odio con todo mi ser a Shiki, pero a su vez no puedo evitar no verme a veces reflejado en él y eso me repugna más... para ser un nukige tiene una historia decente (?
damn da silva
Almost perfect, If only nasu wasn't a woman
Dated at points and some parts feel like they're in poor taste but even with that at its core I feel like it's sumn special. The twists were all timers, the tonal shifts were so good and the peaks went craazy bro. Such a memorable cast too.
Just like Fate/Stay Night, Tsukihime also changed my life. It's impossible to describe how much this game meant to me when I read it and how much I'm still influenced by it over a decade later.
arcueid my beloved
Have you ever felt the saddening passion of loving someone, knowing that in but a few hours you’ll be parted forever?
There’s so much I could talk in-depth about with Tsukihime. The rough art style that detracts not at all from its characters’ iconic charm. The deep world it tries to immerse, sometimes drown you in. Story beats that knocked me off my chair as a kid in the late 2000s. The story of being a fan of this awkward, weighty fan-translated game. The unintentionally comical sex writing and the shocking, off-putting scenes of rape and violation that run through its trunk like fungus on a tree. But none of those explain the feeling I get when a random playlist in the background, gone unnoticed, picks a song from this game. What makes me stop what I’m doing and look up at the sky.
To me, Tsukihime is about impermanence. It is about knowing how easily we lose the things we cherish, and how we act when faced with that knowledge. Whether it’s facing those who’d do anything to avoid their own mortality, or realizing that even timeless figures bleed and hurt. Our protagonist, Shiki, lives an impermanent existence, his life uprooted, his health as fragile as glass, cursed to see the fault lines that live in all things, no matter how powerful they might seem. The thread of his life is intertwined with that of the women of this story, each powerful in their own way, each in some way scarred by a man’s inability to process impermanence. There is no immortality in Tsukihime. There is only false security bought by inflicting loss on others, becoming the thing you fear in the eyes of others. Everything goes away, including the ones you love.
Yet Tsukihime remains a story of love. In each of its routes there will come a time where crisis has drowned the story, where the foe seems unstoppable. There will be a scene where Shiki and his lover somehow snatch a sliver of precious safety amidst this deluge, sometimes no more than a few hours. At no point are they, or you, allowed to forget about the imminent danger. This is a temporary reprieve, coming after a narrow escape and before a doomed last stand with everything on the line. Neither expect to make it unscathed. Even if they do, there’s always something that’ll make their victory short-lived, whether it’s Shiki’s health or the tragedy of his lover or just the nature of the world, but whatever it is they know the face of the end they cannot avert.
In those moments they let their love for each other spill out. They spend their tiny moment of quiet on each other. The music is never joyful in these scenes, but it is gently, warmly sad, tender with anticipated loss. Love is made cruel by impermanence. It would be so much safer, so much more reasonable to keep your distance. But that very same thing makes love so powerful in the moment, allowing you to feel incomparable longing for someone even though they’re right here with you. To choose to feel that pain for a lifetime just to be with them with all your being for just a few more hours.
If you’ve lived through that, then you know what it feels like to wish you could put your entire being out with this person, to make every part of them feel precious in an uncaring world, one last time.
And if you haven’t, Tsukihime might be able to show you what it feels like. I can think of no higher praise than that.
There’s so much I could talk in-depth about with Tsukihime. The rough art style that detracts not at all from its characters’ iconic charm. The deep world it tries to immerse, sometimes drown you in. Story beats that knocked me off my chair as a kid in the late 2000s. The story of being a fan of this awkward, weighty fan-translated game. The unintentionally comical sex writing and the shocking, off-putting scenes of rape and violation that run through its trunk like fungus on a tree. But none of those explain the feeling I get when a random playlist in the background, gone unnoticed, picks a song from this game. What makes me stop what I’m doing and look up at the sky.
To me, Tsukihime is about impermanence. It is about knowing how easily we lose the things we cherish, and how we act when faced with that knowledge. Whether it’s facing those who’d do anything to avoid their own mortality, or realizing that even timeless figures bleed and hurt. Our protagonist, Shiki, lives an impermanent existence, his life uprooted, his health as fragile as glass, cursed to see the fault lines that live in all things, no matter how powerful they might seem. The thread of his life is intertwined with that of the women of this story, each powerful in their own way, each in some way scarred by a man’s inability to process impermanence. There is no immortality in Tsukihime. There is only false security bought by inflicting loss on others, becoming the thing you fear in the eyes of others. Everything goes away, including the ones you love.
Yet Tsukihime remains a story of love. In each of its routes there will come a time where crisis has drowned the story, where the foe seems unstoppable. There will be a scene where Shiki and his lover somehow snatch a sliver of precious safety amidst this deluge, sometimes no more than a few hours. At no point are they, or you, allowed to forget about the imminent danger. This is a temporary reprieve, coming after a narrow escape and before a doomed last stand with everything on the line. Neither expect to make it unscathed. Even if they do, there’s always something that’ll make their victory short-lived, whether it’s Shiki’s health or the tragedy of his lover or just the nature of the world, but whatever it is they know the face of the end they cannot avert.
In those moments they let their love for each other spill out. They spend their tiny moment of quiet on each other. The music is never joyful in these scenes, but it is gently, warmly sad, tender with anticipated loss. Love is made cruel by impermanence. It would be so much safer, so much more reasonable to keep your distance. But that very same thing makes love so powerful in the moment, allowing you to feel incomparable longing for someone even though they’re right here with you. To choose to feel that pain for a lifetime just to be with them with all your being for just a few more hours.
If you’ve lived through that, then you know what it feels like to wish you could put your entire being out with this person, to make every part of them feel precious in an uncaring world, one last time.
And if you haven’t, Tsukihime might be able to show you what it feels like. I can think of no higher praise than that.
This game is an eyesore.
This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This
This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This game. This
hope the remake is better
holy shit human neco arc
Absolutely staggering work. Lifetime favorite.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
It is February 2022. I don’t remember the date. I’m sitting in my living room at midnight. I’m scrolling through twitter.
Nothing better to do with my time.
I see my friend, Rom, on the timeline talking about a game he really enjoys.
Tsukihime.
Game? That’s not quite right—it’s a visual novel. Up until this point the only one’s I’ve played are a handful of Ace Attorney games and the main entries in the Danganronpa series, but I see them more as games than visual novels in my eyes. I’m not particularly enticed by the screenshots of Tsukihime that I see either… I don’t read much and I don’t know if I could handle 50 hours of just that.
But even so, I’m find myself being pulled towards it…like a lost relic from the past, I’m nostalgic for it without a reason to be so, it might just be that I’ve played a lot of Melty Blood the year prior without any care for where these characters originated from but this feeling scratches away at my mind like a dog with my curiosity being the only driving factor. I do not understand.
—I cave.
𝗧𝗦𝗨𝗞𝗜𝗛𝗜𝗠𝗘
—Suddenly, I awaken with a start.
I can’t remember much from my reaction to the beginning, other than that I only experienced the first three hours before going to sleep, expecting myself to continue the next day. I didn’t.
A few months later, I find myself isolated. I can’t talk to my friends, I can’t do much of anything except waste my time playing video games. Still, it’s not all bad. This allows me to overcome some games on my backlog.
A voice in my head nags at me. Begging me to come back, come back to Tsukihime. Before I know it, I find myself on the title screen again. Over the course of the next two days, I find myself enthralled by the game, especially by Arcueid Brunestud. I wouldn’t call myself a “milkman” in any capacity…but something about this particular white woman puts her apart from the rest of the cast.
I meet her in the street. It’s my first contact with her.
It’s my worst contact with her.
Yet she still takes a chance on Shiki, and he takes a chance on her. They’re each other's polar opposites but incredibly similar too. They’re both beings haunted by a sin they committed as they try to atone for it. Their sins are pulling them toward each other, and it’s ultimately their sins that are tearing them apart. A love burns in Shiki’s heart that’s only matched by his murderous rage, both birthed out of the same place. He can’t let go.
A few days go by and I’m at the end. Shiki stares at the orange sky, I stare at my laptop screen. Both of us are waiting, waiting for a chance to meet her again and yet that feeling is what we ultimately must let go off.
The credits start rolling. There’s not a single tear in my eye…yet I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way at something before. I promise myself that I will finish this VN soon. The first of many lies.
On the 18th of April, 2022 at 12:02 am, I finish Arcueid’s route.
𝗗𝗔𝗬𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗕𝗟𝗨𝗘
I close my laptop after that ending. I’m excited. I don’t think I’ve been invested in something this much in a while. I promise myself that I’ll start reading the next route tomorrow. This too, of course, is a lie.
I feel like it should be put into perspective just how much I had changed when I picked up Tsukihime again. I’d finished The Silver Case and with it I felt like a whole new world had been opened to me, a different way of viewing art itself. I feel like it was made for me on every level and it showed me where the true strength of a visual novel medium lies. Surely nothing else will ever make me feel this way, right?
—I’m in a familiar place. I’m isolated again. I’ve got nothing to do, nobody to talk to. Slowly, I feel an urge come over me. I’ve been here before, I know what to do. I find myself on the title screen again.
This music…I realized it before but this track really is beautiful. As limited and repetitive as Tsukihime’s tracks can get at times, I still love the sound. The repetition of the tracks is something I can grow accustomed to.
The same can’t be said for the narrative.
A few hours into the Ciel route and I’m still clicking away most of what I read. I’ve read all this before, seen all this before. It’s not unpleasant to go through this once more, but I really feel this is holding Ciel back as a character. I don’t think she’s being given ample time to develop her. I’m at the halfway point now, I think. I can’t tell when the Arcueid route ends and the Ciel route begins, but I think I made it.
Now that I think about it, each heroine is a character that lives and dies depending on their relationship with Shiki so what exactly is going on? Am I not near the end? Why is it still-
THUMP
—My heart throbs. I realise it.
This isn’t a mistake. This is a love triangle.
Frustrated. I’m frustrated. The more I read the more my suspicions just get confirmed. “Show don’t tell” is the rule isn’t it? Then why are scenes, ones that can be moving and impactful, traded away for a quick explanation of how each other is feeling? This is crazy, I’m crazy. I’m complaining about exposition dumps in a story filled to the brim with them. But I can’t help but feel this is where it’s most egregious.
What I’m reading…it’s something about perspective. Not only just in the routes, but bit by bit you uncover more of these characters, things you aren’t told in the other routes, and the two Near Side routes are a perfect showcase of that. Ciel is someone who’s able to stand on her own, apart from Arcueid, as a character. Yet she still parallels Shiki’s descent. So it’s frustrating. Frustrating that the relationship between these two feels so underdeveloped.
These thoughts keep churning in my head. At the forefront of my mind, while I keep on reading. I’m at the end now, the end of this journey. I’ve been critical of this whole route…so why does it make me feel this way? Is it some kind of Stockholm Syndrome? Am I just easily won over by lazy writing?
Shiki opens his eyes and Ciel’s teardrops fall. I smile.
On the 8th of January, 2023 at 1:08 am, I finish Ciel’s route.
𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗠 𝗔𝗙𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗡𝗢𝗢𝗡 𝗡𝗔𝗣
I close my laptop. I lie to myself again. It’s become a ritual now.
—It’s March. Hell is right around the corner for me. I don’t care. I don’t want anything to do with it. I refuse. I utterly refuse to care what life is throwing at me. Truth be told I don’t even think of it. To escape my hell, I decide to dip my toes into another one.
Truth be told, I knew what I was getting into with this route. It’s simple when I think about it. This is a game where in each route you have a heroine that you get into a romantic relationship with, so it’s not too far-fetched to assume this route will do the same. Only problem is that the heroine is the Shiki’s sister.
I can handle “dark” subject matter, it’s not a question of whether or not I can stomach incest, it’s if this game handles it well. Either that…or it veers into the dangerous territory of “problematic”. I’ve always found discussions about problematic content interesting. Of course I think the elements that fall under that label shouldn’t be in media if they’re used to fetishize them but I can’t help but notice that a lot of the argument surrounding them centers on the fact of morality. That in a society as consumed by capitalism as ours the only way to have an identity, something with which we can recognize others, is by the content we inhale at a rapid pace. Where the only way we can tell others that we are inherently good is if we enjoy stuff that doesn’t have anything “problematic”.
—There’s someone out there who could probably make an essay of this topic, but this is a review on Backloggd and I’ve spent too much time thinking about this because I’m already at the big scene.
“I love you as my sister.” Shiki says.
I hold my breath. Time feels like it’s stopped. A spark ignites in my head, the synapses of my brain jolt back and forth. My eyes fixate on the screen. My hand hovers on the spacebar. Maybe it will be all right, maybe there is no incest. I have hope, but fear still has an iron grip on me. After what feels like an eternity, I close the gap between my finger and my keyboard.
“But… I love you as my sister even more.”
I close my eyes.
“It is fate.” I utter.
Nothing I can do besides accept it.
Fate. It’s only now I realise that fate lies at the heart of this route. I’m so close to the end but this is where this route has laid its soul bare. Are we all fated to end up this way? Or can we change that? Is Akiha is a product of nature and Shiki one of nurture? Can you even fight against yourself in that manner? Is a child who has been abused all his life destined to repeat that cycle of abuse, is that evil just in his nature? It took me too long to realise, and now it’s too late.
Under a blue sky, a girl cries and hugs a knife. The end credits start playing.
On the 3rd of March, 2023 at 1:04 pm, I finish Akiha’s route.
𝗠𝗜𝗗𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗠𝗢𝗢𝗡
—I lie again.
I have an idea. I’m eventually going to finish this visual novel one day, so why not make my review different for this one? Why not write in the style of Nasu’s prose?
Of course, I know how insane that sounds. I can’t compare to the real thing but I want to try anyway. It seems like a good way to challenge my writing capabilities.
The biggest hurdle right now is actually finishing this thing. I’m free now, so why don’t I finish Hisui’s route as soon as I can?
The first thing I notice is that this is a repeat of everything in the Akiha route for now. Mindless taps. Nothing but mindless taps.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
I’m in a dark room.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
I keep waiting.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
That rhythmic tap of the spacebar. I press it over and over and over. I feel like I’m going insane. But I can feel it, I’m so close. So close to finally getting to the new stuff but with each tap my patience keeps dwindling until there’s nothing left. Knots in my brain. Cold dead eyes. I stare at the screen.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Ta-
This is it. I’m here.
…
……
………!?
Is this a joke? I don’t understand.
The main scenario in this chapter is just Shiki going insane in a room. Just like I was. For a moment it feels like an unfortunate coincidence, something to point at and laugh but I can’t but feel like there’s something more. I have spent these past few months honing my backloggdian skills, becoming a better writer on the way.
No. My analytical skills tell me this is something more.
Yes. Kinoko Nasu did all this purpose. Yes. Kinoko Nasu is that much of a genius.
I clasp my hands in a prayer. Blessed I am to be reading this visual novel. I can only marvel at this man’s sheer writing power. With this one route, I am not “just like” Shiki Tohno. I have become him.
But I’m ignoring something, aren’t I?
Hisui’s doll-like expressions, calm demeanor, and general aloofness is something I’ve grown accustomed to by now. So seeing it break doesn’t feel like the conclusion of a character arc, it feels like a porcelain doll shattering. It’s messy. Every time I look at her I see nothing, besides someone so hellbent on protecting oneself by any means necessary. Even if it means not rejecting your own humanity.
I’m underneath a tree. Clear blue sky. I listen to her.
My heart shatters.
On the 4th of October, 2023 at 11:08am, I finish Hisui’s route.
𝗗𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗠𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗦𝗨𝗡𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗘
I’m done lying.
—Perspective.
It lies at the heart of Tsukihime. A subtle change in how you perceive an event can lead to a radically different outcome. For a story that’s written with this theme at heart, I can only expect the final route to be a culmination of everything I’ve come to know so far.
But with each clicking sound on my keyboard, I just feel my opinions lowering. Is this…really it? I didn’t expect a grand finale but most of what I’ve seen so far is just a rehash of the Hisui route, and not in a good way. I can almost taste the laziness through the screen.
I don’t know if I’m disappointed or something else. In a way, I can’t say this is surprising. But regardless, everything feels so rushed. It’s almost tragic to see a narrative failing its most interesting character.
—Hate.
Everything in this house is built on hate. A carefully constructed façade through and through. If you didn’t know, you could have never even guessed, and the more I play the more I become convinced that everything would’ve turned out this way, sooner or later.
I keep pressing the spacebar. Of course, now I’m long past the point of divergence with the Hisui route as well. Coming face to face with what the route has to offer and I can’t help but feel an ache in my heart, coupled with a smirk on my face. I ache for what suffering took place but my smirk isn’t a sign of a critique of the game. I think.
In a lot of ways, Kohaku’s route sort of mirrors Akiha’s route as well. “Can a doll be fixed?” being the main question here. When do you stop believing in a person, when do you give up? For a person as pigheaded as Shiki Tohno, the answer is obvious. Of course I smirk, if only Akiha route’s Shiki could see what this one has to say about incest.
I come closer and closer to the finish line. The only thing I can hope for is a happy ending, and I got a rushed one.
On the 8th of October, 2023 at 11:26pm, I finish Kohaku’s route.
𝗘𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗣𝗦𝗘
—I’m finally here, aren’t I?
Text pops up on the screen, my eyes carefully examine every single line. I don’t know what I’m looking for. Maybe a more meaningful understanding of everything so I can tell myself that it was worth it. Maybe I don’t want it to end.
With each tap, with each clicking sound, I read more and more of the final words this product has to offer. Maybe it’s a form of Stockholm Syndrome, but despite its faults, I think this visual novel won me over.
What am I saying? Stockholm Syndrome isn’t even real.
Even now as I sit here months later, way past the due date on this review, I think back to it. My first experience opening Tsukihime and meeting her, along with my last.
I can only hope that I captured even a little bit of what makes Nasu’s writing so captivating to read, but even I can acknowledge that this is nothing more than a pale imitation. Although…don’t we all try to imitate a little bit of everything that we see?
When it comes to what I’ll imitate besides this…well…
The way I look at it, every single person touched by Shiki is due to his love. His decision to pay back that small bit of kindness he received when he was very little. We are all surrounded by kind people aren’t we? So why do we hurt the ones we love the most?
You may call this unrelated rambling. I call it a clever way of imitating Nasu’s tendency to go on tangents.
At the end of the day, I have nothing more than the memories I received. It doesn’t matter if they’re positive or not, I’m just glad to have them. I know that even they will twist, even they will fade. But I don’t care.
—The lunar eclipse is far away.
So I let go.
You go ahead and pass through your remaining time.
I’ll pass through mine.
Thank you, for everything.
It is February 2022. I don’t remember the date. I’m sitting in my living room at midnight. I’m scrolling through twitter.
Nothing better to do with my time.
I see my friend, Rom, on the timeline talking about a game he really enjoys.
Tsukihime.
Game? That’s not quite right—it’s a visual novel. Up until this point the only one’s I’ve played are a handful of Ace Attorney games and the main entries in the Danganronpa series, but I see them more as games than visual novels in my eyes. I’m not particularly enticed by the screenshots of Tsukihime that I see either… I don’t read much and I don’t know if I could handle 50 hours of just that.
But even so, I’m find myself being pulled towards it…like a lost relic from the past, I’m nostalgic for it without a reason to be so, it might just be that I’ve played a lot of Melty Blood the year prior without any care for where these characters originated from but this feeling scratches away at my mind like a dog with my curiosity being the only driving factor. I do not understand.
—I cave.
𝗧𝗦𝗨𝗞𝗜𝗛𝗜𝗠𝗘
—Suddenly, I awaken with a start.
I can’t remember much from my reaction to the beginning, other than that I only experienced the first three hours before going to sleep, expecting myself to continue the next day. I didn’t.
A few months later, I find myself isolated. I can’t talk to my friends, I can’t do much of anything except waste my time playing video games. Still, it’s not all bad. This allows me to overcome some games on my backlog.
A voice in my head nags at me. Begging me to come back, come back to Tsukihime. Before I know it, I find myself on the title screen again. Over the course of the next two days, I find myself enthralled by the game, especially by Arcueid Brunestud. I wouldn’t call myself a “milkman” in any capacity…but something about this particular white woman puts her apart from the rest of the cast.
I meet her in the street. It’s my first contact with her.
It’s my worst contact with her.
Yet she still takes a chance on Shiki, and he takes a chance on her. They’re each other's polar opposites but incredibly similar too. They’re both beings haunted by a sin they committed as they try to atone for it. Their sins are pulling them toward each other, and it’s ultimately their sins that are tearing them apart. A love burns in Shiki’s heart that’s only matched by his murderous rage, both birthed out of the same place. He can’t let go.
A few days go by and I’m at the end. Shiki stares at the orange sky, I stare at my laptop screen. Both of us are waiting, waiting for a chance to meet her again and yet that feeling is what we ultimately must let go off.
The credits start rolling. There’s not a single tear in my eye…yet I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way at something before. I promise myself that I will finish this VN soon. The first of many lies.
On the 18th of April, 2022 at 12:02 am, I finish Arcueid’s route.
𝗗𝗔𝗬𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗕𝗟𝗨𝗘
I close my laptop after that ending. I’m excited. I don’t think I’ve been invested in something this much in a while. I promise myself that I’ll start reading the next route tomorrow. This too, of course, is a lie.
I feel like it should be put into perspective just how much I had changed when I picked up Tsukihime again. I’d finished The Silver Case and with it I felt like a whole new world had been opened to me, a different way of viewing art itself. I feel like it was made for me on every level and it showed me where the true strength of a visual novel medium lies. Surely nothing else will ever make me feel this way, right?
—I’m in a familiar place. I’m isolated again. I’ve got nothing to do, nobody to talk to. Slowly, I feel an urge come over me. I’ve been here before, I know what to do. I find myself on the title screen again.
This music…I realized it before but this track really is beautiful. As limited and repetitive as Tsukihime’s tracks can get at times, I still love the sound. The repetition of the tracks is something I can grow accustomed to.
The same can’t be said for the narrative.
A few hours into the Ciel route and I’m still clicking away most of what I read. I’ve read all this before, seen all this before. It’s not unpleasant to go through this once more, but I really feel this is holding Ciel back as a character. I don’t think she’s being given ample time to develop her. I’m at the halfway point now, I think. I can’t tell when the Arcueid route ends and the Ciel route begins, but I think I made it.
Now that I think about it, each heroine is a character that lives and dies depending on their relationship with Shiki so what exactly is going on? Am I not near the end? Why is it still-
THUMP
—My heart throbs. I realise it.
This isn’t a mistake. This is a love triangle.
Frustrated. I’m frustrated. The more I read the more my suspicions just get confirmed. “Show don’t tell” is the rule isn’t it? Then why are scenes, ones that can be moving and impactful, traded away for a quick explanation of how each other is feeling? This is crazy, I’m crazy. I’m complaining about exposition dumps in a story filled to the brim with them. But I can’t help but feel this is where it’s most egregious.
What I’m reading…it’s something about perspective. Not only just in the routes, but bit by bit you uncover more of these characters, things you aren’t told in the other routes, and the two Near Side routes are a perfect showcase of that. Ciel is someone who’s able to stand on her own, apart from Arcueid, as a character. Yet she still parallels Shiki’s descent. So it’s frustrating. Frustrating that the relationship between these two feels so underdeveloped.
These thoughts keep churning in my head. At the forefront of my mind, while I keep on reading. I’m at the end now, the end of this journey. I’ve been critical of this whole route…so why does it make me feel this way? Is it some kind of Stockholm Syndrome? Am I just easily won over by lazy writing?
Shiki opens his eyes and Ciel’s teardrops fall. I smile.
On the 8th of January, 2023 at 1:08 am, I finish Ciel’s route.
𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗠 𝗔𝗙𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗡𝗢𝗢𝗡 𝗡𝗔𝗣
I close my laptop. I lie to myself again. It’s become a ritual now.
—It’s March. Hell is right around the corner for me. I don’t care. I don’t want anything to do with it. I refuse. I utterly refuse to care what life is throwing at me. Truth be told I don’t even think of it. To escape my hell, I decide to dip my toes into another one.
Truth be told, I knew what I was getting into with this route. It’s simple when I think about it. This is a game where in each route you have a heroine that you get into a romantic relationship with, so it’s not too far-fetched to assume this route will do the same. Only problem is that the heroine is the Shiki’s sister.
I can handle “dark” subject matter, it’s not a question of whether or not I can stomach incest, it’s if this game handles it well. Either that…or it veers into the dangerous territory of “problematic”. I’ve always found discussions about problematic content interesting. Of course I think the elements that fall under that label shouldn’t be in media if they’re used to fetishize them but I can’t help but notice that a lot of the argument surrounding them centers on the fact of morality. That in a society as consumed by capitalism as ours the only way to have an identity, something with which we can recognize others, is by the content we inhale at a rapid pace. Where the only way we can tell others that we are inherently good is if we enjoy stuff that doesn’t have anything “problematic”.
—There’s someone out there who could probably make an essay of this topic, but this is a review on Backloggd and I’ve spent too much time thinking about this because I’m already at the big scene.
“I love you as my sister.” Shiki says.
I hold my breath. Time feels like it’s stopped. A spark ignites in my head, the synapses of my brain jolt back and forth. My eyes fixate on the screen. My hand hovers on the spacebar. Maybe it will be all right, maybe there is no incest. I have hope, but fear still has an iron grip on me. After what feels like an eternity, I close the gap between my finger and my keyboard.
“But… I love you as my sister even more.”
I close my eyes.
“It is fate.” I utter.
Nothing I can do besides accept it.
Fate. It’s only now I realise that fate lies at the heart of this route. I’m so close to the end but this is where this route has laid its soul bare. Are we all fated to end up this way? Or can we change that? Is Akiha is a product of nature and Shiki one of nurture? Can you even fight against yourself in that manner? Is a child who has been abused all his life destined to repeat that cycle of abuse, is that evil just in his nature? It took me too long to realise, and now it’s too late.
Under a blue sky, a girl cries and hugs a knife. The end credits start playing.
On the 3rd of March, 2023 at 1:04 pm, I finish Akiha’s route.
𝗠𝗜𝗗𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗠𝗢𝗢𝗡
—I lie again.
I have an idea. I’m eventually going to finish this visual novel one day, so why not make my review different for this one? Why not write in the style of Nasu’s prose?
Of course, I know how insane that sounds. I can’t compare to the real thing but I want to try anyway. It seems like a good way to challenge my writing capabilities.
The biggest hurdle right now is actually finishing this thing. I’m free now, so why don’t I finish Hisui’s route as soon as I can?
The first thing I notice is that this is a repeat of everything in the Akiha route for now. Mindless taps. Nothing but mindless taps.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
I’m in a dark room.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
I keep waiting.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
That rhythmic tap of the spacebar. I press it over and over and over. I feel like I’m going insane. But I can feel it, I’m so close. So close to finally getting to the new stuff but with each tap my patience keeps dwindling until there’s nothing left. Knots in my brain. Cold dead eyes. I stare at the screen.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Ta-
This is it. I’m here.
…
……
………!?
Is this a joke? I don’t understand.
The main scenario in this chapter is just Shiki going insane in a room. Just like I was. For a moment it feels like an unfortunate coincidence, something to point at and laugh but I can’t but feel like there’s something more. I have spent these past few months honing my backloggdian skills, becoming a better writer on the way.
No. My analytical skills tell me this is something more.
Yes. Kinoko Nasu did all this purpose. Yes. Kinoko Nasu is that much of a genius.
I clasp my hands in a prayer. Blessed I am to be reading this visual novel. I can only marvel at this man’s sheer writing power. With this one route, I am not “just like” Shiki Tohno. I have become him.
But I’m ignoring something, aren’t I?
Hisui’s doll-like expressions, calm demeanor, and general aloofness is something I’ve grown accustomed to by now. So seeing it break doesn’t feel like the conclusion of a character arc, it feels like a porcelain doll shattering. It’s messy. Every time I look at her I see nothing, besides someone so hellbent on protecting oneself by any means necessary. Even if it means not rejecting your own humanity.
I’m underneath a tree. Clear blue sky. I listen to her.
My heart shatters.
On the 4th of October, 2023 at 11:08am, I finish Hisui’s route.
𝗗𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗠𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗦𝗨𝗡𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗘
I’m done lying.
—Perspective.
It lies at the heart of Tsukihime. A subtle change in how you perceive an event can lead to a radically different outcome. For a story that’s written with this theme at heart, I can only expect the final route to be a culmination of everything I’ve come to know so far.
But with each clicking sound on my keyboard, I just feel my opinions lowering. Is this…really it? I didn’t expect a grand finale but most of what I’ve seen so far is just a rehash of the Hisui route, and not in a good way. I can almost taste the laziness through the screen.
I don’t know if I’m disappointed or something else. In a way, I can’t say this is surprising. But regardless, everything feels so rushed. It’s almost tragic to see a narrative failing its most interesting character.
—Hate.
Everything in this house is built on hate. A carefully constructed façade through and through. If you didn’t know, you could have never even guessed, and the more I play the more I become convinced that everything would’ve turned out this way, sooner or later.
I keep pressing the spacebar. Of course, now I’m long past the point of divergence with the Hisui route as well. Coming face to face with what the route has to offer and I can’t help but feel an ache in my heart, coupled with a smirk on my face. I ache for what suffering took place but my smirk isn’t a sign of a critique of the game. I think.
In a lot of ways, Kohaku’s route sort of mirrors Akiha’s route as well. “Can a doll be fixed?” being the main question here. When do you stop believing in a person, when do you give up? For a person as pigheaded as Shiki Tohno, the answer is obvious. Of course I smirk, if only Akiha route’s Shiki could see what this one has to say about incest.
I come closer and closer to the finish line. The only thing I can hope for is a happy ending, and I got a rushed one.
On the 8th of October, 2023 at 11:26pm, I finish Kohaku’s route.
𝗘𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗣𝗦𝗘
—I’m finally here, aren’t I?
Text pops up on the screen, my eyes carefully examine every single line. I don’t know what I’m looking for. Maybe a more meaningful understanding of everything so I can tell myself that it was worth it. Maybe I don’t want it to end.
With each tap, with each clicking sound, I read more and more of the final words this product has to offer. Maybe it’s a form of Stockholm Syndrome, but despite its faults, I think this visual novel won me over.
What am I saying? Stockholm Syndrome isn’t even real.
Even now as I sit here months later, way past the due date on this review, I think back to it. My first experience opening Tsukihime and meeting her, along with my last.
I can only hope that I captured even a little bit of what makes Nasu’s writing so captivating to read, but even I can acknowledge that this is nothing more than a pale imitation. Although…don’t we all try to imitate a little bit of everything that we see?
When it comes to what I’ll imitate besides this…well…
The way I look at it, every single person touched by Shiki is due to his love. His decision to pay back that small bit of kindness he received when he was very little. We are all surrounded by kind people aren’t we? So why do we hurt the ones we love the most?
You may call this unrelated rambling. I call it a clever way of imitating Nasu’s tendency to go on tangents.
At the end of the day, I have nothing more than the memories I received. It doesn’t matter if they’re positive or not, I’m just glad to have them. I know that even they will twist, even they will fade. But I don’t care.
—The lunar eclipse is far away.
So I let go.
You go ahead and pass through your remaining time.
I’ll pass through mine.
Thank you, for everything.
Me encanta Tsukihime, su historia, sus personajes, su lore, todo de esta novela me gusta. Podrá no ser lo mejor del nasuverso y podrá haber envejecido mal en cuestiones técnicas pero aun así me encanta.
Todo el mensaje sobre la vida y la muerte y el como es llevada a lo largo de las rutas simplemente me encanta y me parece fascinante, las relaciones de las chicas con shiki me parecen muy buenas (Claro que algunas me algunas me gustan mas que otras, cof cof Arcueid y Hisui cof cof).
Y aun con todo lo dicho anteriormente debo decir que, para mí, lo mejor de Tsukihime es Shiki. Su personaje, su desarrollo y su historia son simplemente peak, un chico normal que se ve envuelto en un monton de situaciones extrañas y que chocan con todo lo que el conocía. El asesino perfecto que odia con todo su ser la muerte y ama la vida, eso es Tohno Shiki y por eso me parece un gran personaje, es realmente alguien unico. Nasu realmente cocino con el.
Todo el mensaje sobre la vida y la muerte y el como es llevada a lo largo de las rutas simplemente me encanta y me parece fascinante, las relaciones de las chicas con shiki me parecen muy buenas (Claro que algunas me algunas me gustan mas que otras, cof cof Arcueid y Hisui cof cof).
Y aun con todo lo dicho anteriormente debo decir que, para mí, lo mejor de Tsukihime es Shiki. Su personaje, su desarrollo y su historia son simplemente peak, un chico normal que se ve envuelto en un monton de situaciones extrañas y que chocan con todo lo que el conocía. El asesino perfecto que odia con todo su ser la muerte y ama la vida, eso es Tohno Shiki y por eso me parece un gran personaje, es realmente alguien unico. Nasu realmente cocino con el.
It's good, except when it isn't. But then it is. 10/10 Hisui route made me get up and walk around the house for a bit, contemplating it.
if a woman tells you this is good you can trust her with your life
meu namorado tem instalado ( eu que fiz ele instalar !!!! >0<
Newcomers, please start with the remake first, I wish I had waited for the remake, and instead what I got from reading this first was being spoiled on the remake's Near Side routes, the emotional impact was greatly diminished.
While amateurish at times, since Nasu was new to writing at the time, Tsukihime is definitely a passion project. Its impact on the VN medium is undeniable, and if you had to use the "soul" buzzword for something, it'd be this.
While it is enjoyable, though, and I enjoyed it more after my reread, it still isn't anything too crazy to me outside of the Hisui and maybe Kohaku routes. It has a lot of repetition where the VN doesn't recognise what is obviously mostly previously read text as such, the sex scenes aren't very tasteful (I don't just mean that they read like a joke, I think they're straight-up tasteless sometimes) a lot of the time, the Ciel route needed 20 years to get better, and the good endings in Near Side are thematic assassinations on the VN. They basically undo the issues of the routes with solutions that seem extremely easy and shit on the suffering and great lengths the characters went to in the main story.
Additionally, I don't really feel like this VN is all that ambitious with the themes, characterisation, storytelling or the use of the medium, but it's still pretty good on that front. I just don't feel like Tsuki has much to offer to me in terms of stuff that I feel like I've seen done better in my opinion elsewhere. In terms of denpa it's pretty cool, and the magic system is a lot more consistent than Fate's. It also has a sort of "grounded" urban fantasy/mystery feel that is gone from later Type-Moon entries outside of F/SN.
Overall, definitely worth reading, and most people will probably like it, but it's not really my kind of thing.
While amateurish at times, since Nasu was new to writing at the time, Tsukihime is definitely a passion project. Its impact on the VN medium is undeniable, and if you had to use the "soul" buzzword for something, it'd be this.
While it is enjoyable, though, and I enjoyed it more after my reread, it still isn't anything too crazy to me outside of the Hisui and maybe Kohaku routes. It has a lot of repetition where the VN doesn't recognise what is obviously mostly previously read text as such, the sex scenes aren't very tasteful (I don't just mean that they read like a joke, I think they're straight-up tasteless sometimes) a lot of the time, the Ciel route needed 20 years to get better, and the good endings in Near Side are thematic assassinations on the VN. They basically undo the issues of the routes with solutions that seem extremely easy and shit on the suffering and great lengths the characters went to in the main story.
Additionally, I don't really feel like this VN is all that ambitious with the themes, characterisation, storytelling or the use of the medium, but it's still pretty good on that front. I just don't feel like Tsuki has much to offer to me in terms of stuff that I feel like I've seen done better in my opinion elsewhere. In terms of denpa it's pretty cool, and the magic system is a lot more consistent than Fate's. It also has a sort of "grounded" urban fantasy/mystery feel that is gone from later Type-Moon entries outside of F/SN.
Overall, definitely worth reading, and most people will probably like it, but it's not really my kind of thing.
This really is a peak visual novel and definitely Nasu's best work. I Love how well written the story is and how Nasu was able to incorporate themes of life and death, Issues of serial killings and murder, a thorough examination of the human nature to create a very interesting story. Characters were also all very likeable and interesting. Although, i feel like it gets held back by all the eroge
Mi primera novela visual, el Eroge sinceramente sobra bastante pero me gustó mucho, aunque no soy muy fan de la fórmula fate :)
strong
tsukihime is a wild ride, haha, the story is amazing and the shockingly good characters was not something i was expecting. one thing that really made me happy was how the choices you make, even the minor ones, always have an impact on the story. however this game is certainly dated, so beware of that before playing
I only played the Arcueid route so far but it was really cool.
I finally finished all the routes. I love Arcuied...
Persona 3 but good
I <3 Tsukihime
I LOVE NECO ARC
eh
finished arcs route tonight. cried my fucking eyes out. definitely enhanced by the day preceding this session being one of the worst in my life, but i finally get it now. will be working through the other routes at a hopefully faster pace, but if this is the one full route i end up completing, im satisfied with that experience.
peak
Ok I have sooooo much to say about this damn game. To start this feels retro in a good and bad way. The background art, character portraits, and soundtrack make everything such a vibe while playing helped by the solid writing across every route. The drawbacks to this are that the music is very limited and there are a lot of baffling choices made in general.
From the elongated pacing some parts have, the pointless ‘good’ endings that (almost) all feel like ass pulls, and the insanely unnecessary sex scenes that are all bad. I still think the writing good, but I can’t ignore these issues.
Now to get into each route specifically, I’ll just go in order.
Arcueid: As the ‘first’ route I think it being way simpler than all the other ones puts at a disadvantage, and it’s not helped at all by how I personally feel pretty neutral on Arcueid herself. She’s well written and her relationship with Shiki has some great moments, but something about her never clicked with me. I still think the foundation this route lays is pretty solid and only suffers from being dragged out a bit.
Ciel: Objectively this route feels weaker in a lot of ways especially when compared to Arcueid’s. The plot beats are way too similar and everything involving Arcueid feels like a waste of time when Ciel is supposed to be the focus. In retrospect knowing how little screen time she gets in the far side routes makes me appreciate her presence here more, but she still could have been implemented better. Even with that issue though I think this route gets way more interesting once it starts changing things up. The tone feels more ominous, Shiki get way more depth, and Ciel has a ton of cool moments once the story actually focuses on her. I still can’t say it’s better than the Arcueid route but I like the ideas here more and think there’s a lot of missed potential.
Akiha (+ Satsuki): It feels weird to not talk about Satsuki, I thought it nice that they finally expanded on her but it all feels a bit rushed. Before I knew Satsuki was in all the far side routes I thought the shift to Akiha would be too forced but it felt surprisingly natural here (and in Hisui & Kohaku’s routes). The route proper could be a little faster, but once it gets going it stays pretty interesting. The Akiha and Shiki relationship is, uh… weird. It doesn’t kill the route but that doesn’t make it any less weird. I think the ending and interesting villain make up for it well enough though. I’m honestly underselling this route cause with a few tweaks it could be the best one.
Hisui: Damn, I wasn’t sure if this route would live up to the hype but I’d totally did. It wasn’t how I expected it to go though, the focus is much more on building up suspense and plot twists, and while I figured out some before they were revealed others totally blindsided me. The ending is also amazing, which is true for basically all the routes but this one really stood out. Plus this is the only good ending where even though it’s still unnecessary, it doesn’t feel like a total asspull so bonus points for that.
Kohaku: Compared to everything that came before it this route feels the tightest. Since you’re literally required to do Hisui’s route before this one there are a lot clever switch ups and twists I didn’t see coming. The ending here is pretty good, but honestly my least favorite true ending of all the routes. If it had more punch this route could be better than Hisui’s but even though it isn’t for me it was still great (also no good ending is still a plus).
If I had to rank each of them I’d probably go.
Hisui > Kohaku > Akiha > Arcueid > Ciel
To conclude there’s just something about this game I can’t shake. I genuinely love some parts of it but it feels to held back by its flaws most of the time. I’ve heard the remake fixes most of these problems so I’m excited to check that out, but I still recommend Tsukihime to anyone that may be interested in it.
From the elongated pacing some parts have, the pointless ‘good’ endings that (almost) all feel like ass pulls, and the insanely unnecessary sex scenes that are all bad. I still think the writing good, but I can’t ignore these issues.
Now to get into each route specifically, I’ll just go in order.
Arcueid: As the ‘first’ route I think it being way simpler than all the other ones puts at a disadvantage, and it’s not helped at all by how I personally feel pretty neutral on Arcueid herself. She’s well written and her relationship with Shiki has some great moments, but something about her never clicked with me. I still think the foundation this route lays is pretty solid and only suffers from being dragged out a bit.
Ciel: Objectively this route feels weaker in a lot of ways especially when compared to Arcueid’s. The plot beats are way too similar and everything involving Arcueid feels like a waste of time when Ciel is supposed to be the focus. In retrospect knowing how little screen time she gets in the far side routes makes me appreciate her presence here more, but she still could have been implemented better. Even with that issue though I think this route gets way more interesting once it starts changing things up. The tone feels more ominous, Shiki get way more depth, and Ciel has a ton of cool moments once the story actually focuses on her. I still can’t say it’s better than the Arcueid route but I like the ideas here more and think there’s a lot of missed potential.
Akiha (+ Satsuki): It feels weird to not talk about Satsuki, I thought it nice that they finally expanded on her but it all feels a bit rushed. Before I knew Satsuki was in all the far side routes I thought the shift to Akiha would be too forced but it felt surprisingly natural here (and in Hisui & Kohaku’s routes). The route proper could be a little faster, but once it gets going it stays pretty interesting. The Akiha and Shiki relationship is, uh… weird. It doesn’t kill the route but that doesn’t make it any less weird. I think the ending and interesting villain make up for it well enough though. I’m honestly underselling this route cause with a few tweaks it could be the best one.
Hisui: Damn, I wasn’t sure if this route would live up to the hype but I’d totally did. It wasn’t how I expected it to go though, the focus is much more on building up suspense and plot twists, and while I figured out some before they were revealed others totally blindsided me. The ending is also amazing, which is true for basically all the routes but this one really stood out. Plus this is the only good ending where even though it’s still unnecessary, it doesn’t feel like a total asspull so bonus points for that.
Kohaku: Compared to everything that came before it this route feels the tightest. Since you’re literally required to do Hisui’s route before this one there are a lot clever switch ups and twists I didn’t see coming. The ending here is pretty good, but honestly my least favorite true ending of all the routes. If it had more punch this route could be better than Hisui’s but even though it isn’t for me it was still great (also no good ending is still a plus).
If I had to rank each of them I’d probably go.
Hisui > Kohaku > Akiha > Arcueid > Ciel
To conclude there’s just something about this game I can’t shake. I genuinely love some parts of it but it feels to held back by its flaws most of the time. I’ve heard the remake fixes most of these problems so I’m excited to check that out, but I still recommend Tsukihime to anyone that may be interested in it.