"Lunar Legend Tsukihime" is notable for being the first anime adaptation of one of Kinoko Nasu's stories, being first released way back in 2003. In sharp contrast to ufotable's highly regarded adaptations of "Kara no Kyoukai" and the "Fate" series, however, this particular adaptation has a very negative reputation among fans of the novel it's based off, to the point that a good number of fans would rather pretend it never even existed. While I personally think that's a bit of an overreaction, if only because I haven't read the novel myself, it is nevertheless easily the worst Nasuverse anime I have seen.
Story (6/10):
"Tsukihime" tells the story of Shiki Tohno, a 17-year-old member of the prestigious Tohno family, who has been living with his distant relatives for the past eight years after being involved in an accident that cost him some of his memories and enables him to see "Death Lines"- lines by which things, living or not, will eventually break when they die. Naturally, being able to see death everywhere he looks quickly got to Shiki, and he was exiled by his father due to his injury. Presently, Shiki has been able to avoid seeing the lines due to being given special glasses by a mysterious sorceress, which is pretty much the only reason he's been able to live a normal life. One day, without warning, he is summoned back to the main Tohno household by his younger sister Akiha, who has recently taken over as head of the family. He returns as asked, but on the way, he encounters a young woman with blonde hair and, in a dreamlike state, kills her. On his way to school the next day, however, he encounters the woman again, alive and well, and soon after learns her name is Arcueid Brunestud, and that she is a vampire who is hunting another one of her kind in the city. Realizing that his curse could be of some use after all, Shiki decides to team up with Arcueid in order to better her chances at defeating the vampire she's after.
While the premise of the story is certainly a unique one, the series sadly only manages to scratch the surface of its potential. The original visual novel had a total of five different routes, while the anime generally only focuses on one of these. This wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that the series is only 12 episodes long, despite being released during a time where the vast majority of anime were 24-26 episodes at the bare minimum. The result is an anime that moves way too fast for my liking and almost never slows down, often jumping from one plot point to the next with often only the tiniest amount of warning or build-up, and several confrontations being pretty anti-climactic. In fact, Shiki ends up killing a major antagonist really early on, to the point that I had a hard time processing that said villain was gone for good.
More problems arise when the series attempts to incorporate elements from multiple routes, creating various scenes that are barely or never elaborated on. Gaps regarding the main mystery of the series (Arcueid's hunt for vampires and the backstory of the Tohno family) are eventually filled in, although it piles on so many twists and revelations that they become a cheap dramatic device for pushing the story forward (if that, given that numerous twists don't really lead to anything down the line), and often causing the series to lose focus. While there is some good storytelling to be found, mostly in regards to the growing relationship between Shiki and Arcueid as well as a number of good character interactions, the series ultimately ends without things ever feeling adequately resolved, and overall the story struck me as one that just does not work as an anime.
Art & Animation (7.5/10):
Visually, "Tsukihime" doesn't look great, but it doesn't look awful either. The character models and environments are well-drawn and detailed for the most part, and the dark palette does fit the tone of the series quite nicely. However, the animations and special effects can be pretty lacking and the series has a whole doesn't look very good in poor lighting, which is especially bad considering that most, if not all, of the main conflict takes place at night-time. Overall, I would definitely consider this to be one of J.C. Staff's worst efforts, though that's probably to be expected considering it was also one of their first.
Sound & Dialogue (8.5/10):
If there's one thing that makes "Tsukihime" worth sitting through, it's the music. The series has plenty of moody, atmospheric tracks that perfectly fit the gothic feel of the series and really serve to emphasize the scenes they play in. My absolute favourite, however, would have to be the opening theme, "The Sacred Moon", which I listened to each time I started a new episode. For the longest time, I thought that an anime opening wouldn't work without lyrics but this series proved me dead wrong, and the ending theme "Rinne no Hate ni", while not quite as memorable, is great as well. The voice acting isn't bad either, with Steve Staley and Michelle Ruff delivering the best performances as Shiki and Arcueid, respectively, though Wendee Lee's Ciel and Julie Ann Taylor's Akiha are certainly adequate as well. Overall, the sound is easily the best part of the series.
Characters (6.5/10):
From the moment Shiki returns to the Tohno mansion, it's clear that he has great difficulty adjusting to their old-fashioned way of life, which makes sense given that he had lived a normal life for the past eight years. He's very uncomfortable with being treated like nobility and even tries to get the maids of the household to not call him "Master", to limited success. However, while he's far from being prim and proper, he's nevertheless a very kind and polite person to most people he meets. Well, most of the time, as he has a mysterious other personality that takes over whenever he encounters a supernatural being, though he initially has no memory of when he's in this state, let alone any control over it. Unfortunately, while he's far from a flat character and has more than a few awesome moments, I found that quite a number of aspects of his character were either underdeveloped or never properly explained, up to and including the origins of his other personality, especially since it's explicitly confirmed to be not of Tohno origin. Even so, everything I mentioned before means that he still stood out as my favourite character
My second favourite character is, without a doubt, Arcueid, the titular "Moon Princess" who is both a vampire and a vampire hunter simultaneously. While the story is told from Shiki's perspective, it primarily follows Arcueid's quest to hunt down other vampires, a quest Shiki gets dragged into against his will after he temporarily killed her, weakening her in the process. As such, it's as much her story as it is Shiki's. While she is very ruthless in combat, outside of it she displays a surprisingly innocent and playful personality, which stems from the fact that she's never had what you would call a "normal" life, having spent her whole life either hunting vampires or hibernating. In fact, several parts of the series involve Shiki and Arcueid just hanging out and doing things that Arcueid deems as "useless", which makes for some pretty decent character moments. Even so, her character arc really isn't anything I haven't seen done many times in other stories (the "Fate" series included), nor is it executed in a way that makes it stand out from other examples.
Another notable character is Akiha Tohno, Shiki's aforementioned younger sister, who is generally very strict with him and expecting him to adapt to the Tohno way of life. She's also a rather judgmental person, having a tendency to hate people very quickly before she's ever really gotten a chance to know them, a trait I was definitely not a fan of. However, while she isn't the nicest person, there's no doubt that she cares for Shiki, and overtime she softens up a bit and even shows willingness to compromise if it'll make him more comfortable. There's also Ciel, Shiki's senior in school who appears to be at odds with Arcueid for some reason, though I can't really say anything else about her without giving away some kind of spoiler. Neither of these two character are anywhere near as fleshed-out as Shiki or Arcueid (which aren't particularly high bars to clear), but they're likeable enough and I can't say the series would be better off without them. Beyond these four, however, the other characters are pretty weak, with there only being Akiha's two maids Hisui and Kohaku and Shiki's classmates at school, none of whom were all that interesting. The villains are pretty bland as well, with the first one in particular proving to be completely irrelevant to the story and serving as nothing more than some really powerful foe for Shiki to defeat.
Enjoyment (6.5/10):
It should be obvious from the genre alone that "Tsukihime" is most definitely not for the faint of heart, and the series proves that from the very first episode, with even the sudden appearance of Arcueid after Shiki kills her being very unsettling, and the series only getting darker and grimmer from there. While there is some moments of levity, like the episode where the cast go to an amusement park, the dark tone permeates throughout, culminating in an ending that is bittersweet at best.
Overall:
While "Tsukihime" is a decent anime on its own terms, as a Nasuverse anime it's nothing short of a disappointment. The music is certainly great, but it unfortunately falls short in almost every other department, be it the story, characters or visuals. Gothic horror fans will enjoy it, but even they're probably just better off reading the novel (specifically, the remake that was released in recent years). Maybe I'll check it out myself one of these days.
Score:
6+7.5+8.5+6.5+6.5=35/50=7.0/10
