Shiki (Novel)
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Shiki
Publisher: Shinchosha
Novel: Split into either 2 volumes (1998, Tankoubon) or 5 volumes (2002, Bunkobon)
Author: Fuyumi Ono, same author as The Twelve Kingdoms & Ghost Hunt
Manga: 11 volumes (unlicensed)
Anime: Licensed by FunimationMy Synopsis:
A strange, foreign "family" move into a quaint, isolated village in Japan. People start dying in the village and the local doctor initially suspects it's an epidemic. A priest who writes novels meets a member of the strange family, a little girl who can only come out at night, and they talk about his books and eventually their life experiences. A high school boy who longs to return to Tokyo is stalked by a girl who loves him and also wants to leave the village for the big city; the problem is, he is still stalked by her even after she has died from the "epidemic." He and a few others start suspecting the deaths are caused by shiki or vampires and try to convince the other villagers of their existence so that they can deal with the threat.You can find the official synopsis here: MU, MAL
Why I Want It:
I loved the anime for its slow-building of tension, mystery, and horror as a small threat becomes larger and larger until is engulfs the entire village. The way the hostile takeover is planned out is pretty smart and the show got to be pretty brutal later in the series. Similarly to The Lord of the Rings, it seems to have been one ridiculously long book before it was split up into "smaller" chunks. Also, I don't know if there is a digital version; I didn't see one on Amazon Japan. I think it's still worth bringing over because I'd like to see more Japanese fiction in addition to light novels. I'd like to support JNC's recent additions of JK Haru and Last and First Idol for that reason; so they can continue to diversify or branch out from light novels. -
@hyperion It's actually just one novel split into two or five volumes because of the sheer length. The five volume bunko edition were 500 pages each, so we're talking 2500 pages of dense writing, long paragraphs, and occasional passages written in the style of 1930s surrealism.
It's great, but definitely hard as shit to translate!
Translator for Discommunication and Last and First Idol. (Not Bookworm.)
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@doceirias Oh, thanks for letting me know! But surely if people are willing to tackle translating Nisoisin into English, someone would be brave enough to do this one : )
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speaking of NISIOISIN, do the folks here at JNC have the Courage to translate this?
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Personally I don't think Nisio Isin's writing even comes close to being hard to read compared to Shiki which even most Japanese people have a hard time reading. Nisio Isin's writing isn't even particularly hard to read, just hard to translate because of all the puns and stuff.
Anyway, definitely support this though. I think it is the best work of Ono Fuyumi and one of the best works of fantasy to come out of Japan and definitely deserves to be published in English.
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@hak0 Wow, I had no idea it was that difficult for even Japanese people to read it. Well, I can only hope that one day Sam and some translator are in a real masochistic mood to take this one on.
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If each book is 500 pages, I can only see this being licensed by J-Novel if they charge like $10 each book or more.
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I'd love to see this one licensed. Great horror series.
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Spotlight time! A friendly bump to an older post that hasn't had any recent conversation and is lower on votes in order to draw attention to it.
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The anime is really good but even thou it was mostly in vampires perspective it did nothing but make them more detestable.
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I would read this.
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I've been rewatching the anime, and it's a lot better than I remember! Now I really want to read the novel.
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Referenced by
myskaros
