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Type-Moon | |
Company type | Private ( Yūgen gaisha ) |
Industry | |
Founded |
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Headquarters | 4–1–1 Asakusabashi, , Japan |
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Website | typemoon |
Type-Moon [a] is a Japanese company that produces video games, anime, manga, light novels and affiliated merchandise, co-founded by illustrator Takashi Takeuchi, writer Kinoko Nasu, programmer Nobuyuki Kiyotake and composer Keita Haga. It 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.
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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: