- Water in the sky, sky in the water. In the sky of the moon is a shattered sea.
Tsuki no Sango (lit. "Moon's Coral") is a short story written by Type-Moon, set in the Nasuverse.
In the year 3000, humanity has advanced, but is losing the will to live. Meanwhile, in an island colony on the moon resides a girl who tells the story of how her ancestor supposedly came to Earth.
Tropes on the moon include:
- Ambiguously Related: The Girl is nicknamed the "Princess" by the other people in the colony, has blonde hair, wears all white, and is associated with the moon, much like Arcueid, the titular Moon Princess of Tsukihime. The Girl from the Moon also greatly resembles Arcueid as Archetype-Earth (long blonde hair, red eyes, white dress) and is said to be the manifestation of the Moon's will and mind, much like Arcueid due to being a True Ancestor.
- Clone Angst: The Princess is the latest in a line of clones based on the Girl from the Moon. She considers herself an "ugly duckling" for not being as girlish as her "Mother", "Grandmother", and so on.
- Continuity Nod: The Earth in Tsuki no Sango is described as "a degenerated world where magecraft yet lingers". This is also what happened to the Earth in Angel Notes.
- Designer Babies: A staple of the setting as birth rates have basically completely stopped, with the Man from Earth himself being one. However, most of them were afflicted with Clone Degeneration, with one or all of their five senses notably being deficient: the Man from Earth himself is deaf.
- Distant Sequel: The story is officially described as "Tsukihime 3000", although the story doesn't necessarily take place in the future of Tsukihime and likely doesn't, since the Moon's will manifests differently in both stories.
- Tsukihime takes place in 1999 (while it was released in 2000), so Tsuki no Sango takes place about 1001 years later.
- Expy:
- Sui and Ise, the Princess's twin servants, are ones for Hisui and Kohaku from Tsukihime — Hisui even has "Sui" in her name.
- The Man from Earth may be one for Shiki Tohno from Tsukihime, seeing as he has a tragic romance with Arcueid's expy, the Girl from the Moon, and he does bare some resemblance to Shiki.
- The Man from Earth's boss, Section Chief Yuzukura, likewise may be one for Satsuki Yumizuka from Tsukihime, at least physically. She also appears to be fond of the Man, similar to Satsuki's affection for Shiki.
- Just Before the End: The story is set when humanity has progressed so far that it is losing the will to live and will decline soon. The world has "degenerated" but "magecraft yet lingers", much like in the Land of Steel.
- The Magic Goes Away: Magic has grown weak and has a very small presence in the future. As established in other Nasuverse works, as humanity progresses in scientific observations, magecraft will grow weaker because magecraft is literally powered by the mystery of not knowing how the universe works.
- Nameless Narrative: In the original short story, where every character was only known by their roles: the Storyteller Girl, the Small Person, the Girl of the Moon, and the Man of the Earth. The manga adaptation, which expands the cast significantly, adds actually named characters, like the Princess's servants and the Man of the Earth's colleague. It does still keeps the old pattern for some of the new characters however.
- Never Learned to Read: The Princess of the island cannot read or write, at least before the Small Person teaches her.
- Whole-Plot Reference: Nasu has confirmed the story is partially based on The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter; Like Kaguya, the Princess is a princess from the Moon and she has no interest in her suitors, only willing to marry them if they complete her Impossible Tasks. The Girl from the Moon whom the Princess is cloned from also fell to Earth, like Kaguya.
