Tsukuyomi Moon Phase

***Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase*** (月詠 *Tsukuyomi*?) is a manga series by Keitarō Arima about a young vampire girl named Hazuki and a Japanese freelance photographer Kouhei Morioka whom Hazuki attempts to make into her servant.

The manga was adapted into a 25 episode anime TV series by the Shaft studio and aired late night on TV Tokyo
 from October 4, 2004 to March 28, 2005, followed by an additional 26th
episode released only on DVD on February 22, 2006 which featured Art
from Type-Moon.
 The OVA storyline 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.[1]

Tokyopop publishes an English-language version of the manga[2] while Funimation released the English-language version of the anime under the name *Moon Phase*.[3]

## Plot

Main article: List of Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase characters

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 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. Starting with volume one in
March 2000, the series has 16 volumes with the last being released in
March 2009 in Japan. Tokyopop and Madman Entertainment
 both had English releases for the manga but due to financial trouble,
Tokyopop postponed some of the dates. The manga is licensed in Taiwan by
 Sharp Point Press.[4]
 On May 31, 2011 Tokyopop announced that all of their licensed titles
would revert to their Japanese owners leaving the series incomplete.

## Anime

### Episodes

The English title listed here are official episode titles and may be
different from original Japanese title. Each episode ends with still
image drawn by illustrators and listed below as endcards. The series
consists of 25 episodes and one OVA.

### Theme music

See also: Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase CD collections

Opening
1. "Neko Mimi Mode" by Dimitri from Paris (eps 1–8, 10–13, 15–24)
2. "Tsuku Yomi Mode" by Dimitri from Paris (eps 9, 14)

Ending
1. "Kanashii Yokan"
	* Lyrics, Composition, and Arrangement: Yukari Hashimoto
	* Vocals: Marianne Amplifier, featuring Yuka
2. "Nami no Toriko ni naru you ni" (ep 7)
	* Lyrics: Kenzō Saeki
	* Composition and Arrangement: Naruyoshi Kikuchi
	* Vocals: Noriko Ogawa
3. "Pressentiment triste" by Marianne Amplifier featuring Yuka (ep 19)
4. "Neko Mimi Mode" by Dimitri From Paris (ep 25)

## Reception

*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".[7]