Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase (Japanese: 月詠, Hepburn: Tsukuyomi) is a Japanese manga series by Keitarō Arima. The manga was serialized in the monthly manga magazineComic Gum from March 2000 to March 27, 2008. The series spanned sixteen manga volumes that were published by Wani Books in Japan. The manga series was later adapted into a 25 episode anime television series by Shaft, and aired on TV Tokyo from October 5, 2004 to March 29, 2005. An additional OVA episode dubbed "Episode 26" was later released only on DVD on February 22, 2006. Moon Phase is about a young vampire girl named Hazuki and a Japanese freelance photographer Kouhei Morioka whom Hazuki attempts to make into her servant.
While there are differences in adaptations, the main theme of Kouhei protecting Hazuki from harm is present in both. The OVA storyline though has very little to do with the original series outside of having some of the same characters, and has a completely different storyline which does not fit into anything which came before it. Tokyopop published an English-language version of the manga but stopped at volume 12 due to the company shutting down its North American publishing division which left the series unfinished. For the anime, Funimation released an English-language version under the name Moon Phase.
The story is about the relationship between freelance photographer Kouhei Morioka and Hazuki, a young girl who descends from a royal vampire lineage. At the beginning of the story, Kouhei travels to a castle in Southwest Germany to take photographs of paranormal phenomena for his friend Hiromi, who is the editor of an occult magazine. At the castle, Kouhei meets Hazuki, who feeds on Kouhei's blood and claims him as her unwilling servant. Although this "blood pact" is supposed to bind Kouhei to Hazuki as her obedient slave, her act has no effect on Kouhei. Following an action-packed sorcerers' battle in which Kouhei and his cousin manage to free Hazuki from her captivity in the dreary castle, Hazuki travels to Tokyo, and takes up residence with Kouhei in his grandfather's house in Japan. Hazuki claims that, because she fed on his blood, Kouhei is now her servant, but Kouhei continually refuses to obey her, especially when he thinks her requests are unreasonable. Despite their fighting, the relationship between the duo progresses over time—even in the face of repeated attacks by opposing vampires—until Kouhei becomes determined to protect Hazuki from the vampire servants of her family, who are determined to retrieve her by whatever means necessary.
Manga
Tsukuyomi Moon Phase was written by Keitarō Arima, and originally published by Wani Books. The manga series ran from March 2000 to March 24, 2009 in which sixteen volumes were published. The manga was later licensed in Taiwan by Sharp Point Press.[1]Tokyopop and Madman Entertainment both had English releases for the manga but due to financial trouble, Tokyopop postponed some of the dates. On May 31, 2011 Tokyopop announced that all of their licensed titles would revert to their Japanese owners leaving the series incomplete.[2]
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Hyper commends the anime for its "character design and animation which are uniformly quite good and the series boasts some very nice Gothic background art". The scripting is criticised for being "too cluttered to allow any immersion".[5]
