Tsukihime celebrated its twentieth birthday this past December which is a huge milestone for both the series and its creator Type-Moon. For those unfamiliar, this is a series regarding the stories of the high school character Shiki Tohno and his chance encounter with a vampire.

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Shiki has a special ability to see something called death lines, the threads that represent the lifelines of both humans and supernatural beings. The story can go in different routes depending on the player's choices. The series was adapted as both manga and anime. It is set to be released as a remake in August 2021 called Tsukihime: A Piece Of  Blue Glass Moon.

10 It Put Type-Moon On The Map

via Litl Cat

Aside from Tsukihime, this brand is probably best known for the Fate franchise of games, Garden Of Sinners, and the fighting game series Melty Blood. However, without Tsukihime, there would not be any of these things, as it was the success of that visual novel that put the company into the place of success it has today.

Kinoko Nasu's unique way of storytelling captured the attention of fans everywhere and set a precedent for something the brand would be known for later on in a lot of its other projects.

9 It Had A Clever Selling Tactic

tsukihime trivia

The story of Tsukihime was something that had been on the mind of Nasu since his high school days. When it comes to adults-only content, most can agree (regardless of one's opinion on the matter) that it is always a hot seller. The porn industry has one of the biggest revenues out of any market. By purposely including mature content, Type-Moon founders Takashi Takeuchi and Nasu got their foot in the door of the comic industry.

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He sold the series at Comiket, or comic market, one of Japan's biggest conventions for selling self-made work. It's also known for selling a lot of eighteen and up content, which is probably why it gets about half a million attendees.

8 It's Got A Hilarious Mascot

neco arc from tsukihime

Anybody who plays Grand Order will know of Gudako, the game's mascot who can't seem to get enough of Gacha, women, or her favorite SSR. Before the existence of her, there was Neco-Arc, the angry little cat creature of Tsukihime.

She takes lots of pleasure in torturing and roasting the game's other characters. Designed as a caricature of Arceuid, she shows up in the game periodically as somewhat of a guide and of course to annoy you to your limits. Do note that she's very angry about her lack of screen time and will let you know so.

7 It's A Visual Novel

tsukihime trivia fate series
Via Ufotable

If you're looking for an action-packed game, Tsukihime may not be something for you. Visual novels are essentially simulation games with a lot of cutscenes where some of the choices you make have certain outcomes. Developers focus on the story more than they do the gameplay if there's any at all.

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They don't feel boring though because of the enjoyment of the beautiful well-developed plot. Typically they are based on anime and sometimes written by the same author. Visual novels haven't quite become popular in the West, but now that leisurely games like Animal Crossing and the Story of Seasons franchise have become popular, they could definitely migrate over to new markets.

6 Arcueid's Personality Was Changed

Tsukihime

Certain components of the story are very different from what Nasu originally penned, particularly the disposition of the character Arcueid. They originally intended her to be a cold cool type, a very almost Victorian-like Anne Rice style vampire.

However, in a visual novel where the meat of the game is charming the player with the characters and story, that's pretty difficult to pull off well. Thus, she was changed to be the cheerful sassy girl everyone fell in love with.

5 Arcueid Is Based On A Real Life Person

arcueid from tsukihime smiling

Sometimes artists find their muse without any explanation, as was the case in Arcueid's physical design. That outline came to fruition when Type-Moon co-founder Takashi Takeuchi saw a model in a fashion magazine.

The French woman with blonde hair and striking blue eyes made quite an impression on the co-founder. Unfortunately, her name is not currently public and it is unknown if she still models.

4 The Lady On The Box Is Not Tsukihime

the front cover of the tsukihime remake game

Nor is she the protagonist character. However, Arcueid is still a very important character in the story, sharing a role similar to that of Saber from the Fate Stay Night series. A particular habit of Type-Moon writers that many people might notice is that they tend to have favorite characters that act like muses.

They will reuse them as a physical base to build on separate characters throughout his other content. This is most prevalent in of course Saber, who is undoubtedly the mascot of Type-Moon and spurred inspiration for so many characters from Jeanne D'arc to Nero.

3 There's No Character Named Tsukihime

tsukihime official art

Not directly anyway. The term translates to Moon Princess, referring to Arcueid herself. A big part of the story involves something between her and a special connection she has as a vampire to something of the cosmic type.

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The franchise's work has involved lore about the moon a lot, and one of its most used character faces, Sakura, was the base for a Fate character who had her own character class for a while, Moon Cancer. In fact, one of the most popular Fate franchises, Extra, takes place on the literal Moon in an artificial setting.

2 No Fate Mechanics

arcueid fighting in tsukihime

Despite that some of this lore connects to lore in the Fate verses, there are no mage controlled familiars in this game since it was developed before the very first Fate Stay Night visual novel.

Mages using familiars to fight battles isn't a thing here but there are many characters with powers and plenty of vampires. In fact, Grand Order recently introduced a vampire character who, while not exactly the same species, is clearly inspired by the bloodsuckers of Tsukihime.

1 It Was An Eroge

arcueid and ciel from tsukihime

Tsukihime had its share of NSFW scenes and content, as did the original visual novel version of Fate Stay Night. However, there's actually a legitimate reason why they had that content. Remember: at the time, the company wasn't very popular yet, and what's the way to sell a product nobody knows about?

Spice it up of course! Make corny, lewd dialogue that will make people unable to forget the content. Sorry, but nobody bought 50 Shades of Grey for the quality writing (search your feelings). When the remake was announced, Type-Moon said it would be removing the NSFW aspect of the game completely.

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