is a Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series by Keitarō Arima. The manga was serialized in the monthly

manga magazine are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics an ...

'' Comic Gum'' from March 2000 to March 27, 2008. The series spanned sixteen manga volumes that were published by

Wani Books is a Japanese publishing company focused on manga-related publication, including magazines and books. The company was established in November 1979. It publishes a manga magazine called ''Comic Gum''. In March 2007, Yoshimoto Books Co., Ltd. was ...

in Japan. The manga series was later adapted into a 25 episode

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series by Shaft, and aired on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the ...

episode dubbed "Episode 26" was later released only on DVD on February 22, 2006. Moon Phase is about a young

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

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 Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licens ...

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 Funimation was an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service. Launched in 2016, the service was one of the leading distributors of anime ...

released an English-language version under the name ''Moon Phase''.

Plot

The story is about the relationship between freelance

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

Kouhei Morioka and Hazuki, a young girl who descends from a royal

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.

and

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, stylized as MADMAN, is an Australian film and television production, distribution, entertainment, and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising ...

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.

Anime

Theme music

Opening

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

Ending

# "Kanashii Yokan" #* Lyrics, Composition, and Arrangement:

Yukari Hashimoto is a Japanese composer and arranger. She has composed the music for a number of anime series, including ''Toradora!'', ''Omamori Himari'', ''Mayo Chiki!'', ''Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei'', ''Kanamemo'', ''MM!'', ''Penguindrum'', ''Yurikuma Arashi'', ...

#* Vocals: Marianne Amplifier, featuring

Yuka Yuka may refer to: *Yuka (music), an Afro-Cuban style of music *Yuka (mammoth), mammoth specimen found in Yakutia, Russia *Manshu Yuka Kogyo K.K. Ssuningkai, a Japanese-German pre-WWII industrial co-operation People *Yuka (name), a Japanese pers ...

# "Nami no Toriko ni naru you ni" (ep 7) #* Lyrics: Kenzō Saeki #* Composition and Arrangement: Naruyoshi Kikuchi #* Vocals: Noriko Ogawa # "Pressentiment triste" by Marianne Amplifier featuring Yuka (ep 19) # "Neko Mimi Mode" by Dimitri From Paris (ep 25)

Reception

Hyper Hyper may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Hyper'' (2016 film), 2016 Indian Telugu film * ''Hyper'' (2018 film), 2018 Indian Kannada film * ''Hyper'' (magazine), an Australian video game magazine * Hyper (TV channel), a Filipino sports c ...

'' 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".

Notes

References

External links

Japanese Official site
(Japanese)
TV Tokyo official site
(Japanese)
Official Tokyopop site
(Archived)
The Official MOONPHASE Anime Website from FUNimation
* * {{Akiyuki Shinbo 2000 manga 2004 anime television series debuts Anime series based on manga Comedy anime and manga Funimation Kemonomimi Madman Entertainment manga Odex Seinen manga Shaft (company) Sharp Point Press titles Tokyopop titles Vampires in anime and manga TV Tokyo original programming Wani Books manga