Reviews/Anime/Tsukuyomi - Moon Phase -

Kohei is a free-lance photographer that manages to get jobs through his old high school friend Hiromi. It works well for her as she works for a magazine that does stories on the supernatural and Kohei has the wonderful ability to take great pictures of ghosts, demons and other things that go bump in the night. Unfortunately, he can't see the supernatural beings he photographs as his supernatural skills are zero. While on assignment with Hiromi and his cousin Seji at a haunted castle in Germany he sees a young Japanese girl, Hazuki, that seems to be living alone there. She offers to give him a kiss for being kind to her and he agrees. Of course she is a vampire and the "kiss", actually drinking his blood, is supposed to make him her servant slave forever. The kiss doesn't have any effect on him and he returns to Japan.

What the kiss did do was free Hazuki from the castle barrier. Now the poor girl has to travel to Japan to find her new servant. After all, she must drink his blood every full moon, and Kohei as her slave has to supply it. Considering the Mido family that Kohei is a member of, has strong demon hunting powers and they now have a very lively demon living with them, things can get tense at times. That's the start of the adventures of Kohei and Hazuki. Behind the fun and games is a story where Kohei has found someone that he deeply cares for, and the lonely Hazuki gains a family that she can rely on. Along the way they manage to pick up Elfrieda, a blond, blue eyed German girl, that also is a vampire trying to get Hazuki to return to the castle. Later she becomes Grandad's live in girlfriend, which is fine as she is one hundred years old.

The list of vampires and demons sent to force Hazuki to return gets longer. Kohei has to learn the demon fighting skills of his family after the apparent deaths of Elfrieda and his Grandfather. Hazuki thinks the ties to her adopted family may be stretched to the breaking point and beyond. The final battle pits Hazuki against her own younger half-sister Artemis. Can Kohei get himself together to help her?

This is a good series. Look behind the arguments and you find a touching story. By the way, at the end Hazuki has one more little secret to show Kohei, and that is not a pair of cat ears she wears in the last scene. Enjoy.

Guest review by Jay