| | |
| Type-Moon | |
| Company type | Private ( Yūgen gaisha ) |
| Industry | |
| Founded |
|
| Headquarters | 4–1–1 Asakusabashi, , Japan |
Key people |
|
| Products | |
| Subsidiaries |
|
| Website | typemoon |
Type-Moon [a] is a Japanese company that produces video games, anime, manga, light novels, and affiliated merchandise. It was founded by illustrator Takashi Takeuchi, writer Kinoko Nasu, programmer Nobuyuki Kiyotake, and composer Keita Haga. The company is known under the name Notes Co., Ltd. [b] for its publishing and corporate operations, as it is the company's official name, while the use of the brand name Type-Moon is a homage to the founder's origins as a doujin circle of the same name. After releasing the visual novel Tsukihime as doujin soft, the group incorporated and commercially released the visual novel Fate/stay night which became the company's most well-known title. Both works have received several adaptations in other mediums that have amassed a global fanbase.
This section needs additional citations for verification .(July 2024) |
Before the founding of Type-Moon, starting in October 1998, illustrator Takashi Takeuchi and writer Kinoko Nasu (friends since their time at junior high school)[ citation needed ] released the first five chapters of the light novel series The Garden of Sinners through the web page of their doujin circle, Takebouki [c] , and sold the last two at Comiket 56 in August 1999. [1] At that same time, the two alongside programmer Nobuyuki Kiyotake and composer Keita Haga (colleagues of Takeuchi when he worked for Compile)[ citation needed ] distributed a free floppy disk announcing the formation of the doujin circle Type-Moon (the name originating from Notes.[ sic ], one of Nasu's previous works) and the start of the development of the visual novel Tsukihime . [2]
Tsukihime was initially released at Comiket 59 in December 2000. [3] Soon after, Sunshine Creation 10, in January 2001, saw the release of Tsukihime Plus-Disc: an omake disc that mainly served to fix issues the first copies of Tsukihime had and which also featured bonus content. [4] Later, at Comiket 60 in August of the same year, the fan disc Kagetsu Tohya was released. [5] In September, [6] the members of Type-Moon established Notes Co., Ltd. while remaining active as a doujin circle. After the great response it received following the inclusion of its first four chapters in Plus-Disc, Type-Moon printed a complete edition of The Garden of Sinners split in two volumes that were sold at Comiket 61 in December. [7]
On 30 December 2002, in collaboration with French-Bread (known as Watanabe Seisakujo [d] before 2003), Type-Moon released at Comiket 63 the fighting game/visual novel Melty Blood , [8] a doujin game for compatible PCs that serves as the third proper entry in the Tsukihime series. It was followed by the expansion Melty Blood Re-Act , released on 30 May 2004, which received a patch update, Final Tuned, as a free download over the Internet.[ citation needed ] Type-Moon and French-Bread partnered with Ecole Software to develop and publish a commercial version titled Melty Blood Act Cadenza that was released for Sega NAOMI arcade systems on 25 March 2005 [9] and for the PlayStation 2 on 10 August 2006. [10] A Windows port of Melty Blood Act Cadenza Ver. B, an upgraded version of the arcade edition, was released on 27 August 2007. [11]
To mark the end of activities as a doujin circle, Type-Moon released at Comic Revolution 33 in April 2003 Tsuki-Bako: a specially packaged three-disc set that includes Tsukihime, an expanded version of the omake disc named "Plus+Disc", the fan disc, and a new arrangement for all BGM. [12] Tsukihime's popularity led to a 12-episode TV anime adaptation by J.C.Staff with the title Lunar Legend Tsukihime that aired from October to December 2003 on BS-i, [13] which was later licensed by Geneon Entertainment for release in North America in 2004. [14] A manga adaptation illustrated by Sasakishonen using the same title as the anime was serialized in the magazine Dengeki Daioh from the October 2003 to September 2010 issues,[ citation needed ] with its chapters collected across ten volumes published by ASCII Media Works. [15] It was initially licensed by ComicsOne for an English release in North America in 2004, [16] but later, in 2005, DrMaster took over the publication of ComicsOne's manga titles, including Lunar Legend Tsukihime. [17] However, DrMaster went bankrupt in 2009, and so only six of the ten volumes went published.[ citation needed ]
On 30 January 2004, they released the first commercial release, a PC-based visual novel game, Fate/stay night . It was later adapted into an anime series that aired 24 episodes in Japan starting 6 January 2006; a second anime series that premiered on 4 October 2014; and a manga series that ran in publication between 26 December 2005 and 26 October 2012, in Monthly Shōnen Ace. A sequel to Fate/stay night, Fate/hollow ataraxia , was released on 28 October 2005. Fate/stay night was also released on the PS2 platform on 19 April 2007. A prequel, Fate/Zero , was released as a light novel written by Gen Urobuchi (from nitro+) under Kinoko Nasu's supervision, featuring art by Takashi Takeuchi, in 2006–2007, followed by an animated adaptation by ufotable in 2011–2012.[ citation needed ]
At Comiket 72 on 27 August 2007, they released the "All Around TYPE-MOON drama CD". [18]
In August 2019, Type-Moon announced that they established a new company called Type-Moon Studio BB, a video game development studio with former Square Enix and Atlus employee Kazuya Nino, the director for the series Trauma Center , Etrian Odyssey , and Dragon Quest Builders , becoming the head of the studio. [19] According to Nino, the company plans to develop medium to large-scale 3D games in cooperation with external developers and small-scale 2D games developed in-house.[ citation needed ]
Type-Moon has developed and produced the following: