Shiki 3

Keikaku doori…

Those bloody vampires. There, I said it. Proven and quite obvious; the Kirishikis raise their weird-hairstyled heads towards the unsuspecting, almost naïve townsfolk of Satoba. And this is not the only thing wrong with this godforsaken town, there are some resident citizens that are unique-looking like youkai, adding to the whole creepiness of the series. Even your friendly looking neighbors and priests have giant skeletons in their closet. For the village living off death markers, there is definitely more than just death surrounding them that is slowly turning into a paranormal epidemic.

Giving false hope? Tch.

「 Shiki 3 – Third Tragedy (第惨話) 」The angry-man Toshio, is taking his job seriously but very slowly. He’s gathering evidence but really can’t put his finger on the cause of continued death surrounding his village. The next in line is Nao, who he circled having the same symptoms as Megumi. Toshio is more than ashamed in deceiving his childhood friend Mikiyasu in believing that there were chances of her survival. In the quest for clues, he learns of the Kirishikis visiting the Yasumoris. The audience is more adept at recognizing clues than our good doctor, who cares more about blood tests and turns a blind eye to a bite-mark on Nao’s hand, which screamed vampire. Forget about the reticulocyte count going high, there are bloody vampires in town and they will suck everyone dry. Run for your lives, bakkamon. Though, nothing like that happens except for a child’s scare-intuition, the Yasumoris welcomes Seishiro and Chizuru into their house for O-bon celebrations proving themselves quite neighbourly. If only they knew…

Peekabooooooooo!

Town becomes abuzz with the string of deaths, especially for attention-whores like Masao Murasako. I’m aghast at the gall of him for hating Natsuno’s guts when he’s a weirdo himself. Even being a year senior to him, he’s an attention seeking bully that would break his own nephew’s toys just for the heck of it. I would like to see him bitten next just out of spite and was creeped-out nonetheless during his interaction with his sister-in-law over liking his brother.

Do we have a bromance, Houston? Depends on him remaining alive. Copy that, Over.

Tohru Mutou can be dubbed as the most likable character as yet with his friendly nature; not to mention the angelic smile and rainbows shooting out of hosepipes when he’s watering the garden (FTW~). He is the only one in town except for maybe Ritsu (Nurse in Ozaki clinic), who have genuinely taken interest in Natsuno and are trying to help him adjust to the peculiar town. He’s one of those reliable senpais that you look up to for support; of course, to Natsuno it’s all pretty much Mindukse and people should just leave him alone. Though, I can see him being thankful to him because he’s been losing sleep since Megumi passed away and keeps on getting the prickly feeling of being stared at. Finally, I didn’t want to punch Natsuno rather I empathized with his loneliness. He’s been a loner from a time unknown and likes to keep a distance from everyone. His thinking is definitely older than his age because he doesn’t follow the exact footsteps of a high school kid. I would give his brooding to break in an episode or two when he would finally faceoff with the changed Megumi. For now, at least he has Tohru, whose house he can sleepover at rather than his own, which has turned haunted and eerie due to you-know-who’s presence.

Meet Sunako-ch-- gomen~ no wallflower reference

The most intriguing introduction was of Sunako Kirishiki, who not only surprised the resident Junior Monk Seishin by materializing in front of him but totally gave Mina Tepes a run for her money (not that I liked Vampire Bund, such a waste by SHAFT). She reminds me more of Claudia from Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, who hated being called little and didn’t act her age—trapped in a frail body even after aging for hundreds of years (I’m referring to the book, which surprisingly has a manga adaptation too, check it out if you are curious). Her sugar-sweet voice hides an eeriness that only becomes plausible when she lays down secret information as if it was common knowledge. She lets slip three important clues:

• Their purpose for moving to Satoba (Seishiro being inspired by Seishin’s article “Village enveloped by death”).
• She considers Seishin to be forsaken by God as herself and her companions, who are defiled and unnatural beings.
• Seishin being a cutter, meaning a dark past that probably did not start at a sanctuary/seminary. How he turned out to be a Monk after being suicidal can be anybody’s guess.

If only the citizens of Satoba knew that Kirishikis moved in because of him…

I was a bit surprised to see Seishin as a novelist. Can a Monk actually get published? (Six novels, short stories and magazine articles; lucky, I could only wish for few! =P) Ideally their way is to distance themselves from everyday life and walk the path of difficulty to commune with God. The story he was working on in the beginning about an exile plagued by a guilty conscience could have been inspired by Natsuno but from what I could gather, Seishin is still trying to find God in his surroundings. Thus, he’s writing about things familiar to him like the village of Satoba as a giant shrine and some of its intriguing residents.

Didn't your parents teach you not to accept things from strangers?

It’s almost ironic how Satoba citizens are becoming food for vampires and no one has a clue. Of course, you can’t expect Toshio to just Google the reason rather than looking at the symptoms in a medical dictionary. How simple-minded people go, I see the big discovery episodes away; maybe Natsuno can be the first one to figure it out but then again anything can happen as things are going. My interest was piqued with the mention of a brother; did he have one? Is he adopted? Why doesn’t he share his parent’s name and why are the Koides in Satoba anyway? In the next one, I would like to know more about Natsuno and his deal because no kid is ready to die—like Masao, who freaked out at the mere thought—but incidentally he is and doesn’t even care. Would he be losing Tohru and finally get the motivation to actually care about what was happening around him or Megumi’s appearance would do the trick? There’s definitely potential in him as in Toshio and Seishin but I don’t expect them to wise up anytime soon.

I wanted MOAR Kirishikis and Gackt; still their entry was total WIN~ Such dramatics and European flair. Chizuru was almost scary with her dark-blue eyes and Sunako too, possessing the same in red. As predicted they are literally preying on humans and their errand boy is Tatsumi, who is gathering potential victims with his puppy-dog looks. So what if they are not particular about the jugular vein? They still love blood and would continue to slowly consume the townsfolk. So, I’ll look forward to more revelations in the next one. Till then, Ja ne~

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