Alas, another week without a Shiki recap – sorry guys! But don’t worry, I still have Shiki on my mind. Last time we rehashed what’s already happened, this time let’s take a look at what might be to come: the story I want, the story I’d settle for and the story I think Shiki’s going to give me.

The Good

If I was in charge of Shiki, Yuuki would go full-on Risen vampire. Let him mope and whine with them for awhile. Of course, since I’m in charge, that would only go on for so long before he got his act together. Here’s a chance for some actual meaningful conflict, on two levels: 1) Yuuki vs his former neighbors, maybe even his family – does he eat them? Does he show mercy? Does he start to change his mind about the community? And if he does, that brings us nicely to… 2) Yuuki vs the vamps-in-power. Despite my intolerance for the kid, I just can’t see Yuuki chowing down on Mom and Dad or reacting well to being put in that situation. We’ve already seen the Cat Ear Hair guy flip out when he gives an order and it isn’t immediately followed – imagine a grumpy gus like Yuuki not just refusing to take orders but lashing out at those in charge, actively trying to take them down. (Hopefully this involves a hairbrush, too.)

Of course once the seeds of rebellion are planted, we have to eventually work up to a show-down. Good vs evil is so trite and boring, I’d like to see characters choosing sides. Toru I think would side with Yuuki, as would the Doc (I don’t see him as a vamp, more a human ally), but I wonder about Megumi. She’s got this thing for Yuuki, sure, but she also loves the power and glamour of the vampires – I’m not convinced she’d want to give that up, even for him. McMonk would probably side with Yuuki, too, but it would be hard for him, he genuinely seems to like that little girl, as much as he (I hope) suspects that she’s evil. Or maybe not; he’s got his own demons, remember. The little kids would probably side with Yuuki…but in my version of Shiki one of them would get eaten and killed and the other would blame Yuuki, maybe side with the vamps just for the chance at bringing him down.

I’d like to see an open-ended conclusion, where Yuuki wins but it’s a hollow victory (after all, he and the others are still vampires) and not all the bad-vamps are really defeated. They had to come from somewhere. Maybe now they just move on to the next town…

The Bad

By now I think we all know Shiki well enough to know that it’s not a series that’s worried about telling a good story or character development or not taking the predictable path. All of which I would argue a series needs to be great, but I guess I could settle for Shiki being only sort of good.

Down this track, Yuuki’s still a vamp (people, he NEEDS to be a vamp! I will accept no less!), he still fights to Kanemasa vamps for control. But in this scenario he does it because of a totally unexplained yawn-inducing heroic urge to save the town from the evil vampires before it’s too late. Whatever. Eventually Doc discovers a medicinal antidote to vampirism and they start injecting people like crazy and fighting the vamps and finally the vampires go all, ARGGHH YOU RUIN EVERYTHING!, as they leave town and shake their fists in Yuuki’s direction.

Is it great? No way. But it’s passable. They could still throw in all those crazy camera effects they love and it might have an element of creepiness. I guess I’d watch it. I’d complain, but I’d watch it.

The Ugly

I don’t have much faith that, when it’s all over, Shiki will be able to save itself. I don’t think this series will be great or even good and I think the HoundBlog will be full of long, ranty posts in which I campaign against Yuuki and his stupidity and the idiotic story and all that nasty hair. You know, like it is now.

Of the real Shiki, I predict Yuuki will not become a vampire (ugh). I think some big vampire thing will be revealed as the Doc tortures his vamp-wife and Yuuki and the Doc and Monk.0 will band together with a select group of townspeople to demonstrate that humanity can win over vampiranity if you just fight for what you believe in (your right to party?) and make long, inspirational speeches and act like a jerk. At the end, all the vampires will be dead or gone and no one will worry about the implications of that, because yay we won go humans!

I’d love to be wrong. I’m keeping my expectations low in the hope that Shiki will exceed them. There’s still time for this series to be more than just another boring addition to the vampire trend. We’ll see how it all shapes up.

How do you feel about where Shiki should/could/will go? What do you hope will happen? And, on the flip side, to what new lows do you fear Shiki will stoop?