In episode 2 of Shiki, we learn that Natsuno is kind of an ass, Megumi is still probably stalking him as a ghost, and that the village girl with the weird shaped hair has a lot of profound thoughts and will become a more major character.
On the Natsuno side, this episode makes it clear that he is a lot more like Megumi than he knows: he wants to leave the village and he dislikes associating with the people in it. He's also too much of an ass to fulfill a dead girl's (probably) last wish of accepting her postcard. Bastard. Hopefully he'll get some more development soon because right now he just has hair way too messy for me to like him in any way shape or form.
One of the major points of this episode that I really felt come through was the feeling everyone in the village was getting from these murders. I felt as though everyone was effected emotionally by these murders, since everyone knew each other because of the small town environment. With these ten people dead, it seems probable that everyone in the village knew at least one of them well enough to grieve their deaths.
The creators used village girl (I really should learn her name) as an example: Megumi's death, someone she had been with ever since childhood, caused her to think seriously, for probably the first time in her life, about the concept of life and death. In such an isolated village, many of these people live peaceful lives without being exposed to the everyday misery and poverty which would be surrounding them in, say, a poor part of the city. The creators captured this feeling as something new and very unusual in the village and that really helped with the building of the atmosphere in this case.
As for the mystery portion, the doctor is busy at work investigating and we can only wait anxiously at our seats until they visit the mansion. Man oh man, I could just feel the buildup growing and growing. There had better be a lot of payoff for this.
Overall: 8/10 (wow outdid the first episode. good job Shiki)
