Shiki

why isn't this one subtitled?

It's the great zombie apocalypse!!! I mean, great vampire apocalypse. No, actually, it's not all that flashy either. These vampires quietly creep into your little town and kill off people one by one, slowly, so nobody notices. Unlike most vampire anime (such as Vampire Knight or Trinity Blood) which stray from the classic Dracula-style vampire, the vamps here stay fairly true to the original Western vampire. They are re-animated CORPSES. It also presents us with ethical and emotional quandaries. What if you met your loved ones, turned into vampires, who had all the memories and characteristics of their former selves? Would you embrace them, or flee from them? Are they really soulless creatures? Who is really the monster? Human, or vampire? You really feel for the characters, and some that you start out hating, you might end up feeling at least a twinge of pity for.The story is presented very well, and has an evocative atmosphere. There is no one main character; we jump around to many characters, so it has a broad, investigative feel. Also, it plays several tricks on you. Sometimes we see what the character *imagines* is happening, so we think it's happening too. But then we see that it was just their imagination. I like the art, which imitates the very stylized art of the manga, but some people might find it a bit too flamboyant. The audio track is FABULOUS!!!! The music is composed by the amazing Takanashi Yasuharu, also known for the soundtracks of Mononoke, Naruto Shippuden, Fairy Tail, Toward the Terra, and many others. This is probably one of his most playful and provocative soundtracks so far. The rest of the audio work is also great. In eerie scenes when the vampires contort themselves, it sounds......very creepy. You will have to hear it for yourself. Shiki not for everyone. I admit I was a bit scared off in Episode 1 with the corpses. I am not a fan of horror. I couldn't watch the dissection scene, and there was some pretty brutal violence near the end. Also the overall pace is very slow. While the tension and buildup reminded me a lot of Death Note, it is not nearly as hectic. Not everyone is going to be happy with the ending. It's a tense mystery series about REAL vampires, and a great production. It's slow, but has riled up a lot of people, and got them to think about things, and feel invested in the story, and get mad and get sad (hence the many discussion boards here).Go ahead and give it a shot!