This is from a h-game alrite. I mean there's better places to suck blood from rite? Ok, biting the neck may kill you so that's avoided... but the mune??? For a moment, I had thought Akiha was still on breastmilk..... Can't she bite the leg/arm or something? Anyway Kohaku creeps me out..... she's always nice and smiling but it seems that even Akiha don't really trust her. Hisui don't appear much either... sigh my kawaii Hisui is going to be relegated to being the wallpaper. Read from a Tsukihime fan site that Hisui is the creator's fav char too... yeah we both have great taste :p Got the latest issue (Dec) of Megami.. there's a poster of Kohaku and Hisui (looking dishevelled on the bed) That poster alone is well worth the $19++ ! From that same fan site, I was reminded again how beautiful the names of the girls from the Tohno household are. Hisui has the kanji which reads "Fei3 Cui4" in chinese (which means jade in both the languages). Kohaku has the kanji which reads "Hu3 Po4" in chinese which means amber. I suppose they are named after their lovely eye colors? Akiha literally means autumn leaf. Its kanji is translated "Qiu1 Ye4" which is extremely poetic and romantic in mandarin.

This ep kind of got me all confused. So is Shiki the boy who was stabbed? That was his close call with death? So was he still the one who said he will always be beside Akiha? Is he really Tohno Shiki? I think the abovementioned site offers some solid answers... it took me all of my willpower not to read the character section (spoiler heavy). I did skim through it a little to know that Ciel senpai like curry stuff and also that the uniform she wears (when she's in scary mode)....It's not mandatory nor from the church... yeah she's a cosplayer :p She's also the megane-ko of the game.....

Urayamashii na.....sooo many cuties fighting over Shiki.... This is not your run-of-the-mill Tenchi syndrome. The girls involved are intelligent and sophisticated in their own uniques ways. And yes, they all have a hidden agenda. Definitely not your typical Love Hina or Da Capo. Even their cat fight over him was so elegant (no hair pulling) and every statement they utter is congruent with their individual dark purposes. Pity most of them are not human. Yes, even Akiha is not human. Many questions follow this revelation. Can I assume that all in the Tohno household are undead? Does that include Kohaku and the kawaii Hisui? Does undead status automatically confers a +10 bonus to charisma? (To be confirmed if we add Hisui to the undead list) Although this ep continues the Tsukihime tradition of "more questions, no answers", it was still rewarding to see the gathering of the beauties and have them 'slug' it out over Shiki. I would pick Satsuki over the rest. Being human should have its privileges.

On other note, I love the artwork for Tsukihime. I personally consider it one of the most beautiful animes I have seen. Its art direction is very commendable indeed. I particularly loved the use of the fountains during Akiha/Ciel's conversation in this ep. It was as if the surrounding fountains were also holding their breath for Ciel's startling revelation. The story may not be much at the moment, but the cute girls and breathtaking background rendering more than make up for it. Such is graphic poetry.

The plot is still not moving much. There's some character development but it's still fairly slow. It seems like they are relying only on the charisma of the characters to drive the series and that by itself is usually insufficient to grip the audience. (Azumanga Daioh and Da Capo are exceptions) I wouldn't classifiy this as horror anymore. It's a romantic drama. It's mostly about how the different girls interact with Shiki and how much of an klutz Shiki is. There's the cute, pink haired Hisui, whose quiet and unwavering loyalty to Shiki makes me sooo envious. Imagine she lied to her Akiha sama to cover up for her beloved Shiki sama (Derivative statement: *I have the hots for you, Shiki sama*). How many cute pink haired maids will do that? There's also our bold Ciel senpai who openly declares her love for Shiki in the school canteen. (*Forget about her already!* roughly translated *I've got the hots for you, Tohno kun*) Of course there's Arcueid who takes up part time modeling to buy Shiki a meal and asks for a date etc. Yeah yeah, we know, she has the hots for him too... This series is from a dating sim alright.

The well crafted ambience of the series is starting to wane, starved by the slow pace of the plot. If something or some answers don't come soon, Tsukihime would end up like another Wolf's rain, all atmosphere, no substance. Still looking forward to Ep 7. The countdown has began, 6 more eps to go.....

So Arcueid is not immune to her natural craving for blood. Then Ciel is right. She is the most dangerous person for Shiki now. So what's Arcueid's purpose? She seems to be alone in this. With opposing vampire factions sending assasins and the church organisation (Ciel) after her, her chances of succeeding in her goal seems small. And her only ally is Shiki? But I think Arcueid's right that Shiki is more powerful than he thinks. Arcueid killed Ciel before; is supposed to be more powerful than Nero, but she was killed in a flash by Shiki. Woah. The ULTIMATE killer. We also learnt that Arcueid is quite clueless about the human world. Maybe innocence would be a better word. It only makes her more attractive . This ep shows really how lucky a guy Shiki is. He gets to hang around the babelicious Arcueid, is protected by his senpai Ciel (who also got the hots for him) and is served by the loyal/submissive/kawaii Hisui. I'm jealous Plenty of character development but the plot doesn't seem to be moving much. Hope they quicken the pace a little. They only have 7 more eps left.

No, I don't have this thing for maids. I only like Mariel from Hanaukyo Maids, Mahoro from Mahoromatic and May from Hand Maid May. (Do maids' names have to begin with M?) Surely that doesn't count as having a maid fetish? But I'm really so drawn to Hisui and Kohaku. They're sooooooo cute! I wonder they being twins have any bearing on their allure? Oh no, an unwanted side effect from Onegai Twins!!? Kohaku does remind me a little of Mahoro while Hisui seems pretty repressed, being a little stiff around Shiki. Actually as far as I can see, the Tohno family is a little creepy. We have twins maids with opposing personalities and a sister (Akiha) who behaves like 60 yr old matriarch instead of 16 yr old schoolgirl. Above all, they all seem to have something to hide. That brings me to the atmosphere of the series. The 'air' in Tsukihime is now really thick with suspense. I thought Shiki's recall of his childhood was masterfully done, esp when the 'additional' mysterious unknown boy was shown. His smirk was chilling. Maybe Shiki has a twin after all? That would explain some of his memory 'loss'. I thought Shiki's dream of Arcueid also spoke volumes. It's an excellent way of telling the audience that Shiki is drawn to the woman in Arcueid but yet fears the vampire in her. But somehow I think this fear only drives him to desire Arcueid even more. Ciel is also another character who is more than meets the eye. All the signs seem to link her with the church organisation. The role of the organisation is also unclear at this point. I guess the only 'normal' female in the show is Satsuki who also likes Shiki a lot. Yeah, it's a pity her rivals are Arcueid and Hisui. She doesn't stand a chance.

Wow, horror. It's been a while since I have seen something based on horror in anime. In fact, I haven't seen many horror animes either, only Hellsing and Yami no Matsuei. Again I understand Tsukihime to be adapted from another H-game. I must personally admit that H-games usually are able to create excellent atmospheres for the horror genre. Those who had played Dividead can attest to that I'm sure. The series starts off well. Of course our lead has his classic bouts of amnesia and this overused but effective story-telling tool keeps the intrigue level high. In fact, the first 5 mins was sufficiently disturbing for me. To be able to see lines everywhere, (actually blood red cracks) covering the entire world can be quite unsettling. I have only seen the first 2 eps but I can sense the depth of the plot already. Too many questions, few answers and the series does look like it's headed decisively somewhere. Good signs. Just don't do a Wolf's rain on me....