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5. Avenant 
After watching the trailer, I had high expectations for this series. It looked very promising to me with its sleek animation, dark theme and most importantly, hot anime vampire girl! Of course, expectations play a big part in enjoying any sort of media, and such high expectations can tend to be a bad thing. So, was I disappointed? Did I waste my time collecting the episodes and watching them?
No. Shingetsutan Tsukihime, to my delight, met my high expectations. First off, the animation is excellent – clean lines and good use of colour and imagery, this makes the series pleasant to watch (plus there’s lots of blood!). The music is something different than the usual J-pop – only one track, the outro, has vocal content though it’s a very mellow song – most of the music comprises of, how shall I say, chants and a more classical approach to music, which I find refreshing– though the music is not exceptional (a la Noir), it is nonetheless very good and is used well. It’s neither the animation nor the music that drew me to like this series, however.
To get the the point, the real reason I like (or dare I say, love) Shingetsutan Tsukihime is because of its storyline – Alright,so it’s a vampire anime. But don’t expect it to be anything like Hellsing. Actually, to compare the two, Hellsing is more focused on being “cool” and is generally an anime hell-bent on impressing people. Come on – everyone I show those AMV’s or even pictures to that hasn't seen it thinks it looks so cool. I did too. Hellsing is also more about the action and just killing vampires. Shingetsutan Tsukihime on the other hand, is more focused on the storyline and characters - fighting scenes while good, are limited. This doesn't actually put much emphasis on being a “vampire” anime. And I prefer Shingetsutan Tsukihime hands down to Hellsing – the latter might have had better and longer fighting and more flair, I found it painfully shallow, and this is why I prefer Shingetsutan Tsukihime. I can't really go into detail about the storyline – it’s full of plot twists, and is probably one of the easiest stories to spoil because of this. Here goes: Shiki Tohno, after living with distant relatives for 8 years returns to his home following his father’s death. Shiki has no recollection of what happened for him to be sent away – he has no recollection from before 8 years ago, except waking up in a hospital after a traffic accident. However, he sees strange lines along everything – these are almost like “pressure points” – if he cuts along them, the object is completely destroyed. A sorceress gave him special glasses as not to see those lines, which he always wears. One day, he kills a young girl in a park – he cut her into 17 pieces, instantaneously. Unfortunately for him, that girl is a vampire.
That’s the tip of the iceberg. I can’t say much more, but it gets very interesting as Shiki discovers his past, and other characters like his sister, his “senpai” Ciel and Arcueid (the anime hottie he killed) the plot gets pretty twisted towards the end, but it’s all good. The characters were very pleasant to watch, as well. They were more like normal people than the angsty schizo's we’re sometimes forced to watch. Which is excellent, since I can take only so much “Shinji Ikari syndrome” before I get irritated. An anime that (to an extent) fell prey to this was Saishuu Heiki Kanojo, which was deliberately angsty and hell-bent on depression. Shingetsutan Tsukihime is more pleasant to watch.
However, the series is not perfect. There are minor annoyances too, but those aren't even worth mentioning – the two things that bothered me were the length of the series and the execution thereof. Till about episode 9 we’re left in the dark about the juicy bits of the storyline. And since the series only runs for 12 episodes, that's a lot crammed into just 3 episodes – Granted, those 3 episodes are excellent,and that's not to say that the other 9 were not,but in retrospect Shingetsutan Tsukihime is also quite disappointing because of what it COULD have been. Some aspects of the series are hardly explored, and the story could definitely have been executed better. I think this would work much better as a 26 episode series and not 12 episodes. Some episodes can be rather uneventful, and it gives the impression that the ending was rushed. And while the ending is conclusive and rather good, it's still unsatisfying. There are just some things that didn't get enough attention and it some ways the series just seems unfinished. More character development would also have been nice.
The action scenes are short and to the point, and most of the series comprises of story development, so I can't bring myself to call this “action”. Shingetsutan Tsukihime, despite its flaws is a very good anime – the storyline is definitely one of the best I've encountered - it’s just such a shame how it falls short of being legendary.
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3. Tempy  
After the death of his father, Shiki Tohno is asked by his sister Akiha, the new head of the Tohno family, to return to the Tohno mansion. For some unknown reason (which never gets explained) he massacres a woman in the park, who resurrects, and realizing his powers, urges him to help her in her quest against vampires. She is Arcueid Brunestud. What follows is an intriguing show developing Shiki's relationship with the mysterious but needy Arcueid, Shiki's confrontations with his strange powers, his haunted past, and the secrets of the Tohno family.
Shingetsutan Tsukihime is not an action show - it focuses a lot on its mysteries, revealing its secrets little by little, or suddenly - to surprise the viewer. Although the show is moody and stylish, its pacing is quite relaxed - slow even. There is quite a bit of dialogue, and Shiki and Arcueid spend most of their time doing nothing - and enjoying it. It has its oddly romantic moments, but the pacing is frustrating at times when you want questions answered and conflicts dealt with. This unfortunately is the main fault of the show, and makes it a bit of a disappointment - especially if you consider the somewhat unsatisfying ending which still leaves some questions unanswered. Nonetheless the story and the characters are very interesting, the show looks very nice, and there's also an excellent soundtrack by Toshiyuki Omori. Impressive production considering its humble beginnings as a doujin hentai game.
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2. h8er13
I never liked series/movies about vampires, with the exception of Bram Stoker's Dracula and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. Shingetsutan Tsukihime did not change my somewhat negative opinion on vampire-themed shows. The main character in Tsukihime is a high school boy named Shiki who has the uncanny ability to perceive lines which enable him to cut through any object by cutting through the lines. He also has a dark past, which he vaguely remembers. Shiki meets Arcueid, the main vampire protagonist, and they develop an odd, yet cute relationship together. They eventually join on a mission to kill Roa, the main vampire antagonist.
The artwork is appropriately dark and morbid, yet subtle. The whole vampire concept is slightly different than what most popular culture suggests, yet it does not detract from the overall appeal of Tsukihime. What bothered me was the pace of the series. Being a vampire series, I expected a much more fast-paced storyline with more action. A more macabre plot and action of events would have probably helped. Sometimes a slow paced series coupled with a dark soundtrack can be ingredients for a great anime, but I didn't think it worked here.
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| 1. Global Frequency
Another of the myriad h-game-based anime that have been popping up lately, Shingetsutan Tsukihime is a pleasant surprise. Shiki, our troubled protagonist, is released from the hospital following a car accident and returns to his ancestral home, a huge mansion occupied by his stern and proper sister, Akiha, and her twin maids. The story begins in a particularly twisted fashion, with Shiki apparently attacking and murdering a girl in the park. As it happens she’s a vampire, and she’s none too happy with him. Shiki is drawn into a deeper mystery – one closely tied to his own past – when the vampire, Arcueid Brunestud, enlists his help in defeating a rival vampire she’s been hunting for four hundred years. Shiki isn’t entirely powerless, however, as he’s able to perceive – and sever – the lines that hold people and things together when he removes his glasses.
There’s enough plot here to choke an elephant. Vampires, zombies, Deep Dark Family Secrets, serial murders, romance, an evil twin – Tsukihime has it all, and features more than a few genuinely unexpected twists. Unfortunately there aren’t enough episodes in the series to resolve everything properly, though it does make a decent effort to do so, and the conclusion isn’t entirely unsatisfying. Particularly bothersome is the fact that Shiki’s murder of Arcueid is never explained. Are we intended to believe he’s merely psychotic, or was there some further motivation at work? The animation and character design are nothing special, but the scenery is all very well-drawn and atmospheric. Tsukihime is one of the few recent anime that’s held my interest from beginning to end. Having watched the series, I’m tempted to track down the game to see if certain plot points are addressed more thoroughly therein.
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