The Anime Crisis Center > Reviews > Anime > L
Lunar Legend Tsukihime review by darktruth
# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Based on one of Type-Moon's most popular doujin games, the anime of Lunar Legend Tsukihime (Shingetsutan Tsukihime) was highly anticipated by many fans of the original dating simulator. The original game was a mix of horror and mystery genres with some dating sim and hentai elements; however the anime removes the latter two to bring a 12 episode series of love, mystery, angst and vampirish actions.
As a young boy, Shiki Tohno was involved in an accident that left him hospitalized for many years. Since the accident he has developed an unusual ability to see red lines that he can destroy by simply cutting it with anything. Eight years later, shortly after the death of his father, his sister Akiha calls for him to return back to the Tohno mansion to live with her, but once there things begin to go awry and turn mysterious. While walking home one day, he is psychotically compelled to kill a young woman named Arcueid Brunestud. Mysteriously, she is able to regenerate herself and wants to take revenge on Shiki by using him for her own cause. The relationship between the two doesn't exactly hit off that well but eventually it binds them together as pasts are unraveled and truths are revealed.
It's quite rare for me to like vampire anime but Tsukihime definitely grabbed my attention with its mysterious story and characters. The focus between Arcueid and Shiki brought out the love story element perfectly but thankfully it didn't overshadow the level of mystery surrounding the characters. As the series progresses, the personalities of each character becomes more clear, allowing you to make assumptions about them, but as the story becomes more twisted, they will keep you guessing until it is all revealed within the last few episodes.
Most of the background music adds to the mystery and uneasiness in certain scenes. The majority of the pieces are melancholic and ambient, providing a haunting atmosphere for the many dark scenes set in the night, particularly during the last few episodes where the story takes on a dark twist. For the more light-hearted pieces, many of these displayed the fun and gentle side of the characters in scenes set during the day and afternoon.
The major downfall of Tsukihime is that the majority of scenes focus too much time on conversations between certain characters, potentially risking the loss of viewer interest. It seems to have wasted a lot of potential to develop the action in the story and keep the pace going. Another downfall in the series is the major focus on Arcueid and Shiki leaves other critical characters such as Akiha, Kohaku and Hisui little room for character development. In the original game these three had more significant roles in the Tsukihime story but here they are reduced to characters with flat one-dimensional personalities that easily get on your nerves. What I found disappointing was just how short this series was. It had the potential to expand into a longer series where it would've allowed the characters to be developed more and could have shed a little light onto the supporting characters. This could have also given them the chance to bring in characters that never made it into the anime.
If the fans of the original dating sim have anything to complain about, it would be the number of changes made in the anime, including a vast number of missing characters from the original game, character personality changes and storyline changes. Those who have no knowledge of the original Tsukihime game will probably enjoy this series but those who do will see this as a disappointment. Overall, Lunar Legend Tsukihime is the type of anime where you watch it in its entirety or boycott it after the first couple of episodes.
~ darktruth
