The anime series Shiki is an adaptation of the manga series drawn by Ryu Fujisaki, which is itself an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Fuyumi Ono. The story is about a small town in rural Japan named Sotoba, where a series of bizarre deaths occur. The series of deaths coincide with the arrival of the Kirishiki family, who has just moved into a castle built on the outskirts of town. Toshio Ozaki, director of the only hospital in Sotoba, begins to investigate and discovers there are supernatural presences at work, namely vampires, who are called shiki, translated in English as "corpse demon".
The series premiered on Fuji TV, Kansai TV, Tōkai TV and their affiliated stations on July 8, 2010. Funimation has acquired the license to simulcast the series one hour after its initial broadcast in Japan with English subtitles.[1] The first of the DVDs and Blu-ray of the anime were released on October 27, 2010, by Aniplex.[2]
Each episode title is a homophone pronunciation for the Japanese numerals using On'yomi, with each phrase mostly related to death or the corruption of the physical body, both common themes in the series. The series has four pieces of theme music. The first opening theme "Kuchizuke" (くちづけ, Kiss) is a song by Buck-Tick,[3] while the first ending theme "Walk no Yakusoku" (walkの約束, Promise of the Walk) is a song by nangi.[4] The second opening theme is "Calendula Requiem" by kanon×kanon while the second ending theme is "Gekka Reijin" by Buck-Tick.
In a flashback, Nao explains to Mr. and Mrs. Hasegawa about her joy of marrying into the Yasumori family. After mentioning her son Susumu, Nao asks the couple if they have any children; Mr. Hasegawa tells her that they lost their children* in an accident. Afterward, Mr. Hasegawa reminds his wife that they are not the only people who have suffered losses; and that he is glad that they moved to Sotoba.
Megumi is discovered and brutally killed, while the forest fire begins to consume the village. Toshio leads a group to try and stop fire so that it won't draw the attention of the outside world, however they fail. The remaining villagers have little time to escape the fire and quickly hide the dead bodies inside a deep pit, so that they won't be found by the people coming to help from the town nearby. After rescuing and reuniting Akira and Kaori in the town, Natsuno engages in a fight with Tatsumi. The fight eventually results in them both falling down the pit, where Natsuno ignites explosives, killing himself and Tatsumi. Sunako hides in the burning church, where Atsushi's father finds her. Before he can kill her, however, Seishin saves her by killing him. As the church goes up in flames, she declares that being forsaken by God, she wants to abandon herself and finally die there. It is then discovered Seishin has also become a jinrou; he talks her out of it, saying that even though she's no longer under God's jurisdiction, she never lost her faith in Him. They are the only surviving shiki who managed to escape the village. As the villagers are driven away from Sotoba, now beyond salvation, Ozaki wonders if his fight has been for nothing, since the village wound up destroying itself. As firetrucks pour down the streets towards the burning villages, they pass a car. The camera moves to show Seishin at the wheel, with a box similar to a familiar suitcase in the back seat.