Shiki: Living Dead vs. Dead Living

I “Get” Shiki Now.

What I needed to understand about this show was the contrast it creates: living dead more alive, emotionally, than the living, and through their existence, living who are more dead, emotionally, than any walking corpse.

I’ll leave the rest under spoiler tag. I have just finished watching ep. 14.

show

The point being, Dr. Ozaki (Toshio) has been turned by events, step by step, into a stone cold man whose only emotion is fakery intended to ease the minds of his nurses and keep buying him time. Even this nearly broke him in the end; he was at the “one more night and then I give up,” but of course, drama demands it play out.

I’d seen various ways for the village to be saved from destruction brought up, and written out, so I really don’t know if the humans have any “chance” here, but Toshio’s descent into a very black darkness is quite a statement on humanity – and how these living dead, their dark sides unleashed, are considerably more “alive” in an emotional sense.

Irony all around, both from the God of this work of fiction, and from the author, I think.

J Sensei

About J Sensei

Blogger, writer, linguist, former Japanese> English translator, rusty in French, experienced in Japanese, fluent English native. Writing for Technorati.com and various blogs. Skype: jeremiah.bourque (messages always welcome). E-mail: [email protected]
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