Anime Review: Tsukihime, lunar legend

Review Tsukihime, lunar legend aka Shingetsutan Tsukihime Written by Warpshadow Rating very good

If there is one thing that is lacking in most dating sim ports and other harem shows it is an actual assertive woman. I am not talking about hammer wielding anger spurts but actual assertiveness. If you are sick of the usual cloying school girl love interest you may wish to take Tsukihime for a ride.

After an accident Shiki Tohno was able to see life lines and could destroy things if he cut those lines. He was given glasses by a wandering wizard that allowed him suppress that power. After that he lived a normal life with his aunt and uncle until one day he summoned to life at the main house with his sister. At that time he also ran into a woman who was strange for two reasons. The first is that she was a vampire and the second was that she demanded help from Shiki to repay for him killing her.

Tsukihime is a quality story, one that blends horror and romance. The cast of characters in this show is quite remarkable with several complex and memorable figures within the story. The animation crisp and conveys the gothic atmosphere well. The show's fatal flaw is the pacing, it moves too slowly to capture the entirety of the story in it's run of twelve episodes. Fans of the game that this show was based on say that there is a fair amount of the plot missing. What is there does manage to make for a good story and one that is well worth watching.