Spoiler
warning: Post
contains spoilers for Tsukihime's anime adaptation up to episode six.
No visual novel or manga spoilers.
Shiki
awakens in the Tohno household, and is scolded over breakfast by
Akiha for being late the previous night. At school, Shiki is relieved
to see that Yumizuka is safe. Shiki is given a party by Akiha, who
formally welcomes her brother into the Tohno household. Later that
evening, Shiki has a dreamlike sequence where Arcueid comes, craving
for his blood. The next day at school, Arcueid arrives, calling for
Shiki, much to his embarrassment. (Source:
Wikipedia)
Last
time on Tsukihime Drama Island, we met our star cast—the
flat-faced Shiki, the mysterious Arcueid, the overbearing sister
Akiha, the pink-haired maid twins Kohaku and Hisui, and the
sword-wielding weirdo Ciel. In the next three episodes, relationships
begin to advance and a new enemy is named, but not many of the
questions from before get addressed. Also, there is the sinking
feeling that this series is heading into a major bro-con direction
and I get vivid flashbacks to the horror days of blogging NakaImo
every week and no I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK THERE, OKAY.
Ahem.
Did you want to know more about Shiki's abilities or what the hell is
going on with Ciel? Nope! No answers for you! But you do get a lot of
scenes that have me wondering how the hell Arcueid has been alive for
800 years but has never been on a date. Bwuh?
In
this trio of Tsukihime episodes, we see Shiki continually downplay
his own abilities. He keeps calling himself just an average, normal
human being. Shiki, no normal human I know can see the life lines of
other humans and kill them by cutting these lines. I assure you, you
aren't human. This is something Arcueid keeps trying to impress on
him, but his own humility makes it a useless effort.
In
a way, Ciel and Akiha are trying to do the same, although they
impress it in different ways—mainly,
telling Shiki that he's too important to hang around Arcueid and
waste his time sneaking out of the Tohno house at night. Akiha draws
Shiki closer with her actions and Ciel with her words, but neither
woman is fully successful in keeping Shiki out of the business of
hunting vampires.
The
Akiha/Shiki relationship that is growing is one of mutual respect for
each other, even if Shiki keeps skipping out on her for reasons, but
it's stronger on Akiha's end. According to the maids, Akiha sees
Shiki as the most precious person in her life. It's a shame Shiki's
memories of his childhood are so obscured, or we could see more of
the roots of it. Considering Akiha hasn't seen Shiki in so many
years, I feel like I need a deeper understanding of their history to
get why Akiha cares so much.
It
seems like Akiha is heading towards a 'brother complex' relationship
with Shiki, although I doubt it will turn troublesome or incestful.
She is very protective of him, especially after the death of their
father. Shiki is the only family member of hers that she interacts
with on a regular basis. I see Akiha and Arcueid clashing in the near
future, since Akiha wants to keep Shiki safe and Arcueid wants
Shiki's assistance in destroying Roa and his army of walking dead
soldiers.
Roa
is our latest antagonist and although we have not seen him on-screen,
we know he is out there, sending his scouts to destroy Arcueid and by
extension Shiki. Unfortunately for our heroes, he is using the
classmates of Shiki as pawns in his game, leading Shiki to have to
confront their dead vessels and destroy them. Naturally, this messed
Shiki up psychologically but with Arcueid, he manages to recover from
the act.
There
are some interesting insights into Arcueid, especially on how she
doesn't drink blood but she's having trouble controlling her basic
instincts to make the nearest human her living juice box. The show
confirms that she is a better breed of vampire, although that was
obvious from the start, and that she's been alive for a long time.
Beyond that, not much. Shiki says that he never thought to ask
Arcueid about herself, which will probably lead to more
Arcueid-centric episodes, but the focus now is on stopping Roa and
understanding the circumstances that led the show's cast to this
point.
Again,
we see Ciel skulking around school and her presence is still not
explained, but she's given a lot more to do in these episodes. She
finally gets some one-on-one time with Shiki, in which she warns
against his relationship with Arcueid. Arcueid gets her own meeting
with Ciel, albeit
in more suspicious conditions, and it is revealed they are both
hunting Roa. Naturally, Ciel's reasoning for acting this way is not
explained. Augh!
I
feel like, when it comes to bringing Shiki closer to the women in his
life, mainly Arcueid and Akiha, the Tsukihime anime is progressing in
leaps and bounds. But the actual plot stuff
– hunting
Roa, discovering the truth of Shiki's past and powers, Ciel being
Ciel
– is
crawling along at a painfully slow pace. Tsukihime is more interested
in teasing and dropping hints than outright answering things
– and
considering this series only has six episodes left, it really doesn't
have room to play games like this.
Pacing
issues aside, I am intrigued by Shiki and Arcueid's mission and the
overall atmosphere of Shikihime, both on an aesthetic and an event
level. I would probably benefit so much from playing the visual novel
once I finish the anime, but until then I will have to be content
with Tsukihime 101: An Abbreviated Walkthrough.
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