Shingetsutan Tsukihime
True Moon Story - Moon Princess

By: Jasconius
Date: Friday, October 24, 2003

If there was one shows this season that had to be the most anticipated, I'd have to say that it was Tsukihime. I managed to make the anime my first real exposure to the series (okay I played the typing game but I don't think that really counts), but that's led me to not really be sure whether I like the series or not... I think it's mostly because there's so much setup going on that we don't really get to anything interesting in the first episode, although lots is foreshadowed.



In the beginning, we get to see a young boy who is disturbed by visions of lines everywhere that no one else can see... a witch appears before him and gives him glasses that will stop him from seeing them, but tells him that one day his vision will be able to protect someone he cares about. Fastforward to high school, and the same boy, Shiki Tohno, is moving in with his sister, since his father recently died and she is living in the family house all alone. Apparently she was in a traffic accident years ago and lost her memories, and she's a lot different than the little sister he remembers. In school, he and his friends are manipulated by a girl, Ciel, into thinking that they have known her for a while, for what purpose it is unclear. Finally, when he is going to his new home, he sees a woman and is overcome by an urge to chase her down and kill her... or was that a dream? When he wakes up in the family house, it seems like it must have been... But the strange events don't stop there. Something has been killing people and sucking their blood at nights in the city, and Tohno gets caught up in that too... and sees Ciel almost trying to kill him? What's going on?!




The more I write about what happens in episode one, the more it becomes clear that they sure had to cram a lot into it. I like the basic direction things are heading, so I'm hoping that the pacing picks up next episode, or whenever they get into the real main part of the story. The character designs are nothing special, but still nice-looking overall, so I'll be happy to see where this goes for a while. With how complex people have said the story is, though, I'm beginning to wonder if there might be a little too much to it to throw together into this series. I guess time will tell, though. ^_^