Shiki Tohno is your average abnormal high school student; I sure do hope his life doesn't get flipped upside-down.
"Tsukihime" is a mystery horror visual novel released in 2000 for PC. Today, "Tsukihime" is abandonware.
"Tsukihime" was developed & published by TYPE-MOON, who is most well-known for their work on the "Fate" visual novel series and franchise. Although, you might know them best for being the ones behind everyone's favourite anime crossdresser, Astolfo.
In 2021, "Tsukihime" received a remake in the form of "Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon-," well, it's first half... The second half, "Tsukihime -The other side of red garden-," is still in development.
However, this review will only cover the original 2000 PC release, with mirror moon's English fan-translation. However, it should be noted that no screenshots will appear using the English fan-translation in this review.
It should also be noted that it's extremely difficult to legally buy the original "Tsukihime" these days as it can go up to insane prices. Even adaptations like the manga and anime that doesn't exist are either expensive, have an incomplete official English translation, or simply aren't available in Canada legally.
I... I don't think my life savings of $30 can handle this...
Lines Ruin People's Lives
"Tsukihime" begins with Shiki Tohno as a child waking up in a hospital after an accident giving him both anemia and the ability to see the lines of death. Cutting through a line on say a bed or a person kills it instantly. A bed would break with its line cut, liquids would evaporate, ice-cream would instantly melt, corpses would... Be double dead, I guess?
At first, these lines start driving Shiki mad. Fortunately, with the help of magus Aoki Aoyama, he's given glasses to hide the lines, but only when he wears those glasses.
Eight years later as a high schooler with his best friend Arihiko and senpai Ciel making school a fun place, Shiki is invited back by his sister, Akiha Tohno. As a child, Shiki was kicked out of the Tohno family by his father who has recently died. By accepting Akiha's invitation, he's reunited with his sister, who has her maids Hisui & Kohaku by her side.
However, there have also been a series of vampiric serial killings going on that Shiki finds himself involved in. Shiki Tohno's life is, indeed, going to be flipped upside-down. It all starts with her... That wacky woman.
I'll be upfront and say I'm not a fan of the premise. Not because it's a bad one, Shiki's ability to see the lines of death is unique, especially for 2000. The premise just doesn't intrigue me personally, the lines of death and vampiric elements just don't get the intrigue bone going... What do you mean you don't have an intrigue bone too?
The Usual Visual Novel Gameplay You Love
"Tsukihime" has the usual for a visual novel—a backlog, changeable reading speed, decision-making that'll basically get you killed at least once, etc.. It has all the basics you'd come to expect.
Making the right choices leads to a character's Good End or True End. Making the wrong choices brings the player to a Dead End, which can be triggered by making the wrong move in a life-or-death situation or not activating the proper flags (ex. not getting close enough with the heroine).
Depending on the choices made on Day 1, the game will go down one of five routes. However, only two routes are available on a first playthrough, with the rest being unlocked later.
If the reader ever gets stuck, or in other words dies, Ciel-Sensei, who is totally not just Ciel in a teacher uniform she probably stole, can help them out with advice. And no one else.
[Credit for second picture: I put waifus in boxes and burn them up]
No one else...
While a few choices boil down to trial-and-error, most of them have followable logic. I rarely blamed the game for when I reached a Dead End, as when I died, I usually realized the fault in my own logic.
Of course, a visual novel like this doesn't have gameplay as its focus, but I must still applaud "Tsukihime" for its choices not being too frustrating. I was prepared to complain about how choices like choosing water over black tea would cause Shiki to kill Arihiko with a water bottle because he was too hydrated. Instead, it was the green tea-
The """""""""""""""""Visual""""""""""""""""" Novel
"Tsukihime," to put it kindly, feels off visually. For example, most of the cinematic graphics (CGs) just lack depth. Characters feel plastered onto backgrounds, making them look awkward.
[Credit: TYPE-MOON, Ripped by: Kendotlibero]
The CGs aren't bad from a lack of trying, just time constraints, but most CGs just don't look nice as a result. While the CG quality improves overtime the deeper the visual novel goes, I can't call most of them pleasing to look at.
Character portraits also have a grey outline, which makes portraits feel unfinished. I'm certain the characters were drawn on a solid grey background in Photoshop, with the artist using the Fuzzy Select tool to select & erase the background, but didn't notice the background residue.
[Credit with Ciel sprite: TYPE-MOON, Ripped by: Kendotlibero]
Also, don't worry, this analogy is historically correct, as any analogy should be. We here at The Game Knot pride ourselves on our analogies being historically correct for some reason.
It's a shame because the character designs are excellent. They're memorable and properly convey the personalities of the characters well, and the CGs & portraits show them wonderfully.
[Credit: TYPE-MOON, Ripped by: Kendotlibero]
Another aspect of the presentation that suffers is sound. There's no voice-acting, which is understandable, but also a lack of sound-effects. Important scenes, battles, and so on feel lifeless with so few of them. Now, if the music made up for it, I'd be fine with a lack of sound effects... Keyword being if.
The soundtrack is forgettable, the main theme being an exception (likely because it's the 2003 version, not the 2000 version), and there are only 10 tracks... Technically only eight tracks play regularly with two being reserved for the credits and woo-hoo time, but still... This small number of songs in a 40+ hour visual novel... This HURTS me so much.
The lack of variety isn't the only thing that pains me. Due to the same songs repeatedly playing, the music loses all emotional impact, actively ruining important moments. The music also abruptly cuts when it ends or transitions to a new song, which is jarring.
On my second playthrough of the routes I replayed, I had to use my own custom music for my own sanity. It doesn't stop the lack of seamless looping nor abrupt cuts, but at least it was music I enjoyed.
I think this is the first time where I can unironically say I would've enjoyed a visual novel more as a PDF/novel. And yes, a PDF version does exist, and no, I likely can't link it because of legal reasons. Regardless, for a visual novel, "Tsukihime" is visually lacking.
The Routes
I'll go over each route and my opinions on each. Now, the recommended route is Arcueid > Ciel > Akiha > Hisui > Kohaku, and, well...
Ciel Route (D)
I didn't exactly... Go in that order- Look, when I see an anime character fixing splints, my primal instincts kick in. How many anime girls do you know who fix splints?
Which, in other words, means Ciel's my favourite. Her backstory is fantastic; her role in the plot is excellent; and her personality is loveable as she's a light-hearted, fun, & curry-addicted mentor to Shiki by day; cold by night.
I could gush about her endlessly if I could spoil "Tsukihime," she even got me to try curry for the first time. Seriously. Side-note: curry tastes great.
The theme of her route is also interesting too, further complimenting Ciel as a character while also fitting Shiki too. The antagonist of the route is also interesting. Not amazing, but I thought "damn, this villain is kind of neat," which must count for something.
Unfortunately, the rest of Ciel's route is... Not good, although that has more to do with "Tsukihime" than on best girl herself. I'll elaborate later, but for now, just know Ciel's route didn't grip me that much, the romance was boring, the reveals just weren't exciting, and I just wasn't invested apart from the characters. Cool concepts, poor execution.
These criticisms also apply to the other routes unless said otherwise. I can't say I have any unique criticisms with Ciel's route though, but that doesn't stop this route from being just average and being disappointed this route wasn't better.
Arcueid Route (E-)
The first route of the game... Unless you're like me.
Arcueid is a fun character. She's selfish with no clue how socializing works properly, but is also so energetic that you can't help but find her charming. The theme and revelation with Arcueid (each heroine has one) also works well... Even if Arcueid's route has more problems than Ciel's route.
Not only do general problems get in the way of Arcueid's route to make it mostly boring, but the antagonist has the personality of default evil. Even the conflict, while interesting, feels unnaturally integrated. However, I could this way because I played Ciel's route first.
Additionally, as much fun as Arcueid is as a character, she's aggravating when she exposition dumps things on Shiki. It's in-character, but it's still painful to get through.
Sure, the above is just an edit of my own doing... However, this is exactly what it feels like when Arcueid exposition dumps, like reading a wiki page without a shred of personality.
I wish I could say more, but Arcueid's route is just boring. It's honestly best described as Ciel's route without the elements that makes Ciel's route decent.
Akiha Route (D)
Akiha Tohno is the anime homo sapiens species known as... Tsundere. She's prickly on the outside, but genuinely caring towards Shiki on the inside. She's fantastic, striking the perfect balance between Tsun and Dere. She knows when to drop her Dere when things get serious.
The first conflict of Akiha's route is also one of the emotional arcs in "Tsukihime." I was taken aback by it, literally in the emotional sense. The mystery aspect is also compelling too. I was intrigued on what the answer was, even if the payoff was horribly disappointing.
Yeah, this is another route I don't like. Are you noticing a pattern yet?
Akiha Tohno's route also suffers from the general problems of the prior routes, with the romance easily being the worst in the visual novel. Putting aside the incest aspect, it's just not built-up well in the slightest.
Akiha Tohno's route is decent, not as moderate as Ciel's route, but it's decent. Unfortunately, just like Ciel's route, I'm disappointed that it couldn't have been stronger. The beginning was so amazing, but everything fell apart after that.
Hisui Route (F+)
Throughout "Tsukihime," I questioned the horror genre label as nothing was all that scary. Or at least, I didn't find anything scary... I do own an eldritch horror farm after all. However, Hisui's route changed that, as it's horrifying... HORRIFYING BAD!
Okay, but in all seriousness, Hisui's route is my least favourite route in "Tsukihime." The reason boils down to Hisui and the conflict.
Don't get me wrong, I like Hisui. She falls into the kuudere trope, she's calm & collected most of the time, rarely showing her emotions. Or at least, that's what you're led to believe at first, but overtime you get better at reading her expressions. It's genuinely satisfying understanding her over the course of the game... But not in her own route.
Hisui isn't a strong enough character to work as a heroine. While stuff is expanded on with Hisui, it's just not that interesting. Even the revelation for Hisui's character is extremely obvious, becoming obnoxious when the route takes forever to reveal it.
The worst part: If I skipped Hisui's route, I wouldn't have missed anything important with Hisui's character barring one minor aspect.
The romance, despite having more justification than most other romances in "Tsukihime," still feels undercooked. You would think having a maid girlfriend would be awesome, having someone to wake you up in time for McDonald's breakfast menu, but the execution is just wearisome.
Even the theme of the route feels messy. Both Hisui and Shiki reflect different themes, but never in tangent with one another like Shiki and other heroines in their respective routes.
As for the route's conflict, it's akin to a prolonged jumpscare. Sure, it gets your attention at first, but overtime you realize loudly "WOW, THIS REALLY SHOULDN'T BE GOING ON FOR HOURS!"
The conflict loses its luster early in the route and just becomes a repetitive, poorly-paced drag to get through. Even worse, it sometimes feels like a repeat of one of the earlier routes in "Tsukihime." However, in Hisui's route, it's inferior in every way.
Apart from Hisui herself and the epilogue, there isn't much to enjoy in Hisui's route. It's great this route has its fans that can appreciate it deeply, I can see people adoring the conflict and Hisui in this route, I'm just not one of them.
So, I Might Dislike This Story...
Unfortunately, while I didn't like most routes, their flaws come from the general writing of "Tsukihime." The characters are great, but the story is hard to get invested in and consistently boring to boot. That's probably the worst thing to be consistent at, except for maybe consistently being in burning buildings.
Granted, I didn't have much interest in the premise in the first place. Although, I doubt every problem I had was from a lack of interest in vampires and lines.
Lack of Intrigue
Firstly, I find it difficult to care about the story's mysteries even when I desperately tried to. They never piqued my interest because I felt the plot didn't give me any reason to BE interested.
Even my reactions to reveals weren't "NO WAY, WHAT?!" as you'd expect, but rather "oh, okay, we're doing this now, neat." Seriously, I was that unenthusiastic at the revelations despite some of them being great critically speaking. I just couldn't care or feel strongly about the mysteries.
Then there's the fight scenes. Without sound effects, proper music, CGs for most of them, and battle descriptions that deliver impact—they just end up being hollow ataraxia.
Granted, you don't need sound effects and CGs to make a fight good in a visual novel, but the core problem here is the writing. The writing lacks the ability to give proper weight to each hit, to make the victories of battle feel satisfying, to make it feel as though the reader experienced a fight to the death.
It also doesn't help that the antagonists of most routes are forgettable. Despite some great concepts for their antagonism, they all come off as stale.
The Repetition
However, it's not just some of the core intrigues of the story that fail, but also the ability to show a balanced diet of new elements to keep things fresh. Instead, "Tsukihime" is annoyingly repetitive, to the point of being somewhat formulaic.
While "Tsukihime" lets you skip scenes you've already seen, it only works for entire scenes that are the same, not nearly identical ones, which can't be skipped. These can include only a few bits of new dialogue, while the rest of the scene is the same.
This is unfortunately common in "Tsukihime," creating a weird game of Russian Roulette. In these scenes, you want to skip the dialogue you've already seen so you don't get bored, but you also risk skipping new dialogue. I've never been good at Russian Roulette, and I'm sure my lack of skill in the sport came in here.
Additionally, it doesn't help that a lot of exposition dumps are needlessly lengthy. For example, Arcueid goes into excruciating detail about the differences between Dead Apostle (DA) vampires and True Ancestor (TA) vampires. However, it can be summarized concisely:
Dead Apostles were once human but are turned into DAs by either another vampire (DA or TA) or magic. They lose their powers in the sunlight and need blood to survive. True Ancestors were born as vampires. They're stronger, don't need blood to survive, and sunlight only weakens them without making them lose their powers.
That's all you realistically need to know, but Arcueid disagrees... The extra exposition helps with worldbuilding, but it just ends up being white noise due to its lack of relevance to the plot.
It ALSO doesn't help that some of these exposition dumps are late into most routes and sometimes repeated each route. While it's understandable with Arcueid and Ciel's routes due to being the potential first routes, the other routes don't have such an excuse.
It's like doing Groundhog Day on your birthday, sure birthday cake and presents are awesome the first time. However, you can only be happy about getting a "Gaming Chair Racing Office Chair High Black Computer Desk Chair PU Leather Chair Executive and Ergonomic Swivel Chair with Headrest and Lumbar Support (red)" so many times.
It's frustrating since the reader already knows the reveal Shiki's trying to figure out, but it takes forever for Shiki to find out, making the pacing brutally slow. While each route has at least one unique reveal, it isn't enough to defeat the boring formula "Tsukihime" cooked up.
The Romance and Sex
Despite my praises for the cast, their love and sex lives aren't one of them. I'm a fan of romance myself, I have 486,607 ex-wives, but damn, do most of these romances feel forced and one-sided.
Usually, it's either the heroine or Shiki with the romantic feelings, rarely both at the same time (excluding the "essential" sex scene). So, when the other party is just like "okay, I'm good to have some kachow time with you," it feels like a 180 for one of the characters. The one time this isn't the case, in Arcueid's route, it's just terribly paced.
Additionally, the sex scenes are poorly written. Granted, I don't know good intercourse dialogue in the first place, but I don't think it should include so many juxtapositions. Although, I won't deny there's a "so bad it's good" charm to it.
Furthermore, the sexual content of "Tsukihime" in these four routes feel unnecessary. I find all they do is add shock value or fanservice. Normally, I would begrudgingly accept this sort of thing, but they actively mess with the pacing of the romance in "Tsukihime."
Is there... Another...?
All these problems just make reading "Tsukihime" a chore. Fortunately, there is, dare I say it, a good route in "Tsukihime." In fact, it's the last route that should be played in the visual novel. It is the...
Kohaku Route (A+)
Finally,
maid girlfriend II.
Kohaku is a cheery maid, despite what the above picture suggests. She's rarely seen not smiling. Despite seeming like a simple character at first glance, she's more than what meets the eye. Most importantly, she's extremely fun and her interactions with the characters are all gold.
She ended up being my second favourite in the cast, she just works so well. I want to know her opinion(s) on towels.
Kohaku's route avoids many pitfalls from the other routes—the reveals hit like a truck, the mysteries are engaging, the fights are few, the romance is genuinely sweet & well built up, the pacing is great, the sexual content fits & doesn't feel forced, the repetition is nearly non-existent if you skip already-seen scenes, the antagonist is compelling, and exposition dumps aren't annoyingly long & don't come off as just reading a wiki page.
While not every general problem is absent in Kohaku's route, most of them are or are at least tolerable. Despite all the pains of other routes, "Tsukihime" ends with a huge bang thanks to Kohaku's route.
Overall (E)
"Tsukihime" is... Not good. While I love the cast and themes, anything else is a chore to talk about positively—there's a lot of repetition, fights lack weight, the romance is too one-sided, the mysteries & reveals are boring, the sexual content is mostly unneeded, the visuals are mostly miss, and the music is awful.
The only consistent joy I got out of "Tsukihime" was Kohaku's route. However, while I love Kohaku's route, it only came after 20-30+ hours of virtual torture.
Paradoxically though, despite my many gripes, "Tsukihime" is one of the more unique visual novels I've read. It's hard to compare it to other works excluding TYPE-MOON's later works, which for a first visual novel, is genuinely impressive. For me, it's interesting in a masochistic way. Dull, but also stands out with what little it gets right.
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