they want to check to make sure that their loved ones weren't stolen from their graves?

I still feel that with such a huge percentage of the population dead, even the elderly would be worried about why better containment measures weren't being put on the "disease"- with less that 2,000 residents, you KNOW everyone who died. Which means that at this point, they'd be counting the days until they dropped.

[blkmage]

I don't remember what the exact number of people dead is, but I feel like it isn't as large as you think it is.

I also don't remember the graverobbing conversation, but generally, people don't like to dig up graves unless they are very, very sure about about what they're doing.

[blkmage]

A bunch of chapters of the manga just got translated and, well, let's just say that it is unfolding, much more interestingly than in the anime. Some scenes definitely give Higurashi a run for its money, although I doubt that they'll be included in the anime. As a note, I think the pacing and rearrangement of some scenes in the anime hurts it. Some things that may have baffled you in the anime have the benefit of having the characters' thoughts voiced out.

[MasterDias]

For a while, unless I'm mistaken, they were basically doing one chapter per episode or so. Have there been actual major differences between the anime and manga yet? I had been wondering how the anime was going to end since the manga was still ongoing.

[blkmage]

Actually, this episode confirmed it. The ordering of the events is slightly different, so that threw my feel for it off by a bit, but a few admittedly minor things have been dropped. The change in ordering makes certain episodes a lot more interesting and important but it also makes some episodes seem really dumb until you watch the episode that follows, which was the case for last week and this week.

But man, this was great (spoilers).

[MightiMidget]

Holy. Cow. That was amazing. I was wondering what he was planning...and oh, oh! He is absolutely brilliant. Brilliant. However, I must ask...

Edit: Five-Ten minutes later still on happy cloud from the awesome. O:)

[spoiler]What's with Natsuno and (*coughtheclothescough*) the swivel chairs, office, etc., eh? It felt very sudden and out of place... But. Okay.[/spoiler]

[MasterDias]

That was pretty awesome.
Ritsuko and the beard guy had good scenes as well.

And it looks like we are finally entering the endgame now. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens.

[ich1990]

So basically what I thought was going to happen in episode 8 or 9 just happened in episode 19. It is great that stuff is going down, but I can't help but think that this anime is needlessly slow and plodding.

[MasterDias]

I'm not an expert on vampire/horror stories, but slow-pacing doesn't strike me as being particularly unusual for the genre. This isn't an action show. The novel(s) apparently had a lot of build-up as well.

Anyway, I'm really interested to see how they are going to end this.