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Moon Phase

After two full episodes I'm still not sure what to make of this series, as it seems to want to be pulling in several different directions, but I also get the impression that these two episodes are just the intro and I haven't seen the real series yet. So what is it like over the long haul? I'm guessing a supernatural comedy-drama, but it also looks like it could just be a moe/lolicon fetish piece, too.

Can someone who's seen more give me an idea of what to expect, so I know whether or not to pursue this further when the DVD comes out the end of August? I'm not terribly impressed with the art so far (much too obviously digital).

Oh, and for anyone that cares, Monica Rial is voicing Hazuki/Luna.

And now, on to the animation. The big question is: How bad IS the animation? Well, in the early episodes, it is spectacular, with fluid movements, beautifully rendered backgrounds, and attractive (though heavily lolita-ish) character designs. Hazuki in particular is extremely cute in her Neko-mimi outfit. The magic in the series is on the level of Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto (Someday’s Dreamers), with beautiful CGI taking over for most of the spells.

Around the midpoint of the series, the animation suddenly drops to a level below that of Aishiteruze Baby, one of the hallmarks of bad animation. This occurs at the worst possible moment, during a pivotal fight between the main characters and one of the series’ villains. Instead of seeing the good, fluid fighting and magic that, up until episode 12, had been a staple of Tsukuyomi, the fighting devolves into still frame land, with (I’m not kidding) most of the fight focusing on a still frame of an unrelated portrait hanging on a wall, while the sounds of the fighting continue unabated. This is done so sloppily, that the sound doesn’t even match up with the events occurring on screen, with the sounds occurring either too early or too late.

At the same time that this is occurring, the editing style takes a noticeable nose-dive as well, probably to cover up the fact that barely half of the necessary animation was finished on schedule. Characters are “heard” fighting, while the screen shows nothing more than a painting. Then there is a shot of the characters running down a hallway to a doorway, supposedly escaping. Move to another shot of the painting, and suddenly they’re fighting again. Many scenes, especially in episode 12, are noticeably out of sequence, enough that I nearly quit the series outright.

From episode 12 to around episode 16, Moon Phase goes completely crazy with regards to still frames. Episode 13 and 14 barely move at all, preferring excruciatingly long panning shots of still frames, and often times frames recognizable from previous episodes.

The animation perks back up in the final episodes, up until yet another pivotal fight in episode 24. Yet again, the screen focuses on a painting or a random still frame, while the sounds of fighting and yelling continue, implying that there is some incredible ass-beating going on, which would be visible if only the camera would stop panning over this irrelevant staircase! The animation horrors end with a scene in episode 24 where it is quite obvious the animators skipped a couple of steps in the animation process. A couple of characters are interacting, but the polish has not been applied, leaving their movements fluid, but jerky, looking like a bad rough draft.

I am a fan of vampires, and as such, it takes an awful lot of mistakes before a vampire movie or series stops working for me. Moon Phase while it has some good dramatic moments, suffers from lackluster comedy, and animation that all but destroys the series’ flow, ruining some of the most pivotal moments with poor editing and badly timed still frames. If Tsukuyomi’s story was as strong as Aishiteruze Baby’s, the poor animation would not have been such a detriment. Sadly, Tsukuyomi –Moon Phase- has more style than substance. I would recommend this series only to the most die-hard vampire fans. If you’re not a fan of vampires, however, stay away. Far far away.

Moon Phase really sticks to the run-of-the-mill formula for Anime as it does from one primary villain to the next, with a couple of humor driven episodes driven in-between. However, the story takes a real shot out into left field at the latter half of the 10s and never comes back. Massive story gaps leave you scratching your head and various incomplete animated fight scenes cannot help but leave a bitter taste in your mouth.

By the time the series concludes you wind up with a massive amount of questions that will forever go unanswered, for at Episode 25 it's quite obvious the series is pulled and driven to cancellation before any story elements could even be completed. So in the end, you can not help but feel like this anime just did a number of on you, as it attempted to drive humor, drama, and the ever-so-mundane use of the typical vampire mythos all topped with a big pair of white fluffy NekoMimi Cat Ears down your throat.

Yo Zalis! That comment about the "still-frame" fight scenes, that was due to budgeting problems. Director Shinbo and SHAFT really went back to fix those up for the DVD version (and I assume FUNimation got that). Here's the comparison of the broadcast version and the DVD version of episode 12 (warning may be spoilerific):

http://anime.nekomimi.se/tsuku12/

Hell, there were LOTS of touch-ups and add-ons in the DVD version. I wished I knew where the link for episode 8 went.

This is one reason I'm buying the DVDs for this series and trashing my fansubs.

Plus, the male lead, Kouhei, is really dull. I dropped the series halfway though, so maybe the rest of the series becomes harmless comedy again (although I doubt it).

And Key, sorry to ask you again, but did the ED sequence show the still image of Hazuki, or did they use the "trippy, Soultaker-esque" sequence?