Looking for the Full Moon

__Introduction/Blurb:
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Full Moon wo Sagashite is telling the story of the 12-year-old girl and orphan Mitsuki, who is currently living with her grandmother. Mitsuki loves to sing since her childhood, but unfortunately, her illness made singing impossible for her. Nevertheless, she wants to achieve her dream of becoming a singer herself and with that she wants to keep the promise she had made with her childhood friend and first love Eichi. One day, she discovers her ability to see Shinigami, while being visited by the full-fledged Shinigami Meroko and the half-baked not yet Shinigami Takuto. With the message presented that Mitsuki would only have one more year to live, she takes the decision to make her dream come true, while also asking the Shinigami to help her out with their supernatural powers, until she would reach her predetermined day of death.

__Background/Relations:
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As I’ve only seen the anime and not (yet) read the manga of Full Moon wo Sagashite, which was created by Arina Tanemura, this review of the series has to be seen as a stand-alone and not as a description of how well it adopts the story from the manga to the anime.

Furthermore, a little research (based on other opinions/discussions) has shown that the Anime and Manga differ in many aspects. Some things seem to be told in the anime with a different approach, some aspects have been changed and some things have even been left out completely.

Arina Tanemura is, besides Full Moon wo Sagashite, mostly known for her shoujo manga as I.O.N., Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne and Time Stranger Kyoko. Viewers that have watched the anime Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne before, might be reminded at it (art style-wise), while watching Full Moon wo Sagashite. Although, it should be mentioned that these two works have been adapted by different animation studios. (Full Moon wo Sagashite by Studio DEEN and Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne by Toei Animation)

The animation seems to be okay/acceptable for the time in which it was published (2002-2003) and it also seems to be held close to the typical art style of Arina Tanemura. Nothing outstanding, but still enjoyable.

__Story/Setting Overview:
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The most important topics in the story are:

Youth and Growing up

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It’s a story about overcoming difficulties in life and about not giving up. A story about encountering others with a shackling effect of making an impact on them, while also overcoming the own hurdles on the way and growing further.

Music & the Music Industry

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During her time as a young artist, Mitsuki encounters many typical topics related to the music industry as i.e. scary paparazzi, rumors spread in the show business, Rivalry with other artists, and even a photographer setting up a fake story. Nonetheless, Mitsuki grows more and more and works as hard as possible, while not losing hope.

Love & Friendship/Family

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With the background stories related to Eichi, her grandmother, her parents and even the further relations to her fathers’ band Route L, Wakaouji-Sensei and the complex story relating to the Shinigami, there are many possibilities for human (and non-human) interaction, bonding and more or less complicated relations between them.

Supernatural occurrences & the Illness

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With a little supernatural help from Takuto and Meroko, Mitsuki is able to transform to a 16-year-old version of herself with blond dyed hair. This enables her to enter the music audition and later on to perform as the artist Fullmoon in the series. While being transformed, Mitsuki is perfectly fine and healthy, but as soon as being changed back her health issues come back to her as well. While at some points it seems to be a cat-and-mouse game of not being discovered, Mitsuki tries to keep up her built-up story, more or less successfully.

Wrap-Up: (Minor spoilers included)
The story surrounds the question if one’s destiny/fate can be changed or not. About duties, which need to be fulfilled, but also about rightfulness, friendship and love. It shows clearly what it means to fight and the importance and ability to change certain things. In its’ story-telling it even achieves to portray not only the protagonists, but also the antagonists in a relatable way, so that the viewer is even able to sympathize with them.

Instead of showing one singer making it on her own, there are many people (friends/team/staff etc) surrounding and supporting and depicts therefore a little insight into the japanese music industry and the different steps, which are to be taken, as a young artist.

The pacing of the 52-episode long series seems a little off, though. While the beginning was rather slow-paced, the end seems to be finished/closed rather quickly as if the story was not from the beginning planned to be that long (/or short). A little bit more consistency wouldn’t have been bad in retrospect as there were many complex topics mixed up in each other, even to an extent, where one would say that the story would have been better off without these. The extent of the supernatural aspects are indeed a matter of taste, but the story could have been told nicely even without it (or with less).

Overall the story is enjoyable, while the audio might or might not be to one’s taste. While I got more used specific songs/performances which seemed to be rather odd in the beginning, it suited the series itself well.

Definitively, the series is enjoyable, although some aspects seemed rather odd to me and left often a wth-was-that-exactly-expression on my face and in my thoughts. For sure, this series delivers some unexpected things and might even be good to clear away ones’ cobwebs. An interesting and nowadays unusual watch for sure.