I love vampires. Totally. So much so I’ve started to write about them. And I love them in animes. Vampire Knight is one of the classics, but it still bends itself to the popular romanticized belief in beauty and horror and eternal youth and love.
What caught my attention with SHIKI—besides the fact that Gackt is voicing in it (ace!)—is that it follows the more traditional stories of vampires. That they are monsters. They take lives with no discretion, for survival. They are horrors that tap on your windows at night, in the form of long dead loved ones. And if you succumb to their touch and their kiss, you will waist away in life—and you will die—or you will rise. It’s the luck of the draw. There is no guarantee that you’ll become one of them.
And if you’re really lucky, you’ll become a jinrou, a creature that can walk in the day. Jinrou never die—they change just before death—and become the daytime servants of the undead.
The true horror in this is the loss of freedom. The loss of choice as one by one the townspeople die and are unable to stop it. The sacrifices made, and what the events turn the remaining citizens into.
IMHO? This is a masterpiece of story telling, and is my favorite in the vampire genres. I highly recommend it! That and Gackt and the incredible talents of Buck Tick!
Below is the musical First opening by Buck Tick!!
