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Tsukihime Visual Novel Remake Heads West in English
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
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The game launched in Japan for PlayStation 4 and Switch in August 2021, and has sold 300,000 units as of January earlier this year.
The game features a different voice cast from the 2003 Lunar Legend Tsukihime television anime adaptation:
- Ryōsuke Kanemoto as Shiki Tohno
- Ikumi Hasegawa as Arcueid Brunestud
- Kaede Hondo as Ciel
- Shino Shimoji as Akiha Tohno
- Yūki Kuwahara as Kohaku
- Kana Ichinose as Hisui
New characters and cast members include Ai Kayano as Noel and Ayane Sakura as Mario Gallo Bestino.
Kinoko Nasu returned to write the scenario and direct the remake, and Takashi Takeuchi also returned as the character designer. ReoNa performed the game's theme song "JUVENILE" with the label Sacra Music, and ufotable animated the opening.
Type-Moon's original doujin game debuted at Winter Comic Market in 2000. The game was Type-Moon's first visual novel, and is the group's first breakout hit. The game's story centers on Shiki Tohno, a boy who, after an accident, gained the power to see "lines" that allow him to trivially destroy or kill anything. After receiving help from a mysterious wandering mage to control this power, and recovering from the accident, he returns to a lonely household with his sister and his two maids. Shiki slowly awakens to his power, and becomes entwined in a twisted plot concerning a powerful vampire named Arcueid, as well as the dark secrets held by his schoolmate Ciel, his own sister Akiha, and the two maids Hisui and Kohaku.
A 12-episode anime adaptation premiered in 2003 and Geneon Entertainment released the series on DVD in North America.
Sasakishonen drew a manga based on Tsukihime beginning in 2004, and DrMaster released six of the 10 volumes of the series in English. Takeru Kirishima began a manga based on French Bread's doujin fighting game, Melty Blood, which is based on Tsukihime, in 2006. Kadokawa published the ninth and final compiled volume in 2010.
Aniplex released the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch version of Type-Moon's Mahōtsukai no Yoru (Witch on the Holy Night) visual novel game in the West in December 2022, marking the first time a Type-Moon visual novel has ever released officially with an English translation. Witch on the Holy Night was one of the first collaborations between Kinoko Nasu and artist Takashi Takeuchi in the mid-90s, preceding their founding of Type-Moon. Initially a novel, Nasu and Takeuchi only showed the draft to friends and did not officially release it. Type-Moon eventually developed it into a visual novel with graphics by Hirokazu Koyama that shipped in April 2012, with two sequels planned. The game is inspiring an anime film by ufotable.
Update: The English version of Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- is slated for 2024.
Sources: Aniplex/Type-Moon AX 2023 panel, Aniplex
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