Though people have always held an interest in the vampire mythos, recently pop culture perception of vampires has leaned drastically towards the romantic rather than the grotesque. From Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series and the television show True Blood (or, if you're more of an animanga fan, Hino Matsuri's Vampire Knight), the vampire of modern culture has increasingly become something glamorous and cultured, an object of forbidden lust with just that extra edge of "dangerous" to make them even more appealing. Somehow, vampires almost seem to be required to be physically beautiful, with just enough tragedy to garner fan sympathy. Perhaps the vampire woes over the fact sie is a vampire. Perhaps it's the pain of living to watch everyone sie loves die.
Shiki is not that vampire story.
Shiki begins with death and very likely will end with death. Set in the isolated mountain village of Sotoba, the story gives the reader a world that is tragically stuck in its ways and ripe for the vampires to pluck. The very environment of Sotoba does as much to foster the feeling of terror as the vampires that have invaded the village do - between Sotoba's closed-off nature and the villagers' determined denial of anything being wrong, the readers are left following with bated breath to see if anyone manages to escape at all.
Because Shiki makes sure to drive in the fact these vampires are monsters. No matter that they may retain the personality and beliefs of their former life, when it is the bloodlust driving them, everything fades in the face of feeding the hunger. Ideals on either side of the equation simply can't hold against it. The reader gets to see what the hunger changes in each character that has fallen to vampirism; with Shiki having no set protagonist but instead having shifting perspectives between all the villagers, the effect the vampire infestation has wrought becomes all the more apparent. Perhaps the most interesting aspect that Shiki explores is the choices characters make when faced with loved ones whom they know are vampires. There have been choices both human and terribly inhuman, and the consequences that follow leave one wondering which choice was right. Is there even a right choice in such a situation?
The beauty of Shiki is that the setting, the characters, the reactions are all just realistic enough to be plausible. It's what makes it so effective as a story. I always wondered why so many vampires of popular culture seemed to be glorified (immortal) humans that just happened to drink blood, glossing over the fact they were dead in favor of the shiny that was immortality and Biting Is Sexy. The nth tragic brooding vampire just got tiring to see after awhile.
Shiki is drawn by Fujisaki Ryu and is based off of Ono Fuyumi's novel of the same name. Fujisaki's very stylised art style lends a lighter air that makes the horror all the more impacting when it hits. People expecting art similar to that of Fujisaki's previous works (Houshin Engi, Waq Waq) might be in for a surprise though; Fujisaki has kept some elements of his old style and then pulled others to the stylised extreme. Nevertheless, it works for the manga.
I cannot recommend this series enough. If you're worried about the fact the manga is still in progress, don't - Ono Fuyumi's previous series (Twelve Kingdoms series, Ghost Hunt series) are ample evidence she knows what she's doing with a plotline. And either way, the novel the manga is based off of is finished already. So if you love a good horror or supernatural storyline, please check Shiki out!
Links for the interested:
Shiki Jump SQ page
Shiki Livejournal fan community
Image scanning credit goes to nataku_kun@LJ.
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