[Illina]

OK, maybe this is a rather ridiculous question, but can someone please explain the Dark Moon plot to me? I don't quite understand what's going on with Mio and Katsuki and Mizuki at all, and their relationships with each other.

[rosebudmelissa]

It is rather complex and confusing. I just bought the manga, which has a very good translation of this section and clarified some things for me.

Katsuki is of course the main character. When he was a child, his father's business failed and a wealthy friend, the head of the Hongo family offered him a job as chauffeur to his younger brother. On one particular day, Katsuki's father took the day off, and the substitute driver drove the car off a cliff, killing the younger Hongo and his wife. They were survived by their daughter, Mizuki. From then on, Katsuki's father is plagued by nightmare's and eventually decides to go to the police. It is implied that the elder Hongo arranged for his brother's death. The head of the Hongo family apparently finds out about this and arranges for Katsuki's parents to die through what appears to be suicide.

Katsuki vows to bury his past and get revenge on the Hongo family and we find out that Katsuki is in fact an assumed name. Mizuki is taken in by her uncle and treated almost as a maid in their house. Her cousin Mio hates her because of her cheerfulness in spite of all adversity. Mio's sister Misao seems an unpleasant kind of person as well: in a fit of jealousy as a child, she pushed Mio off a hill onto some broken glass which left Mio with a scar on her face.

Fast forward several years. Katsuki is a music teacher at Mio and Mizuki's school (it's unclear if Misao is a student as well, or if she is older). He is engaged to MIsao, giving him the closeness to the family that he needs to get his revenge. His plans all seem to be working out until he falls in love with Mizuki. He fights hard against his feelings for her partly out of guilt for what his father did to her and partly out of his hate for the Hongo clan. Mizuki also has feelings for Katsuki. I think that's about all we know. Well, except that at the beginning of the story, Katsuki is returning to school after being injured rescuing (was it MIkuki or Misao? i forget now), who was about to be hit by a car.

[rosebudmelissa]

Spoilers!

Ironically, the director of Dark Moon, Ogata Hiroaki, is the son of the director of Tsukigomori (Dark moon is a remake of this) and Ren, who is playing Katsuki, is the son of the actor who played Katsuki in Tsukigomori. Very few people know this about Ren, though so while Ogata gets a lot of attention over this, Ren gets almost none.[

[ellehcor21]

Dark Moon is a story about Katsuki(Ren) and Mizuki(Momose).
Anyway, Mio(Kyoko) has an older sister named Misao.
Misao is Katsuki's girlfriend.
Katsuki is Misao's boyfriend whom deeply in love with Mizuki.
Mizuki is their cousin who loves Katsuki.

When Katsuki was young, his father was indebted to his father's rich friend(Hongo). Katsuki's father was then introduced to that Hongo's little brother and became their chauffeur.

However, not long afterwards, Hongo's little brother had a car accident and only the daughter survived. Katsuki's father was on holiday that time so he was unharmed. Since that incident, Katsuki's father always woke up crying and asking for forgiveness from the neverending nighmares. Then he decided to go to the police.

On a night when a dazzling moonlight makes one unable to endure the temptation, Katuski went out just to return home that his whole family was stolen by that Man. "Family Suicide" on the news.

Katsuki swore that he will seal away his true identity never to reveal until the time he gets his revenge upon that Man he saw that lucent night.

When Mizuki was young, her family had a car accident. She was the sole survivor. She was then adopted by her father's older brother where there she was never cared for. But still she grew up very bright and cheerful.

Mio grew up very shy and quiet. She has never laughed from her heart because she felt inferior compared to her beautiful sister Misao. She got her scar when she accidentally fell down a hill full of broken glass while playing with her sister, atleast that's what she told everyone. But truth is she was purposely pushed down that hill by her sister because she was jealous of her ability to play Violin.

Mio hates her father and her mother who often compares her to her sister. But Mio's father never compared her to her sister because she knows what her father did to his little brother and his family.

[cherryblossomangel16]

Originally Posted by rosebudmelissa

It is rather complex and confusing. I just bought the manga, which has a very good translation of this section and clarified some things for me.

Katsuki is of course the main character. When he was a child, his father's business failed and a wealthy friend, the head of the Hongo family offered him a job as chauffeur to his younger brother. On one particular day, Katsuki's father took the day off, and the substitute driver drove the car off a cliff, killing the younger Hongo and his wife. They were survived by their daughter, Mizuki. From then on, Katsuki's father is plagued by nightmare's and eventually decides to go to the police. It is implied that the elder Hongo arranged for his brother's death. The head of the Hongo family apparently finds out about this and arranges for Katsuki's parents to die through what appears to be suicide.

Katsuki vows to bury his past and get revenge on the Hongo family and we find out that Katsuki is in fact an assumed name. Mizuki is taken in by her uncle and treated almost as a maid in their house. Her cousin Mio hates her because of her cheerfulness in spite of all adversity. Mio's sister Misao seems an unpleasant kind of person as well: in a fit of jealousy as a child, she pushed Mio off a hill onto some broken glass which left Mio with a scar on her face.

Fast forward several years. Katsuki is a music teacher at Mio and Mizuki's school (it's unclear if Misao is a student as well, or if she is older). He is engaged to MIsao, giving him the closeness to the family that he needs to get his revenge. His plans all seem to be working out until he falls in love with Mizuki. He fights hard against his feelings for her partly out of guilt for what his father did to her and partly out of his hate for the Hongo clan. Mizuki also has feelings for Katsuki. I think that's about all we know. Well, except that at the beginning of the story, Katsuki is returning to school after being injured rescuing (was it MIkuki or Misao? i forget now), who was about to be hit by a car.

You got most of it right! :3

It was Winter Vacation and he was hospitalized while on vacation with his girlfriend.
The accident was caused by his girlfriend and he saved her.
It's unknown whether its Mizuki or Misao.

After that, Katsuki returned to school 3 months later.

Mizuki vs Misao Argument:

Mizuki Argument: It is leaning towards Mizuki though. It is implied to be Mizuki because the Hongo Family was rich so the vacation could have been in the Hongo vacation home where Mizuki could have been there. Note: Also, a reunion between Katsuki and Mizuki was mentioned by Director Ogata.

Misao Argument: It could have been something that Katsuki planned or had a chance with in order to meet Misao and have her fall in love with him as one of the steps for his revenge. He could have met Mizuki by chance since she is part of the Hongo household and Misao was already his fiancée by then.

Continuing:

After his reunion with Mizuki and despite their teacher-student relationship.
Katsuki was drawn to Mizuki and Mizuki had feelings for Katsuki as well.

There are also many things that are preventing him from being with her like his thirst for revenge, the fact that his father may be responsible for her parents’ death (since Katsuki’s father’s involvement is unknown), and that he was engaged to her cousin. He fought his feelings for her hard.

He manipulates Misao’s feelings to gain the acceptance of her family and her parents bought it. The only person who he didn’t fool in the entire Hongo Family was the younger sister, Mio, who discovered Katsuki’s feelings for Mizuki.

In the end, because Mio became Mizuki’s ally and joined forces with
her in order to defeat the family she hated so much, Mizuki was able to learn everything about her parents and enabled her to be with Katsuki, and Katsuki defeated his own ally was well.

~Most information from Skip Beat! Lexicon

Extra Note:
If only this was a REAL TV drama. I'd totally watch it!
So suspenseful, so dramatic, so modern, and so well developed!


Basic Summery of Dark Moon:

The protagonist of the story is Katsuki who is out to avenge his family’s death against the man who was responsible for it, the patriarch of the Hongo Family. He spent years waiting for him to be exact his revenge and he emerged on the family years later as a school teacher and the fiancé of the eldest daughter of the Hongo Family. When he finally reported to work as a music teacher in a high school near the Hongo home, he found himself face-to-face with Mizuki, a student he met three months before and a ward of the Hongo Family. Her parents, he suspected, were killed by his father under the orders of the Hongo family patriarch. Despite the taboos of their relationship, he finds himself falling in love with her.

The theme song for the show (though unknown if this is OP or ED or insert) is Chopin’s Fantasie Impromptu in C-sharp minor, Op. 66 No. 4 played by Tsuruga Ren.

[Illina]

Schweet plot!!! Alright, I think I get it now. Thanks, guys!

[Illina]

Oh, I forgot to ask, so does that mean Katsuki's father was part of the plan to murder Mizuki's family? Why did he get nightmares and go to the police?

[cherryblossomangel16]

Originally Posted by Illina

Oh, I forgot to ask, so does that mean Katsuki's father was part of the plan to murder Mizuki's family? Why did he get nightmares and go to the police?

His involvement with the incident was unknown (the manga was not so specific about it) since he was on his day-off when the family died, but after that, he would wake up in the middle of the night from nightmares while shouting out apologies to the family that died. Because of his guilty conscience, he spoke to his wife and decided that he should go to the police.

But before he was about to do that, his friend and a bunch of thugs broke into their home in the middle of the night and took them away.

He died in a staged family suicide for the reason of being unable to pay debt owed to his employer and he became the catalyst for his son, Katsuki’s revenge against the Hongo family.

~from Skip Beat! Lexicon

[xfiregirlx]

wow!! i finally undersand this plot as well!! ^ ^

[Illina]

Originally Posted by cherryblossomangel16

His involvement with the incident was unknown (the manga was not so specific about it) since he was on his day-off when the family died, but after that, he would wake up in the middle of the night from nightmares while shouting out apologies to the family that died. Because of his guilty conscience, he spoke to his wife and decided that he should go to the police.

But before he was about to do that, his friend and a bunch of thugs broke into their home in the middle of the night and took them away.

He died in a staged family suicide for the reason of being unable to pay debt owed to his employer and he became the catalyst for his son, Katsuki’s revenge against the Hongo family.

~from Skip Beat! Lexicon

So...why is Katsuki so reluctant to get involved with Mizuki, then? I think I sort of remember reading somewhere that aside from the teacher-pupil taboo, it's because his parents caused her parents' death or something. Does Katsuki believe that his father helped engineer the death of Mizuki's parents?