AKA: 満月（フルムーン）をさがして, Full Moon wo Sagashite, FuruMyu, Looking for the Full Moon

Genre: Shoujo / magical fantasy

Length: Television series, 52 episodes, 23 minutes each

Distributor: Currently licensed by Animeigo.

Content Rating: PG (some mature themes)

Related Series: Full Moon o Sagashite Special

Also Recommended: Chance Pop Session, Fancy Lala

Notes: Based on the manga by Tanemura Arina (Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne), currently available from Viz under their Shoujo Beat manga line.

Rating:

Full Moon o Sagashite

Synopsis

Mitsuki Kouyama is a 12 year old girl who loves to sing. However, she is very weak, and her throat hurts too much for her to sing (or to even speak loudly). Even worse, her grandmother she lives with hates music, so Mitsuki has to keep her love for music a secret. On top of that, she's sick so often and misses school so much, she never gets to make any friends. Poor girl.

Things don't get any better when two shinigami (literally "gods of death") named Takuto and Meroko come to her and tell her she only has one year left to live. This makes Mitsuki sad, as she promised a boy two years ago by the name of Eichi Sakurai that she'd become a great singer. Feeling sorry for her, Takuto gives Mitsuki a special pill that can turn her into a healthy 16 year old by the alias of Full Moon. This way, Mitsuki can live out her dream of becoming an idol singer and get Eichi to hear her song.

It's going to be a bumpy road to stardom, but Mitsuki's cheerful demeanor, as well as the help of Takuto and Meroko, will help her in that regard.

Review

Full Moon o Sagashite holds a place in my anime viewing career as the first anime I completed in its entirety. It was also my first exposure to the works of Arina Tanemura, as I watched this series before I read the manga or even read Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne. As such, it holds an important place to me in my anime viewing history.

When I wrote my review back in 2003, it was a very positive review from a simpler time in my reviewing career. Don't get me wrong; I still love Full Moon o Sagashite. However, looking back on it six years later, I notice some things I didn't notice before..

One thing that hasn't changed, though, is my love for the characters. Mitsuki is very likable, cheerful without being annoying, and cute without being disgustingly so. Takuto and Meroko are also quite likable, even though both of them have their moments of pouting, pigheadedness, and even angst. The supporting cast, like Mitsuki's manager Ooshige, the family doctor Doctor Wakaouji, and even Full Moon rival Madoka, are also likable. Even Mitsuki's middle-aged maid is a funny character. And any characters who don't start out on that end (specifically Mitsuki's grandmother) you're slowly warm up to once the story unfolds.

I also like the old-fashioned approach the series has. Full Moon o Sagashite re-introduces the idol magical girl series genre that was quite popular back in the 1980's, before every other magical girl show became a Sailor Moon-style action series. Mitsuki isn't your typical, peppy idol singer-to-be: her life stinks, and music is her only escape from reality. Takuto and Meroko are also not your ordinary, peppy idol singer anime mascots: in fact, they're strongly against her wanting to become an idol singer, and Meroko especially takes a while to warm up to Mitsuki. And Takuto starts off as antisocial and rude, unwilling to help Mitsuki's "selfish" dream, and Meroko starts off as clingy and selfish towards Takuto, only helping Mitsuki so she can get Takuto all to herself.

This isn't to say Full Moon o Sagashite is incredibly original, though. It deals with many themes typical of idol singer anime (obligatory rival, paparazzi, difficult struggle to get first song out). However, it does so in a matter that happens to be unique enough to avoid feeling like a Creamy Mami episode broadcast in 2002. Even the characters of the day can be just as entertaining and likable as the main cast themselves.

Unfortunately, I have to talk now about why I brought down the rating of Full Moon o Sagashite. And it boils down to the filler.

Similar to Sailor Moon, the anime and manga of Full Moon o Sagashite were produced at almost the same time (the manga started in January 2002, and the anime the following April), so a lot of excess filler is used to fill up space. While most of it isn't bad, it's quite abundant. And it even affects the characters themselves.

Of the three shinigami in the series, only Takuto's storyline is explained in full in the anime, with Meroko's only partially kept intact. The worst offender of the simultaneous anime/manga release of the series clashing with a character, though, has to go to the third and final shinigami, Izumi. He's introduced early on in the manga, but in the anime he doesn't appear until episode 29. He's turned into more or less a straight-up arc villain, something he was NOT in the manga. It even directly affects his partner Jonthaon, who's just now...there.

Even Mitsuki is not immune to this. Her relationship with Eichi, and any backstory with him, is stretched out actoss loooong pauses in the anime. And it's not until the end of the anime in a five-episode long arc do we come back to this, and in quite the dramatic way, too. (And WHAT a doozy of a plot twist that brings, completely different from the manga's own!)

The Full Moon o Sagashite anime also writes up a new ending, too. It's actually quite good, though manga purists probably won't be as forgiven as those who've only seen the manga. (The manga repays the favor by having the lyrics of a song from the anime in the final chapter, which was really cute.)

The art's not the best in the world, either. Although the characters are well-drawn and the backgrounds are fine, the actual animation leaves something to be desired, and the outfit designs of Mitsuki/Full Moon pale to the gorgeous designs from Arina Tanemura's original manga.

The background music is fine but forgettable, and the opening/ending themes are a very acquired taste. The opening themes are Japanese rock songs done by a band called THE SCANTY, and the singer isn't exactly the most soothing voice in the world. The ending themes, as well as most of the insert songs, are done by Mitsuki's voice actress, myco. Mitsuki's voice takes a while to get used to, but I kind of like it. The rest of the voice cast does a good job as well, considering most of them were fairly new to voice acting at the time they worked on this series. The two major exceptions are Honda Chieko (Meroko) and Megumi Ogata (Izumi), who don't stray from their typical voice roles (bossy, energetic girl and feminine-sounding man, respectively).

Still, though, there's a lot to love about Full Moon o Sagashite. It's a bright, cheerful, fun little series that will appeal to both kids and shoujo fans alike. Shoujo series like this don't come every day.

A fun little series that every shoujo fan should check out. Subtract one or two songs if repeated songs or filler bothers you in your anime. (You might want to check out the manga instead.) — Tim Jones

Recommended Audience: This anime is mostly family-friendly, although the idea of shinigami might shock a few parents. There is very little violence or sex, and even though FMoS does touch on a few morbid themes, it never becomes too depressing.