Full Moon O Sagashite

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

Full Moon O Sagashite V. 3

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? Wait, too late, things are about to go severe now that revelations abound are about to be served up ala revenge… a dish best served cold.

It seems that we’ve been watching the “progress” of dead girl walking 12 year old Mitsuki Koyama, and the already dead but lingering towards Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore in Ghost exsistence harbinger of death Takuto (in that order) as we open the doors on the revelation bound third 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, which is something that is gone into this time out. But before Eichi left long ago 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.

As you can see, as we rolled into Volume 3 we have noticed that Mitsuki’s 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.

But that didn’t stop Mitsuki. She ran away from her grandmother’s home and fought to chase the dream, with her career already on the roller coaster track of swings and swerves with a mix of hard tests and rocky moments strewn along her path to stardom. After a little soul searching, and the soon “solved” problem of interfering Shinigami Izumi Lio and Jonathan (who end up as two new companions in the growing spiritual line up living with Mitsuki), we come to the present problem at hand… the revelation that Mitsuki’s cancer doctor is now FullMoon’s new producer!

Volume 3
From the word go you can tell that having the good Dr. Wakaoji nearly figures out that Mitsuki and FullMoon are one in the same, which he ultimately doesn’t, let’s talk about his slip of the tongue about much talked about but seldom seen boy Eichi. His mentioning Eichi convinces Takuto to approach Wakaoji and speak to him (visible to the doctor), but that was a mistake becase (surprise surprise) it turns out the doctor once was in a band with Mitsuki’s dad AND a certain “rude” and “nasty” youth named Takuto Kira who, yes, is the SAME Takuto who only vaguely remembers who he is.

Expect a good harsh dose of Total Recall (hold the Schwarzenegger) and a lot of soul searching.
Which, by the way, may be exactly what Mitsuki is going to have to do next volume because it seems she has known for the longest time the truth about Eichi, and that is a truth… you have to WAIT to see!
Sorry, wait a review and you’ll see, honest.

Oh, and now Takuto and Meroko are talking about sparing Mitsuki’s life as of this volume, but whether or not that happens in the end will only be known when we get to the end (still sometime off)… but not too far off, because after all I think they wrapped Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne with 7 volumes so we might be nearing the cut off point for Full Moon O Sagashite soon… maybe.
Otherwise there’s a major batch of revelations, quite a few flashback sequences, and everything is tossed up into the air as we roll into Volume 4 and some major shakeups. But that’s next time, this is now… breadown time!

Full Moon O Breakdown the 3rd
What’s Hot?
Full Moon O Sagashite continues to rise and shine is a promise reaching full moon status as we roll into Volume 3, showing it’s strength as the title continues forward and continues to get better with each volume. Full Moon O Sagashite is now a promise fulfilled 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 dark twist of the knife that shows off the title’s strengths in full.

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… ok, NOW the title is getting abit of a dark taint (with darker revelations being dragged into the light) but that shouldn’t stop you from reading it. Aria it ain’t, but that can be a good thing (take the dark yet well written Gunslinger Girl for instance).

Moments to Remember?
Quite abit about the title is memorable, actually, which grows as we roll from 3 to 4.

What to Ignore?
Yes, I’m going to start ordering Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne and start reviewing it soon. Promise.
But one thing you don’t need to ignore is my wait for Full Moon O Sagashite V. 4, which has come in which means there will be a review of it next week! Promise!

Overall?
With a solid start out of the starting gate I’m looking forward to the coming review for the first break… because we’re going into next week’s review knowing there’ll be a little breather until I review Full Moon O Sagashite V. 5 to 6 and Full Moon O Sagashite DVD V. 1 in July.
Otherwise I’ll see you back here next week then! See you then!

-- David Rasmussen 18th Jun 06