I have to respectfully disagree with the overall review. I personally feel that the emotion and overall atmosphere is far better than what was displayed in the anime. I acctually prefer how the entire backstory on how Shiki gets his ability is much more throughly explained and explored than the anime allowed for. The anime kinda just... hit on it briefly with a few mentions and a flashback or two, but nothing much else. The entire idea of just how disturbing Shiki's ability really is, is also well emphasized. They really show it mess with his head pretty well.
Also, Shiki's ability, while one of the more intresting points of the story (and quite cool as well), is not the absolute most intresting point. Alas, it is the only real highly supernatural ability introduced in the first volume, so I won't disagree with that.
I also prefer the artstyle of the Manga as well. It seems to do a better job at displaying a wider range of emotions than the anime, where everyone looked... overly serious. Shiki doesn't look as much of an emo stick as the anime displayed him, which lets him seem a little more realistic and natural. His first encounter with Nero also seems a lot more disturbing than before, as you really get an idea of how bad the situation was, as it's a lot more graphic. However, the part I really liked was how much less of a wuss the manga portrays Shiki at the hotel, as he snaps and shows his Badass Nanaya personality. In fact, how is that not a wicked twist?
Yes. Tsukihime does have it's clechés such as vampires and maids. However, they all have some creative twists put on them, added levels of depth, and high levels of importance later on (though I will admit Hisui and Kohaku aren't given much importance in this volume, and I haven't read the next volume, but if it does follow the original story at all, they are more important down the road). Shiki going around killing anything he can, just because he can, would not only be out of character, but pretty unreasonible and pointless as well.
I'm not intending disrespect or anything, but what's wrong with the story being clear cut and such? I think sometimes it's better when things are better explained, yet there still are some points that are still unexplained.
One thing I do agree with you on though, is the printing. The paper does feel kind of cheap, but I heard it's apparently like that so someone can read it with one hand, and the binding won't suffer. Alas, I'm not highly fond of it, and hope more sturdy paper is used later. =P
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