Shiki – 13

Rest in peace…

Can it be? THAT I WILL BE THE FIRST NEW POST ON THE NEW SITE ASIDE FROM THE WELCOME POST? HELL YES!(If not, then I have failed…)

Shiki is the master of making fans wait for the next episode until they’re practically crawling up the walls. After deciding to NOT air last week, we have episode 13 a week later. It’s like being stood up on a date, only to have your anger reside when they come back the next time with flowers.

Seishin is performing his monkly duties at the temple, while helpfully telling us viewers about the temple. Most of the villagers are religious, and help the monks out to keep the temple running. Meanwhile, his sickly dad is either calling for someone to come or for more morphine, and rather impatiently.

Time to transition to our newest victim: Tokujiro. He’s Setsuko’s husband, if you forgot (like me. I forget ugly people.), and is being checked out by Toshio. He whips his hair back and forth his head around with a sickening creak when Toshio suggests staying hospitalized. Nao is the likely culprit, and probably told him to say that given his apathetic tone. Lately, many victims have been avoiding the clinic or being hospitalized like the plague. Those okiagari are so wily~

Let’s go back to Seishin’s dad, who is re-inacting a man crawling through the desert. Despite looking so frail he would shatter if tipped over, he insists on going to see Tokujiro. Like, really insists. O_O

Ooo charades. I love this game!

Clinic, temple, clinic, temple…You’ve got the pattern now, right? Toshio’s oblong-haired mother tells Toshio that Kyoko has passed out. The funny thing is, she’s mostly annoyed that she has to deal with Kyoko as opposed to being worried. Toshio rushes over to see Kyoko in pretty bad shape. For all of you who have hated poor Blondie, rejoice, for she has been bitten.

The mom reluctantly calls for a stretcher after being ordered (that old bat is MEAN) as Toshio curses letting his guard down. Thanks to the power of village gossip, Seishin gets the news about Kyoko and calls him to talk about it. This is nice, considering they were drifting apart until now. After moving onto the topic of Tokujiro briefly, Seishin almost manages to tell Toshio about okiagari…but he decides against it and hangs up. WHY???

Stop calling, stop calling, I don’t wanna think anymore~~

Time to shake up the pattern with a little Natsuno and Tohru action. That boy must be delirious, because he’s still thinking that Tohru will run away with him. Despite being deathly ill, he tells the other boy that sucking his blood is okay. Before Tohru bites him, he reveals that he’s started to give up on escaping this village. Tohru’s eye begin to water, as he apologizes, cries, and clamps down on Natsuno’s jugular.

You didn’t expect this to go on forever right? That was his fourth bite. Natsuno’s mom leaves his dad a note saying that she has left because Natsuno died. Natsuno’s dad rushes around the house to find her, but she has gone somewhere else under the okiagari hypnosis. All thoughts of “no, Natsuno is alive” quickly dissolve when his father goes into his room. Natsuno’s skin is as gray as a tombstone, and he is motionless. Natsuno is really dead now. You might want to let that sink in.

WWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!

Seishin takes pandaeyes to see Tokujiro, the man with an almost sentient moustache. Have you seen that thing? It’s like someone attached a family of baby chinchillas to his face. ANYWAYS, once they’re both in the same room they just…stare at each other. After an eerie silence, pandaeyes announces that it’s time to leave.

As Seishin drives pandaeyes home (I have a bad habit of not calling characters by their name), the old man asks if other villager’s have been in this condition recently. Once Seishin confirms that it’s been spreading, he nods, and retreats back into his own mind to think. Seishin thinks his dad might know something based on his behaviour. BUT AS IF THAT COULD HAPPEN RIGHT? <_________<

Kaori and Akiramon (seriously guys, he still looks like a digimon to me. Especially from behind.) now know about Natsuno’s death. They went to visit him, as always, but his dad just shooed them away. This time, the hippie looked worse than most of the okiagari victims..COMBINED. I suspect a mix of being bitten and feeling suicidal enough to make his condition worse. Akira and Kaori are told that a coffin was taken away earlier and someone in the house died. Don’t get your hopes up about it being the dumb wife, I’m almost certain it’s Natsuno.

Kaori and Akira are still up for some vengeance. They’re locking their windows and formulating a new plan! Unfortunately (there is ALWAYS an unfortunately in Shiki) Megumi is up for some revenge as well. She is absolutely giddy over the fact that she gets to completely ruin Kaori’s life. We see the seeds she has planted when Akira’s dad comes home, with only ¾ of his blood left. Now things will get interesting.

Please get hit by a car, please get hit by a car…

Ah, the last section of the episode. The nurses are doing their usual gossip about Toshio wanting to exclusively care for Kyoko. Natsuno’s death also comes up, although they’re vague with who actually died, the wife or Natsuno. Toshio has descended into an almost liquid state in which he appears calm, but a current of insanity is raging beneath the surface. Toshio is keeping Kyoko’s body on ice to stop her from rotting too quickly in order to continue his hunt for the okiagari.

The Bed Intruder Song Meets Shiki:

HE’S CLIMBING IN YOUR WINDOWS

HE’S SNATCHING YOUR PEOPLE UP

TRYNA RAPE EM SO Y’ALL NEED TO HIDE YOUR KIDS

HIDE YOUR WIFE (and hide your husband)

CUZ THEY’RE RAPING ERRBODY OUT HERE

End Thoughts: As Natsuno and Tohru get more and more flamboyant, Toshio gets more and more terrifying. I love the whole “Creepy doctor” role. On one level, the man can function around people and socialize normally. On another, something has been broken that can never be put back the way it was before. While Toshio evidently wasn’t close to his wife, the level of sadness shown at her death was…none. He literally waited for her to die just to keep her body in storage for his own twisted research. I know solving this epidemic is very important and is going to require sacrifices, but keep in mind that he is telling NO ONE about this. His desire to save the town is staggeringly high.

Meanwhile…NATSUNO DIED! Seeing as he’s a main character, he has a good chance of rising up. Yay, vampire sex with Tohru~ I mean..uh…*cough* I really want to see Natsuno confront Tatsumi as an okiagari. Maybe he’ll find a way to defy him! Then again, Natsuno is going to have to bite some people unless he forms a plan in one night. Who will be his first victim?

Shiki leaves so many possibilities open, that speculating is nigh impossible. There are a lot of things that have been set up: Megumi’s next victim, Natsuno rising up, Seishin and Sunako, Seishin’s dad, and Toshio’s mad scientist work. Plus Masao. My God, I will hold onto the idea that he’s gonna come in and mess up everything SO BAD when we least expect it like the troll he is. Better safe than sorry.

Preview: Toshio is going absolutely nuts over here. WHY IS HE COVERED IN BLOOD? WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING TO KYOKO? I am horrified and intrigued. I saw a lot of characters I haven’t seen before too. As for Kaori, well, she doesn’t look like she’s going to like the next episode as much as we are…