Full Moon O Sagashite

Publisher
Viz
Writer
Arina Tanemura
Artist
Arina Tanemura
Country of origin
Japan
Year
2002

Full Moon O Sagashite V. 2

By David Rasmussen
18th Jun 06

If you discovered that you only have a year to live, what dream would you chase without hesitation?
What would motivate you to run after that dream? And what would you do when you caught your dream?
Now what if you were dead and began to find out that you wanted to remember what you were, but was tempered by the fact that remembering means throwing away your very existence and fading away into a immaterial ghost? Would you rather forget yourself again, or do you want to remember yourself even if you risk your futures by doing so?

These questions have uncomfortably been laid into the laps of one 12 year old Mitsuki Koyama, and the harbinger of death Takuto (in that order) as we open the doors on the second volume of the pop star title known as FullMoon (o Sagashite).

Previously…
Mitsuki Koyama is a 12 year old whose faced some painful turns of the screw in her life, but none more painful than being diagnosed with throat cancer (a malignant growth called a “sarcoma” is growing in her throat). There is a chance for a cure if she undertakes an operation, but she has been highly resistant to this because she would lose her voice if she takes the operation. This would be bad, worst for her than fears of death itself, because it means her dreams to sing professionally will die.

This is important, because it is a wish she made to someone she cares for, whose name is Eichi. He left her years ago to go to America, no doubt because he was also sick and possibly dying. But before he left they made promises to each other to reach out for their dreams, and achieve them before they meet again.
He dreams of becoming an astronomer (probably working for NASA), while she dreams of being a pop star.
It is the fulfillment of her dream which drives her, even if that drive risks her very life.

But her dream is not an easy one, and not just because of her sarcoma (which prevents her from singing as it causes her pain to sing for a sustained time in a loud enough tone for people to hear), there is also her grandmother who has steadfast refused to allow Mitsuki to sing, but for all the wrong reasons.
If you thought the grandmother’s reluctance was because of Mitsuki’s cancer you can forget about it! It seems she is bitter bitter bitter because Mitsuki’s father (a musician) made her daughter (Mitsuki’s mother) pregnant only for her to die in childbirth, she has been unreasonably bitter against Mitsuki despite the fact it was never Mitsuki’s fault for her mother’s death even if she held a lot of bitter emotions about her father (and probably towards her as well).

And, yes, as if the show the futileness of Mitsuki’s decision she is making an error about not taking the operation, she is visited by the two awkwardly unscary harbingers of pediatric death… pediatric death? Meet Takuto (the guy in the cat hat who transforms into a super deformed cat) and Meroko (the high maintenance low clothing count female slash rabbit who is dreadfully in love with Takuto), aka the dreaded “Negi Ramen”… ooh, sounds like a new menu item down at L&L Drive Inn! Yum!

The two not so scary fractioned of pediatric death spiriting, who visit young children as they are dying, turn out to not be the brightest torches in the Necropolis because once they realize that their subject (Mitsuki) can see them (and promptly panic), they accidentally let it slide that Mitsuki is going to die in one year.
Not a good thing to do, because instead of scaring Mitsuki into silence it steels her determination to go to a audition for a new talent (and chase her dream now that she knows she only has a year to live).
Too bad, because she seemingly misses the part where Takuto says they came to stop a person who was “destined” to attempt to arrive that day to save her… only they seem to find nobody, except maybe the fact that they had unintentionally fulfilled that destiny without knowing it… which has yet to come to pass.

But back to Mitsuki, once the duo catches up to her they are moved by her plight (Takuto thinks he’s got a clever way to make her accept her future death) to the point of Takuto helping her achieve her dream by going to the audition, which she (thanks to more interference from Takuto) aces.
Meroko thinks something is up, but Takuto is not moved by that… until he begins to realize that he’s beginning to remember what he was before he was dead, which scares the heck out of Meroko (which she has damn good reason to be freaked because should he remember himself fully he‘ll fade away and become an immaterial ghost since he has no physical body to return to… that we KNOW of! Of course his body could be in some hospital on life support and all, but then again it could have been cremated and turn to dust (scattered across the Japan Sea)).

But as Mitsuki begins her career (as FullMoon, her new stage name) and begins to have doubt in herself (because of a chance encounter at the end of the audition), she is ultimately forced to leave home when it seems that her grandmother will never accept her desire to become a singer (which came about because Mitsuki had to go to work, leaving Meroko to impersonate her… only Meroko ended up having too much fun as Mitsuki and promptly fell asleep on the job, becoming “invisible“ again which made it look like Mitsuki had snuck out of the house, which she did).

But that is just one of the many roller coasters of emotions that run throughout the first volume as the volume comes to the end and both Mitsuki and her new rival Madoka Wakmatsu (a rival singer from a different talent agency) end up competing for a shampoo commercial only for Mitsuki‘s lyrics ending up in Madoka‘s hands when Meroko panics (over Mitsuki/Takuto‘s “supposed“ relationship that she overreacts about) and calls in another Shinigami (spirits of death) she used to work for, who in turns steals Mitsuki’s lyrics in order to dash her dreams (for his own purposes to be revealed).
Whew! That was a long explanation! Now the new happenings.

Volume 2
In the aftermath of the “theft” of Mitsuki’s lyrics by the clueless Madoka thanks to the Shinigami named Izumi Lio (who transforms into a puppy) and his ghostly sidekick Jonathan (originally the character of Jonathan was, oddly enough, Arina Tanemura’s “image” of what she thought Peeves (Harry Potter) looked like which came about during a discussion of the UK franchise series), which was facilitated by a jealous Meroko because she wanted to get Takuto away from Mitsuki.

But after a little soul searching, and some “advice” from Takuto (which involved destruction of back up lyrics and the impersonation of a mermaid Hello Kitty fried shrimp thing) she manages to pull through the commercial and it’s off to the races between competiting commercial song jingles from Madoka (a robot girl who becomes human to promote “Only Rose”) and Mitsuki (the happy and beautiful yet sad and haunting Mermaid Princess to promote “True Ocean”)… oh, then Izumi Lio tries to get his Peeves on by messing up the voting in Madoka’s favor… which, in turn, wasn’t so smart because he should have realized that he should have tampered with the sales of Pure rather than the voting (because that would have been a clearer indicator of who was more popular to begin with). Obviously Izumi didn’t think it through, and Madoka herself pulls the plug on his scheme by bowing out of the competition and turning the commercial over to Mitsuki (though I have a feeling this might not be the last we’ve seen of Madoka by a long shot).

However while the commercial problem is solved, the lingering problem of interfering Shinigami Izumi remains and that has to be dealt with, even as Izumi declares in this issue his intent to take Mitsuki’s soul.
But this is still the early stage, and before this is over we’ll learn abit more about Izumi (and his feelings for Meroko), and maybe even watch him slide over and out of the troublesome side… which is good, because it looks like there’ll be enough troubles once FullMoon gets a new producer, mainly the doctor who was treating her at the start for her throat cancer!

As the book ends we begin to realize the beauty of the read, without realizing the pains that have yet to rise -- but that will change shortly as we roll into Volume 3 and the truth behind who Takuto really is, and the fate of much mentioned but seldom seen Eichi… oh, and there’s a bonus story at the end for you and tons of little sidebar information (same as last issue). Otherwise that’s that, time for breakdown.

Full Moon O Breakdown the 2nd
What’s Hot?
Full Moon O Sagashite is a promise rising and becoming “full“ (you know, like the moon… because the title has moon in the title and we‘re… uh… never mind). Full Moon O Sagashite is a promise of a beautiful, interesting, funny, sad, gripping, emotional little roller coaster of a read, which cashes in abit of it’s saved up surprise and shock when you get into next week’s reviews and the revelations of some stark truths.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, once you start turning the pages you’ll find yourself held tight by the read, and by the end of these first two volumes you should be a solid reader of the title no questions asked.
There is just something good about Full Moon O Sagashite, and I hope you find it out as I did when I got my hands on it.

What’s Not?
I really can’t think of anything I would call bad about Full Moon O Sagashite. It might not be your cup of coke zero or vault, sure, but that’s for you to find out on your own.

Moments to Remember?
Quite abit about the title is memorable, actually, trust me.

What to Ignore?
Yes, I’m going to start ordering Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne and start reviewing it soon. Promise.
And yes, I am still waiting for my copy of the pivotal Full Moon O Sagashite V. 4, which takes place soon after the major bombshell revelations of the upcoming V. 3! I am still waiting for a copy that I ordered, and yet it seems to be on backorder… this might be bad since we’re coming to the point of review and I don’t have it yet to review. Hopefully next week I have better news for you on this front.

Overall?
With a solid start out of the starting gate I’m looking forward to the coming weeks of review.
And just a note, I have an Open Letter to Arina Tanemura in the works… I’ll submit it in the coming days. Otherwise you know the drill, because once again I am floored by this read. With solid writing all about, solid artwork from all involved in the creation of the read, strong cast of characters, good plotting with lots of emotion and feeling slathered all over it? You should find yourself quite receptive to the read once you get to know it well… so no, Arina Tanemura, I am not going to be one of those who are going to level “severe” remarks against you. And no, I also won’t hold it against you that you will not read my reviews unless somebody mails it to you in an e-mail. Doesn’t bother me in the slightest.
So, for those of you who are not Arina Tanemura or her co-workers, please feel free to wander out into the summer sunlight (the sun, contrary to popular belief via a certain shirt sold from the online store at G4TV, is not trying to kill you… much) and get to know Full Moon O Sagashite. You won’t regret it. Promise.

-- David Rasmussen 18th Jun 06