This series was a bit of a milestone for me, it was the first anime I saw at my first convention. I was pleasantly surprised when it appeared for the club vote, although it wasn’t my first choice, winning a split poll. Then again, plenty of second choice animes have proved to be excellent, but is that the case here? Read on.
The Basic Plot
Kouhei works as a photographer for a mystery magazine, the only work he could get as the apparently talent-less son of an extremely magical family. In Germany he meets Hazuki, a young vampire and literally the spoiled princess. He frees her from her castle, and is made her “servant” when she bites him. Unfortunately for Hazuki, it doesn’t work as it should and Kouhei refuses to do what she wants. Unfortunately for Kouhei, she won’t go home, and scary people are after her.
Chibi Vampire! No, not Karin
Say what you will, that is a good setup for a series, with promises of both comedy and drama. The series tries hard to live up to this, maintaining the plot from the get-go, rather than falling into the trap of episodic silliness. There is also some attempt to address the difficulties of a slightly petulant vampire suddenly appearing, featuring some rarguements between Kouhei and Hazuki and a novel solution to the sunlight problem. The initial episodes are somewhat removed from the cutesy image the series often has, which makes things interesting enough to keep you watching. Then again, the cute factor is pretty high, with cat ears being a big theme.
There is, of course, the romantic element to things, but the series lacks the maturity to deal with the issues this should raise. The phrase “Lolita Complex” is always lurking in the background, and its not just Haruhi; Kouhei’s family is in the habit of arranging marriages with substantial age differences. I would feel happier about this if the series had the nerve to deal with this head on (which would make for uneasy, but daring and praiseworthy viewing) or was sufficiently funny I wouldn’t care. As it is not, this series doesn’t really sit well with my English sensibilities, and I find myself wondering if I’m hitting some kind of cultural barrier here. The relationship between Kouhei and Hazuki is both innocent and completely benign, but you may very well find yourself asking questions. If you can’t cope with the idea of a non-sexual, but emotional and loving, relationship between an adult man and 13ish years old looking vampire girl, there’s no point in watching as this relationship is the focus of the show. However, this is not the series only problem, and is not the biggest flaw by some margin.
The series suffers from one major flaw; it is simply boring. The plot just doesn’t grab you, and the humour does not offset this. I think the main problem is that the series can’t quite work out what it wants to be. Initially, the main appeal is the cuteness of its characters and certain levity, but this slowly disappears as other elements come into the series. It tries to be a comedy, but doesn’t have many jokes, favouring slapstick and visual gags. The anime is very fond of repeating these gags ad nausea, with characters hit from on high by tin baths and kettles seemingly three times every episode, usually at inappropriate moments. There are elements of fighting anime in here, perhaps surprisingly, but the series doesn’t have the budget for it. There are two drawn-out combats during the series and in both the animation quality drops suddenly, and there is an attempt to compensate with odd colours and perspectives. The series also tries for drama in later episodes, but ends up with melodrama instead. Genre-hopping can bring dividends to an anime, but in this case the result is an anime which is below average in several different things, rather than good at few things. The anime seems confused, slightly random and overlong. The last episode is the worst example of this, and oddly also the single most entertaining episode, with such random plot twists I found myself wishing more of the series had been like it.
Conclusion
When you write a review, it’s a good idea to acknowledge the audience the anime was aimed at. I wasn’t able work out who that was in this case. Occasionally quite funny, and praiseworthy for paying more than lip service to plotting, Tsukuyomi Moon Phase is ultimately a very average anime with elements that don’t translate well. While it does have its moments, the series is more likely to annoy and bore, than entertain.
4/10