Volume 1 cover
Shiki (Japanese: 屍鬼 Hepburn: lit. "Corpse Demon" or "Death Spirit") is a horror novel by Japanese novelist, Fuyumi Ono.
It was originally published in two parts by Shinchosha in 1998, it was then reprinted into five parts in 2002. The chapters of the manga series Shiki were drawn and written by Ryu Fujisaki and serialized by Shueisha in Jump Square. The story is based off of the novels of the same name. It is about a small village named Sotoba, which is plagued by bizarre deaths caused by what seemed to be an epidemic. However, when Toshio Ozaki, the hospital dean, performs his own investigations, he discovers vampires, known as "shiki" ("corpse demon" in English) living in their midst. An English adaptation of the manga series has yet to be announced.
The first chapter was released in December 2007, and it was serialized in Jump Square until June 2011. An anime adaptation of the manga was announced in December 2009. The first episode aired on Fuji TV on July 8, 2010.
The Shiki anime is an adaptation of the Shiki manga series drawn by Ryu Fujisaki], which is itself an adaptation of a novel series of the same name by Fuyumi Ono. The story happens in the 90's about a small isolated town in rural Japan named Sotoba, where a series of bizarre deaths occur, coinciding with the arrival of the Kirishiki family who has just moved into a castle built on the outskirts. Toshio Ozaki, dean of the only hospital in Sotoba, begins to investigate and discovers there are supernatural presences at work, namely vampires, who are called shiki, which translates to English as "corpse demon".
The series premiered on Fuji TV, Kansai TV, Tōkai TV, and their affiliated stations on July 8, 2010. Funimation has acquired the license to simulcast the series one hour after its initial broadcast in Japan with English subtitles. The first of the DVDs and Blu-ray of the anime were released on October 27, 2010 by Aniplex.
Each episode title is a homophone pronunciation for the Japanese numerals using On'yomi, with each phrase mostly related to death or the corruption of the physical body, both common themes in the series. The series has four pieces of theme music.