Shingetsutan Tsukihime

"There is no Tsukihime Anime."

Ah yes, those infamous words. Before all of you say anything, I DID finish the visual novel and I HAVE read the manga (well, the first three volumes) and guess what, I STILL enjoyed this anime so sit back, relax and let me tell it like it is.

As far as story goes, I don't see what the problem was. Quite honestly, I thought the visual novel was redundant when explaining the differences between a Dead Apostle and a True Ancestor. In the anime, it goes straight to the point and makes easy on the viewers. Dead Apostle is a human ... turned vampire. True Ancestor is a transcendent race, vampires yes but were never human to begin with. While the plot is still much deeper and complex in the visual novel, don't really undermine the anime's version of it. If you are a huge Tsukihime buff and want to know EVERYTHING about Tsukihime, then you won't like the anime. But if you just want to get in and enjoy a decent anime then won't bore you to death with details, then watch the anime.

The art was done well in my opinion. While they could have brushed up a bit better on some characters (Nero and Roa come to mind) in general, the characters look like they are supposed to. In general, the art is not outstanding but is still pretty good.

The music, especially the opening, is what made this series. Very nice tunes from start to finish. Having only watched the English version of this show, you will probably recognize the voices right away. Arcuied is voiced by Michelle Ruff (Rukia anyone?) and Shiki is voiced by Steve Staley (who voiced Toshiro Hitsugaya). In short, if you enjoyed the Bleach dub (like I did) then you will like the dub in this series as well (since half the Bleach cast is in here.) Cannot comment on the original voice acting.

No doubt the weakest part of the series is the characters. Arcueid comes across as far too clingy to Shiki (she liked Shiki in the visual novel as well but she wasn't hitting on him every other minute), Akiha is well, the same basically, Ciel is meh and Nero and Roa were punked.

Which brings me to another point. All of these guys got severely gimped in the anime. Shiki is on his knees having migraines 99 percent of the time, Ciel gets owned every single time she fights, Akiha is no better, Nero is as scary as a house cat (no Soil of Genesis and 999th Beast really blew hard) the list goes on and on. Seriously, the only one doing anything in combat was Arcuied (when she wasn't trying to molest Shiki) and even then she has trouble from time to time.

Even so, this show does have its moments. I have to say that episode 7, the amusement park episode, was really funny and awkward and the times between Shiki and Arcuied when they are not hunting vampires is also neat to watch.

Overall, the anime is not the visual novel. It is not as good as the visual novel and when compared to the visual novel, it would be considered below average. But I came reviewing the anime and only the anime and found it to be a short yet enjoyable series.

Don't get turned off by all the hate that this series is receiving. Make your own choice and watch it. You might be surprised. (In a good or bad way!)

Lunar Legend Tsukihime is a Supernatural, Romance, Drama about Shiki Tohno; a boy who’s said to have been caught in a terrible accident 8 years ago and since then he has been able to see the lines of Death in everything and everyone. One day in the park he kills a lady but then wakes up in his room. Was it all a dream? Maybe or maybe not, because the next day he meets her again.

Well this is the starting point to this very short anime and even though it’s short the story is surprisingly slow moving. Even though it doesn’t seem like it in ... the very beginning, the show ends up being yet another one about vampires, with some more confusing theories to confuse anyone on the increasingly complex concept of vampires. Unlike most show involving vampires, the vampires are the secondary focus to the story with the primary focus being on the 2 main characters Shiki and Arcueid (a vampire). All of those anime fans hoping of plenty of vampire action (Trinity Blood, Hellsing, etc) may be disappointed, as all this show has to offer is a decent surreal story. At least the anime can have anyone, who’s captivated by the story, asking for more as minor developments occur throughout the show.

Another thing about this anime that will captivate a viewer is the lavish visual, similar to another gorgeous TYPE-MOON anime, “Fate/Stay Night”. With superb animation, artwork and CG effects; it’s obvious to see how much time and effort was put into making this show look good. It’s just disappointing to see it wasted on the lack of fluid or any combat, in this anime.

The music was superb with a compilation of string instrumentals (violins) that really set the surreal and suspenseful mood. The only problem with the music was the lack of variety as the same tunes are played over and over, to the point where it can remove the mood, helped originally set, later on in the series.

Overall this was a great anime that inevitably turned into a romantic drama and with a pretty well written story. The build up to the ending was so superb, with all the pieces finally coming together however the tragic ending failed to leave an impact on me. Even with the superbly lavish animation and intricate story what failed in this anime were the slow moving storyline and especially the stale characters. The characters were nothing special and any anime fan who has seen a couple different anime would notice the character’s personalities which are found in the typical high school scenario of anime. Just like the protagonist, Shiki’s personality who’s similar to Kohta from Elfen Lied (weak, kind-hearted and can’t remember something tragic in his past). With that said this is only an anime that serious anime fans can enjoy, those expecting 12 episodes of violence or comedy won’t be satisfied with this Suspenseful story of Romance and Drama.

^_^

*It is almost criminal to not watch this anime.*

"... fans ... treat the anime as ... an in depth synopsis of the visual novel and the manga."

I stumbled across this hidden treasure while watching the Kara no Kyoukai (KnK) movie series. If you have not seen the KnK movies, please feel free to skip to the next paragraph. For those who have seen the movies, perhaps the first thing that will capture your interest is the name Shiki and the "Mystic Eyes of Anime Death Perception" as both of these are also in Shingetsutan Tsukihime. As you get further into the story, you will realize ... there are more similarities than meet the eyes, but for the purpose of this review I will not get into those details.

The general concept of the story, much like the KnK series which this anime is based upon, revolves around mysterious supernatural forces like vampires or human with special abilities. The anime is a direct adaptation of the Tsukihime visual novel that was released in 2000 by TYPE-MOON, who is most famous for their work on Fate/stay night. At around the same time when the anime started to broadcast, its manga also got serialized and began to publish.

Although both the anime and manga follow the same route from the game (there are 2 routes in the game with multiple endings), most fans tend to treat the anime as nothing more than an in depth synopsis of the visual novel and the manga. It will become apparent as you watch deeper into the show that many events and battles happen too quickly an could have been better explained. So for those who are confused about the events in the anime, I recommend trying to read the manga or play the game if you can get your hands on it (there is a revised 2009 edition of the visual novel coming out later this year with improved artwork and story so you may choose to wait for that).

For a pre-HD era anime, the animation level is extremely high with some nice CG effects and character designs (even by today's standard). Perhaps the most appealing aspect of Shingetsutan Tsukihime is the soundtrack. From the OP to in battle musical theme, the instrumental music (ie. violins) really brings out the uniqueness of the show especially during combats.

But what bugs me about Shingetsutan Tsukihime is that the show did not put enough time and effort into developing the supporting casts. While the main characters have decent character traits, the minor characters lacked any form of realism and background. For instance, Yumizuka (although appeared in almost every single episodes) lacked a certain persona to make her feel like a real person. All we know is she loves Shiki, but she did not play much of a role in the anime. The maid twins is another good example of a lack of character growth (they started and ended the show without any change). Anyhow, with that said, it is worth mentioning that we do get a fair bit of screen time seeing the main characters develop themselves and their relationships with one another.

Overall, the show managed to maintain the structural, core components of the original game story but at the expense of a very much condensed action scenes and somewhat ignored support characters. Highly recommend this to KnK fans (since Tsukihime takes place in the same universe and there are direct relations between the two).

story: The story is great. It´s not like other anime with vampires with lot of action, blood and killings. It focus the relation between shiki , a normal student with a special power and a vampire, arcueid. It´s really interesting, the only problem is that the story goes way to slow in some episodes, however, is still one of the best stories i´ve ever seen.

Art: Is similar with another type-moon anime, "Fate/stay night" (wich i also liked a lot). I think the art is great, the visual effects are nice.

Sound: One of the first aspects in tsukihime that called my attention was the sound. The ... opening made me remember old memories, some background musics made me think of some aspects of life, ths ed is fine, well, is really great.

character: Although they are not bad, some of them are not develloped as they should. Well, still is acceptable, but i was expecting more.

Overall: I really enjoyed watching the anime, story is great, same to art and sound, however it lacks some action and some more fights sometimes, but still this anime is something really good, much better than some other i have seen.

The problem of 99% of all the anime is an end. Sometimes it is a shitty happy end, when everyone (even dead!) is alive, sometimes it is a total Armageddon, sometimes kind of any other shit happens. Finding an anime with a really beautiful end is rather had.
But here it is.
During first series it is kind of boring. Yes, what can be more usual than a Ordinary Japanese Pupil, who has, of course, a Very Special Ability and a family with a bitchy sister (without any parents, of course)? When you hear the word "vampire", you also treat anime a bit lower, and having ... a beatiful woman in the main hunting role - yes, it happened before somewhere, yes? And you can also tell just the same things about main antagonist, schoolfriends, enviroment... So it looks like another low-quality multfilm, yes?
Don`t even think, just watch.
I can speak a long speach about great sense in the plot, about hidden secrets, but I don`t like speaking about the Great Hidden Sense. I can only mention some points...
1) This anime has a best sexual scene I ever saw (hentai included... German porno is surely better=). Watching romanic scenes, I always thought: "WHY HE IS A DUMB SLOWPOKE? WHEN HE KISSES HER?" Usually it never happens. And now... Don`t you think that a night like that was a proper end of Arcueid and Shiki`s time, spent together?
2) The end. Yes, the end is great. I don`t want to spoiler, but... This anime ends like it should. When you`ll watch, you`ll understand.
3) The music reminded me about "Monster". Sometimes instrumental compositions are better than any loli-voices and songs.
4) And the last, containing 1000 more points to watch Tsukihime - it doesn't make an impression of an imaginary world. It is real in everything: heroes, their thoughts and deeds...
So stand up and run to watch this anime. `cos it is great. I promise you.

* I haven't read the visual novel, so this is purely based on the anime. This review does NOT contain spoilers.

To start, Tsukihime has a super slow plot, especially for a 12-episode anime. Every episode, every day, a few events happen, and a little bit more of the characters' past are revealed (just a little bit) while more and more questions are presented, and eventually build up to a fairly good ending. Despite its slowness, dialogues and guestures are done extremely well, concised and filled with meaning and emotions. This makes you feel like every second you watch it is worthwhile (and you don't want ... to miss any second of it). But that's only if you are not expecting fancy action scenes or climaxes: fighting scenes in Tsukihime are rare, brief, and not intense, and there are no mind-blowing twists. This, for me, is actually a good thing: you enjoy every episode equally, not just the final ones, or the ones with combats or twists. There are some funny moments, but overally the whole carries a very very sad theme. If you're after a plot with depths and sadness and slow-paced, you will surely enjoy Tsukihime.

Character is Tsukihime's weakness (compared to other aspects). In the first one or two epsides, all characters are already introduced, and we see them in every episode, kind of boring. There are 3 or 4 main ones, and the rest don't play critical roles. Shiki, Arcueid and their relationship's developments are very enjoyable. The others are so so. But in general, I liked all of them. It would probably be better if we had more room, like 24 episodes, but that's Tsukihime anime - many things are left unclear. If you want more, go read the visual novel.

Music is a huge plus for Tsukihime. Background music is used appropriately. The opening theme fits very well the tragic atmosphere of the anime (I enjoyed it as much as Hacking to The Gate of Steins;Gate, but not so addictive). And I love the ending song about the White Princess trapped in the vicious circle of reincarnation, not being able to forget her past. This is one of the few animes that I never skipped the opening and ending.

Art in Tsukihime is very good and, well, plain, with a style similar to that Fate/Stay Night. They perfectly fits the story. So no complaint here.

Overall, I enjoyed Tsukihime very much - to the point that I watched at most one new episode per week, and watched each episode at least twice before moving on - that's just my thing :) but to point out how much I liked it. I think it is a great anime, but not a mainstream one. As I said above, if you are after a meaningful, sad plot with some depths in it, and don't mind a slow story-telling style, lack of actions or twists, Tsukihime is for you.

If you watch Tsukihime, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :D

This anime has a very disappointing end, but perhaps those who make this anime has another purpose would end this story.

This is a vampire show, but don’t expect alot of action from this show, cause there is hardly action in it.

The show to me in my opinion begining episodes were good, in the middle I disliked the show cause of the useless things that were happening, and also the whole “mystery” that was happening, which kind of annoyed me. The ending episodes to the show were good, but I still thought the ending was shallow, just an ending you would see in a lot of ... animes.

The characters in the show I liked, the vampire princess she was hot, and you can get attached to her, basically she is the only character in the show you can get attached to. The main male character was okay, I would have liked more development from him, and more action from him. The senpai girl was just total junk to me in my opinion. She had no action at all, she was just a poser, as I saw in the posters they always show her with those huge claw looking things she is holding, that makes you expect some cool action from her, but she just sucked. Overall the characters were okay, just for the vampire princess girl. The character relationships were good between the vampire princess and the main male character.

Animation in this show was stunning, I loved the animation in the show. The character animations were amazing, and again the vampire princess, her red eyes make her look very nice, besides that lighting, and everything was great.

Music to the show was okay, the ending theme I never bothered to listen to, and the opening theme was decent.

The thing I don’t get is why the hell is this show suggested for 16+ audience, I have seen Berserk with the same rating, but Berserk just destroys this anime in terms of graphic violence and nudity. Lunar legend had some violence, and some scenes were gruesome (well not to me), but it really lacked in action, and there was just one scene in the show that contained a SPOILER very, very, very, inexplicit sex scene, not exactly sex just kissing without any clothes on in bed. In my opnion I would reccomend this to an audience of teen, or should I say 14+ atleast.

Overall, this show was enjoying to watch, there were some useless episodes with usless stuff, but still gave out clues and kept you interested for the next episode to come. It had a decent ending, that can make you happy without smiling or anything. The big thing for me would be is that the show was too short, those type of animes where you are looking for a certain bad guy, it usually goes on for more episodes as the bad guy sends out his goons.

Good show, lacks action, decent romance, decent action, really nice animation, good music, good drama, enjoyed the show

That is a history, which one cannot describe easily,

First the action comes: a man, that with a shock, which lost memory, meets the Vampire with a woman, is!!!
He cannot believe first, but with conviction, he reminds that he carves the woman up into 17 pieces,

Two-test, the man comes home after 8 years, it reminded only of its sister, with their amusing house rules!!!

It may not be at night outside,….

Then that experiences its sister a Vampire is!!! Whole history is so mysterious that one sees the series with much looking surprised!!!
...
Thus, I can only recommend the series, it am much drama in it, with much romance!!!

Tsukihime was one of Type/Moon's first works in creating its world of magic and supernatural creatures. For this anime adaptation of the visual novel, its quality is a bit of a mixed bag which has led to some fans of the game to abhor and deny the anime's existence. Before I go into what issues I had with the series, I will go into what I enjoyed from it. The greatest strength of the series came from its focus on the bond between Arcueid and Shiki. The series takes its time focusing on the chemistry of the two characters as Shiki is dragged into Arcueid's ... vampire hunt and learns his family is hiding secrets that could connect them to the vampires causing trouble throughout the series. There is enough depth given to Shiki's character where I did come to know of the circumstances that led him to live with his sister Akiha and how he came to acquire and deal with his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. I could also buy the relationship Shiki comes to have with Arcueid as Tsukihime took its time with developing the bond in which the two have. The visuals are solid for the most part sporting a clean presentation with vivid colors and a decent amount of detail with scenery and character designs. The show's soundtrack consists of mostly stringed and piano musical tracks that fit very well with the mellow and tense moods that Tsukihime gives off in its various scenes.

But as I've discussed above, Tsukihime's anime adaptation does carry some significant flaws to it. Beyond Shiki, most of the other prominent characters within the series get limited to no depth and the roles of some characters were downplayed for the anime to be supporting to background roles. Also because of the large focus on the developing bond between Shiki and Arcueid, the main plot involving their hunt for vampires often gets glossed over and there is barely enough time to explore how characters like Ciel and Akiha found themselves to be personally connected to the conflict, especially as these details are quickly laid out in the show's later episodes.

The anime adaptation of Tsukihime is a decent one for those who are fans of Arcueid and Shiki as the series does do enough to have you believe in their bond and the presentation does do a solid job in establishing the show's dramatic mood. However, this comes at the cost of barely digging into the visual novel's mythos and other prominent characters as they don't get as much consistent focus for this adaptation of the series. Your mileage will vary on how well you accept this adaptation of Tsukihime if you have sampled the visual novel, especially considering some among the game's fanbase deny the anime even existed.

Okay look, watching this anime from a person who had played/read the Visual Novel before and whatnot, are totally different so I don't want to take random criticisms.

I personally have read the visual novel of Tsukihime, and decided to give the anime

version score on my very own opinion...

Anime was weak. Honestly speaking I was even surprised by the fact that they somehow managed to cram all so much text into just 12 episode anime. Indeed they only took 1 route, (this case, arcueid's) the anime seemed to lack just a little thing that could've sent more heart feeling stories beyond just action/irony.

So my final ... call is,(don't want to length this any further...:P) that it is worth the watch, especially if you plan to read the visual novel. Anime that has been transferred from a visual novel is always lacking in content and is most of the time not any better.

So go watch it if you have time, otherwise it may just leave you hanging to know the rest of the story that should've taken place XP

Tsukihime Review
There are no spoilers in this review.
Tsukihime is one of those anime's based of a visual novel. Like with most of them, the fans of the Tsukihime visual novel didn't like the adaption. But for myself, someone completely new to Tsukihime I enjoyed it greatly.
Which means I think I could finally answer the question which was put to my by lawuser, about whether or not I would have liked the Fate/Stay Night anime if I had not read the visual novel and that is I think now that I would. With that out the way let's start with the review.

Story ...
This was in my opinion brilliant. I really enjoyed the Mystery themes to it, as Tsukihime struggled to learn about his past as he is fighting. The information was present in a way that it was easily understood which we needed to know for the story to make sense and briefly so they could focus on other parts of the story besides the background.

I have to say I was a bit suspicious watching this considering it is basically a story about a teenage boy falling in love with a vampire. I can confirm indeed, that it is a better lovestory than twilight. I really say the story was well executed for it to be enjoyable for those who are new to the Tsukihime visual novel.

Of course now I wish to play the visual novel for myself so I can make a proper comparison between the two. I have a feeling that my opinion on the anime might change after reading it. But I have not been able to find a working copy yet. So I may not be able to find out.

Tech
This is probably the weakest point of the anime. Which is primarily due to it's age. Being released in 2003 it makes it 10 years old now. The animation quality was fair and the art style was pretty good. The sound was average and the music was very good. Basically nothing really amazing here. Just average.

But I have to say something despite this, the tech of the show actually helped my enjoyment of the show. It managed to set up an environment of the show which increased my enjoyment greatly, as in I suppose the atmosphere.
The music and visuals used for both the scenes and intro/outro helped build for me an excitement to watch the show. It felt mysterious and dark which amplified my enjoyment of the story in particular. It kind of reminded me of an old mystery movie.

Characters
The characters were all likeable and suited well for their roles. In particular I liked Arcueid Brunestud, the most. Despite herself being a bit too clingy. It was interesting seeing all these characters interact with Tsukihime, even though it's probably a bit typical nowadays how they did in modern day Harems. The voice acting in the Dub wasn't bad, wasn't bad at all which means the characters images weren't really damaged unlike Fate/Stay Night with Gilgamesh's, english voice actor.

Conclusion
Overall this show left a positive effect on me. With no really seriously big flaws. Of course my opinion would be different if I had read the visual novel, but I have not. I honestly think that it deserves the score which I will awarded and I'd recommend it in a heartbeat to anyone.

Score: 8/10

Are you drama lovers and vampires, it is good you put this anime in "plan to watch". Anime is pretty simple and lightweight, ideal to relax and watch the situation for those lovers of romantic scenes

The story is simple, begun from the vampire protagonist (shiki) who meets a woman (Arcueid) and unwitting protagonist (shiki) to kill this woman, but because she's a vampire back to life but lost power when this lady came to hunt down the person who made her into a vampire. For this reason the woman asks the protagonist (shiki) to be responsible and must help him find the person.

Story
(+)
From the beginning ... of the episode alone is interesting, because there are many mysteries that arise. Starting from the vampire murder case, the hidden power of the protagonist (Shiki) and slowly the mystery is solved. Style stories like this are typical of "TYPE-MOON" as the author.
(-)
Though this anime only lasted 12 episodes but the story is slow and too many scenes drama between protagonists with Arcueid.
Unfortunately, this anime has no ending. Because at the end of the episode everything was bland no happy endings and no surprise ending.

Art
(+)
Making the character designs do not doubt, because all the characters can be drawn to the epic. In terms of coloring and lighting are all good enough.
(-)
Classical impressed because there was no element of graphic effects, and 3D but this anime genre 'Action' at least if add the effect it will look more attractive and nice views.

Sound
(+)
Have the right to incorporate the theme of the story with sound. Where this anime classic shades, soft and drama, then use the classic soundtrack and sound effects are appropriate.
(-)
It would be nice if the opening and ending have a different soundtrack, and the addition of sound effects on a variety of scenes will make it more lively anime.

Character
(+)
You could say the characters here grow so there is no boredom while watching. Starting from the Shiki (the protagonist) which was originally just a regular boy and then he became a figure of heroic. Arcueid who originally hated the protagonist and so many events she's finally starting to like Shiki.
(-)
Sadly, many characters that are not exposed to the background and the power they have. Because here we can only see the power of the protagonists, even though there is still a Ciel, Arcueid, and Akiha. They all had a big hand in developing the story.

Enjoyment
Anime is calm, fit perfectly watchable at night. But I could not enjoy in terms of the story because it is too forced and unnecessary elements in the story.

Overall
Anime is only successful in terms of "Romance" but overall this anime need a lot of improvement in terms of story and ending.

I love dark anime and this sounded just like it. I really enjoyed this anime. It sounded quite interesting and it didn't disappoint me. I am glad I gave it a chance. I think this is the anime that really brought back my interest and is now turning me into an addict.

The characters were great and I liked how each one had a different side to them. The plot was unique and unpredictable. The writing was consistent till the end.

The animation was visually appealing and the background score was superb. It was a bit slow for my taste but its take on supernatural was interesting. ... I think the only thing I didn't like was probably the ending. I am someone who likes happy endings and bittersweet ones put me off. I can overlook this and say that overall the anime is great for a one time watch. I would probably not watch it again.

Definitely the best Vampire theme anime that I've ever watched. Other Vampire themed anime can't compete with this. Tsukihime had great soundtracks and great moments! To be honest, I became a little teary eyed at around the ending (Won't tell why or else I've spoiled it for the first time watchers.) Most people say that the plot is slow but I disagree, it gets right to the point. You can compare this with Vampire Knight and see a couple of similarities between the two but Vampire Knight gets boring. Maybe the reason why I fail to see why Vampire Knight is really good is because ... it's a shojo. Aside from that, I like how the series gets to the point instead of dragging it further and further. You can even say that Shingetsutan Tsukihime is the "Shonen" version of Vampire Knight but the fact that it's ten-twenty times better.

Thank you for reading this "useless" review and have a very merry Christmas! One more thing, I find it a coincidence how I finish the anime and write this review on Dec. 25 which also happens to be Arcueid's birthday.

This series left me feeling odd when it ended, this of course could be attributed to the energy drinks and sugar I had consumed in order to stay up and finish it before I went to sleep.

The series will ultimately hook you in immediately, it isn't the kind of series I found myself able to stop watching in order to finish the next day. The characters seem oddly empty at first, very little explanation behind many things involed, and almost no fulfilling back story. These things are normally an immediate turn off to anyone that seeks out drama tag anime, but the story isn't horrible. ... At the very least it has a somewhat unique concept, a concept that of course could use much better explanation but unique nonetheless. While you will feel very little for the characters at first you seem to grow along side the MC as he comes to terms with everyone having their own reasons for the ways they act. This is probably the best part of the entire series, it truly has good character development, you can see the change. You may shrug when you see the MC at first, then become interested when he slaughters what is the closest thing to a god on the planet single handedly, question his sanity, and ultimately feel like you can understand him. Unlike most MC's his 'trump card' isn't something that he just activates in a dire situation, he has to use it tactically and his main enemy possesses the same thing.

Many people will point you towards the novel saying that is much better and I can't confirm nor deny this. A visual novel is much cheaper to produce as opposed to an anime similar to LN and Manga, so it makes sense that it has more information available in it. If you aren't interested in playing Visual Novels (like me) then I can safely recommend this anime as a good time passer. Many people just simply prefer to watch an anime and there is nothing wrong with that, this series is far from being like Rosario + Vampire where the VN/Manga is amazing and the Anime is shit. The anime for this show is good and the VN is amazing (or so I have been told) so even though you will miss out slightly, you won't be rolling in your grave and calling it wasted time.

Definitely think the show would've been better with 24 episodes to expand on the story more.

Title: Shingetsutan Tsukihime (??? ??)|
Genres: Fantasy, Game, Harem
Episodes: 12
Studio: J.C. Staff & Type-Moon

Plot (by sirhcle):
The story is about a boy named Tohno Shiki. Our story begins when the doctor tells us that he had miraculously survived a lethal car accident which put a wound on his chest. Shiki still in hospital claims to see red lines everywhere. Soon after he discovers that these "lines of death", when cut, can destroy any structure. He meets a sorcerer that gives him a pair of special glasses that has the power to hide these lines from is vision, and he is told that he must never take them ... off, until the time is right.
Unfortunately after the accident, Shiki's memory is distorted and he can't remember what happened or things about the past. Because of this, he is sent away from the Tohno household (they're quite wealthy) and made to live with distant relatives.
During high school, he receives a letter from his sister Tohno Akiha, to come back to the household after the death of their father.
Shiki moves back into the household and tries to accustom himself with the rules and regulations of the household, however difficulties arise when he meets a super hot foreigner chick named Arcueid Brunestud. While in the house, Shiki slowly regains his memory to unlock the horrors of the past within it.

sirhcle's comments:
Interesting storyline - for those who've seen Fate Stay Night and liked it, I can tell you that this is somewhat similar in anime style, music. However animation would be half J.C. Staff and half Type-Moon.
It also differs a lot from FSN by having a slowly unfolding storyline; there are instances in which clues and misleading information are given, but all is revealed as the story progresses. For drama fans, there's a bit of romance in it, I don't exactly remember the anime being anywhere near harem, but it's kinda cute.
I'd only recommend it to those who enjoy a short mysterious story, for those who like to endeavor in private self-satisfying storylines. Strictly not for those who are seeking something funny, adventurous or something action.

I've just finished this one n liked it a lot.
Actually although it was a short anime, until you reach the very end of the story, there are a lot of unanswered questions. But great tragedy, really. Like all the vampire animes there 's much blood spilled, but there's always mystery throughout the story. The story's developed quite slowly but I believe it makes the ending more tragic, impressive. Nice anime for people liking dramatic and tragic romance anime with vampires! It's not a Vampire Knight of course, but you really enjoy watching this one. However if you can't make it to the half of ... it and get bored, you'd better not watch this one.

Overall: overall, I was pretty much impressed in how much of the game they fit in the 12 episodes, for those who dont know , Tsukihime the anime is an adaption of the visual novel of the same name, a best seller in Japan and well known as well. if you liked the anime, I suggest trying out the visual novel ONLY IF YOU ARE 18+,
I personally liked it very much.

Story: though they cut some of the story arcs short because of limited episodes, it did a good job in providing a moving and interesting story, though parts of the story in the game ... are cut out, it was still acceptable since it didnt interrupt with the anime's flow much.

Art: though the models in the anime are different from the ones in the game and the manga, they did well in my opinion, even if Shiki looked more plain then in the game and manga.

Sound: well, the opening wasnt really a catchy song or anything, but the background music during the episodes didnt do bad.

Character: I guess they didnt have enough time to go into much depth in the characters, there is much more about the characters then stated in the anime, and characters are actually all quite complex.

Enjoyment: I liked everything after the first couple episodes, probably because I read the manga before watching and they smashed the first story arc into just 3 episodes. besides that I really enjoyed watching this, though I wasnt satisfied with the ending of the anime though.

In my opinion, this has been one of the most emotional animes that i have seen. For some it may take one or two episodes to understand everything, but when you do you will be completely hooked. I guarantee that you will like this anime show. This show, in my personal opinion, should be viewed by every anime watcher who likes, action, suspense, romance, and dealings of the supernatural. You WILL BE AMAZED!!! Guaranteed!

Introduction
Having just finished this Anime, I am erm, how should I say...rather suprised, scrap that...I'm impressed. I will infact be reviewing this based on the Anime, and the Anime alone. So if you like to discriminate your Anime based on reading before hand, try another review.


Story
In a nut shell, without giving anything away...as stereotypical as this may or may not sound, Shiki, an average high school student gets his world completely dislocated by a female vampire he meets one day (I won't reveal how they met).

Although this may seem rather mainstream at first, it's fairly far from it. More often than not I sit ... watching an anime thinking, "Oh I've seen this kind of thing in an Anime before" (Regarding story). Such as Shakugan no Shana, Inuyasha and Claymore for example, boy/girl meets a member of the opposite gender who is somewhat useless and they gradually become friends, I mean, although I like the Anime I mentioned it really has to be said that some Anime can be really predictable when you can watch a new anime and say, "The heroine they JUST met will burst through the roof to save them ANY second NOW", and it actually happens.

Tsukihime was not one of these Anime for me. It has a very good amount of unique ideas that kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. Right up until the very last 10 seconds I had no idea how the Anime was going to finish, but surely enough, it did, and beautifully.


Art
The art from this Anime? It was a dark and mysterious style to match the mood of the Anime, I watched this in 480p stretched onto a full 1080p monitor (52 inch) and was not disappointed by the quality of the art. I think this speaks for itself when I usually watch Blue Rays in 720p/1080p of Anime. The way characters and scenery was drawn was amazing some scenes we're very beautiful.


Sound
I am one of those people who believe sound can make or break an Anime, it's a very important part of watching a show instead of reading it for me, as it adds to tension or relaxation. It indiscriminately sets the mood regardless of what is happening, providing it is done well. The question is did Tsukihime do it well?

To be completely honest I was a little unsure about the OP because I don't think I can name another Anime that doesn't contain any vocals, However, the OP did grow on me the more I watched, as I started to see how well the piece matched the Anime overall. Same can be said for the EP, BGM and Voice Acting.

The English Dub wasn't bad if you like VERY formal English. (Which pretty much nobody uses nowadays.) I watched 99% of this Anime English subbed with Japanese voices. As I found the formal English irritating (even if the acting was good).


Character
I find all the characters to be portrayed very well. The development is excellent, you really get to understand the characters which seem confusing and somewhat irrational towards the first half of the Anime, the 3/4 of the Anime in the case of some characters).


Enjoyment
I thoroughly enjoyed this and will definitely be watching this again at some point, I don't usually read but this Anime may actually have made it to my Manga list, Which will make it around the 5th Anime, Among Elfen Lied


Overall
To sum it up this is an adventure of Vampires, Misfortunes and Supernatural twists, very exciting til the very end, if you're not looking for Supernatural twists this is definitely an Anime worth considering. If I had to compare it to anything I would say "If you like Kara no Kyoukai, then you HAVE to watch this".