Warning, this review may contains spoilers.
First impressions:
So, this manga is based off the hentai game and that adapts one the original routes in its entirety. It seems interesting enough, we’ve got vampires killing people and some romance developing in the background. I wonder how they will handle this.
Story: 6/10
Our tale begins with our main character Shiki Tohno who’s moved back into his family home after years of being taken care of by distant relatives, which he went to live with after a major incident that nearly killed him and gave him the ability to see lines of death. While getting used to being back with his sister and their twins maids, a mysterious case of vampire like murders is spreading out through the city like wildfire. One day while returning from school he comes across a mysterious foreign woman and like a good japanese citizen he cuts her up into multiple pieces, in what can be described as a psychotic rage. After a few days pass the same woman who he murdered visits him and reveals herself to be a vampire named Arcueid, who’s come to the city in order to kill a powerful vampire known as Roa, who is behind the recent murder cases and other supernatural shit that's going down in the city. It turns out though that she’s been badly weakened by Shiki’s attempted murder, so she decides to strong arm him into helping her complete her mission and so begins their partnership together.
Tsukihime is probably one of the more interesting stories that have been done by type-moon, which doesn't revolve around "people die when they are killed" or "the archer class is full of archers". Jokes aside though, the story is pretty much Shiki and Arcueid going around together and killing lesser vampires while looking for Roa, which does get boring and repetitive after a while. Like how many times can you fight the same generic vampires before it gets stale? On the bright side, they do kind of flavor it with external and internal problems. For example, one external problem they face is when they go against Roa and this one vampire that’s made out of wolfs and shit. On the other hand, the internal problems they face are more about the main two characters and their dark sides coming out. One being that Shiki at times devolves into a bloodthirsty killer and Arcueid……... well, she’s a vampire, so it’s self-explanatory what's going to happen.
There isn't really much to comment on, besides what’s already been mentioned, except for the bond they have together, which turns into a romance, which as far as romances go it isn't that bad, all things considered. Because I have seen quite a few romance stories that use a couple who are a completely different species altogether and use this as an excuse for cheap melodrama and over the top emotional expressions, that make me want to vomit. Luckily though, the story doesn't do this and instead their relationship and how it was developed felt very normal. Because it was very simple and to the point, it wasn’t bogged down by being overly emotional or being so pitch perfect that it felt robotic. It’s basically just them hanging out when they're not killing vampires and their relationship developing from that, so the romance is at least pretty decent.
All in all, the story was pretty ok and even shockingly grounded for a supernatural series. The last thing I can really comment on is probably the negatives. For starters, this story feels very dated and doesn't have enough punch to it. It has a very dated presentation and I feel that when this story originally came out it was pretty interesting and fresh in people's minds, but stuff like fate/stay night have kind of made it obsolete. Maybe if this series got a readaptation then maybe it would be better, because some of the ideas the series came up were interesting. One example of which is the way it explores the concept of vampires in this world. I also find it interesting how the series plays on the many legends surrounding vampires and explains them in a very straight forward matter, like why vampires need to drink blood and the like. The original source material for this was written in a basement by a group of people who were starting a game company, so i’ll give the writing a bit of slack for that. At the end of the day tsukihime isn't badly written, especially when you consider the fact it's a manga adaptation of hentai game, so for that i give it a slightly good score.
Characters: 6/10
The main character Shiki at first seems like another bland protagonist, who’s a quote unquote normal highschool boy, but as the story continues we find at that that’s not the case. Even though he has this generic upbeat, pacifist, loner attitude, he has quite a few interesting traits that aren't really found in a quote unquote normal highschoolers. For example, he doesn't fear death and all too often makes very light jokes or comments about death and shit like that. He also has this kind of evil side to him, where he becomes this near unstoppable sociopathic killing machine when he is the presence of supernatural beings. Unfortunately, he can't control this bloodlust and it leads him to at times go slightly insane, where it’s interesting to see him try and hold on to what humanity he has left when that side of him tries to take over.
Arcueid is also interesting to a point. She has a very cat like personally, being very free spirited and not really getting bothered by much. The most interesting thing about her though is that she was originally a weapon made to seek out and destroy anything her creators told her to, but because of interactions with Shiki and the bond they formed together she basically broke out of her eternal cycle of wake up, hunt down and kill vampire, sleep, then rinse and repeat. Now because that cycle has been broken, she actually has time to enjoy the things in life that she never got a chance to enjoy, like going to the movies or just chilling in general, which is a concept which she really hasn't had the time to explore or learn more about.
I found the interactions between Shiki and Arcueid really interesting, especially when they talk about concepts like for example, would you eat something that is equally intelligent as you or when Shiki takes Arcueid to places she hasn't been before, where she learns to have an attachment to the world around her.
The side characters are pretty basic for the most part. The thing that’s pretty cool about the characters in general though is that we often get to know what they are feeling and thinking. Sadly, because the original source has so many routes that explore the characters in many different ways, so we don't get to see the full potential of each of the characters, as this manga only covers one route, in which it's mostly Arcueid that's gets focused on. What I will say about the other characters’ routes is that the focus on them is interesting to a point and there is definitely more there than you would have first thought. An example of this is when we find out that Shiki’s adopted family actually have a demonic bloodline and are half demons, that drink blood and go into a frenzy every now and then.
The main bad guy, Roa feels very flat and comes off as some sort of psycho yandere. The reason for why he was like this was also kinda stupid. Basically, what happened is that he fell in love with Arcueid and didn’t understand the emotions he was feeling at the time. Eventually he came to think those emotions where hatred and because of that started this century’s long personal war, which caused many deaths and even turned a few unlucky souls into vampires. So because of his reasoning he just comes off as really flat and not that interesting, even if the idea itself of a person experiencing emotions and not understanding them is kinda interesting. They just didn't really do much with that idea and kind of left it vague and up to interpretation.
Art: 6/10
The artwork is not the best they could’ve done, as is it looks pretty choppy at times. Now one positive thing I can say about the artwork is that it kind of fits into the kind of setting that’s presented. It also has somewhat ok fight scenes as well, that don’t really flow and basically boil down to how many body parts can our main characters remove in one strike. I like the characters designs, because I am a big fan of most things type-moon.
Enjoyment: 6/10
So what I liked about this manga in particular is the romance, that was quite well done. The vampire fighting scenes were pretty cool was well. I also like how the main character is slowly losing his sanity, as he uses his powers more. I think the concept of being able to see death is interesting for an ability that people can have.
Overall: 6/10
Conclusion:
If you're a fan of type-moon or you want a human vampire romance that isn't like vampire knight or twilight then you will like this manga, but if you're not into romance or stories with plots that have been used before then I guess you won't like this.
Special credit to my new script editor, Lonecrit.
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