This weekend my niece and two nephews came over to visit, and as usual we spent a great deal of time watching anime while they were here. The anime that we chose to watch this week was Lunar Legend Tsukihime, which none of us had ever seen before, but the story looked interesting so we thought that we would give it a try. We were really excited that we had found an anime that my oldest nephew had not yet seen (because he has a tendency to spoil all of the good parts) so we set down and prepared for a pleasant afternoon of non-spoilers. Little did we know the massive confusion that was to follow.
This anime follows the story of Shiki Tohno, who has an accident when he is very young. As our young hero is lying in his hospital bed, he notices that he can now see red lines covering everything that normal people are unable to see. These lines and known as “death lines” and by cutting them he can cause other living (and many non-living things) to fall apart or die. At first Shiki has a hard time dealing with this new found power, so he is given a pair of glasses that blocks him from seeing the lines.
Fast forward eight years into the future where we find that Shiki has decided to move back home to live with his sister Akiha after staying with distant relatives since the accident. Shiki quickly finds himself in over his head as his sister seems to be very cold and distant from him. She impresses on him that he must follow the rules of her house and Shiki seems to find himself at a loss living in a huge mansion where the only friendly faces seem to be that of the two servants that his sister keeps on staff.
That state of confusion only seems to get worse for him as he walks home from school one day to find a beautiful woman standing in the park with no one else around. Now most guys would ask a girl like that out on a date, right? Well, our hero kills her! He passes out and awakens to find himself in his bed, and thinking that it was all a dream goes on about his life, until that is, the girl that he killed is standing before him again explaining in graphic detail how many pieces he cut her into yesterday.
It is then that we find out that she is Arcueid Brunestud a mysterious princess that is a true ancestor, think of a vampire that can go out into the sun and does not need human blood in order to survive. She enlists his help to fight the Dark Apostles “the more typical vampires” and that is the story picks up, but it does not get any less confusing from there.
To be honest, and make this quick, this anime is far from one of my favorites. The story itself seems to be rushed and it will drive you crazy if you try to figure out the plot before the end because they just do not give you enough pieces. You spend 90% of the anime trying to figure out what is really going on, and by the time they give you enough pieces to figure it out the anime is over and you are left feeling unfulfilled.
This anime follows the story of Shiki Tohno, who has an accident when he is very young. As our young hero is lying in his hospital bed, he notices that he can now see red lines covering everything that normal people are unable to see. These lines and known as “death lines” and by cutting them he can cause other living (and many non-living things) to fall apart or die. At first Shiki has a hard time dealing with this new found power, so he is given a pair of glasses that blocks him from seeing the lines.
Fast forward eight years into the future where we find that Shiki has decided to move back home to live with his sister Akiha after staying with distant relatives since the accident. Shiki quickly finds himself in over his head as his sister seems to be very cold and distant from him. She impresses on him that he must follow the rules of her house and Shiki seems to find himself at a loss living in a huge mansion where the only friendly faces seem to be that of the two servants that his sister keeps on staff.
That state of confusion only seems to get worse for him as he walks home from school one day to find a beautiful woman standing in the park with no one else around. Now most guys would ask a girl like that out on a date, right? Well, our hero kills her! He passes out and awakens to find himself in his bed, and thinking that it was all a dream goes on about his life, until that is, the girl that he killed is standing before him again explaining in graphic detail how many pieces he cut her into yesterday.
It is then that we find out that she is Arcueid Brunestud a mysterious princess that is a true ancestor, think of a vampire that can go out into the sun and does not need human blood in order to survive. She enlists his help to fight the Dark Apostles “the more typical vampires” and that is the story picks up, but it does not get any less confusing from there.
To be honest, and make this quick, this anime is far from one of my favorites. The story itself seems to be rushed and it will drive you crazy if you try to figure out the plot before the end because they just do not give you enough pieces. You spend 90% of the anime trying to figure out what is really going on, and by the time they give you enough pieces to figure it out the anime is over and you are left feeling unfulfilled.
By Lord Knikon
