Shiki Specials

Note: If you are going to watch Shiki, I highly recommend watching the Shiki Specials in their chronological order within the Shiki series. This means watching the first episode of Shiki Specials as episode 20.5 (after episode 20, before episode 21) and the second episode of Shiki Specials as episode 21.5. Some sites will not even list "Shiki Specials" and will literally just have them under the Shiki title as episode 20.5 and episode 21.5. I really recommend this, I didn't even realize they were specials until I came to MAL, and I'm glad I watched them where they chronologically fell instead of after the ... ending. They added a lot to the anime.

Shiki Special Episode 1 (or Shiki episode 20.5) may be the best episode in the series. It is REALLY good at showcasing just how chaotic the village becomes, and how insane humans will get under harsh circumstances and when killing is absolutely necessary. It was honestly very unsettling to watch this episode, but that is what you want from horror. Now I am not completely sure if my interpretation is right, but, if you want to know how unsettling it gets, basically one thing is that one guy is pretty uncomfortable with the idea of killing anyone throughout the episode while the other villagers are fine with it at this point, but then this guy sees some villagers killing a group of Shiki in such an extremely painful and torturous way, that he takes a weapon and physically kills all of the Shiki there himself, in a way which was still painful, but would end their suffering and kill them quickly. This isn't the whole episode but is just a part of it I found particularly disturbing, but if you want to know what you are in for... that should tell you. Another thing is that while some people are trying to escape a tunnel, they slowly realize that they have reached a dead end, and their enemy will be pulling them out one by one from the other end to kill them. And you basically just watch for 5 minutes as each person holds on to the person in front of them for dear life before being ripped away and killed. But I do think it is great that the anime wasn't afraid to be so raw and go to those extreme lengths.

The second episode is also good, but not as good. It shows how crazy one woman gets and how her actions lead to something bigger in the anime that is pretty important. Basically in the second episode you see more of how one character in particular goes crazy, where as in the first episode you are just seeing a bunch of war between the Shiki and the villagers.

Both of these episodes are some of the most disturbing in the entire anime and just serve to show the insanity that happens to humans when they are forced into basically a war. I think few episodes in ALL of anime surpass how chaotic, disturbing, and unsettling the first special episode was.

All in all, I give it a 7 like my rating for Shiki, as I basically see these as a part of the Shiki anime and don't think they should be watched after. It still makes sense though, as I saw the first special episode as stellar, and the second as good, but not as great.

Definitely DO NOT skip these though, they really add to the anime's tension and adrenalin at the chronological point.

I loved the Shiki series, which you can see from my review on it, and these episodes are extremely important to to the series. These episodes seem as though they should've just been in the normal series, with the two being episode 20.5 and 21.5, they help show how certain things happened in the series and also show the mentality of the villagers in a perfect light, ignoring what the main characters are doing. Think of these as just regular episodes, and in not watching them, you are quite literally skipping 2 semi-important episodes in the series. My review for ... these is simply based upon the fact that I loved Shiki, and these are really just episodes in Shiki, instead of being specials that don't really have anything to do with the main story-line. If you plan on watching the main series, definitely watch these in the order 20.5 and 21.5, instead of after the series is over, and if you've finished the main series but didn't watch these, then they will still at least help explain things and add a little more to the already fantastic story.

Having stressed out just thinking how I would approach reviewing the parent show “Shiki” is enough a reason for me to get this review done beforehand, perhaps that would clear any cluttered thoughts I have left on the show.

These two episodes special take place in the endgame phase of the story, serving as toppings for episodes 20 and 21 respectively. But unlike the parent show, disbanding any minor or major drawbacks, weak character portrayals, and slow plot progression, they both go about two different yet related side stories of victims of the Shiki invasion. While the first episode takes the narrative on a Shiki perspective, ... they are both the verdict but also a victim of circumstance, going through the horror and regret that hey carry on their second chance of a life that's more dead than they were in their coffin, you get to empathize and show a soft side for some of the Shiki and actually partly blame the villagers on this mindless crusade that they made an excuse for bland mass murder.
Just as you're about to take a side, the second episode navigates you through a paralleled perspective that shares the same decline, the same setting, the same crime, but its spotlights are on a different victim. A terrifying sit through how someone goes from being a loving, easy-going mother to a gloomy, scary-looking lady that you'd tell your kids to never approach.

These two coupled episodes help with the conflicted narrative of who is right and who is wrong. It feels that these specials are everything that the parent show wanted to convey, but miserably failed at, same problem different perspective was the way the series should have been, but instead, it was the same problem and badly communicated minds.