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It's no Battle Royale and if you haven't read that yet, you should go read that instead. It was just ok.
I read this in 1 evening on a long train ride and it kept my interest until the end, but I wasn't very impressed by the ending.
The characters are mostly forgettable, which means I didn't really care much when they died, the foreshadowing of the true villain isn't very well done but somehow also predictable.

I sound very negative, but I did read the whole thing and I would say I enjoyed it, just as a kind of lower quality, trashy, murder survival game that is ... nice if you are fan of the genre and don't want to think very much.

Shiki is an old-fashioned vampire story with a lot of bite. If you were looking for angsty, romantic and sympathetic bloodsuckers, you may wish to look elsewhere, as this is very much a traditional horror story with nightmarish figures prowling outside (hopefully) your window. Shiki relies mainly on pyschological fright with limited but effective use of violence, but squeamish watchers should be aware that there are nevertheless scenes of intense violence, particularly towards the end of the show. For instance, the operating table scene is one of the most twisted and cruel scenes I've personally ever witnessed.

One of the interesting features of the show's story ... is the mixed mythologies that Shiki draws from. As well as the ghostly aspect to the undead, Ono Fuyumi obviously owes a lot to Bram Stoker, particularly with regards to the themes of class struggle and foreign invasion. The noble status of the vampires constrasts sharply with the earthy, country folk of the village and their ensuing struggle for dominance is therefore inherently political.

There are no heroes, or unamibiguous good and evil (You'll even be sympathasing with Tatsumi by the end of the story. Maybe.) in Shiki and this complex portrayal of characters is another of the show's strengths. I particularly liked the character of the village doctor, Toshio Ozaki, who to some extent personifies the famous Nietzsche quote:

"If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you."

The show isn't perfect however and one of the first things you will notice and possibly be turned off by is the artwork. I don't know what it is about the way people's hair is drawn, but it is rather ridiculous. It's almost as if everyone is an amateur scientist or wacky hair stylist who constantly experiments with static electricity to make their hair stand up. Also, the soundtrack is mainly subdued and spooky as you would expect, but the success of some of the funkier OSTs is a matter of taste.

Overall however, Shiki is well worth a look for fans of the horror genre who don't object to a fairly traditional (and to some extent predictable) vampire story. It may not be groundbreaking in any sense, but it is a well told story and the climactic last 4 episodes didn't disappoint me.

Mai-HiME for me was quite an emotional rollercoaster, which blended action, comedy and high school romance elements quite successfully in a modern fantasy setting. The story starts in a cliched fashion but unfolds in a steadily darker, compelling manner. Unfortunately, the use of certain unconvincing plot devices and a sudden mood shift in the climax lessened my enjoyment. I wouldn't say the ending was awful, but the preceding drama deserved a better resolution.

The show largely succeeds in emotionally involving the audience through the quality of the characters. In particular, the protagonist Mai is just extremely likable and human. Admittedly, she has rather tsundere moments from ... time to time but it never becomes annoying. Her considerable assets along with those of Natsuki, the awesome badass-biker ice-queen tsundere, seem to indicate that lots of unnecessary fanservice is going to occur. There is some, in particular of the yuri variety with Mikoto x Mai, but it doesn't eclipse the show's story and I didn't find it as absurdly excessive and inappropriate as other Sunrise productions. I'm looking at you, Code Geass.

As you would expect from Yuki Kajiura, the soundtrack is great and always apt. My favourite theme would probably be, Mezame, which always makes me think of Xenosaga for some reason and is usually playing during one of the many cool action sequences.

In conclusion, if you're searching for an exciting fantasy story with lots of action, strong female leads and a mostly decent story, Mai-HiME might be worth checking out. I do feel the ending let the show down, but I still enjoyed the ride.

First of all, this is a continuation of Hokuto No Ken with a time gap in between, so you would probably want to look at that before this. But, as this is not a plot-based show, it does make sense without having seen the original.

The first half of the story was actually pretty enjoyable, even if very standard. Heroic Rebels overthrow the Evil Emprire, but it's done well and had some suspenseful moments and likeable characters. Falco is one of the more impressive adversaries for Ken and their final duel was good fun. If the story ended at that point, I would have given the ... story an 8.

However, after this climactic battle at around episode 10, the plot suddenly totally changes track. There is no sense of continuation at all; the main character literally just goes off to a new island where the author has found thin reasons for Ken to massacre everybody. Hence, my low score for the story.

But, naturally, the most important part is the fighting. Is it any good? Just like the original Hokuto No Ken, there is plenty of footage of Ken making grunts explode (literally), which can get monotonous fairly quickly. However, the named boss enemy fights were usually well animated; Ken vs Han in particular, I thought was the best fight in both series combined-extremely gritty and violent. It was disappointing that in some of the fights, they resorted to a less realistic fighting style with faux force attacks instead of martial arts, which I felt ruined those fight scenes.

As for the sound, most of the tracks are nothing special, but there are a few music moments. "I Kill the Fight" during Ken Vs Han was awesome and contributed to that being one of the most epic fights.

So in conclusion, the story starts off pretty decently and will keep you interested until the first big showdown, although after that you may need a lot of willpower to get through the filler. Most of the fights are nothing special, but, Ken vs Han and a few others will hopefully make you feel that you haven't been wasting your time watching this old series.