No wonder Coyote Ragtime Show sounded so familiar when I first heard of it.
Sorry, this is not so much of a show and much more of a tell. But half way through Type-Moon’s first big-time hit, it struck me that what made the stuff tick is translatable. Stuff was ticking; people who I don’t expect to enjoy or to be remotely interested in the game were playing it. Its warm reception seems to give credit to its content.
Admittedly on the other hand, I find the material a little unreal. In some ways it tries very hard to bring a sense of seriousness about death and holding onto a selfish sense of existence. At points it spirals out on the edge of existential panic to drive Shiki’s motivation home. Yet, so many other times they don’t explain his motivations. Maybe it’s a thematic point they’ll explore later on in the game, but it seems a bit odd.
It seems funny when they are doing the whole crime-and-punishment bit. What would wash away Shiki’s sins? Nothing but the blood of a Jesus allegory, I guess. Or who’d know that tidbits about South American zombies to be relevant? Those were pretty good highlights, as they made me chuckle (at the wrong moments).
But how about the ero scenes? I pretty much smashed the mouse button furiously, for better or worse. Not so sure if the writing was holding up, either…
It’s an intriguing story. Which is probably why I’m still playing it. Shingetsutan Tsukihime, I think, wasn’t as out of whack from this as what people say because it also had an intriguing story. Sure, it doesn’t have the best parts from the game, to start the list of its failures, but it’s not that bad…
Anyways, do yourself a favor and play this game. It’s pretty expensive to buy it, but maybe you’re one of those kind souls who would help to adopt a copy of Tsukibako and give it a good home for the rest of its life. It’s a good thing that I didn’t pawn my copy for a small profit. I’ll be cool about it if that means you’ll have to pirate it first. It looks like you’ll have to pay an auction service but the overall cost isn’t really more than $400, and maybe as low as $100.
One more funny thing. I remember when I first played Tsukihime around the time I first got a copy of Tsukibako. I remember some retarded curfew in the Tohno household. And I remember Akiha and the maids getting into hissy fits like Shiki was when Shiki breaks it cleanly to meet up with Arcu. That was actually kind of fun, aside from the whole “Waaah someone help all the innocent peeps preez” thing going on. Somehow, I get the feeling that Tsukihime is a great multi-pathed visual novel, it would’ve been a lot more fun if it wasn’t visual. And that’s coming from someone who really likes the character designs in Tsukihime, to boot.
This half-time show is brought to you by Mirror Moon, for setting standards at LOL fansub games.
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