I wouldn't really call Masao 'smooth' though, even if he was attractive. He's so cringe-worthy! But then if he was attractive and had lots of fans, they'd also play the 'misunderstood' angle and suddenly instead of Masao looking selfish and annoying, his complaints will be well-founded, but he just can't express them right. As bad as this sounds, I probably would like him a lot better if he was less off-putting too. He's the gratuitous character that every anime is supposed to have that is without any redeeming qualities, however I don't think there's anyone in Shiki that I find 100% unsympathetic (with the possible exception of Ebuchi). The anime at least clearly meant to show Megumi as superior to Masao; when they're both Shiki, he always is brutally rejected by her but he looks so pathetic that it's hard to feel sorry for him. Meanwhile Megumi is a strong, independent Asian woman who don't need no man.
It's possible that in the novel Cain was just supposed to be straight symbolism of Seishin, but the mangaka just interpreted the Cain/Natsuno similarities himself and decided to make them look like that. In that case, both of your theories would be right depending which medium you're looking at. Also the novel's main character is undoubtedly Seishin, with Toshio getting quite some screentime as well, but the manga is split up between those two and Natsuno's story; they only overlap at the very end when Toshio and Natusno join forces (also different from the original story). Now that the mangaka gives Natsuno all this extra significance, his similarity to Cain in Seishin's novel can just be another method of giving him more screentime. If you really grasp at straws though, there are more parallels between Natsuno and the Cain character: both are exiled from the place they want to be in. Natsuno's move to Sotoba is like an exile for him, so that could be it.
I didn't realize the drama CD followed the manga so exactly; I kinda expected one of those where the characters talk about random crap that's not really related to the main plotline. Still cool to listen to though, but I couldn't get used to the different voices! Out of the whole cast, I'd have to say that Natsuno sounded the most like himself, although the last time I watched Shiki it was while checking out the English dub, so I'm not sure. I thought the English dub wasn't too bad, compared to some. Probably not as good as the Japanese, but it's rare when dubs are, isn't it? I'm just glad they didn't butcher it.
I would happily rip the video but I don't know how...I'm not a stranger to downloading videos (mostly Youtube videos by going to one of the sites like savetube or savevid which makes it really easy) and I tried it on a few, but none of them support the website. If only it was on like dailymotion or something. But I followed along pretty well with the manga on my phone, so it's all good.
I liked the seiyuu who voiced Ozaki too, is he pretty famous? I've probably heard him in anime other than Shiki, but it's hard for me to differentiate voices, especially if they're Japanese. He's head and shoulders above English Ozaki though--/that/ one sounded like some angry 40 year old sergeant all the time.
I gave Blue Exorcist a try too, but it didn't seem like my cup of tea so to speak. I found it kind of random and lacking likable characters, but the animation was really nice. I didn't think it's that popular, but I always see posts like "The Most Popular Anime! Bleach! One Piece! Naruto! Blue Exorcist!" ...Blue Exorcist? I don't think it should be on par with all of those. The only one I've watched the whole way through was Bleach, and I can't say it was good...but I watched it all. It was one of those shows where you're like, this is so boring. How is this show popular. *hits next episode* But those anime are the ones that are the most successful because it takes real talent to be able to make people watch even if they know they should stop. The only part I thought was really truly good was the Hueco Mundo arc; the Ulquiorra vs. Ichigo fight is enough to wipe away all regrets about sitting through 190 episodes to get to it. I watched FLCL once, I think what's so good about it is that you can't really understand it and it's so random it just /works/; that's why a lot of people like it. You're right that it's probably an acquired taste, though. It didn't make a huge impression on me, but a few weeks down the line I was still like "dang, that anime doe."
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It's possible that in the novel Cain was just supposed to be straight symbolism of Seishin, but the mangaka just interpreted the Cain/Natsuno similarities himself and decided to make them look like that. In that case, both of your theories would be right depending which medium you're looking at. Also the novel's main character is undoubtedly Seishin, with Toshio getting quite some screentime as well, but the manga is split up between those two and Natsuno's story; they only overlap at the very end when Toshio and Natusno join forces (also different from the original story). Now that the mangaka gives Natsuno all this extra significance, his similarity to Cain in Seishin's novel can just be another method of giving him more screentime. If you really grasp at straws though, there are more parallels between Natsuno and the Cain character: both are exiled from the place they want to be in. Natsuno's move to Sotoba is like an exile for him, so that could be it.
I didn't realize the drama CD followed the manga so exactly; I kinda expected one of those where the characters talk about random crap that's not really related to the main plotline. Still cool to listen to though, but I couldn't get used to the different voices! Out of the whole cast, I'd have to say that Natsuno sounded the most like himself, although the last time I watched Shiki it was while checking out the English dub, so I'm not sure. I thought the English dub wasn't too bad, compared to some. Probably not as good as the Japanese, but it's rare when dubs are, isn't it? I'm just glad they didn't butcher it.
I would happily rip the video but I don't know how...I'm not a stranger to downloading videos (mostly Youtube videos by going to one of the sites like savetube or savevid which makes it really easy) and I tried it on a few, but none of them support the website. If only it was on like dailymotion or something. But I followed along pretty well with the manga on my phone, so it's all good.
I liked the seiyuu who voiced Ozaki too, is he pretty famous? I've probably heard him in anime other than Shiki, but it's hard for me to differentiate voices, especially if they're Japanese. He's head and shoulders above English Ozaki though--/that/ one sounded like some angry 40 year old sergeant all the time.
I gave Blue Exorcist a try too, but it didn't seem like my cup of tea so to speak. I found it kind of random and lacking likable characters, but the animation was really nice. I didn't think it's that popular, but I always see posts like "The Most Popular Anime! Bleach! One Piece! Naruto! Blue Exorcist!" ...Blue Exorcist? I don't think it should be on par with all of those. The only one I've watched the whole way through was Bleach, and I can't say it was good...but I watched it all. It was one of those shows where you're like, this is so boring. How is this show popular. *hits next episode* But those anime are the ones that are the most successful because it takes real talent to be able to make people watch even if they know they should stop. The only part I thought was really truly good was the Hueco Mundo arc; the Ulquiorra vs. Ichigo fight is enough to wipe away all regrets about sitting through 190 episodes to get to it.
I watched FLCL once, I think what's so good about it is that you can't really understand it and it's so random it just /works/; that's why a lot of people like it. You're right that it's probably an acquired taste, though. It didn't make a huge impression on me, but a few weeks down the line I was still like "dang, that anime doe."