#Tsukihime Remake spoilers

[shuttershocky]

So I just finished the Remake. Absolutely loved it; I always felt the original VN was far too edgy and callous with its writing and too ambitious for its budget, and both of these problems were almost completely resolved with the budget. That said, I do have a lore-related question. (1/2 since Tumblr is being a little fucky rn)

That's the cool part; he actually does! It's just that Shiki's reaction to Arcueid (and Akiha) differs greatly from Vlov.

Shiki's Nanaya instincts push him to kill Arcueid by surprise as it's the only way he could ever take on a being on her level, while with Vlov (who attacks Shiki and Arcueid first at the hotel), it looks like Shiki's mind recalculates for a different monster that knows he is there and is armed, even if the monster doesn't quite know what threat he poses just yet. It appears to be a state that is much more stable, as Shiki's normal personality sometimes resurfaces like when he has to talk to Arcueid, but the way his internal monologue changes and how cruel and calculating he becomes makes it no doubt this is also his Nanaya instincts.

You can first see it when Shiki is attacked by the fire dogs at the hotel. He panics in fear and kills on survival reflex, but when Vlov himself arrives at the floor, Shiki SHOULD be running for Arcueid, but instead readies his knife and begins focusing on Vlov's lines despite the plan being for Arcueid to take on the vampire herself.

You then see it in full swing during the fight with Vlov at the park in the Arcueid route. As Shiki rushes into the pit, his narration begins to change. He starts counting more and more variables: the time he can last inside Vlov's blizzard before he freezes to death, the distance between him and Vlov, the number of projectiles Vlov is able to create and how many he can cut out of the air if he just thinks of the projectiles as "prey", all these sorts of thoughts that are unthinkable to Shiki the normal highschool boy.

And even as Shiki's narration says how it's clear this fight is impossible and a vampire on Vlov's level is more of a natural disaster for humans to avoid rather than fight, a glimpse of Shiki's reflection in Vlov's ice shows him grinning. He's enjoying the opportunity to finally let loose his repressed instincts on an acceptable, impossible target. He loves that his blood is freezing over and the countdown in his head keeps ticking down, his normal self is so freaked out at the idea of dying here that he almost completely disassociates. It's only when he sees Arcueid take an icicle to the face, shrug it off, and throw a massive boulder back that his ordinary self resurfaces (his incredulity at Arcueid's durability snaps him out of it) and he asks Arcueid for help.

And even then, after he and Arcueid fight together, he slips back into his calculating self. He thinks about how this move will leave him paralyzed for the rest of his life, but he doesn't care as he is not human, but a killing machine whose only objective is his target. He quickly identifies the two possible points in his move that could go wrong, as well as the number of seconds it would take for Vlov to react. When he sees Vlov attempt to draw a sword in the latter's desperation to survive, all Shiki can think about is how much he hates Vlov as a rival murderer.

You know, incredibly normal thoughts by incredibly normal boys.

[aokozaki]

Thinking about how Noel practically baits Shiki into asking about his previous homeroom teacher, who is definitely just sick and not dead, and if he doesn't, calls him a coward for it.

And how that's probably because he's the prime suspect in the Roa investigation, still in the early stage of killing people unwillingly. Only just made that connection.

[arimiadev]

as a visual novel dev it really is so stunning seeing Tsukihime remake in action. none of the screenshots are CGs, they're all character sprites. it's Mahoyo's scene direction on steroids and really opens up your mind to what kind of scene compositions are possible

[inversionimpulse]

One thing I've come to appreciate more as I read Tsukihime again through the remake is how funny the daily dance of the Tohno mansion is.

Shiki is desperately trying to keep Akiha, Hisui, and Kohaku from realising that the supernatural is real and he's involved with all those vampires and shit.

Akiha, Hisui, and Kohaku are desperately trying to keep Shiki from realising that the supernatural is real and they're involved with all those vampires and shit.

The peak of this is if Shiki decides to come clean to Akiha about how he's been involved with the supernatural goings-on, and also that the goings-on are supernatural at all, and Akiha seemingly just decides to try to gaslight him into thinking that no the fuck he wasn't and no the fuck they aren't.

She kept a pretty good poker face, but I have to imagine that she was absolutely panicking there.

[matt-lifesage]

I've been trying my damnedest to figure out what about this Ciel felt distinct from the original Ciel and they finally gave me something to gnaw on.

Which one of you fuckers went and handed out some Shirou vibes to Ciel? Hasn't she suffered enough?

[cheonmaneechan]

You know what I just thought about? I've already started thinking about how actually it probably wouldn't work given the full context of what was going on, but in Hisui's route where Hisui and Kohaku switch places here and there for plot reasons and such, maybe Tohno Shiki every now and then could have just asked them to clean something real quick that was in the room. Maybe something small could work, just little stuff just to see who was who. Of course Tohno Shiki was in fact bedridden most of the time and may have to find or even make multiple things to clean so that probably wouldn't work and maybe even lead to a bad ending if it did work, who knows. But god it'd be a funny reveal lol. A bit cruel of course but still, you can't say he'd be unjustified by any means.

[pigeonflowercafe]

So I played Tsukihime Remake recently and it was amazing

[self-loving-vampire]

Really looking forward to reading the rest of the Tsukihime remake, not just because I'm curious about how the Far Side routes will end up in a general sense (including the never before seen Satsuki route) but because the first half established a whole lot of new mysteries even on top of that.

(Remake spoilers)

What is up with the hospital in Kushizuka visited on day 8? Why is it far more destroyed in Ciel's route than in Arcueid's? If it was supposed to be a big vampire lair then who operated there given that both Roa and Vlov had other lairs? Why is Shiki so terrified of that hospital? He said the hospital he stayed at during his "accident" no longer exists, but is this the same one? Arihiko said a gang used to dwell there until 2 years ago, so what exactly happened at that time?

Why were Shiki's initial injuries so much more extensive and widespread than in the original this time around? While recovering he says he was visited by a child-like doctor (most likely Arach) but also a scary man in a suit and a sister who defied that man's orders. We later hear that neither Akiha or Makihisa visited him, though, so is this another memory issue of his or were Mio and Gotou the ones who visited him? Does this mean he has yet another sister now?

And for that matter what is the deal with Mio? You "coincidentally" encounter her a few times and despite her tone she seems to be kind of looking out for Shiki, even breaking him out of a trance that was pulling him towards a shady alley (what was up with that alley anyway?). Why does Shiki say her health seem worse than his after leaving the hotel Arcueid was resting in? Mio also call Shiki "senpai" and says they went to the same middle school and only casually interacted, but it seems pretty much guaranteed that there is more to their relationship than that. Why did she run away from home and what exactly is her connection to Gotou?

What is the deal with the purple panther, by the way? It also seems to be protecting Shiki. In fact, in one bad ending where Vlov incinerates Shiki on the street you can see it fall dead for a split second before the lethal attack. It's really easy to miss, but implies the panther was trying to guard him from Vlov.

Additionally, it tried to abduct him rather than kill him during the first encounter with the revived Arcueid, and in the bad ending where he gives in to his murderous impulse the panther does kill him. Additionally, the panther even shows up in the ending credits and Nanaya recalls having had a cat.

And there is so much more.

The past events and interactions between Gotou and the characters at the mansion. The attic Shiki used to play in that he visits in a trance-like state upon his return and where he finds old bandages that make him cry for some reason. The whole deal with Mario. The large memory gap towards the end of the Ciel route (Ciel even says that if Roa puppets your body you remain conscious so it may be something else). The forbidden part of the mansion. The number on the coffin. The Tohno family owning the area around Vlov's base. The voice talking to Shiki in the prologue cinematic. Makihisa's botanical experiments. The weird spider monster (most likely related to Arach?). Satsuki being back at school on day 11 of Arcueid's route. The Tohno mansion burglaries... etc.

Some questions already have some reasonable guesses (I would be shocked if Arach is not a true ancestor, for instance), but there's a lot of new stuff here that remains mysterious even if you have fully read the original.

[anonarat]

Hmm.

The fight with Vlov feels disappointing compared to Chaos (again, not trying to recall how to spell his name). I think it really comes down to two main points.

The first is that, frankly, it seems like he's stealing Akiha's schtick. Granted, the far side routes haven't been released, but, like, I still think Plunder is just a cooler ability than what he had.

The second is that his power, while apparently stronger than Chaos' just isn't as scary. There is something primal and visceral about an animal attack that is just lacking in Vlov. The threat was so much more passive than in the original.

Like, this may just be nostalgia talking, but he just didn't have the same weight as Chaos.

Also, there being something left over with which to heal Shiki's wounds made a whole lot more sense with Chaos. Just saying.

[kurozu501]

I was looking for tsukihime reviews to know what it was like before I jump into the remake and saw some really enlightening post you made about some rather disturbing content the original VN has (the one I saw was the male lead threatening a female character with terrible things)

Do you know if the remake kept that kind of content? I wouldn't mind ignoring the og VN and just reading the remake if it's not written in a hateful way towards its female characters

Hopefully that wasn't too weird a question, and thanks in advance!!

@pancakesforsnacks sorry for the late reply, i havent played it, but from what ive heard the remake thankfully cuts almost all of that stuff. i should say that i dont think the original VN was necessarily hateful, but rather that it was edgy, a much younger and immature nasu trying too hard to be shocking and grimdark in a way that really hasn't aged well. thankfully it seems nasu agrees, since as i said, the remake seems to have fixed this issue for the most part. there's still lots of dark and violent content in the game, its a story about vampires and violence after all, but you should be fine with the remake.

i should say that the remake still isnt finished, and the second half when it comes out has a main character whose entire backsrtory revolves around the childhood trauma and sexual violence that was done to her in her youth, so that may be a concern? but imo that was strangely the best handled thing in the original game, treated with a seriousness and compassion that was jarringly at odds with the other edgy gross moments, so id be shocked if the remake's second half fumbles it.

[keykidpilipili]

me months later: WAIT SAMURAI REMNANT SABER HAS RED HAIR ON THE OFFICIAL ART BUT BLACK IN NORMAL INSTANCES LIKE AKIHA!

[shuttershocky]

Anyway, I think Mario Bestino was added to Tsukihime Remake to be the main antagonist of the Satsuki route.

Each new character (including the one replacement) in the Tsukihime Remake seems to be added specifically to star in a certain route. Vlov wasn't just a replacement so Nrvnqsr could go to FGO, he was meant to highlight the difference (in power, experience, even mannerisms) between a Dead Apostle Ancestor and a True Ancestor. Noel was added to be a punching bag expand on Ciel's backstory and give Ciel someone to feel responsible for. Dr. Arach is very obviously meant to star in Akiha's route, with many of her scenes revolving around Akiha and foreshadowing Akiha's true nature as early as Arcueid route. Saiki and possibly Mio are for the maid routes, as the defeat of the Saiki family involves the Nanayas and is probably going to feature an expanded look into the Demon Hunter clans and their history with oni.

That just leaves Mario and his underlings, Church members whose involvement is with Roa rather than the oni, but only act as supporting characters for the Arcueid and Ciel routes.

Given that the original plan for the Satsuki route involves a three way fight between the Church, the vampires, and Sacchin, I think Mario is going to serve the role of the route's main antagonist, while Roa gets demoted to a secondary antagonist and the 'goal' of all parties, as Sacchin needs to kill her vampire parent to be freed while Mario needs Roa's research into immortality.

[sakuraswordly]

Source: www.pinterest.com

[arimiadev]

Comparing the Visual Direction of Tsukihime VS Mahoyo

my next article is done—this month I'm comparing the visual direction between Mahoyo / Witch on the Holy Night and Tsukihime remake!

this more an appreciation for the differences between the two visual novels and how these differences reflect the storytelling in each. it's also mostly spoiler-free!

read it here:

[inversionimpulse]

Something I love the the Tsukihime Remake has made me more awake to (and I don't know if the Remake pushes it to the forefront or if I just wasn't looking for it before) is how often Hisui's behaviour, at first glance, looks all servile and perfect and elegant and maid-ly...

but when you know her backstory, I think that you can tell that she's either trying to recapture, or slipping back into, her old tendencies as Shiki's pseudo-big sister. It's the same sort of protectiveness, the same sort of encouragement and care, reflected through the lens of the person she's become since then.

It's incredibly cute.

[matt-lifesage]