Yes, the number 17 is intentional; if you've read "Tsukihime," you know.
"Tsukihime" is the first visual novel TYPE-MOON developed, releasing in 2000. "Tsukihime" was developed with a small team, the two heading the development of "Tsukihime" being Writer & Director Nasu Kinoko and Artist & Character Designer Takeuchi Takashi.
In 2021, the first third of the "Tsukihime" Remake, "Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon-," released, remaking the visual novel with new visuals, characters, and more. "Tsukihime -The other side of red garden-;" the other two thirds of the "Tsukihime" Remake, since "blue glass moon" has two of the six total routes; is still in development.
However, a lot went on with development and post-release of the original "Tsukihime," which may slip under the radar of most "Tsukihime" readers. In this article, 17 facts about "Tsukihime" will be covered.
The idea for this article was inspired by The Gamer's article "10 Things You Didn't Know About 'Tsukihime,'" by Eric O'Gorman. So that there isn't any overlap, I won't repeat any facts/entries listed in O'Gorman's article.
Note: While there are no major spoilers in this list, there are some minor spoilers for both the original "Tsukihime" and remake, links may also include major "Tsukihime" spoilers. It's also recommended to read "Tsukihime" to get the most out of this list.
1. Satsuki Yumizuka's route was cut
While commonly known among "Tsukihime" readers, it can still go under some fan's radar. Satsuki Yumizuka, side-character and friend-zoned in the final game, was originally going to get her own route as one of the heroines in "Tsukihime."
Unfortunately, Yumizuka's route was cut due to time/design constraints. Thankfully, Yumizuka will get her own route in "Tsukihime -The other side of red garden-."
2. Each Route was Going to be Thirty Days
In "Tsukihime," each route is around 10 to 11 days, but Nasu had bigger plans. He originally planned for each route to be around 30 days, with each day being one hour, according to an interview he and Takeuchi did with Mandarake. Now, this may sound absolutely insane, and it is, but Nasu had his reasons.
Nasu Kinoko wanted to show everyday life, figuring it would be fun for readers and make it possible to depict the romance, which he felt was impossible to depict in just 10-11 days. An example includes Ciel appearing for the first three to four days, but the next seven would be mundane to show the normal side of protagonist Shiki Tohono's life.
This plan was aborted after Nasu criticized a game at a game company he worked at during the development of "Tsukihime," which had its own 30-day idea, making him realize it's better to do the 10–11-day system instead. It was as if Nasu was looking into a mirror with his criticism, an... Exceptionally long mirror.
3. Satsuki Yumizuka was Cut but Brought Back
When coming up with the role that would be given to Yumizuka, Nasu & Takeuchi wanted to include a kind of homosexual male character, as explained in Mandarake's interview. The idea for a homosexual male character was influenced by Kaworu Nagisa from the iconic "Neon Genesis Evangelion."
Later, Nasu mentioned that he preferred the character in the role to be female. This prompted Takeuchi to bring back a character, Yumizuka, that was cut alongside the everyday life segments who was planned to be important to those segments. Still didn't get her own route though, but at least she made it into the final game.
4. Curry De Marche
There are many mysteries in "Tsukihime," but one boggles the mind to this day... Why does Ciel like curry so much? Okay, maybe that's just me. However, there's an answer... Sort of.
In the parody manga "Tsukihime of the Day" in "Tsukihime Plus Period," it tells the story of how Ciel was sent to India to kill Dead Apostle Curry De Marche. After winning, Marche requested Ciel to eat his curry as his dying wish. Before that, Ciel was told to never eat curry by her father.
To honour Marche's last wish, she ate curry, and found a new religion as a result. Curry De Marche was spared by Ciel, both even becoming good friends.
However, Curry De Marche's canonicity is questionable at best. While Nasu claimed the events with him and Ciel are canon, in both interviews sourced, both interviewers realize he is/could be lying. Nasu is, or at least was, a compulsive liar. Don't worry, anything else listed here that's sourced by Nasu is backed up by Takeuchi.
5. "Tsukihime" can be Played on the Gameboy Advance
In 2001, Japanese group Inside-Cap published and released "Rinne Tsukihime" at winter comiket 2001, a comic book fair where self-published works can be sold. "Rinne Tsukihime" is Windows software to convert a legal copy of "Tsukihime" into a Gameboy Advance (GBA) ROM, making the visual novel portable only one year after release.
"Rinne Tsukihime" never sold as a cartridge, likely because it kept the erotic scenes. We all know Nintendo would've never allowed h*ndholding without protection on an officially released GBA title.
The fan disc & sequel, "Tsukihime PLUS-DISC" and "Kagetsu Tohya" respectively, also received GBA ROMs in the same method as "Rinne Tsukihime" as "Rinne Tsukihime New Moon Festival" and "Rinne Tohya."
6. Shiki Tohno was Originally a Middle-Aged Man
In "Tsukihime," Shiki is a high school student. However, according to an interview conducted by "Tsukihime" Scenario Programming Assistant OKSG," Nasu originally planned for Shiki to be a worn-down middle-aged man who was a serial killer.
The original "Tsukihime" didn't have the comedic nor light-hearted moments like in the final product. Good thing Takeuchi threatened to kill Nasu if he didn't change things up... I-I'm sure the threats were playful.
Interestingly, the original tone would've also given Arcueid Brunestud a cold personality, unlike her naïve but adorable nature in the final story. Imagine life without her pure joy.
7. The Seven Significance
The number seven is prominent in "Tsukihime," as many things involve the number. There are—27 Dead Apostles, Ciel's ultimate weapon is the Seventh Holy Scripture, Shiki's knife is named Nanaya Seven Nights (Nanatsu-Yoru), and more.
In Japan, seven in Japanese is "七," pronounced Nana. This is significant, but I can't elaborate without spoiling "Tsukihime."
The number seven was also prominent in the development of "Tsukihime," with the "seven days of fire" where TYPE-MOON did a ton of work to meet its deadline for the beta release "Tsukihime." However, this is just a coincidence... Unless Nasu is playing 5D Chess with us.
8. Ciel & Satsuki are Modeled from Manga Characters
While not the only characters to have a model, Yumizuka & Ciel are the only characters to be visually based on characters from manga.
The curry loving Ciel was modeled after Qrowbet from the second chapter of Takeuchi's manga "Valkyria," according to an interview done by OKSG. Satsuki Yumizuka was modeled after Akari Fujisaki from the "Hikaru no Go" manga from 1998 to 2003, as explained in Mandarake's interview.
The connections are clear as Ciel & Qrowbet and Yumizuka & Akari have the same hairstyle. Satsuki Yumizuka & Akari Fujisaki also appear to have the same hair and eye colour, brown, although the brown could just come from shading.
9. TYPE-MOON's Original Website
This is more of a TYPE-MOON fact but still involves "Tsukihime." TYPE-MOON's first website, now shut down, was https://tsukihime.virtualave.net/. However, it can still be explored today using the Wayback Machine.
Originally hosted by website hosting service VirtualAve, TYPE-MOON's first website was used to post updates of "Tsukihime," promote the visual novel, etc.. Nowadays, their website domain is www.typemoon.com, a change that started in 2001.
It's an interesting insight to the humble beginnings of TYPE-MOON as a company.
10. "Tsukihime" was an Ero Game to Grab More People
"Tsukihime" was the gateway for Nasu & Takeuchi to enter the adult market, which Takeuchi took an interest in. Nasu not so much, at least at first, but he was pulled into it anyway. Takeuchi Takashi said in Mandarake's interview that "in the doujin world...seinen and male-oriented products are the ones that sell."
By adding erotic scenes, more people would check out "Tsukihime." Even Nasu said in the same interview "'writing' is actually a very weak force in the doujin world. If you really want people to read your writing, then you need to come up with a few tricks to pull them in."
This was all said back in the early 2000s, so take it with a grain of salt today for today's doujin market. However, it can't be denied that [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] are tight!
11. The Kohaku Route Almost Never Happened
Kohaku fans have OG "Tsukihime" fans to thank for this one.
In Mandarake's interview, Nasu & Takeuchi explained that due to missing their summer 2000 deadline to finish "Tsukihime" for Comiket 58, they sent out the demo "Tsukihime -Half Moon Edition-" to gauge reactions to "Tsukihime." Unexpectedly for TYPE-MOON, "Tsukihime" got a lot of support and feedback.
Part of the feedback showed Kohaku was extremely popular, who was seen more as a shadow to Hisui in Nasu's eyes. This feedback and Takeuchi's suggestion for a Kohaku route sparked development for her route. However, Nasu struggled with the route as he had to make it great, but without soiling the ending to Hisui's route.
Thanks to a concept Nasu wanted to include in "Tsukihime" that fit perfectly for Kohaku's route he was able to write her route to completion in 10 days. You could say he channelled Kohaku herself to complete her route so fast... Or maybe he just worked extremely hard, but my interpretation sounds cooler.
12. Ciel-Sensei & Neco-Arc were Last-Minute Additions
During development, elaborated on in Mandarake's interview, Nasu & Takeuchi wanted a hint corner to guide players, but struggled on who to be the hint corner guide. Late into development Takeuchi created Ciel-Sensei & Neco-Arc for the hint corner, and that's how the most well-known "Tsukihime" character came to be.
You can either laugh or cry, this list isn't an anti-laugh nor anti-cry zone.
Amazingly, the hint corner started being worked on two days before "Tsukihime" was completed. When you consider there are 34 bad ends, that's impressive.
13. Aoko Aozaki was Considered for the Hint Corner
Before the creation of Ciel-Sensei & Neco-Arc, the magus who gives Shiki glasses to help with his supernatural ability, Aoko Aozaki, was considered to give hints, according to Mandarake's interview.
However, Aozaki was considered early into development, and as you already know, the hint corner was worked on the last two days before "Tsukihime" was completed. As a result, Aozaki only shows up in the beginning and Eclipse events.
Fortunately, she's more active in the fighting game series "Melty Blood" and in the visual novel "Mahoutsukai no Yoru," also known as "Night of the Holy Witch," with the latter getting an English release in December this year.
14. The L'arc en Ciel Incident
Here's a funny mistake, although Nasu & Takeuchi might disagree. During the development of "Tsukihime," the scenario writer (credited as Nasu) believed "L'arc en Ciel," meaning "bow in the sky" or "rainbow," meant bow, like a bow and arrow.
Ciel uses Black Keys as projectiles, so the meaning fits for her. However, Ciel means sky, L'arc means the bow. In other words, Ciel was going to have a name that meant bow, but the scenario writer mixed up the meanings of Ciel and L'arc with each other.
Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done as Ciel was already named in the demo. As a result, Ciel kept her name and was made to be good at air combat so the newfound meaning of her name, sky, would still fit her.
15. Akiha's True Ending was Changed
I apologize for not mentioning Akiha much in this list, any trivia involving her isn't easy to find, trust me, I tried. However, OKSG is here to save the day, as when she was interviewed by Mandarake, she mentioned that Akiha's True End wasn't the same from when she playtested "Tsukihime," According to her, it was vastly different.
"The test play version ends only with a conversation between Akiha and someone," OKSG said in her interview with Mandarake. Unfortunately, no more is shared about the changes to the True End other than that the "ending would have made things so much more peaceful!"
16. Takeuchi Takashi is the Reason Hisui & Kohaku Exist
Would you believe that Hisui & Kohaku would've never existed if Takeuchi wasn't into maids? Yes, I'm serious. Mandarake's interview with Nasu & Takeuchi unearths so many gems behind the development of "Tsukihime," I swear.
One day when Nasu was bringing the heroines, which there were three of at the time, Takeuchi mentioned he wanted a maid, Nasu agreed. Takeuchi Takashi then asked for twin maids, Nasu also agreed. This may be why the a concept design for the duo have sprites, being introduced late in development compared to the other heroines,
In the end, only Hisui ended up being a maid, with Kohaku being more of a servant, much to mad lad Takeuchi's dismay. This does add some interesting context to why Shiki has a maid though... Maybe too much.
17. TYPE-MOON Planned to Disband After "Tsukihime"
This could just be a compulsive lie on Nasu's part, but given it's in Nasu's afterword in "Tsukihime Dokuhon Plus Period," an artbook/guide, it could be true. Just take it with a grain of salt.
In his afterword, Nasu said "TYPE-MOON was supposed to disband after releasing 'Tsukihime,' but it didn't." It's not explained why they'd disband, but it's easy to guess why. Nasu & Takeuchi had a massive workload, poor mental states from overworking, money was tight, and more.
It's easy to fail once and realize a career isn't financially practical, especially as indie creators... However, they didn't, and their efforts paid off tenfold. Now TYPE-MOON is one of the most well-known visual novel creators.
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