The final showdown with Roa nears as Shiki discovers the secret that surrounds his family. After recovering from his ordeal in the second volume and with Arcueid determined to defeat Roa once and for all the hidden factors that link them all are finally being revealed; sadly this also means that those close to him are in mortal danger.

As a supernatural tale Tsukihime is something of a refreshing change. Many vampire-themed films and series rely on shocks and gore to deliver the entertainment value but in this case the emphasis is on character relations and the creation of feelings of suspense and mystery. The sedate pace is maintained until the last possible moment, resulting in most of the major revelations being in the final episodes. Sure, there are some blood-spilling action scenes (and pretty good ones at that) but the characterisation and underlying themes are what drives the story along; in that sense Tsukihime is all about drama and mood.

The musical score, for instance, is excellent: orchestral strings and even pipe organs deliver a suitably dark and gothic element to scenes that already have a tense and quite claustrophobic atmosphere thanks to the muted greys and blues of the night time scenes. Daylight is in stark contrast with its glowing, out-of-focus backgrounds that complement the more relaxed and carefree sections that are set in daylight hours.

Of course, the cast are an especially important part of the story and in these closing episodes we finally find out why they are at their respective degrees of strangeness; in many cases I could not help but feel for their situations. This is much easier now that they are given much more background: Akiha and Ciel in particular come across as being much more interesting than their cold exteriors suggested.

Through softly spoken exchanges we discover their hidden agendas, feelings and motivations; the relationship between Shiki and Arcueid develops a great deal here, and benefits from the fairly slow-moving plot. It becomes clear just how unusual an ordinary existence is to a member of the undead such as her: despite living for centuries she has devoted her time to hunting down Roa and as a result has little experience of everyday life in the present. While most vampires are portrayed as tortured monsters the character of Arcueid is actually portrayed as melancholy and rather lonely.

For all this there is no denying that the pacing has a cost of its own in that there appears to be the untapped potential to tie up some loose ends. At times the drama and tension was wound up to the point at which where the answers were something of an anticlimax; endings are contentious things at the best of times, and when a story takes an unconventional approach to the subject things can be wrapped up in a way that is not entirely expected.

In Summary

The final volume had to work hard to give a satisfactory resolution to a story that deliberately kept the viewer in the dark about what was going on for much of the duration, so overall did its job pretty well. There are one or two nagging questions that are left over at the end and some points glossed over but the most important issues are resolved with a dramatic and emotional finale.

Final thoughts

Ultimately Tsukihime has been a series that promises more than it delivers in that the secrets revealed at the end are not quite as dramatic as initially suspected, especially considering the slow and painstaking build-up to them. On the other hand it is an attempt at using character interactions and setting the scene through effective music and visuals rather than action and violence; that has by and large paid off and manages to hold the viewer’s attention through more subtle methods than many similarly themed shows.