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Full...Full...Full...Moon!

Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase is a Seinen manga series by Keitarō Arima which was serialized in Comic Gum from 2000 to 2008. It was adapted into a 25-episode anime series by Studio Shaft that ran from 2004 to 2005, with a 26th non-canon OVA episode.

Kouhei Morioka, Black Sheep of a family of powerful psychics and spiritualists, has less spiritual energy than the average Muggle. In his job as photographer for an occult magazine he encounters Hazuki, a young girl trapped in a castle by a magical barrier (Kouhei is so lacking in spiritual energy that the barrier didn't notice him). After he promises to help her out of her confinement, she insists on giving him a "kiss," then bites him on the neck.

Now, usually in this story when a vampire bites a human, the victim loses all free will and becomes the vampire's slave. This doesn't happen with Kouhei because of his lack of spiritual power. This doesn't keep Hazuki from acting like it did and throwing a temper tantrum when he doesn't humor her.

Kouhei smashes the crystal making the barrier, gets Hazuki out, and she spends the rest of the series living with Kouhei and his grandfather in the grandfather's shop, and fighting off attempts to bring her back to her prison by other vampires while bonding with her human friends.


Provides examples of:

  • Accidental Kiss: Episode 21, which has Hazuki and Hikaru end up kissing each other after a villain throws the latter onto the former.
  • Accidental Pervert: In Episode 25, Kouhei just needed to use the bathroom, not knowing Hazuki was taking a shower.
  • Adorable Abomination: Once Kouhei gains the ability to truly perceive spirits, he sees Hazuki's true form (which was apparently hidden from everybody) and freaks out at her.
  • Animal-Eared Headband: Hazuki wears a cat headband and sometimes other characters.
  • Anti-Magic: Kouhei, who can't cast magic but is also impervious to it.
  • Black Blood: Red blood is okay for vampire bites, but blood from very serious wounds (like, say, a hole dug in someone's chest) is black.
  • Badass Normal: Kouhei, who valiantly fights for his friends despite lacking the spiritual powers the of his family possess. He eventually becomes more powerful after training himself in order to better protect his loved ones.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Luna appeals to this in order to suck Kouhei's blood in the first episode.
  • Bizarro Episode: invoked Episode 26 invokes this, as the entire thing is completely off-the-wall random (for starters, the house is randomly in the middle of the ocean) and only one character notices. He's eventually driven insane by how little sense anything makes, and it's all Played for Laughs.
  • Bland-Name Product:
    • Lots of it, often containing cat-related puns (Nyapporo beer, Nyankus convenience store).
    • Notable others include Kouhei's Ninolta camera, and Hazuki flying Riftnanza Airlines.
    • Episode 20 ends on a picture with Hazuki holding a camera. Of course it's a "Neko".
  • Blind Without 'Em: Token Mini-Moe Kaoru can't see anything without her huge round glasses. An example in the anime; her twin sister pours a washtub of water over her during bathtime, causing her to lose her glasses and forcing her to get down on her hands and knees so she can start feeling around for them. Her glasses end up directly behind her while she's busy crawling and feeling around, to which the poor girl is oblivious to and ends up crying over her inability to find them.
  • Bratty Half-Pint: Hazuki, least at the start of the series. She cools down later as she get to know Kouhei.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Closer to "shattering". The end of Episode 25.
  • Bubblegum Popping: Artemis is almost always chewing gum, but the only time you know is when she blows a huge bubble.
  • Casting a Shadow: Artemis's powers are all shadow-based.
  • Cat Girl: Hazuki is always wearing cat ears and it's a motif to see cat ears or cat ear-shaped things throughout the series. The cat spirit, Heigi, is an actual cat girl, however.
  • Chick Magnet: Kouhei tends to attract all the powerful female characters in the series.
  • Costume Porn: Courtesy of the family, Hazuki wears several different outfits throughout the series.
  • Cultural Translation: The English dub replaced the closing trailers' horrid Japanese riddles with horrid English riddles. Apparently there's a law of Conservation of Corny involved in the translation process.
  • Cute Clumsy Girl: Kaoru. Her gigantic glasses don't do much good, it seems.
  • Cute Little Fangs: Hazuki; also Hikaru from time to time.
  • Cute Monster Girl: Every female vampire, such as Hazuki, Elfriede, and Artemis.
  • Daywalking Vampire: One of the vampires Kouhei meets has this ability, namely Hazuki, though they only find out later on, after Elfriede temporarily gains the power through Hazuki's blood.
  • Demoted to Extra: Hiromi becomes less and less involved with the plot as the show goes on.
  • Dirty Old Man: Kouhei's grandfather has minor shades of this, as he's the one that initially bought Hazuki her outfits and seemed really keen on the suggestion that Elfriede suck his blood and make him her slave.
  • Drives Like Crazy: Hiromi manages to crash into multiple things before getting thirty feet away from the driveway.
  • Drop the Washtub: Done as a Running Gag throughout the series. Various characters will get bonked on the head numerous times by one whenever they do something remotely stupid. It's all for the Rule of Funny, and at one point one character actually realizes exactly what he's saying, and catches the tub. Then the entire HOUSE of the cast gets bonked by a giant washtub.
  • Elegant Gothic Lolita: Hazuki, at first.
  • Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: Heigi talks like this in the dub of the anime.
  • Enemy Within: Luna, Hazuki's "true" form.
  • Enhanced on DVD: The DVD release has improved artwork, improved animation, improved fight scenes... the list goes on. An entire episode that was aired on TV without any relevant video due to some issue with an animating contractor was transformed on DVD into one of the most intense and impressive episodes of the series.
  • False Camera Effects: Strange things happen all the time, but one of the best examples has nothing to do with the camera itself. Instead, it happens when a microphone hangs in the view as if the audio assistant had a weak arm and no one noticed during editing. Also, a spotlight is standing around for no reason at all.
  • Fanservice: There are random bits in the anime that consist of nothing but one of the characters posing in various outfits. There's also the fact that most of the female cast members, particularly, the ones interested in Kouhei consist of young and young-looking girls.
  • Faux Paw: Hazuki does this especially in the opener.
  • Fight Unscene: Several of the fights in the TV versions cut away from the action to show a piece of landscape or architecture while you can hear the fight going on. A lot of this was fixed for the DVD release, leading to some confusion between groups of fans who have only seen one version.
  • Formula-Breaking Episode: The last episode takes place in the middle of the ocean for no good reason. One of the characters is driven insane by how little sense this makes.
  • Friendly Neighborhood Vampires: Hazuki and Elfriede are pretty friendly most of the time.
  • Gecko Ending: The manga was still ongoing when the anime was made, so the show ends with Artemis befriending Hazuki and the cast celebrating a proper way to end a show.
  • Genius Loci: Vigo, the butler who serves Hazuki in Schwartz Quelle castle, also is the castle.
  • Go Mad from the Revelation: Kouhei experiences this temporarily after his powers let him see Hazuki's true form.
  • Goofy Print Underwear: Heigi
  • Hard-Drinking Party Girl: As it turns out, Hiromi.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Elfriede and Artemis both join the heroes.
  • Hime Cut: Hazuki and Heigi.
  • Honorable Elephant: Balgus, the vampire with the pachyderm-esque mask, is not without compassion towards Arte, at least compared to Jeda.
  • I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Elfriede despises her father, Count Kinkel, with good reason. He turned Elfriede into a vampire before slaughtering the human family who raised her. He then forced her to drink the blood of her best friend, gloating how Elfriede was his slave.
  • Malevolent Masked Men: Vigo the monster butler has a vaguely operatic face covering, while several of the later vampiric goons wear animal-themed masks. They're all jerks.
  • Mayfly–December Romance: All the relationships involve people who are Really 700 Years Old but don't look anywhere near the age of their partner. The biggest examples being Kouhei with Hazuki, and Grandpa with Elfriede.
  • Meido: Hiromi, when captured and put under mind control, is dressed in a maid costume for no particular reason.
  • Miko: Twins Hikaru and Kaoru. Hazuki gets a turn as one too.
  • Mood Whiplash: Once an Episode, the show will flip from seriousness to comedy and back in an instant.
  • Moon Rabbit: The opening makes a bit more sense if you know about the Rabbit on the Moon and its mortar.
  • Mundane Utility: Hazuki has the ability to completely eliminate her life signs and sit completely still for hours. She uses this catch thieving birds, and to allow Kouhei to take an amazing long-exposure photograph of her.
  • Nobody Poops: "This cat has no rectum!"
  • Not Himself: Part of Hazuki's character development involves her internal struggle with her alternate self, Luna.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: They can steal powers from other vampires, and these various powers can range from bending light to manipulating shadows to temporarily walk in daylight.
  • Power Copying: Vampires each have a unique ability that other vampires can borrow with a sip of blood, or steal permanently with a fatal drain. Hazuki's copyable ability is not dying when exposed to sunlight, hence her importance in the eyes of other vampires.
  • Prone to Tears: Young miko Kaoru is definitely a crybaby who sniffles over the slightest thing, although she sometimes uses this as an act to disguise a more mischievous side.
  • Really 700 Years Old: The majority of the vampires, even Hazuki. Elfriede is around 500 years old and Count Kinkel is 900 years old.
  • Religion is Magic: The mysticism practiced by Kouhei's family seems to have roots in Shinto.
  • Rose-Haired Sweetie: Artemis, but she's actually a loner, subverting the Genki Girl type that would be usual for this trope
  • Scary Shiny Glasses: Most frequently Elfriede, but Seiji and even cute little miko Kaoru flash them on occasion. Also notably, Seiji has one short scene where only one of his lenses is shiny and it's not played for sinisterness.
  • Solemn Ending Theme: All three ending themes are much more serious than the opening.
  • Split Personality: Luna is Hazuki's alternate personality, and generally acts much more mature than Hazuki.
  • Sprouting Ears: happens occasionally in the manga, mainly in the early parts before the Cat Eared Headband became a standard part of her costume.
  • Superpowered Evil Side: Mistress Luna, for Hazuki.
  • Surreal Theme Tune: Well, it's Studio Shaft after all.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Kouhei, from chapter 20 and onwards, suddenly becomes a powerful mage after submitting himself to months of Training from Hell.
  • Tsundere: Hazuki is a classic Harsh Type towards Kouhei.
  • Undying Loyalty:
    • Justified In-Universe among Ludo, humans turned vampires chosen to serve their full-blood vampire masters. The Kiss of the Vampire is supposed to make them completely obedient.
    • In Balgus's case he isn't controlled and just has a special bond with Artemis, as her grandfather.
  • Vampire Lolita Archetype: Hazuki is a long-haired preteen vampire girl who greatly prefers long dresses of the Elegant Gothic Lolita style. She's a Tsundere with a major case of Belligerent Sexual Tension going with Kouhei and treats him like a slave. She also comes from a very rich background.
  • Weirdness Censor: Episode 26 exaggerates this beyond measure. To explain, the house the cast lives in is floating in the middle of the ocean, and apart from Seiji absolutely no one finds this particularly strange. They even laugh at him for trying to convince them that this situation is bad.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Seen in episode 18:
    Hazuki: Blob monsters?! Why did it have to be blob monsters? I hate blob monsters!

Alternative Title(s): Tsukuyomi Moon Phase

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