Tsukihime/YMMV

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Kohaku probably lends herself to this more than any other character. How much control does she have over SHIKI/Roa's actions? Is she drugging everybody, and how often? Does her backstory excuse her actions? It's made worse by the fact that the answer to any of these questions, and more, could be answered quite differently depending on the route. Makihisa Tohno also lends himself to this, though it's mostly along the lines of whether he's truly a Complete Monster or something less, due to much of his villainy being in response to factors beyond his control.
• Anticlimax Boss: Roa / SHIKI. The game made you think that he is a truly Badass enemy that even Arcueid knows isn't an easy opponent or made Akiha increase her powers in order to destroy him. When we have the Shiki Vs. Big Bad fight, what happens? Shiki kills him with very little effort. I know that Shiki's eyes are the killing weapons, but still...
• Complete Monster - Nrvnqsr Chaos. Even Roa and Makihisa Tohno get a somewhat sympathetic backstory and pet dogs respectively. The remaining 4 antagonists ( Akiha, Kohaku, SHIKI, and Satsuki) being major Woobies result in Roa and Makihisa ending up here anyway, simply by comparison.
  • Strangely, Nrvnqsr's actual motivation is far more neutral: Like a scholar, he just wants to exist long enough to observe what his chaos-form becomes. His monstrosity comes from how he stays alive and the alternate apathy and sadistic pleasure he takes in it. The game even calls him a Complete Monster, when Shiki and Arc are talking about him.
• Crazy Awesome - When Shiki snaps, he snaps awesomely, and in ways that put Ryoma Nagare to shame.
• Crowning Music of Awesome: Say what you like about it not existing, but the one thing the Shingetsutan Tsukihime anime got absolutely PERFECT was Toshiyuki Omori's opening theme, 'The Sacred Moon'. One of the most outright beautiful anime openings ever made.
  • 'Justice' (the song playing in the background during the Shiki/SHIKI fight in the anime) is not half-bad either.
• Fan Nickname - "The Tohno Gland" (Shiki's ability to attract women no matter what he does - fans joke it's pheromones).
  • It would be more correct to say "Nanaya gland" though since he is biologically a Nanaya. However, since it's just a joke it doesn't really matter.
• Funny Aneurysm Moment: Once you go through Hisui's route and learn the truth about Kohaku everything involving her becomes very, very cringe inducing.
• High Octane Nightmare Fuel - So, so much Nightmare fuel. Help me. Help me. helpmehelpmehelpmehelpmehelpmehelpmehelp me. I should just become a doll.
  • All routes have insanity creeping into Shiki's head at some point, but the entire middle part of Hisui's route sees the protaganist immobile, in bed, gibbering unintelligably as he descends into several different kinds of madness simultaneously. You're playing a game from the perspective of a character who is desperately, vainly trying to cling onto the tattered wreckage of his personality; afraid to be awake for fear of what he'll do to the people around him; terrified of going to sleep because of the murderous dreams that invade his mind; all the while tormented by agonising migranes and uncontrollable bouts of furious rage...
    • And the very worst part of this is when, locked in the throes of madness, you see Kohaku's true smile for the first time.
  • Shiki going into Tranquil Fury mode is either this or completely fucking awesome.
  • The manga, by virtue of being illustrated, shows off much better why Shiki's Mystic Eyes nearly drove him insane at first. Having the entire hospital, and especially all the people in it, covered with the lines makes them look both incredibly fragile and freaky as all hell.
• It Was His Sled: Most newcomers to the series know all of the spoilers that are supposed to be surprising twists, because of the amount of side-stories and sequels written for the game. 1. That Shiki is really the adopted son of the Tohno family. 2. That SHIKI exists. 3. That Kohaku and Hisui switched roles and Kohaku is actually a Stepford Smiler.
• Memetic Mutation - Many. It comes with the territory.
• Moe Moe: When she isn't ripping people apart with maniacal glee, Arcueid is frankly the sweetest and cutest "girl next door" you'd ever have the good fortune of meeting.
  • Taking her on a date, though... that'd be tough. And you actually have to do that at some point in the game. Hilarity Ensues.
• Moral Event Horizon - Makihisa Tohno seems to embody this in just about everything he does, despite being a Posthumous Character.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome - Neko Arc and Satsuki in the Plus Disc cheerfully hint at the details of the Satsuki route climax. It involves a Melee a Trois with Shiki, Arcueid, Nero, semi vampiric Satsuki and Roa. And something about a magic cannon, but they refuse to elaborate since Satsuki will be getting her route any day now, right?
  • To be fair, Neco-Arc was probably embellishing a little bit or outright lying - especially on the cannon. But Satsuki does seem to be listed among the heroines in the Enhanced Remake coming out, so the truth might soon be there...
• Player Punch - Arcueid's route: Roa cuts Arcueid in half. The player's response, if they're remotely human, is "BURN!!! MAIM!!! KILL!!! ROA MUST FUCKING DIE!!!"
  • And Shiki is oh so fucking happy to provide. Shiki snaps like a twig in a hurricane. The rest? Is history.
  • Happens in Hisui's route twice within about a 20-minute span. Shiki calls out to Akiha, who was winning the fight against SHIKI with Kohaku's help, distracting her long enough for SHIKI to go for a fatal blow on Kohaku, only for Akiha to step in, take the blow, and die instead. And if that weren't bad enough, Kohaku kills herself not too long afterward, her mission of revenge on the Tohno completed with the death of Akiha.
• Tear Jerker - See Utsuge. See it so very much.
  • Special mention for the music. If you've played the game, this will make you cry.
  • Another special mention for Satsuki's death early in the Far Side routes, especially Akiha's. "Well, my house is this way." God. Damn.
  • Still another for the Kagetsu Tohya sidestory Dawn.
  • The death of Akiha and Kohaku in Hisui's route qualifies as this, hardcore. It's made even worse as they both occur within about 20 minutes of real time - just when you're recovering from the shock of one, the other comes up and pimpslaps you twice in the eyes.
• The Woobie - Oh where to start? There's all 5 main heroines to start with. Then there's Len, Sacchin, and Nanako. But above all of those is the real Tohno SHIKI. Not Roa, SHIKI. Just think about his life for a second, you'll see it.
  • Becoming the monster he is now can be blamed on at least three things beyond his control, a combination of his particularly strong awakening of the Tohno's demon blood, being the 18th reincarnation of Roa, AND being locked in a basement for years while Kohaku drugged him and generally fucked with his mind. He didn't really have much of a chance.
    • The side-story game Kagetsu Tohya gives a small amount of closure to this with the final, hidden Tear Jerker bonus story "Drinking, Dreaming Moon" where Shiki and SHIKI finally meet on friendly terms in a dream.
  • Shiki has had more than a few traumatic experiences in his backstory too. Getting kicked out of his home by his father for having a near lethal injury that made him see death everywhere is only the beginning, and that's not even getting into the more spoilerrific elements of his backstory. Though to give an example of one of those bits, the opening scene, before the hospital? That's his entire blood related family being slaughtered right before his eyes. He's remarkably well adjusted in spite of it.