Shiki

Shiki is an an action, horror, thriller, suspense, psychological, drama, tragedy, mystery, dark fantasy anime series. It was based on a novel series which was written by Fuyumi Ono and published by Shinchosa in 1998 for the original edition and 2002 for the reprint edition. It was compiled into 2 volumes for the original edition and 5 volumes for the reprint edition. After that it was adapted into a manga series, which was written by Fuyumi Ono, illustrated by Ryu Fujisaki, and published by Shueisha for the magazine Jump Square from December, 2007 to June, 2011 for 11 volumes in total. And after that came the anime adaptation. It was directed by Tetsuro Amino, written by Kenji Sugihara, musically composed by Yasuharu Takanashi, and produced by Studio Daume. It originally ran from July 8, 2010 to December 30, 2010, for 22 normal episodes and 2 OVA episodes in total.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Good voice acting in both sub and dub.
 * 2) The main cast really has no true heroes or true villains. Both sides have characters with good qualities and bad qualities, likable traits and unlikable traits. It focuses on morally grey themes rather than making the situation cut and dry, black and white.
 * 3) Great animation.
 * 4) The climax of the show, despite having a comical amount of blood, is still incredibly suspenseful, disturbing, and emotional.
 * 5) Decent art style.
 * 6) Interesting themes about the nature of humanity and how far some people are willing to go for self preservation.
 * 7) Incredible soundtrack.
 * 8) The show has a dark, gothic look which helps to aid the the suspensful, creepy, and disturbing atmosphere.
 * 9) Complex characters.
 * 10) Toshio Ozaki is probably the most interesting and most complex character in the series, watching him do whatever it takes to save his home village is incredibly engrossing, and watching him question weather everything he's done was all for nothing is incredibly sad.
 * 11) Amazingly smooth pacing, not to slow and not too fast.
 * 12) Seishin Muroi, the preist of the village, is also a great character. He's the counterpoint to Toshio and his morality, and watching them butt heads and bounce off of each other is incredibly satisfying.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The amount of blood, especially in the finale, can go beyond creepy and just becomes comical.
 * 2) Some of the character designs are strange and just stupid.
 * 3) Some of the characters who die are so unlikable that you don't care if they live or not.