Great series

The Tsukihime series has really reeled me in. I first became aware of it because of the anime series, which is quite good (even if its ending is a bit depressing), then I began to read the original visual novel, which has multiple endings and really allows the reader to get to know the cast quite well.

The manga series draws its inspiration far more from the original visual novel rather than the anime, so don't make the mistake of thinking the anime and the manga tell the same story. They really don't. Yeah, the premise is the same, the characters are the same and even some of the dialogue is similar, but the manga tells a slightly better version of the Tsukihime story than the anime did.

By volume six, the manga series has introduced a few of its own ideas, which are not only very good but really add to the richness of the characters, especially Ciel and Akiha (who both get shafted a bit in the development department in the anime). Arcueid, the True Ancestor Princess, is still the main character alongside Shiki Tohno for the most part, but in the manga, we learn a lot more about Akiha and Ciel than the anime allowed, and here in volume six Ciel again gets a good bit of history added, including a heart-wrenching segment that allows us to see the sheer torture the Church put her through before appointing her to the Burial Agency. Ciel's pain is much easier to understand in the manga than it was anywhere else and it's hard to not feel anything for her.

Shiki has problems of his own, as he is now experiencing horrible nightmares that depict gruesome murders that are also occurring in real life. Shiki is wrestling with this massive identity crisis as best he can, but when he's suddenly ambushed, he's pushed to his very limit.

The art in this series is wonderful and the action scenes are well-depicted and quite exciting. There are many wonderful little nods back to the visual novel, and even a couple of clever nods to the anime. The story combines several of the visual novel's arcs into a single narrative, which sounds impossible but is pulled off remarkably well.

My one and only complaint is that the editors at Dr. Master apparently aren't taking the time they should to proofread the books, as every volume has some typos (inappropriate apostrophe use, grammatical errors, the random misplaced or missing word), including this one. The errors are fortunately not as numerous as my description might make them sound, but there are more than enough of them that people like me can't help but spot them instantly, and such distractions really should be prevented. They don't ruin the books by any means, but the editors really should try harder to keep them from sneaking through in the first place.

Anyone who has seen the anime, read the visual novel, or just likes well-told stories about vampires should give this series a read. I noticed there was no blurb for the story to be continued in volume seven (unlike previous volumes), but as the story hardly concludes at the end of volume six, I can only expect that a seventh volume is coming sometime soon. I hope it is, anyway... I would hate for it to all stop now.

10/10