Man, this is my favorite manga of all time. It is by far not the best written, the most insightful, nor the best drawn. However, it is the only manga that has duped me before I dumped it, and it is also the manga of my favorite character and my most hated character!

Now I must confess, I don't really feel anything when I read. I can tear up a little at sad parts and laugh at funny parts, but it's not powerful emotion. Even in Berserk, at the betrayal's climax, I was like, "meh, this dude is so ungrateful."

But boy, oh boy, Shiki is brilliant. Fuckin' awesome. I felt elation. I felt rage! The story takes you on a journey, through stupidity, to imminent extinction due to stupidity, to the most satisfying death I've ever read about, then to a fuckin' party, then at the finale, to the greatest betrayal--of the author, against you. And you never would have seen it coming, unless you actually stopped and thought about the symbolism but no one does at gory! action! death! scenes, so you can't even chuck the book away before the author nabs you. Because it ends right there.

Anyways, I don't really think it's spoilers to go ahead and say I'm a die-hard Toshio fan, and sometimes I surprise myself with my unfounded vicious hate of the Shiki. Then, I have to step back and think, hmmm, why do we have such great potential for cruelty and disgust? What about fear robs us of our compassion, our reason, our apathy? And then I reflect upon myself...but not really 'cause Toshio is my favorite character w00t Abraham Lincoln, vampire slayer