Tsukuyomi Moon Phase



Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase (月詠 Tsukiyomi? ) 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 TV anime 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] The first season is currently available via the Sony PlayStation 3 video store, Hulu, Joost, Funimation's YouTube account and the iTunes Store.

The story is about the relationship between freelance photographer Kouhei Morioka and Hazuki, a teenager 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.