pros
+ has a bearing on reality (apathetic and unthinking people of the town)
+ good dialogue and chara development
+ interesting plot
cons
- starts off annoying (painful bliss of ignorance!! freaks -.-)
- ending leaves you with questions
- average animation

conclusion: a classic story based on society, with a connection to reality, playing on some unexpectedly deep questions. strikes a delicate balance of horror, mystery, suspense and competition. the plot is well-structured once it starts off, although it certainly will not answer each and every question. only? it's not scary, other than for its amount of medical terminology. whatever... good seiyuu, good music, though somewhat bloody and not recommended for the kids. the animation isn't great for the release date, but if you don't mind that, it's a nice one recommended to the more mature mystery lovers around.

peace. (show less)

@squad14captain, are you out of your mind?:

"You'll actually feel sorry for the vampires" ..."There are scenes that'll make you cringe in your chair and cry along with the vampires as they're put through this ordeal of complete genocide."

Feel sorry for a race of beings (shiki or vampires) that are committing genocide against humans, yet you have a problem with the humans fighting back? ugh, can't stand sympathizers of evil like you. You'd probably feel sympathy toward the Nazis during World War 2 when we started slaughtering them.

Other than that... I somewhat enjoyed this anime as it has a bearing on things that happen in real life today. It really pissed me off watching the apathetic and unthinking people of the town... just like it does in real life. There are so many people in this world that are like that that you have to be like the doctor and literally throw it in their face. The genocide of the Albanians in Kosovo in the 1990s reminds me of that. Politicians in Washington D.C. just couldn't believe what they were being told, they thought that we are in the modern era and things like that just can't happen anymore (sounds just like the villagers in this anime) and it wasn't until lots of pictures of bodies were thrown in their face that they finally came to grips with reality. Too bad so many people had to die first because of all the apathy and stupidity of the leaders of the world. (show less)

I've watched a few horror animes, and it seems like there's a horror anime trend going around so i decided to write a review on this one. I just started it today but i can say that it's not going to waste my time. There are a lot of medical terminology throughout the anime, so if you enjoy series like Gray's Anatomy, you'll enjoy it. There isn't too much blood (actually the problem so far is that there is no blood involved with the victims, lol) so even if you are a sensitive viewer, you'll enjoy the plot of the story. It doesnt always have to be blood and goury to be a good horror anime. Enjoy it. (show less)

Well I must say I was not sure about watching this series, most of the series I select are random this was no exception. Its just more fun to be drawn in to something understand while you watch and just love what your watching without any I suppose bias is a good word. Even so this show was epic!!! I mean Insanely gruesome, sad and the suspense just kept you on a tight hold, the story I would say was told very boldly there was no sugar coating it was just raw. I think that's the best way to describe it RAW in a good way vampire story have been done well a bit too much but in Shiki the creator managed to make it individual. I can't say more am still recovering from watching the last 5 episodes just now. WATCH the series and be blow anyway that's all I will leave you with. (show less)

Okay, finally after a while I decided to watch this show...and Oh my god...its not what I expected. Even though it already ended, I don't want to say what happens. But honestly it makes you think on who's the real monsters, vampires or humans? This show deals with the feud between the two races and how they're unable to peacefully coincide with each other, which leads to a bloody all out massacre for both sides. At first it seems like the vampires are the evil ones, stealing people to use as food and turn them into a vampire themselves. But all they wanted to do was not be lonely or persecuted. The humans on the other hand of course don't want to be eaten, and are furious that their loved ones are being killed or "Risen" in this case. But as the series goes on, you'll notice how their hatred towards vampires quickly turns into pure Prejudice and superstition.
Pros:
You'll actually feel sorry for the vampires, this is SO EMOTIONAL! You will be emotionally tested while watching this.
Pretty good character animation
The dialogue and character development are both great
They actually have werewolves in here that basically are the boss's among the vampires.
Cons:
Their hair-style....is really weird, even weirder than Yugioh.
It starts off really slow. The vampires don't really appear until ep 9 or 10, so basically the first 8 it just seems like a medical anime when they try to decide how the people are dying.
Note: It isn't gory but it does get pretty graphic and bloody. Though I recommend the Blu Ray version if you can find it so that the blood isn't edited out. There are scenes that'll make you cringe in your chair and cry along with the vampires as they're put through this ordeal of complete genocide. (show less)