Full Moon wo Sagashite
Arina Tanemura
Viz (Shojo Beat), around 170 pp. per volume.
Do you want to get in touch with your shojo-loving manga side? Do you want to push away all those action and fight scenes for a bit of emotional drama? Do you want a character-driven story that will most likely touch your heart at one point in the story? Well look no further, Full Moon wo Sagashite will do all that for you!
Mitsuki Koyama, age 12 has one year until she dies of a throat tumor. With that in mind, she wants to become a pop star! Despite her grandmother's hatred of music and singing because of past incidents, Mitsuki is detirmend to become a popstar, find her lost love Eichi, and live her life to the fullest. But can she do that all in one year? Or will she die trying?
Volume 1 starts the tale off with a bang. After finding out Mitsuki has a year to live, she runs off to become a popstar. But she's pursued by a pair of shinigami under the name of Negi-ramen, who want to take her soul! But rather than do that, they sort of hang around her because she's the only one that can see them because every day is one closer to her death.
Volume 2 brings on a bit of the popstar fluff. Peforming, costumes, and just about everything else that showbiz has, Mitsuki goes through it. But there's also a darker side of showbiz, with lyrics being stolen, banter between contestants, and shady members of the audience...
Volume 3 kicks everything into high-gear by jumping into the story. There's so much explained in this volume that it will amaze you. We find out Eichi isn't waiting for Mitsuki in America, and he actually died in a plane crash. We learn that shinigami are what they are because in life they committed suicide. And now that Mitsuki knows the truth, is it really worth following her dreams any more that her love is gone forever?
Volume 4 feels like a bit of a letdown after the most impacting volume 3, but is good nevertheless. Mitsuki is a bit crushed after hearing Eichi is dead. But what happens when her feelings start to blossom for Takuto, one of the shinigami following her?
Volume 5 picks up on a better note, with Mitsuki climbing the charts under the idol name Full Moon. But fame has a price, as I'm sure almost every celebrity knows. Among the many gifts she receives, there's a threat for one of the next performances! Is it true? Should Mitsuki quit being an idol because of this threat?
Volume 6 brings on more of the drama we've been waiting for. Mitsuki is in dire need of an operation, but with that comes the loss of her voice. Will she have the operation? Or will she refuse it and end up dying sooner? And what happens when the shinigami become more of a threat to her? Her life is bound to end soon...
Volume 7 is the final volume. Mitsuki is trapped by Jonathan, one of the most powerful shinigami in their world. Another shinigami, Izumi, is able to help her but doing so would release his final memory that he may not want to remember. So Mitsuki and Takuto die together, but end up living again. So what happens three years later with no Eichi to be found? Is it time to move on into another relationship?
As mentioned before, this is really a character-driven story. Despite it revolving around wanting to become a popstar, that really fades from the story as it goes into later volumes. The story is fueled primarily by Mitsuki, who is so in love with Eichi and is heck-bent on finding him. But her aspirations to find him slowly fade, and she's more driven to think about dying because she'd be closer to him. In the end, she has to make a decision over if she should let her love for Eichi go and be with Takuto or not.
The characters are what make the story. Mitsuki is surprisingly emotional for a 12 year old (13 in later volumes) and has determination. Takuto and Meroko (Negi-Ramen) are rather nice shinigami, who would rather see her live instead of taking her soul. Izumi and Jonathan are the more diabolical pair of shinigami, always plotting ways to steal her soul and/or kill her.
The art is surprisingly good. It improves little over the seven volumes, but Arina has her own style. It's big eyes, long, wavy hair, and somewhat lanky-bodies. It beats your average shojo-style any day, though it may take a bit of time getting used to.
The quality is average. Viz seemed to do an average job with the first 6 volumes, but kicked it up a notch with the last volume translating lots of extras, such as thank-you letters to Arina for writing Full Moon and some bonus manga from her about her adventures in signing copies of Full Moon in Taiwan. I also commend them by translating a Full Moon dictionary that she wrote in the back of volume 7, which was sort of an explanation of characters, songs, and events in the series.
Art: 4
Characters: 4.5
Quality: 3.5
Story: 4.5
Total: Rounded to a 4, or a A-. I'd recommend this to teen girls looking for a good emotional drama with nice characters and a good story. It's bound to touch your heart and make you feel for the characters. The series will only cost $62.93 without tax, so it's not that much of an investment.
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