Type-Moon

Type-Moon is a Japanese game company, founded by Takashi Takeuchi and Kinoko Nasu, known for its visual novels.

While the company's official name is "Notes" (ノーツ), it is known to most as "Type-Moon" (タイプムーン), the brand name the company uses when publishing adult visual novels.

Introduction and a Brief History

Type-Moon was originally a doujin group headed by Takashi Takeuchi and Kinoko Nasu. The group's first well-known work was the novel Kara no Kyoukai, written by Nasu and illustrated by Takeuchi. Between October 1998 and May 1999, Nasu and Takeuchi serialized Kara no Kyoukai, on their personal website, Bamboo Broom. Kara no Kyoukai was not Nasu's only novel; some of his other works include DDD, Notes, and the unreleased works Mahoutsukai no Yoru and Koori no Hana.

The group rose to fame with the release of its adult visual novel Tsukihime during the 2000 winter Comic Market (Comiket). Tsukihime captivated audiences with Type-Moon's unique world setting and touching story. Tsukihime was not only adapted into an anime (Shingetsutan Tsukihime), but expanded upon in the fan-disks Tsukihime PLUS-DISC and Kagetsu Tohya.

In 2002, Type-Moon teamed up with another doujin group, French-Bread, to create the 2D fighting game Melty Blood, featuring characters from Tsukihime. An improved version of the game was released under the title Melty Blood Re-ACT in May 2004. The game proved so popular an arcade version was released under the name Melty Blood Act Cadenza, which itself was ported to the PS2 in August 2006. A new installment in the series, Melty Blood: Actress Again, was released in late 2008.

Takeuchi and Nasu established Notes Co., Ltd. in 2003. In April of that year, after releasing Tsuki-Bako, a compilation of every game (excluding Melty Blood) the group had produced to that point, as their final doujin product, the team officially disbanded the doujin group known as Type-Moon, and established Type-Moon as a brand name under Notes Co., Ltd.

On January 30th, 2004, Notes (from here on referred to as Type-Moon) published their first commercial product, the adult visual novel Fate/stay night. Fate/stay night was adapted into an anime in January 2006. Near the end of 2005, Fate/stay night's fan disc, Fate/hollow ataraxia was released.

In late 2007, Capcom revealed a Fate fighting game called Fate/unlimited codes. The game was released in 2008, first as an arcades title and later on the PlayStation 2. In mid-2008, Type-Moon announced three new titles in the making: Mahou Tsukai no Yoru, Girls' Work, and a remake of Tsukihime. The games were set to be released sometime in 2009, but was delayed until 2010.