Shiki - Narratives and Catharsis

Shiki seems like an anime hellbent on the idea of never providing the viewer with a traditional sense of structure and release. A show never with a clear central character, rarely clear on providing answers or motives, a show where its apparent that most characters are heavily meditating on the situation they are in but where you are rarely shown that meditation. A narrative that plays out in an unbelievably drawn out fashion, only to be punctuated with a break neck paced ending once everything unfolds that doesn't include many conclusions or ends tied.

The show very much challenges the viewer on why they continue to watch the narrative unfold. The narrative holds no heroics, very little empathetic characters, the villains motives are never very clear or engaging, and no meaningful relationships are on the line, so why continue watching? The intrigue of the show, for me at least, is this question of why and the study on how people react in times of disaster. When the shit hits the fan in this show, the human characters who before were ruminating on the ethic and moral quandaries of the situation they are in, throw that right out the window and become absolutely brutal when the weight of the decision "us or them" is presented to them. However that comes near the very end of the series and up until that point you are left twiddling your thumbs.

You see its not that the show is slow or paced poorly, no on the contrary it is paced excellently and isn't necessarily slow. The story beats of the anime don't come in at a slow pace rather these beats are presented without huge impact or are very similar to others. The snowball doesn't roll down the hill gathering mass and momentum rather this is more akin to the rock slowly gathering moss until somebody comes along and just decides to destroy the rock. Not something very cathartic or in line with the traditional 3 act narrative but is strangely alluring and engaging in a metatextual sense.