#Tsukihime remake spoilers

[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.

[toskarin]

becoming a vampire through an unstable medical procedure, regressing to a teenager, and risking it all for five minutes in the ring with my immortal mentor-rival figure

noel tsukihime is basically genderbent walter hellsing in a scarily specific number of ways

[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?

[cheonmayasudasayo]

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!

[yeshallbeasgods]

#In the case of Shiki its probably because of his rasing #while the Arima branch of the greater Tohno family isnt super talked about (at least in the things ive read so far) #you can speculate that its likely similarly as conservative as the Tohno main branch but more relaxed in things like behavior #at least relativly speaking #so its not hard to belive that he inherited conservative beliefs like Akiha did

Having read the remake, I think it's a mixture of Shiki's traditional upbringing, Makihisa being conservative and awful, and Shiki's brain actively boiling in his skull at any given moment. So much of Shiki's personality is informed and controlled by the fact that he is mentally ill and dying and nobody will tell him anything, so he easily falls into nightmarishly bad thought patterns and coping mechanisms. Add in the murderous instincts he inherited from a family he doesn't remember ever existing, and you have a recipe for a boy who keeps going from 0 to 11 at lightspeed without actually understanding what's going on or why he's doing things.

If he has the time and mental energy to think things through, he's relatively chill. This gets highlighted in Arc's route, I think, where despite having multiple breakdowns for reasons he's not clear on and doing terrible things on raw impulse, he correctly identifies the responsibility as his own even when Arc is victim-blaming herself. In situations where he lacks the ability to calm down and process, however, he has a tendency to metaphorically and literally self-destruct. This suggests that Shiki's ability to be a semi-decent person to women has a significant environmental component.

There's probably something to be said about how troubled young men can unlearn terrible views and take responsibility for their own actions more easily in a safe place, but it's really fucking hard to become a better person when your brain is on fire, you don't know what your medical records say, and everyone around you is gaslighting you about something.

Interestingly, Emiya Shirou also has a tendency to make sudden expressions of sexism in the Fate route as part of a misguided coping mechanism: he can't handle Saber fighting alone to save him when his entire psyche rests on the idea of him saving others, which leads to him saying some truly foolish things to try and keep her safe. Nasu may just like writing about the unreliable views mentally ill young men might have about powerful women.

VN Male Lead Misogyny Power Levels

Not a misogynist:

Soujuurou Shizuki (outsider perspective lack of understanding of gender roles. cool about women because no one has ever given him a reason not to be)

Mildly sexist:

Maebara Keiichi (being exclusively friends with girls has scoured a lot of the sexism from his horny teenage boy soul but, like, not all of it. all the stuff in onikakushi was deeply gendered)

Emiya Shirou (a staunch feminist 95+% of the time and then he'll drop a completely uncalled for line about how maybe getting assaulted will teach his classmate to be more feminine and you'll remember who his father was)

Ushiromiya Battler (Umineko is about teaching Battler to empathize with women)

Horrifyingly sexist

Minato Kageaki (at the level of sexism you would expect from a bushido samurai ex-soldier turned cop living in fascist 1940s japan but keeps his mouth shut about it so much of the time you get jumpscared whenever his opinions on women come up)

Tohno Shiki (what the actual fuck is wrong with that kid jesus fucking christ)

[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.

[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:

[matt-lifesage]

[firefromthegodspro]

Development Update 4: Progress is chugging along smoothly!

I emerge out of Da'at, knees weak, arms heavy. Mom's Spaghetti.

Wait, wrong blog.

Hey all, Fire Here! Back at it again with another update. Like I said last week, not much to really update. From this point on its really just assembling the kit and playtesting. So while blogs won't be filled with new art or character drops really, allow me to offer the little bit of info I can without hitting my spoiler threshold.

First off, I'm very happy with where the script is at right now! Between Twine, Google Calendars, and Google Docs I've got a triple threat helping me plot out the story and it's gone great! That stuff is top secret, as, yknow

BUT I will share a small, inconsequential lore bit about the world Messier takes place in.

"The Night of Spirits: The Night of Spirits is a religious holiday that is celebrated in the Corvern Kingdom.

In villages and small towns, it is a low-key affair, where the villagers/townsfolk gather for a group feast to celebrate the lives of the dead at sundown. Once the moon rises, the kitchens close, and once the remaining food is finished family’s retire to their homes to honor the dead in private. A tradition is for younger family members to make or assist in making something, that is then offered to a shrine or gravestone.

In cities and larger towns, however, the tone is wildly different. A festival is thrown to honor the dead, but it carries a less somber tone. Games, food stalls, and performances open up at the start of dusk, and continue well on into the night. Private memorials in the home are still performed, but it is a person-by-person decision rather than a village/town tradition."

Beyond this, uhh, I don't really have anything. Enjoy a pic of Vega's room.

Whelp, I'm out of things to talk about. As time marches on, so do I, and while I am pacing myself in SMT VV, I am absolutely going to be dropping it for a bit to violently and ravenously consume the Tsukihime remake when I get my grubby hands on it Friday.

I'll also not be pacing myself in developing Messier Mystes, and will throw myself into a wall until I spit out a finished project.

Remember to not cut your future girlfriend into 17 pieces everyone!

-Fire