doing business as is a Japanese media conglomerate that produces video games, anime, manga, light novels, and affiliated merchandise. It was formed in 1999 in Taitō, Tokyo as a doujin circle.
Type-Moon had later expanded into a company, and was aided by Japanese programmer Nobuyuki Kiyotake, and Japanese composer Keita Haga. The company uses its official trade name for its publishing and corporate operations, while the use of the brand name Type-Moon serves as a homage to the company'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 had later become one of the most known visual novels in history. Both of the titles were originally produced as adult games, and were later re-released without the erotic content.
Co-founder Kinoko Nasu is a prominent figure in the brand, having contributed to the planning and scenario in the majority of Type-Moon's video games. While Takashi Takeuchi, the main designer for the company and another one of its co-founders, had mainly worked on character designs and background art. Keita Haga, Type-Moon's main composer, has composed music for the majority of Type-Moon's titles.
History 1999–2003: Beginnings as a Doujin circle
Prior to the founding of Type-Moon, Japanese author Kinoko Nasu and Japanese illustrator Takashi Takeuchi had released the first five chapters of the light novel series The Garden of Sinners through the web page of the Takebouki doujin circle. They later sold the last two volumes at the Comiket 56 in August 1999. The two alongside programmer Nobuyuki Kiyotake and composer Keita Haga distributed a free floppy disk, announcing the formation of the doujin circle Type-Moon (the name originating from , one of Nasu's previous works) and the start of the development of the visual novel Tsukihime.Tsukihime was initially released at Comiket 59 in December 2000. The Tsukihime Plus-Disc omake disc was released at the 10 in January 2001. The omake disc contained a fix file for route restrictions that original game had and featured bonus content. Later, at Comiket 60 in August of the same year, the fan disc Kagetsu Tohya, a sequel to Tsukihime, was released. In September 2001, 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 the first four chapters of The Garden of Sinners in Plus-Disc, Type-Moon printed a complete edition of the light novel series split in two volumes that were sold at Comiket 61 in December.
In December 2002 at Comiket 63, in collaboration with French-Bread (known as Watanabe Seisakujo before 2003), Type-Moon released the fighting game visual novel Melty Blood, 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. 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 and for the PlayStation 2 on 10 August 2006. A Windows port of Melty Blood Act Cadenza Ver. B, an upgraded version of the arcade edition, was released on 27 August 2007.
Type-Moon had released the 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, at 33 in April 2003. 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, which was later licensed by Geneon Entertainment for release in North America in 2004. A manga adaptation illustrated by using the same title as the anime was serialized in the magazine Dengeki Daioh from the October 2003 to September 2010 issues, with its chapters collected across ten volumes published by ASCII Media Works. It was initially licensed by ComicsOne for an English release in North America in 2004, with DrMaster taking over the publication of ComicsOne's manga titles, including Lunar Legend Tsukihime.
2004–2006: Company incorporation, Fate/stay night, hollow ataraxia, and Zero
After starting to fully operate as a company, Type-Moon released a demo of its first commercial product, Fate/stay night, on a CD included with the December issue of the magazine from Enterbrain on 21 October 2003. That same demo would also be released as a download on 1 November through Type-Moon's website.
The Fate/stay night visual novel was released on 30 January 2004. A sequel, Fate/hollow ataraxia, was released on 28 October 2005. Fate/stay night would later be turned into a 24-episode TV anime by Studio Deen, airing from 7 January to 17 June 2006, with a second anime series based on the Unlimited Blade Works route premiering in October 2014. A manga series to promote the anime started publication on 26 December 2005 in Kadokawa Shoten's magazine Monthly Shōnen Ace, which had its conclusion on 17 November 2012 with its 20th volume. Fate/stay night was also released for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) in April 2007.
In a collaboration between Type-Moon and Nitro+, writer Gen Urobuchi penned a light novel prequel to Fate/stay night titled Fate/Zero, which Nasu supervised and Takeuchi illustrated. Its first volume released on 29 December 2006, the second on 31 March 2007, the third on 27 July 2007, and the fourth and final one on 29 December 2007, along with the image album Return to Zero produced by .
2007–present: Fate/stay tune
At Comiket 72 in August 2007, Type-Moon released the "All Around TYPE-MOON drama CD". Type-Moon produced 49 episodes of an Internet radio show called Fate/Stay Tune (フェイト/ステイ チューン, Feito/Sutei Chūn) in regard to the brand between February 2007 and April 2010. Fate/Zero would then be adapted into a four-volume drama CD, with the last release on 22 January 2010, followed by an anime adaptation by Ufotable in 2011–2012.
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. 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.
Releases Type-Moon has developed and produced the following:
Tsukihime series Tsukihime, PC-based adult visual novel game, originally released on 28 December 2000. A television adaptation of the visual novel, Lunar Legend Tsukihime, by J.C.Staff, aired from 10 October – 26 December 2003. Tsukihime Plus-Disc, released on 21 January 2001. Kagetsu Tohya, PC-based Tsukihime fan disk, released on 13 August 2001. Melty Blood, PC-based fighting game, in association with French-Bread, released on 28 December 2002. Manga serialized from June 2005 to August 2011. Melty Blood Re-ACT, PC-based expansion to Melty Blood, released on 20 May 2004. Melty Blood Re-ACT Final Tuned, update patch to Melty Blood Re-ACT, released as a free download. talk. and Prelude, are two short stories published in Tsukihime material book's Plus Period published on 22 October 2004, and the Type-Moon's Character material published on 20 August 2006, respectively, intended to act as a prologue to a potential Tsukihime sequel. Melty Blood: Act Cadenza, arcade port to Melty Blood released on 25 March 2005, and re-released on the PS2 platform on 10 August 2006. Melty Blood: Act Cadenza Version B, the updated PC port of Act Cadenza, was released on 27 July 2007. Melty Blood: Actress Again, arcade released on 19 September 2008, and PS2-port on 20 August 2009. Melty Blood: Actress Again Current Code, the first 2D fighting game for Sega RingWide arcade board, was released on 29 July 2010. Ver. 1.07 was released later for Arcade on 14 October 2011, and a PC port on 30 December 2011, along with the Blu-ray release of Carnival Phantasm Season 3 limited edition. An updated version was released on Steam on 19 April 2016. Tsuki no Sango, is a story by Nasu for Maaya Sakamoto's Full Moon Recital Hall, a project organized by the Japanese online magazine Saizensen, that consisted of Sakamoto reading short novels in a theater while an accompanying short animation was aired in the background. Tsuki no Sango was the first of the recitals on 21 December 2010, also got a manga adaptation with a story and art by Sasaki Shōnen. Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon-, the first visual novel re-telling the story of Tsukihime. Released on 26 August 2021, for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. Melty Blood: Type Lumina, the first Type-Moon fighting game and overall for Xbox console port, as well as a "What-If" story to Tsukihime Remake titles and Reboot to the Melty Blood series, released worldwide on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, and Steam on 30 September 2021. Melty Blood: Twi-Lumina, the sequel to Melty Blood: Type Lumina set to release in April 22, 2027. Tsukihime -The other side of red garden-, the second visual novels re-telling the story of Tsukihime. (release TBA)
Fate series Fate/stay night, PC-based visual novel game, released on 30 January 2004. A DVD version was released on 29 March 2006, and a non-ero PS2 port entitled Fate/stay night [Réalta Nua] was released on 19 April 2007, and re-ported non-ero to PC on three versions covering each arc. Currently, four anime adaptations exist of Fate/stay night: the first was produced by Studio Deen and primarily based on the visual novel's Fate route, the second was a film adaptation of the Unlimited Blade Works route and also produced by Studio Deen, and the third was a TV remake of the Unlimited Blade Works route produced by Ufotable. The Heaven's Feel route was also adapted into a movie trilogy by Ufotable. Fate/hollow ataraxia, PC-based Fate/stay night sequel, released on 28 October 2005, re-released for PS Vita on 27 November 2014. Fate/school life, is a comedy 4-koma manga by Eiichirou Mashin revolving around the normal life at school of the minor characters of Fate/stay night and Fate/hollow ataraxia, in later volumes, other characters from different TYPE-MOON works would also appear. Fate/Zero, a light novel prequel to Fate/stay night, were released from 29 December 2006, to 29 December 2007. Made in collaboration with Nitroplus. Anime adaptation by ufotable aired from 1 October 2011, to 23 June 2012. Fate/Prototype, is an animated short by Studio Lerche, distributed with the third home release of Carnival Phantasm on 31 December 2011. Based on the Second Tokyo Holy Grail War, it is the original concept of Kinoko Nasu's for Fate/stay night. It has yet to be adapted as a full series, with only a short animated feature and production notes detailing the story. Fate/Prototype: Fragments of Sky Silver, a light novel written by Hikaru Sakurai, illustrated by Nakahara, and published by Kadokawa Shouten, were released from 10 September 2014, to 26 April 2017. It is a prequel of Fate/Prototype, the original version of Fate/stay night with a female protagonist. Fate/Labyrinth, a light novel by Hikaru Sakurai, illustrated by Nakahara. It is a side-story to Fate/Prototype: Fragments of Blue and Silver and was released on 9 January 2016, between Fragments' 3rd and 4th volumes. Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya, a spin-off manga series written and illustrated by Hiroyama Hiroshi, serialized in Comp Ace magazine from 26 September 2007, to 26 November 2008, followed by two sequels entitled 2wei! and 3rei!!