Is it bad I see Shiki as being really inspiring? I mean, I like the whole hopeless, downer theme that to survive, sometimes you hurt other people and just end up making things worse. But it has inspiring bits. The example that leaps to mind is just how Ozaki rallied the humans and in just a few hours, turned them from a freaked-out village of people in mourning to a horde avenging their loved ones. It really shows what humans can be capable of. I don't really like works where they have another species other than human which is consistently seen as superior to humans. The Shiki had the advantage of surprise, but after that they were quite easily defeated even though they put up a fight. In Shiki vs. humans, both were very determined, since both were fighting for survival, and it also actually makes it hit closer to home that the Shiki are people too; they're not overpowered, supernatural beings. They're just the same as the living, and the only real difference between them, technically, is that they're dead (did I finally manage to see the situation through Seishin's eyes!?) It makes a much better impact than it would if the Shiki could walk through walls and use PK or turn into bats.
Back to inspiration, other inspiring moments are Kaori, Akira, and Natsuno deciding to investigate into the shiki, Natsuno deciding to save the town even though he always wanted to get out, obviously Ritsuko refusing to drink blood... One thing that really sticks out to me is Kanami trying to protect her mom. She could have reacted differently to her mom coming back (Mrs. Tanaka wasn't too happy to see her husband), but instead she recognized it as her mother and decided she would do all she could. Shiki are inherently scary, right; the thought of someone you know as dead coming back and killing you in order to survive is terrifying, and the anime really did a good job because I could see how freaked out Kanami was about her mother. Seishin repeatedly said how Shiki are just how they are as when they were alive, and I don't think anything really defined what he was saying more than Kanami's actions. She knew her mom before she died, and now she knows her as the same woman after she died. She's changed, but who doesn't, really?
Oooh, I really like the statement about Ozaki being life and Seishin being death! Probably less applicable in the novel when they both wear normal clothes, but in the anime when Ozaki is in his WHITE lab coat and Seishin is in his BLACK robe the symbolism is really good.
It also occurred to me how even though Shiki is such a character-driven work, none of the characters really change, though. Seishin becomes more assertive and pure towards the end, but it's more that he finally decided to accept himself rather than really changing on a fundamental level. All of his thoughts were there, he just needed Sunako to help organize them. And Ozaki too, we don't see a lot of him or his monologuing after he exposes the shiki, and he looks horrified at the villagers deciding to kill the people who were bitten by the shiki 'just in case', but in the final scene when he says "I lost", everyone can see that he's still the same as he was from the beginning. He made the fight against the epidemic, then the shiki, personal, and that hadn't changed.
I also like the chapters where we see 'normal' Seishin and Ozaki. It really helps see them not as the doctor and the priest, but as regular people who are just as affected by this as the rest of the village. I think it's funny too, I'd be reading and then come across something like "Seishin took off his SWEATSHIRT" and I go "...that's a strange way to say 'robe'."
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But it has inspiring bits. The example that leaps to mind is just how Ozaki rallied the humans and in just a few hours, turned them from a freaked-out village of people in mourning to a horde avenging their loved ones. It really shows what humans can be capable of. I don't really like works where they have another species other than human which is consistently seen as superior to humans. The Shiki had the advantage of surprise, but after that they were quite easily defeated even though they put up a fight. In Shiki vs. humans, both were very determined, since both were fighting for survival, and it also actually makes it hit closer to home that the Shiki are people too; they're not overpowered, supernatural beings. They're just the same as the living, and the only real difference between them, technically, is that they're dead (did I finally manage to see the situation through Seishin's eyes!?) It makes a much better impact than it would if the Shiki could walk through walls and use PK or turn into bats.
Back to inspiration, other inspiring moments are Kaori, Akira, and Natsuno deciding to investigate into the shiki, Natsuno deciding to save the town even though he always wanted to get out, obviously Ritsuko refusing to drink blood... One thing that really sticks out to me is Kanami trying to protect her mom. She could have reacted differently to her mom coming back (Mrs. Tanaka wasn't too happy to see her husband), but instead she recognized it as her mother and decided she would do all she could. Shiki are inherently scary, right; the thought of someone you know as dead coming back and killing you in order to survive is terrifying, and the anime really did a good job because I could see how freaked out Kanami was about her mother. Seishin repeatedly said how Shiki are just how they are as when they were alive, and I don't think anything really defined what he was saying more than Kanami's actions. She knew her mom before she died, and now she knows her as the same woman after she died. She's changed, but who doesn't, really?
Oooh, I really like the statement about Ozaki being life and Seishin being death! Probably less applicable in the novel when they both wear normal clothes, but in the anime when Ozaki is in his WHITE lab coat and Seishin is in his BLACK robe the symbolism is really good.
It also occurred to me how even though Shiki is such a character-driven work, none of the characters really change, though. Seishin becomes more assertive and pure towards the end, but it's more that he finally decided to accept himself rather than really changing on a fundamental level. All of his thoughts were there, he just needed Sunako to help organize them. And Ozaki too, we don't see a lot of him or his monologuing after he exposes the shiki, and he looks horrified at the villagers deciding to kill the people who were bitten by the shiki 'just in case', but in the final scene when he says "I lost", everyone can see that he's still the same as he was from the beginning. He made the fight against the epidemic, then the shiki, personal, and that hadn't changed.
I also like the chapters where we see 'normal' Seishin and Ozaki. It really helps see them not as the doctor and the priest, but as regular people who are just as affected by this as the rest of the village.
I think it's funny too, I'd be reading and then come across something like "Seishin took off his SWEATSHIRT" and I go "...that's a strange way to say 'robe'."