Continuing to highlight some older series anime watchers may have missed I give you Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase. If one were to try and fit this into a single genre it would be difficult to say the least. You have comedy, horror, action, magic, and drama all in one package. It is technically a vampire anime, but most of the vampires are not very traditional, but at least they don’t sparkle in the sun… Wait… Maybe one does. These vampires transform, perform magic, and… Wear masks??? Like I said… Not very traditional, but still quite interesting.
The show is centered around the main characters Hazuki and Kouhei. Hazuki is a young vampire girl who is being held captive by the rest of the vampires in order to protect the secret she possesses. Kouhei is a photographer from a family of psychics and magicians although he has no apparent special abilities himself. When the two meet at a haunted castle in Germany the fun begins.
The show was produced by Shaft, so you can expect their usual touches. These are typically things like stage props poking into the scene, cut away views of buildings, cardboard cutout looking background elements and characters, spontaneous chibi transformations, and plenty of wash pans falling from the sky. Honestly these are the things I like about Shaft, and why I seem to be drawn to shows like Negima!? and Pani Poni Dash. The most awkward feature of the show is the opening sequence. It has what I think is one of the oddest opening theme songs ever. “Neko Mimi Mode” created by Dimitri From Paris, and sung by Chiwa Saito (the voice actress for Hazuki). That and the opening animation itself is just seemingly a compilation of randomness. When asked about the opening the director Akiyuki Shinbo said that he was given several openings to choose from, and he chose the most outrageous one on purpose. Gotta love rebels.
The show itself is a roller coaster ride to be sure. It can go from deadly serious to absolute hilarity in the blink of an eye, so it can work on the nerves occasionally when a really creepy suspenseful scene ensues only to end in a rain of wash pans or some visual gag. But if you simply take the show for what it is and just don’t overly think about the contrasting elements it is a lot of fun. The show is very much inspired by the TV show The Drifters (similar to The Monkees in the U.S. or Monty Python in the U.K.).
Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase is available from Funimation in a DVD box set, and can be viewed for free streaming on Funimation’s video Portal as well as on Anime News Network and Hulu. All three sites have subbed and dubbed versions of all episodes, so everyone should be happy. One thing that I will mention is that this is one of the few shows (and I know I’m asking for it with this statement) where the English dub is actually better than the original Japanese. Funimation really went all out on this one, and I think Monica Rial really did an amazing job voicing Hazuki.
So you have no reason now not to check this out. Besides… I get tired of people saying “WTF are you talking about” when I make Moon Phase references.
By the way… The original manga by Keitaro Arima is quite enjoyable as well.
There are a lot of views out there on the topics of anime and manga piracy these days, and just as with what I guess would be called “domestic” piracy there are are extremely polarized viewpoints on both sides. I like to think of myself as a middle ground type person. I kinda see the points of both sides, but the extreme viewpoints sometimes just leave me with nothing more than a nasty headache.
So I feel a lot of mixed emotion right now about certain events that caught my attention, and want to add my two cents into the mix. Unfortunately my long-winded-ness won’t allow this to fit into a 140 character Twitter post or even a dozen of them. The beginning of this article for me started with a post on Twitter which got my attention. Someone ratting out a manga scanlation site about having licensed material up. As I researched into the causes of the event I found some things which kind of knotted me up inside, but I decided to hold my tongue and go on with my life pretending to be blissfully unaware of the ridiculousness of what I saw. The second event was the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back” for me, and has spawned my own entry into this foolish behavior, and yes I am aware of how foolish it all sounds to the average person. This second event is something that is still on going, and will be my first point of discussion. More »
Kotobukiya will release it’s Mina Tepes figure from Dance In The Vampire Bund in November of 2010. Most retailers are taking pre-orders at around about $105 USD.
They are cute… They are fuzzy… And they are deadly.
After seeing the trailer for this around a year ago I have been patiently waiting to see this series. Based on the manga of the same name this is a made for Youtube series. Although those of us in the US will notice right away that the page is blocked here (I assume it is only available to those in Japan).
The original manga was based on the Vietnam war, but the adaptation has been based on the 1979-1981 Iran hostage crisis. The American soldiers are portrayed as rabbits which is a bit of a pun as the Japanese word for “rabbit” is usagi which in this case also stands as an abbreviation of US Army GI (USAGI). The Iranians are played by… What else??? Camels.
The lack of political correctness in this show is what makes it so amazingly awesome. The accuracy of the weapons is surprising as well. From the M-4 rifle right up to the Hind M-24 helicopter. I found it quite interesting just to check out the detail on the weapons. But then… Who doesn’t enjoy seeing cute bunnies firing RPGs?
While Pixar and Dreamworks won’t be shaking in their boots over this the computer animation is rather impressive, and the action is quite good. Of course there is already one aspect of the show that is creating an uproar online… For those that saw the trailer there was quite a bit of blood splattering about, but apparently in order to appease (Youtube I’m guessing) the blood has been cut out in the webcast. If that detracts from your enjoyment of this show then you are probably going to have to wait until it eventually gets released on DVD/Blu-ray.
It is uncertain as of now how many episodes or what the release schedule will be.
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