It's almost a relief when Lio is revealed as the oppressive expectation could have easily become stifling. His introduction a third of the way in is magnificent unto itself, however there is a deep, pitch-black malevolence that permeates beforehand casting a deep shadow across all the characters: Shiki wanders abandoned streets frequently shrouded in darkness, Mikiya meanwhile samples some of the drugs the murder victims were apparently using, shrouding his thoughts. Instead, he becomes something far more potent: contrasting Shiki, exploiting Mikiya and melding with the story to become a symbol for the themes that have run throughout, but most of all he is viciously, sadistically terrifying. She is captured and tortured by Lio, still struggling with murderous urges, her salvation relies on Mikiya who may befall Lio's uncontrollable cravings.Īntagonists like Lio can only exist after a rapport with the protagonists has been built, otherwise he would be just a blonde crackpot with overly active saliva glands. The perpetrator, Lio Shirazumi, finds Shiki first but loses an arm in the resulting scuffle retreating, he discovers Mikiya in his apartment which has become a madman's shrine to Shiki. Shiki wanders the back alleys of the business district, searching for the murderer and avoiding attacks by local thugs while Mikiya becomes more and more worried about her, beginning his own investigation that takes him down a path populated by drug pushers and prostitutes. Set after Oblivion Recorder, a new spate of ferocious murders has caught the eye of both Shiki and Daisuke, Mikiya's cousin who investigated the murders before. The special brand of darkness which is continuously plumbed has layer upon layer of detail