Shingetsutan Tsukihime
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is a Japanese
adult An adult is an animal that has reached full growth. The biological definition of the word means an animal reaching sexual maturity and thus capable of reproduction. In the human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social an ...
visual novel A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...
game created by
Type-Moon Type-Moon (stylized as TYPE-MOON) is a Japanese video game company, best known for their visual novels, co-founded by author Kinoko Nasu and illustrator Takashi Takeuchi. It is also known under the name for its publishing and corporate operation ...
, who first released it at the Winter Comiket in December 2000. In 2003, it was adapted into both an
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
television series, ''Lunar Legend Tsukihime'', animated by
J.C.Staff is a Japanese animation studio founded in January 1986 by Tomoyuki Miyata, who previously worked at Tatsunoko Production. The studio's first release was '' Yōtōden'' in 1987. They have produced several well-known anime series, such as '' Aria ...
, and a
manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
series, which was serialized between 2003 and 2010 in MediaWorks manga magazine ''
Dengeki Daioh is a Japanese shōnen manga magazine published by ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks) under the ''Dengeki'' brand. Many manga serialized in ''Dengeki Daioh'' were later published in ''tankōbon'' volumes under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Comi ...
'', with ten volumes released. Several other related media have also been released, including the bonus disc ''Tsukihime Plus-Disc'', a
fan disc A fan disc (sometimes called fandisk or simply abbreviated as FD) is a package of additional content, usually released by a game company after the successful launch of one of its titles. The contents of fan discs varies, but often includes new im ...
''Kagetsu Tohya'', and the
fighting game The fighting game video game genre, genre involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappling, counter- ...
series ''
Melty Blood , sometimes shortened as , is a series of 2D visual novel fighting game, fighting video games, co-developed by dōjin soft, dōjin dōjin circle, circles Type-Moon and French Bread (game developer), French-Bread as the meta-sequel of T ...
''. Story concepts and characters shared many similarities with other Type-Moon's series ''
The Garden of Sinners ''The Garden of Sinners'', known in Japan as sometimes referred to as , is a Japanese light novel series, written by Kinoko Nasu and illustrated by Takashi Takeuchi. Originally released as a series of chapters released independently onl ...
'', and the two were also subtly connected. A
remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...
with updated art and story was announced in 2008. The first part of the remake, ''Tsukihime: A Piece of Blue Glass Moon'', featuring a rewritten and expanded version of two of the original routes, first released in Japan in 2021, and was released worldwide in 2024. The second part, ''Tsukihime: The Other Side of Red Garden'', was teased in a secret unlockable trailer in ''A Piece of Blue Glass Moon''. '' Melty Blood: Type Lumina'', a fighting game, was released worldwide on September 30, 2021, as companion to the remake titles.


Gameplay

''Tsukihime'' is a
visual novel A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...
where the story is presented via text that intermittently presents choices for the player to make. These choices influence the story, some in large ways while others in small ones. Some choices lead to bad endings where the protagonist dies, after which the player can optionally view a comedic section called ''Teach Me, Ciel-sensei!'', where a fourth-wall-breaking version of the character Ciel offers hints on what led to the bad ending. The game is divided into five routes, distributed amongst two scenarios: The ''Near Side of the Moon'' (Arcueid and Ciel routes), and the ''Far Side of the Moon'' (Akiha, Hisui and Kohaku routes). Every heroine except Kohaku has two possible endings. When the player has achieved all possible endings, a new epilogue part, entitled ''Eclipse'', is unlocked. ''Tsukihime'' remake entries are visual novels like the original, and though it features modern amenities (such as better skip functions), it plays mostly the same. The ''Teach Me, Ciel-sensei!'' section after a bad ending also returns. Unlike the original, both remakes of Near and Far sides titled ''Tsukihime: A Piece of Blue Glass Moon'' and ''Tsukihime: The Other Side of Red Garden'' are released separately: * ''Tsukihime: A Piece of Blue Glass Moon'' solely focuses on the Near Side storyline. The Arcueid route titled ''Tsukihime'' has one ending, while Ciel route titled ''Midnight Rainbow'' has two branching endings. * ''Tsukihime: The Other Side of Red Garden'' solely focuses on the Far Side storyline, featuring Akiha, Hisui, and Kohaku as heroines. This also adds an additional route not included in the original game featuring Satsuki Yumizuka, exploring events previously left unexplored in the series' fighting game follow up ''Melty Blood''.


Story


Setting

The game's plot follows the perspective of protagonist , a second-year high school student in the fictional town of Misaki. He suffers a life-threatening injury at a young age. After regaining consciousness, he gains the ability to see " Death lines"—lines by which things, living or not, will eventually break when they die. Due to his injury, Shiki has immense headaches as his mind cannot cope with the sight of death. Soon after he is given special glasses from Aoko Aozaki that block the sight of these lines. Due to his injury, Shiki is exiled by his father to a branch family of the Tohno household. Eight years later, he returns to accompany his sister after his father died. After moving back, Shiki has trouble adjusting to the old-fashioned lifestyle his sister lives by. As the game progresses, Shiki confronts
supernatural being Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...
s such as mostly two different types of
vampires A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...
(, a natural-born vampire race; and , a race of former humans who were mutated into vampires via magecraft or being bitten by a vampire), as well as his family's secret and his actual past. As with many Type-Moon works, ''Tsukihime'' takes place in the shared "Nasuverse" universe and is set many years after the events of ''
Witch on the Holy Night ''Witch on the Holy Night'' (known in Japan as and sometimes shortened as ''Mahoyo'') is a Japanese visual novel developed and published by Type-Moon. It was first released for Windows on April 12, 2012, in Japan. An enhanced remastered version ...
''. The original 2000 release takes place in the fictional town of Misaki in 1999, with the events of ''Witch on the Holy Night'' being a prequel that explores the backstory of Shiki's teacher Aoko Aozaki. The 2024 remake takes place in the fictional city of Soya in 2014 and serves as a direct sequel to the 2022 remastered version of ''Witch on the Holy Night'' instead.


Plot


A Piece of Blue Glass Moon

After a horrible accident that hospitalized him, a young Shiki Tohno awakens to his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. He is guided by a now older Aoko Aozaki that his powers were a gift and to be used for good one day, giving him a pair of glasses that would deactivate his Eyes so long he was wearing them. After being discharged, Shiki is exiled by the Tohno Family and sent to live with his relatives. ;Arcueid Brunestud Route Seven years later, Shiki returns to Soya City upon the death of his estranged father, Makihisa. As a child, Shiki was meant to be heir of the family, but was expelled after an accident that left him anemic, and his younger sister Akiha became the heir. At the same time, the city is plagued with a series of serial killings by a vampire known as Vlov Archangel, who kills Shiki’s homeroom teacher, creating an opportunity for the vacant spot to be filled by Noel Aizome, a vampire hunting Executor working for the Church. After an anemic attack causing him to lose control of himself, Shiki inadvertently kills a True Ancestor vampire, Arcueid Brunesud, who later self-revives out of anger and convinces Shiki to find Vlov. Despite their success in defeating Vlov, Arcueid reveals that the true serial killer was not only Vlov, but another vampire named Michael Roa Valdamjong, who can reincarnate after death and has seemingly selected Shiki to be his next host. As Ciel, an upperclassman of Shiki, makes herself known as a member of the Executors, she reluctantly works with Shiki and Arcueid to drive Roa out of his hiding spot underneath their school, who has taken the reincarnation of Shiki’s childhood friend of the same name and possessed similar Mystic Eyes. However, Shiki’s variant of the eyes prove superior, allowing him to secure victory over Roa and negate his reincarnation ability permanently. One month after Roa’s defeat, Shiki returns to a normal life and Arcueid returns to her homeland. ;Ciel Normal Route After Shiki forms his first alliance with Arcueid, he allegedly ignores her advice of attacking Vlov at night and instead pursues him during the day, which results in him being thrown into Vlov’s underground catacomb. He finds both Noel and Ciel there on an official Church operation, but he and Noel are temporarily buried under rubble after an attack. While Ciel fights with Vlov, Arcueid does not help the Executors, but her last minute technique to contain Vlov within his area after Ciel’s Bounded Field shatters helps Shiki and Ciel obtain victory, and defeat Vlov. The next day, Arcueid secretly kills Roa, while Shiki believes that Vlov’s death marked the end of the murders. Arcueid tells Shiki about how she killed Roa and requests he help her nightly to clean up his leftover zombies. Their excursions raise concerns for Ciel, who after following Shiki to one of his meetings with Arcueid, results in her fighting the True Ancestor. Noel begins frantically trying to prove herself by killing more vampires as a result of having been threatened with reassignment, due to her poor recent performance. However, Ciel humiliates her in battle, leaving Noel to undergo vampire transformation herself. After Arcueid leaves, Ciel is horrified to learn from Shiki that Roa has been killed, leading her to explain that Shiki is Roa’s next host. Upon learning this, Shiki begins sleepwalking to the point he has killed humans, later realizing that Roa was beginning to surface. Shiki desperately calls Ciel for help, but she responds with full combat, having ascertained that Shiki was too deep into his infection. However, Shiki manages to prove his humanity and love for Ciel, convincing her to want and help him fight the infection. This angers Noel, who in her new Dead Apostle form, targets the two with personal vendetta, as Ciel is revealed to have been a former Roa host herself who killed Noel’s family many years ago. After Noel’s defeat, Shiki’s attempt to recover from the fight and trying to suppress Roa, is taken advantage of by Arcueid, who offers to turn him into a vampire, but he refuses and instead takes advantage of the situation and cuts Arcueid’s line. This causes Arcueid to lose control and Shiki is saved by Ciel, who is then overwhelmed by Arcueid. Shiki, accessing Roa’s memories, reaches out to Arcueid and convinces her to return home. As Shiki lies dying, he cuts his own line to kill himself and Roa, but Shiki is unexpectedly revived by Ciel at the cost of her own life force. In a dream, Ciel tells Shiki the reason why she did what she did. A year and a half later, Shiki decides to join the Church in search of a way to reunite with Ciel once again. ;Ciel Extra Route The route diverges after Ciel and Shiki escape into the school. Arcueid takes longer to resurrect, allowing Ciel time to prepare her role and meet her in the city. However, within three minutes of their fight, Arcueid’s power proves to be overwhelming for Ciel as she ultimately takes on a giant luminous form powered by the planet, which distorts reality. Ciel is trapped and tortured multiple times in Arcueid’s giant luminous hand. With the amount of lumina energy being extorted by Arcueid, it allows Shiki to directly converse with Roa, who advises him on how to fight Arcueid while helping him stay focused. As Arucied dies the longer she maintains her luminous form, Shiki decides to prevent that from happening. Roa ultimately decides to give up his reincarnating essence to allow Shiki to do just that, as Shiki uses the remaining of Ciel’s celestial arrow energy to finish the job. After the battle, Shiki and Arcueid banter, before Arcueid returns to her homeland. After Shiki awakens in a dream where Ciel does not exist, an incarnation of his young seven-year-old self attempts to convince to stay in that dream, as he would either be stuck in a lifelong coma or die. Shiki chooses to return to his mortal body and awaken in the real world. Shiki reconciles with Ciel, and the two make their own future.


The Other Side of Red Garden


Characters


Main characters

; : : A high school boy possessing mystical eyes which allow him to see the "Lines of Death" which, once traced, destroys whatever object or being they are on but only when he takes his glasses off. An accident eight years prior to the game's events resulted in him being excommunicated from the Tohno clan by his father, leading him to live with one of the branch families, the clan. At the beginning of the game, he returns home at the behest of his sister, Akiha after their father's death. He wields a
switchblade A switchblade (also known as switch knife, automatic knife, pushbutton knife, ejector knife, flick knife, gravity knife, flick blade, or spring knife) is a pocketknife with a sliding or pivoting blade contained in the handle which is extended ...
with his Eyes to kill supernatural enemies. ; : : A mysterious princess of a born vampire race known as the "True Ancestor". She lacks some vampiric qualities, such as needing to consume blood to survive (although she suppresses the desire) and being
nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...
. She seems to be quite knowledgeable about many things, but is portrayed as very naïve when it comes to modern ideas. She is killed by Shiki in their first encounter, but regenerates, and recruits him to hunt a vampire. : Her design was loosely based on an image of a model in a fashion magazine that Takashi Takeuchi had read in 1995. Online research suggested that this person was Amanda Dyer, a Canadian model; Dyer herself would later confirm this. ; : : An upperclassman of Shiki and the sole member of the Japanese tea ceremony club. She is also a secret agent of the Church's "Burial Agency" created to exterminate heresy. Her birth name was . Before joining the agency, when she was sixteen years old, she used to be the seventeenth host of a certain Dead Apostle. However, even after Arcueid freed her from the Dead Apostle’s influence, Ciel was cursed with immortality and will continue to live as long as the Dead Apostle does. ; : : Shiki's sister, assumed the responsibility as the family's head and acquired the knowledge, behavior, and etiquette for an appropriate noble family. She has mixed feelings about her brother Shiki, whom she has been estranged with for seven years, and seeks him to live like an upper-class man. : Once Shiki's revealed to have been adopted into the Tohno family and is merely a human, Akiha and her blood family are revealed to be half-demons who wield the , a cursed demon's blood which not only grants them pyrokinetic abilities but also changes their hair color and enhances their physical capabilities. However, those who have succumbed to the curse also lose their sanity, excluding those who've inherited willpower such as Akiha, certain members of the Arima, and the last surviving member of clan. ; : : The younger of the twin maids in the Tohno mansion and is a childhood friend of Shiki. She attends Shiki when he comes back to the Tohno mansion. She acts cold and unfeeling, but it is only an act to hide her kinder nature. ; : : The older of the twin
maid A maid, housemaid, or maidservant is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era, domestic service was the second-largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids a ...
s in the Tohno mansion and is always seen to be smiling and cheerful. She is gifted with
medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
. Beneath her warm demeanor, Kohaku hides a traumatic past, causing her and Hisui to switch personalities in the present.


Recurring characters

; : : A mysterious
vagabond Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, waste picker, scavenging, or petty theft. In Western ...
sorceress, who gives Shiki glasses that allow him to suppress his Mystic Eyes from its ongoing activation. She also appears in ''
Witch on the Holy Night ''Witch on the Holy Night'' (known in Japan as and sometimes shortened as ''Mahoyo'') is a Japanese visual novel developed and published by Type-Moon. It was first released for Windows on April 12, 2012, in Japan. An enhanced remastered version ...
'', a prequel to ''Tsukihime'' franchise, particularly connected to its remake timeline. ; : : Shiki's best friend and classmate, who is frequently absent from school. ; : : Shiki's classmate. In the Far-side routes, she becomes a Dead Apostle. ; : : A Dead Apostle and the secondary antagonist of the Near-side routes in original game. In the remake of Near-side routes, he is a minor character. His real name was . ; : : An 800-year-old Dead Apostle who uses reincarnation through possessing his current host as a path to immortality. His seventeenth host was Ciel. He is the main antagonist for the Near-side Routes. ; : : Akiha's older brother, and the protagonist’s adoptive brother. He is also Roa’s current eighteenth host. The main antagonist in the Far-side routes. ; : : A small
anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...
mascot cat version of Arcueid who occasionally appears alongside a Teacher variant of Ciel as guides for the players who fell into the Bad Ending of a certain route they ended up. She is an interdimensional anthropomorphic alien cat known as Neco Spirit originating from the Great Cat's Village where most of her people's appearances are closely just like her and Arcueid, albeit with few differences in resembling one of their Earth counterparts in different Type-Moon timelines. While often making cameo appearances in ''Tsukihime''-related media, Neco-Arc also appears in other non-''Tsukihime'' media. ; : : The late biological father of Akiha and original SHIKI Tohno, and a posthumous antagonist of the series. He was also responsible for orchestrated a massacre on the other Shiki’s home clan by sending one of his henchman to kill them except that Shiki, as well as his brutal treatments towards his own blood children and even Kohaku. His death at the hands of his own son, SHIKI led the latter to become Roa’s current host.


Remake exclusives

; : : A mysterious girl who Shiki meet sometimes in the city. ; : : The head of the Saiki branch family of the Tohno clan, his entire face is wrapped in black bandages due to burns. He looks down on Shiki, who was excommunicated from the Tohno family and hates him. In the original timeline, the Saiki family originally debuted in the sequel ''Kagetsu Tohya'', where the family head (who may be also Gōto) appears as a flashback character related to Shiki’s birth family. ; : : A scientist who claims to be an old acquaintance of Makihisa from the university, due to her closeness with the Tohno family through him, she's been working for Akiha as a consultant in both architectural and medical matters. In Ciel's Route, it appears that Arach has a mysterious connection to the Dead Apostles since the French Incident, with one of them being a spider-themed vampire, leaving Arach's true origins a mystery. ; : : A foreign teacher at Shiki's school whose actually a subordinate of Ciel and goes by the alias . Beneath her demeanor, Noel hides a traumatic past she had been endured since her village in France was destroyed by Roa when Ciel was his host thirteen years ago. In Ciel’s Route of the Near-Side storyline, she becomes a Dead Apostle and is executed immediately by Ciel out of misery. ; : : A young Italian man and the son of Cardinal Laurentis (who's first mentioned in ''
Fate/Extra CCC ''Fate/Extra'' (stylized as ''Fate/EXTRA'') is a dungeon crawler role-playing game developed by Type-Moon and Imageepoch and published by Marvelous Entertainment for the PlayStation Portable. The game takes place in a parallel universe to ...
''), Mario is a bishop of the Holy Church despite only being a teenager. He got his nickname “The Puppeteer” due to his gauntlet-like weapon, “Piano Machine”, that allows him to use strings for combat purposes as well as controlling the movements of others (particularly Holy Church nuns, and even Noel in Arcueid's Route) like they were marionettes. He seeks Roa for his knowledge of immortality in order to fix his father’s aging problem, but eventually learns that all Roa's research has long since hit a dead end. ; : : One of Mario's direct subordinates. ; : : One of Mario's direct subordinates. ; : : A Russian Dead Apostle Ancestor who used to be a knight centuries ago, he possesses the ability to manipulate temperature which allows him to generate and project both fire and ice for different purposes. He serves as the secondary antagonist, replacing the role of NRVNQSR Chaos from the original game. He despises Roa, for tricking him into murdering his adopted mother, . In Ciel’s Route of the Near-Side storyline, he is directly responsible for Noel's downfall, despite his vampire bite not being that deep.


Development

The original story of ''Tsukihime'' was based on one of
Kinoko Nasu , known better as , is a Japanese author, best known for writing the light novel ''The Garden of Sinners'' and visual novels '' Tsukihime'' and ''Fate/stay night'', and a co-founder of Type-Moon. Nasu graduated from Hosei University with a majo ...
's ideas for a novel. It featured Arcueid as a cold stereotypical vampire that is the complete opposite of her finished incarnation. The basis for Shiki was a middle-aged old, worn-down vampire who says to Arcueid upon her first approach "I have no interest in women I've already killed once." The tone of the story was the complete opposite and only the tagline of "a biting relationship between a murderer who can see death lines and a vampire" remained in the final version. Upon developing the story for ''Tsukihime'', they pictured Arcueid as a cool and princess-like "Noble Vampire", but thought that it overlapped with Akiha's "Lady" character. All of the heroines spoke politely to the main character, so they figured that the only character who could fit the role of someone who didn't speak politely would be Arcueid. They eventually came up with the idea of a "pure white" vampire that developed her character very differently from the original version. There was originally a planned Satsuki route for the original version, but it was later cut. Several trial versions of ''Tsukihime'' were released before its full release. The first preview version of ''Tsukihime'' was a free promotional version of which 300 copies (on 3½
floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...
s) were produced and distributed at
Comiket , more commonly known as or , is a semiannual Doujinshi convention, ''doujinshi'' convention in Tokyo, Japan. A grassroots market focused on the sale of ''doujin'' (self-published) works, Comiket is a not-for-profit fan convention administered ...
56 in 1999. At the next Comiket 57 in late 1999, a demo was sold for 100 yen, with only 50 being produced and sold, also distributed on 3½ floppy disks. At Comiket 58 in 2000, ''Tsukihime Half Moon Edition'' was released. 300 copies were produced and sold for 1,000 yen each. This version contained Arcueid and Ciel's "Near Side of the Moon" storylines. The half moon edition came with bonuses including a coupon that would allow purchasers to claim the complete edition in the future. The complete edition of ''Tsukihime'' was first released at Comiket 59 in December 2000. Type-Moon released ''Tsukihime Plus-Disc'' developed with
NScripter , officially abbreviated as Nscr, also known under its Working title, production title Scripter4, is a game engine developed by Naoki Takahashi between 1999 and 2018 functioning with its own script language which facilitates the creation of both ...
engine in January 2001, a light-hearted addition to ''Tsukihime'' that featured two short stories: ''Alliance Of Illusionary Eyes'' and ''Geccha''. The first edition included wallpapers, the first four chapters of ''
The Garden of Sinners ''The Garden of Sinners'', known in Japan as sometimes referred to as , is a Japanese light novel series, written by Kinoko Nasu and illustrated by Takashi Takeuchi. Originally released as a series of chapters released independently onl ...
'', an early demo version of ''Tsukihime'', a contemporary ''Tsukihime'' demo, and two omakes featuring ''Tsukihime'' characters. The second edition ''Tsukihime Plus+Disc'' added two more stories: ''Geccha 2'' and ''Kinoko's Masterpiece Experimental Theater''. This version used the more capable
KiriKiri This is a list of visual novel engines. Artemis Artemis, also known as Artemis Engine, is a cross-platform, but closed-source visual novel engine that can work on Windows, IOS, Android, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. Its scripting uses Lua ...
engine. In April 2003, Type-Moon released , a three-disc set that included ''Tsukihime'', ''Tsukihime Plus+Disc'', ''Kagetsu Tohya'', a remixed soundtrack, a trial version of
Melty Blood , sometimes shortened as , is a series of 2D visual novel fighting game, fighting video games, co-developed by dōjin soft, dōjin dōjin circle, circles Type-Moon and French Bread (game developer), French-Bread as the meta-sequel of T ...
and other assorted multimedia. The original visual novel was available to play with
Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...
with the conversion software "Rinkai Tsukihime" distributed by the doujin circle "Inside-Cap". In December 2001, Inside-Cap released an officially licensed program for Windows 98/ Me/
2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
/ XP that allowed customers to convert their PC copy of ''Tsukihime'' into a
Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...
rom; the program was distributed via
CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...
through retail and online shops.


Remake

A remake of ''Tsukihime'' was announced in 2008, with work commencing in 2012. Work was then suspended in 2013 due to Type Moon's work on ''
Fate/Grand Order is a free-to-play Japanese gacha game, gacha mobile game, developed by Lasengle (formerly Delightworks) using Unity (game engine), Unity, and published by Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The game is based on Type-Moon' ...
'', before resuming in 2017. It was later announced that it would be released in two parts, with the first, titled ''Tsukihime: A Piece of Blue Glass Moon'', containing the "Near-side" part of the game. The game was released on
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...
and
Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...
consoles on August 26, 2021 in Japan. The theme songs ''Seimeisen'' and ''Juvenile'', as well as the ending themes ''Lost'' and ''Believer'' were written, composed and arranged by Kegani from Live Lab and performed by
Reona Reona ( ; stylized as ReoNa, born October 20, 1998) is a Japanese singer who is signed to Sacra Music. Having been active as a cosplayer and independent musician, she made her major debut in 2018 as the singing voice of the character Elza Kanz ...
, and released on CD on September 1, 2021. The soundtrack was composed by
Hideyuki Fukasawa is a Japanese composer, best known for his work on the video game ''Street Fighter IV''. Career Born in Tokyo, Fukasawa began learning piano when he was in elementary school. At the age of 10, he listened to the soundtrack of the anime film Swa ...
and Keita Haga, and was released as a set of eight CDs on November 24, 2021. ''Tsukihime: The Other Side of Red Garden'', containing the remake's equivalent of the "Far-side" part of the original, was teased in an unlockable secret trailer in ''Tsukihime: A Piece of Blue Glass Moon''. The remake modernizes the setting of ''Tsukihime'', having it take place in a large city in 2014 (as opposed to the suburban town in 1999 of the original), and also makes changes to the plot. The remake also adds new characters, voice acting, and new character designs. Writer Kinoko Nasu has stated in interviews that he was inspired by '' Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone'' to make the changes, and when writing the remake, Arcueid's route was written to be a reproduction of the old ''Tsukihime'', while Ciel's route was written to be new. It also includes the Satsuki route. At Anime Expo 2023, it was announced that the ''Tsukihime'' remake entries would get official localization outside Japan, starting from ''A Piece of Blue Glass Moon'' on June 27, 2024. It is also confirmed in ''Type-Moon Ace'' Vol. 15 that Windows version of the ''Tsukihime'' remake entries will be included as well.


Sequel

''Kagetsu Tohya'' has teasers for a ''Tsukihime 2'', and writer Kinoko Nasu's short stories "talk." and "Prelude" from ''Tsukihime'' material books ''Plus Period'' published on October 22, 2004 and the Type-Moons ''Character material'' published on August 20, 2006 are set before it. References to it have been mostly been made into jokes during recent interviews, and they have displayed no current plans to actually create the project. According to ''Character material'', the sequel would have been called ''Tsukihime: The Dark Six'' and would have revolved, at least in part, around a ritual gathering of Dead Apostle ancestors. Arcueid's sister Altrouge would have had a possible role.


Related media


Video games

''Kagetsu Tohya'' is a sequel released in August 2001 and set one year after the events in the main ''Tsukihime'' storyline. Shiki gets into an accident and has a repeating dream sequence in which he must relive the same day over until he finds Len. As the player repeats each day they are able to make different choices which affect the flow of the narrative and unlock extra content in the game, including ten short stories. ''
Melty Blood , sometimes shortened as , is a series of 2D visual novel fighting game, fighting video games, co-developed by dōjin soft, dōjin dōjin circle, circles Type-Moon and French Bread (game developer), French-Bread as the meta-sequel of T ...
'' is a PC
dojin In Japan, a is a group of people who share an interest, activity, or hobby. The word is sometimes translated into English as " clique", "fandom", "coterie", "society", or "circle" (as in " sewing circle"). Self-published creative works pro ...
fighting game The fighting game video game genre, genre involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappling, counter- ...
series developed by Type-Moon and
French-Bread also known simply as French-Bread, is a Japanese video game developer founded in 1995 as , based in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. Originally a ''doujin'' circle, French-Bread became well known for their work in fighting games, particularly the ''Melt ...
, originally released at
Comiket , more commonly known as or , is a semiannual Doujinshi convention, ''doujinshi'' convention in Tokyo, Japan. A grassroots market focused on the sale of ''doujin'' (self-published) works, Comiket is a not-for-profit fan convention administered ...
63 in 2002. The game features characters from the ''Tsukihime'' games as well as new characters specific for the games. Multiple updated versions of the game have been created as well as a sequel. It later spawned an
arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...
version, titled ''Act Cadenza'', that was developed by
Ecole Software This is a list of notable video game companies that have made games for either computers (like PC or Mac), video game consoles, handheld or mobile devices, and includes companies that currently exist as well as now-defunct companies. See the list ...
and was then ported to the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
. A decade later, Type-Moon and French-Bread collaborated once again to develop the fifth installment and reboot, '' Melty Blood: Type Lumina'', featuring the characters from the remake titles.


Anime

A 12-episode
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
television series adaptation titled was directed by
Katsushi Sakurabi is a Japanese animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, televisio ...
and produced by
J.C.Staff is a Japanese animation studio founded in January 1986 by Tomoyuki Miyata, who previously worked at Tatsunoko Production. The studio's first release was '' Yōtōden'' in 1987. They have produced several well-known anime series, such as '' Aria ...
. It was written by
Hiroko Tokita is a Japanese anime screenwriter and director. Productions worked on *'' Bonobono'': Storyboard, Episode Director *''Chocchan's Story'': Director, Screenplay *''Descendants of Darkness'': Director, Storyboard (ep. 1) *'' Galaxy Angel A'': Screenp ...
and features original music by Toshiyuki Ōmori. It first aired between October 10 to December 26, 2003 on
BS-i is a Japanese satellite broadcasting station headquartered in Akasaka Gochome, Minato, Tokyo. Its channel name is BS-TBS (formerly, BS-i). Channels *Television: BS-TBS is assigned BS161ch - 163ch. *Radio: BS-i had been assigned 461ch, 462c ...
. It also aired on
Animax Asia Animax is an Asian pay television channel owned by KC Global Media Asia. The channel was originally owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, and took its name from the Japanese satellite TV network; which was then-majority owned by subsidiary Sony ...
in
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
and
South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
. Two pieces of
theme music Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...
are used for the episodes; one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme was titled "The Sacred Moon" by Toshiyuki Omori, and the ending theme was by
Fumiko Orikasa is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer. She voiced Rukia Kuchiki in ''Bleach'', Meyrin Hawke in '' Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny'', Chun-Li in ''Street Fighter'', Kanade Minamino/Cure Rhythm in ''Suite PreCure,'' Lotte Yanson in '' ...
. The reason for choosing "Lunar Legend Tsukihime" instead of the title "Tsukihime" is that the trademark of "Tsukihime" had already been used.
Geneon (abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise that is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, owned by American telecommunications/media company Comcast headquartered in Akasaka, Tokyo ...
announced it had licensed the series for distribution in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
in 2004 under the title ''Tsukihime, Lunar Legend''. Upon Geneon's American operations having shut down, the newly instituted licensor Sentai Filmworks acquired the North American rights to the series, with
Section23 Films SXION 23 LLC, doing business as Section23 Films, is an American multimedia distributor based in Houston, Texas specializing in releasing anime and Japanese films. Established in 2009, Section23 is one of five successors to ADV Films; alongside ...
handling its distribution and marketing, along with other titles.


Print

A manga adaptation using the same ''Lunar Legend Tsukihime'' title as the anime, illustrated by Sasaki Shōnen, was serialized in
ASCII Media Works , formerly , is a Japanese Publishing, publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing headquartered in Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. It originally formed on April 1, 2008, as a result of a Mergers and acquisitions, merger bet ...
' manga magazine ''
Dengeki Daioh is a Japanese shōnen manga magazine published by ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks) under the ''Dengeki'' brand. Many manga serialized in ''Dengeki Daioh'' were later published in ''tankōbon'' volumes under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Comi ...
'' between October 2003 and September 2010 issues. The plot largely follows the game's Arcueid route with a mix of the other routes. The chapters were collected in ten volumes published by ASCII Media Works. ''Tsukihime'' creator
Kinoko Nasu , known better as , is a Japanese author, best known for writing the light novel ''The Garden of Sinners'' and visual novels '' Tsukihime'' and ''Fate/stay night'', and a co-founder of Type-Moon. Nasu graduated from Hosei University with a majo ...
has praised Sasaki's manga, saying that the settings mentioned in ''Tsukihime'' and ''Kagetsu Tohya'' are integrated without damaging the atmosphere of the original. Nasu also went on to say that Sasaki Shonen's manga was the greatest rival to the remake game project, and that Sasaki's stamp of approval after he playtested it meant there was "nothing to be afraid of". The manga was licensed for an English-language release in North America by
ComicsOne ComicsOne Corp. was an American distributor of Asian Comics (manga, manhwa, and manhua), established in 1999. ComicsOne was based in Fremont, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. ComicsOne also served as the distributor for Videotape, vid ...
in 2004. In 2005,
DR Master DrMaster Publications Inc. was an American distributor of manga and manhua with offices in the United States, Republic of China and Japan. It was headquartered in Fremont, California, Fremont, California. It began strictly as a printer of mang ...
took over the publication of ComicsOne's manga titles including ''Tsukihime''. Six out of ten volumes were published. ''Tsuki no Sango'' is a short story by Kinoko Nasu for
Maaya Sakamoto is a Japanese actress and singer. She made her debut as a Voice acting in Japan, voice actress in 1992 as the voice of Chifuru in the anime ''Little Twins'', and became known as the voice of Hitomi Kanzaki in ''The Vision of Escaflowne''. Other ...
's Full Moon Recital Hall, a project organized by the Japanese online magazine Saizensen, that consisted of Sakamoto reading short novels in a theater while an accompanying short animation was aired in the background. ''Tsuki no Sango'' was the first of the recitals on December 21, 2010, and it was aired live on Ustream. The short movie was animated by
Ufotable is a Japanese animation studio founded in October 2000 by former Telecom Animation Film producer Hikaru Kondō and located in Shinjuku, Tokyo. A unique hallmark seen in many of their works ('' Ninja Nonsense'', '' Futakoi Alternative'', '' Coyo ...
, which also animated ''
The Garden of Sinners ''The Garden of Sinners'', known in Japan as sometimes referred to as , is a Japanese light novel series, written by Kinoko Nasu and illustrated by Takashi Takeuchi. Originally released as a series of chapters released independently onl ...
'' and ''
Fate/Zero ''Fate/Zero'' is a Japanese light novel written by Gen Urobuchi, illustrated by Takashi Takeuchi, and is a prequel to all routes in Type-Moon's visual novel, ''Fate/stay night''. ''Fate/Zero'' is set ten years before the events of ''Fate/s ...
'', and features drawings by
Takashi Takeuchi is a Japanese artist. He is notable as the co-founder of the visual novel, anime development and production enterprise Type-Moon, and for his illustrations on the visual novels, '' Tsukihime'' and ''Fate/stay night'', which were adapted into an ...
and Chihiro Aikura. The animation used Frédéric Chopin composed music. The concept is "Tsukihime 3000" and the
Princess Kaguya is a (fictional prose narrative) containing elements of Japanese folklore. Written by an unknown author in the late 9th or early 10th century during the Heian period, it is considered the oldest surviving work in the form. The story details ...
folktale. There is also a 42-page booklet version of the story with illustrations by Takeuchi and Aikura. ''Tsuki no Sango'' also got a manga adaptation with story and art by Sasaki Shōnen. It was serialized on the ''Saizensen'' web magazine from July 7, 2012 until January 22, 2019. The chapters were compiled into two tankobon volumes published by Seikaisha Comics. The first volume was released on March 10, 2014 and the second volume on May 26, 2019. An omnibus version was also published on May 26, 2019.


Music

A remake of the visual novel's soundtrack was released on February 24, 2004 titled ''Ever After ~Music from "Tsukihime" Reproduction~''. Two soundtrack compilations were released for the anime ''Lunar Legend Tsukihime'', titled ''Moonlit Archives'' and ''Moonlit Memoirs''. The music was composed by Keita Haga. The ''Tsukihime: A Piece of Blue Glass Moon'' theme songs by
Reona Reona ( ; stylized as ReoNa, born October 20, 1998) is a Japanese singer who is signed to Sacra Music. Having been active as a cosplayer and independent musician, she made her major debut in 2018 as the singing voice of the character Elza Kanz ...
were released on CD on September 1, 2021 while the eight disc soundtrack, which was composed by Keita Haga and
Hideyuki Fukasawa is a Japanese composer, best known for his work on the video game ''Street Fighter IV''. Career Born in Tokyo, Fukasawa began learning piano when he was in elementary school. At the age of 10, he listened to the soundtrack of the anime film Swa ...
, was released on November 24, 2021.


Reception

Following its release, ''Tsukihime: A Piece of Blue Glass Moon'' sold 72,237 units on the Nintendo Switch and 66,171 units on the PlayStation 4, bringing it to a total of 138,408 copies sold at retail; this does not include download sales. ''Tsukihime: A Piece of Blue Glass Moon'' was very well received by English-language media. The narrative, production quality, and localization were all praised by reviewers. and it was (as of July 26, 2024) the highest-rated 2024 game on OpenCritic. The manga series has shown high sales figures in its later volumes, with volume seven staying in the Japanese comic ranking for two weeks, while volume eight stayed in for three weeks. Carlos Santos of
Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ot ...
's opinion on the anime's third DVD release is that it "is a show that's all about creating a mood, which it does very well with its carefully planned color schemes and evocative music score." He states, "It's an ending that takes its time, however, as this show's deliberate pacing ensures that the story is revealed only to those who are patient enough."


See also

* *


Notes


References


Further reading

*


External links


Official website
*

at
J.C. Staff is a Japanese animation studio founded in January 1986 by Tomoyuki Miyata, who previously worked at Tatsunoko Production. The studio's first release was '' Yōtōden'' in 1987. They have produced several well-known anime series, such as ''Aria ...
* * {{Ufotable 2000 video games Anime television series based on video games ASCII Media Works manga Bishōjo games ComicsOne titles Dengeki Comics Dengeki Daioh Doujin video games Eroge Fiction about siblicide Geneon USA HuneX games Fiction about incest J.C.Staff Japan-exclusive video games Madman Entertainment anime Manga based on video games NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan NScripter games Romance video games Sentai Filmworks Shōnen manga TBS Television (Japan) original programming Type-Moon Vampires in anime and manga Video games about vampires Video games about siblings Video games developed in Japan Visual novels Windows games Windows-only games