Full Moon (manga)

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Full Moon o Sagashite
満月をさがして (Full Moon wo Sagashite - Searching for the Full Moon)
Genre	Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Magical girl, Music, Romance, Shōjo, Supernatural
Manga: Full Moon o Sagashite
Authored by	Arina Tanemura
Publisher	Shueisha
Other publishers: Viz Media Glenat Egmont Manga and Anime Seoul Media Group Glenat Bongkoch Comics
Serialized in	Ribon Magazine
Original run	January 2002 – June 2004
No. of volumes	7 (30 chapters)
TV anime : Full Moon wo Sagashite
Directed by	Toshiyuki Kato
Studio	Studio Deen
Network	TV Tokyo (Japan) Tooniverse
Original run	6 April 2002 – 29 March 2003
No. of episodes	52

Full Moon o Sagashite (満月をさがして, Furu Mūn wo sagashite^?, literally "Searching for the Full Moon"), often shortened to Full Moon, is a Japanese shōjo manga and anime series by Arina Tanemura. The kanji in the Japanese title are read "furu mūn" (i.e. Full Moon) and not mangetsu or mitsuki. The full title is always used in Japan whereas in the U.S. the full title is present only on the front cover of the manga.

Originally this manga was serialised in Ribon, a Japanese magazine for girls. The manga series ended in 2004. There are a total of seven volumes and an artbook. The manga is published in English by VIZ Media with translations by Tomo Kimura. As the manga began to gain popularity, an anime version of the story was simultaneously made and completed before the manga's ending. Produced by Nihon Ad Systems, the anime enjoyed high ratings. It aired on TV Tokyo and has been licensed in North America by VIZ Media.

Contents 1 Story 2 Characters 2.1 Humans 2.2 Shinigami 3 Songs in the anime 4 English adaptations 4.1 English-dubbed anime 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Story

Full Moon focuses on a 12-year-old girl named Mitsuki Koyama. Mitsuki is a talented singer who dreams of becoming a pop idol, but she is afflicted by throat cancer, which is curable only through a surgery that will require the removal of her vocal cords. At the beginning of the series, she is visited by two shinigami whom only she can see, Takuto and Meroko, who go by the team name "Negi Ramen" or "Onion Noodles." These shinigami accidentally tell her she has but one year left to live. Mitsuki realizes she cannot wait any longer and attempts to achieve her dream of becoming a singer. However, she does not look old enough to be a singer, so she makes a deal with one of the shinigami, Takuto, to transform her into a 16-year-old. In her 16-year-old form, her throat is healthy, and she is able to sing without any difficulty. She uses the stage name "Full Moon" to hide her identity from the public. To start a career as a singer, 16-year-old Mitsuki auditions in a singing contest. Though there is much competition, she is able to win over the judges with her enthusiasm for singing and her excellent voice.

Mitsuki decided to become a singer two years before the shinigami's arrival, when she was 10 years old. She made a promise with Eichi Sakurai, a 16-year-old boy she met in her orphanage, that they would both achieve their dreams together. Eichi wanted to become an astronomer and Mitsuki wanted to become a singer. Shortly after, Eichi was adopted and emigrated to America before Mitsuki could express her feelings for him. Because Mitsuki is fated to die, she is intent on achieving her dream and meeting Eichi before her death. Mitsuki hopes that one day Eichi will hear her songs and return to her so they can be together again.

Shortly after her first audition to become a singer, the plot of the manga and anime of this series separate. The plot of the manga and anime have some common themes, but they become quite different as the story advances. In addition, several of the characters in the manga have different histories and personalities from their counterparts in the anime.

[edit] Characters

Names are in Western order, with the surname after the given name.

[edit] Humans

Mitsuki Koyama (神山満月, Kōyama Mitsuki^?)

• Voiced by: myco (Japanese), Katie Rowan (English)

The protagonist, she dreams of becoming a pop singer, but suffers from throat cancer, restricting her ability to sing. She is an orphan who grew up in an orphanage school, and later with her strict grandmother, who forbids her from singing. She is told that she will die if the surgery to remove her vocal cords is not performed, but Mitsuki still refuses the surgery, saying that she would rather die than not be able to sing.

One day, two Shinigami, Takuto and Meroko, who only she could see, visited her and informed her that in one year, she will die. Driven by this, she went on to pursue her dreams of being a singer, much to the dismay of the Shinigami.

With Takuto's help, she is able to transform into Full Moon, a sixteen-year-old pop idol, completely free of cancer and able to sing. She wants to become a singer because she wants to tell her love, Eichi Sakurai, that she loves him. Mitsuki lost contact with Eichi when he moved from the orphanage to America. In the manga, after he leaves, Mitsuki realizes that she loved him. She waited to call him in America and tell him her feelings, but later finds out on television that his plane had crashed and sees his name on the list of the deceased. In the anime, Eichi dies of a car crash. Although she knew about his death all along, she went into denial and pretended not to know due to her intense pain. Eventually, the Shinigami find out about Eichi's death, and Mitsuki is forced to deal with Eichi's death.

In the anime, Mitsuki does not learn about Eichi's death until much later in the series, when she travels to America with Ms. Oshige and Dr. Wakaoji. In this case, Eichi and his parents died in a car crash. Upon hearing about Eichi's death, Mitsuki runs away and goes to Eichi's grave, wanting to die and be with Eichi. Upon her return to Japan, Mitsuki becomes extremely depressed and decides to give up on singing, despite numerous attempts to convince her otherwise. However, after Izumi's attempt to take her soul and after hearing Takuto talk about his memories and how he regrets committing suicide, Mitsuki decides to sing again so that she can live her life to the fullest.

Later in the manga, it is revealed the reason she can see Shinigami is that there was a soul of a dead person surrounding her. At the same time, it is revealed the soul is Eichi, who has been watching over her all this time. She is hit with the Sycthe of Fate, which removes Eichi's soul from her body.

Three years later, she returns as a singer under her real name, meeting Takuto and confessing she loves him. Holding Takuto's hand, she sings the last song for her concert, and finally Eichi's soul leaves her.

Full Moon (フルムーン, Furumuun^?)

• Voiced by: myco (Japanese)

A pop idol and the stage name of Mitsuki Koyama in her 16-year-old form. The reason Mitsuki chooses this stage name is because Eichi's goal is to become an astronomer, and the term "full moon" reminds her of him. It is also because Mitsuki's name means "full moon" in Japanese. Mitsuki's Full Moon appearance is dependent on Takuto's powers; none of the other Shinigami are capable of initiating Mitsuki's transformation.

Unlike Mitsuki, Full Moon is healthy, and therefore can sing. She is discovered by Seed Records and is selected from their audition. Full Moon is a major hit, releasing several singles in the anime, including "Myself" and "Eternal Snow."

In the manga, like the anime, Mitsuki debuts as a singer under the alias "Full Moon." However, unlike the anime, she does not gain instant overwhelming success and popularity as Full Moon, and instead struggles to survive in charts. She also releases several singles, including "Ange" and "Missing Link".

Eichi Sakurai (桜井英知, Sakurai Eichi^?) -

• Voiced by: Ryohei Kimura (Japanese), Graden Gant (English)

Mitsuki's first love. After his parents died, Eichi lived with his grandfather until he, too, died. When he cried, the moon always shone on him, not leaving him alone, so he decided to hate the moon. He was then moved to the orphanage where he met Mitsuki. They became fast friends, and due to her he realizes that instead of the moon torturing him, it was trying to tell him he was not alone. Mitsuki was heartbroken when he went to America, as she could not yet confess her true feelings to him. Part of the reason she wanted to become a singer was to find him. However, in the manga, Eichi died when the plane transporting him to America crashed Much of the manga revolves around Mitsuki dealing with Eichi's death.

In the anime, Eichi dies in a car crash in America, and Mitsuki does not discover this fact until much later in the series, when she finally gets to travel to America.

In the manga, Takuto meets Eichi on his first assignment. As Eichi was dying, he told Takuto that he couldn't give up his soul, saying that only one girl could take or release his soul. Then his body sinks into the sea. He becomes a ghost and watches over Mitsuki, granting her the ability to see Shinigami, even when her name is later removed from the list of the ones fated to die. When Sheldan tries to take Mitsuki's soul, it is discovered that Eichi is the reason Mitsuki can see the shinigami. At the end of the manga, he sees that Mitsuki is happy with her career and with Takuto, and leaves her with a smile and with tears in his eyes.

Fuzuki Koyama (神山文月, Kōyama Fuzuki^?)

• Voiced by: Kazuko Sugiyama (Japanese), Maureen Jones (English)

Fuzuki is Mitsuki's grandmother. She initially hates music because she believes that music stole away everyone she loved. She is strongly against any music, and becomes angry when Mitsuki sings in her house.

In the anime, Fuzuki fell in love with a man who wanted to become a famous pianist, and the two were engaged. He became 'obsessed' with practicing piano, and when she suggested that he should relax a bit, he pushed her away and said she did not understand. Then he left Japan, and it broke Fuzuki's heart.

Fuzuki's fiancee was not the only person who caused her to despise music. Her daughter, Hazuki Koyama, Mitsuki's deceased mother, was in love, and eventually engaged to Aoi Koga, Mitsuki's deceased father, whom Fuzuki despised. He was also the guitarist from one of the most famous music groups in Japan, Route:L. Fuzuki loved Hazuki very much, but yet detested what she was currently doing with a music group. In the anime, Fuzuki had mentioned in a flashback that Hazuki was sick in someway, and was afraid that her beloved daughter would die from childbirth because she was pregnant with Mitsuki. Hazuki ran out the door, her last words to Fuzuki being "I hate you, Mother!" When her daughter died, and after Aoi died when she was one, Fuzuki was left with the responsibility of caring and looking after her only grandchild, Mitsuki, which she cherished because she was all she had left.

In episode 38 of the anime, after Mitsuki won the New Artist of the Year award, she was given the prize of a trip to America, not only to see Eichi, but also to meet a Mr. Jon Halberd who had developed a procedure with throat cancer that could remove the tumor in Mitsuki's throat without harming her vocal cords. Fuzuki heard this, yet still denied it, because she was still under the certain fact that even though this could save Mitsuki's life, her body is still too weak to leave the country. When her grandmother would not listen to her, Mitsuki then told her that she hated her. She ran out, with Fuzuki witnessing the same reaction as her late daughter had shown, with a shocked look.

In episode 46 of the anime, when Mitsuki began to sing at the roof of the hospital after being lured there hypnotically by Izumi, still not yet recovered from the loss of Eichi, Fuzuki found her, beginning to cry, saying she did not want her to die. When Mitsuki began to sing at the end, her grandmother wanted to listen, telling Wakaouji that it would be the first time she actually heard Mitsuki sing. Afterwards, she no longer detests music, and had then become a more understanding grandmother, and smiling most towards the end of the series.

In the manga, Fuzuki was friends with Meroko (when she was a human) and they both fell in love with a violinist, Seijyuro Koga. The man chose Fuzuki as his fiancee, but after Meroko/Moe committed suicide, broke off the engagement. Later in her life, Fuzuki married someone else and had Hazuki.

Later, Hazuki fell in love with Aoi Koga, the son of the violinist that both Fuzuki and Meroko/Moe fell in love with, and a member from the band Route:L. She eloped with him, and was killed in an accident when rushing to the hospital when she went into labor. Fuzuki was only left with Mitsuki.

Devastated by the loss of her daughter, Fuzuki became very strict with Mitsuki in hopes that she would not lose Mitsuki to music as well. After Mitsuki runs away from home to become Fullmoon, Fuzuki constantly worries about her and gradually realizes she cannot keep Mitsuki from music. When grandmother and granddaughter are reunited, Fuzuki comes to accept Mitsuki's desire to sing and the two reconciliate. Fuzuki later attends Fullmoon's final concert and also Mitsuki's concerts three years later in the company of Tanaka and Mitsuki's paternal grandfather and her new husband, Seijyuro.

Yoneya Tanaka (田中よね, Tanaka Yoneya^?)

• Voiced by: Mayumi Akado

The maid at Mitsuki's home. She acts silly at times, but cares deeply for both Fuzuki and Mitsuki. Tanaka is skilled at cooking, cleaning, and shopping, and appears to take pride in her abilities as a maid. She is also something of a snoop and often eavesdrops on conversations. In the anime, Tanaka is shown to have a love of music and keeps a radio with headphones so that she can listen to music without Fuzuki finding out.

Tanaka has a crush on Dr. Wakaoji in the anime, and is jealous of Ms. Oshige, mistakenly believing her to be Wakaoji's fiancee. In one episode, she challenges Ms. Oshige to a contest to see which of the two would make a better bride. Although Tanaka outperforms Ms. Oshige in all the events, she sees Wakaoji and Oshige laughing together on their return from the final event, and sadly concedes the contest, believing the two to be in love.

Keiichi Wakaoji (若王子圭一, Wakaōji Keiichi^?)

• Voiced by: Teruaki Ogawa

Dr. Wakaouji is Mitsuki's doctor and a friend of her deceased father. He performed in the band Route L with Mitsuki's father Aoi Koga and Takuto Kira and plays the keyboard. Fans call him "Prince" (because "Wakaouji" literally means "young prince"). In the manga, he was the doctor who performed the surgery on Takuto which removed his vocal cords in order to save his life. He also witnessed Takuto commit suicide.

In the manga, Mitsuki (as Full Moon) discovers Wakaouji loved her mother because of a letter she had written him, but ends up falling in love with Ms. Oshige when he finally discovers she was the one who wrote the letter to him all those years ago. In a side story at the end of the manga, he asks Oshige to marry him, and she accepts.

Masami Oshige (大重正実, Ōshige Masami^?)

• Voiced by: Tomomi Seo

Ms. Oshige is Full Moon's manager and an avid fangirl of Route L, especially Dr. Wakaoji, who she eventually begins dating in the manga. She started out as an idol singer herself, under the stage name Yuina Hanakazari (花飾結菜, Hanakazari Yuina), but was not very successful. She is completely in love with the Prince in the manga, and in an extra story in which Mitsuki was named by Takuto, she is shown as an idol singer, meeting with the Prince. In the manga, she and Dr. Wakaoji get engaged.

Madoka Wakamatsu (若松 円, Wakamatsu Madoka^?) / Chisato Kurebayashi (暮林　千暁, Kurebayashi Chisato^?)

• Voiced by: Kana (Japanese), Carol-Anne Day (English)

Madoka is Full Moon's rival in the music industry, but at the same time befriends twelve-year-old Mitsuki. At her audition, Madoka sang the song Eternal Snow by Route:L, chosing the song she overheard that Full Moon wanted to sing as well. She hoped that she if she sang it first, the producer would not let Full Moon sing it. Eventually both Full Moon and Madoka had a single produced under the title Eternal Snow. However, there are some differences in the song. Madoka's version of Eternal Snow is Diamond Dust Remix. Near the end of the anime, Madoka performs her version of Eternal Snow in Full Moon's Final Live Concert.

In the manga, Madoka doesn't even know what song Full Moon was singing for her commercial. Mitsuki wrote a song about the Mermaid that couldn't get her feelings through and died. Earlier Meroko gave Izumi the lyrics, and he put it on Madoka's desk saying that it was a fan's and would like her to use them. Later Madoka learned that Full Moon had written the song she sang. She was devastated about singing the song and winning the commercial competition with a song she hadn't written. She gave the assignment to Full Moon, saying that she couldn't do it because she didn't want to win by cheating.

Madoka, while talented, initially lacks the heart Mitsuki places into her songs and is constantly upstaged. She is friendly, but when it comes to rivalry with Full Moon, she gets angry. In addition, she is insecure because she had plastic surgery to make herself beautiful enough to become a celebrity and was disowned by her family as a result.

Madoka also has a chibi pig called Gutchan, who worships her (Gutchan slapped her in the face which started the result, which had Madoka open up her heart after getting slapped). She seems to despise him, but cares for him in reality.

Nachi (那智, Nachi^?) / Soichiro Shido (紫堂　総一郎, Shidou Souchirou^?)

Appears only in the manga. The lead singer of the duo OZ, who becomes a good friend of Mitsuki because she was the first person in the music industry to genuinely smile as she spoke to him. He cherishes her friendship and takes it upon himself to find a stalker hurting people close to her.

Nachi and Madoka fall in love (though Madoka's Gutchan is jealous and dislikes him), but their relationship takes a dive when (in a side story) Madoka finds him with a photo of herself as "Chisato" (before plastic surgery) and her rather unattractive childhood fiancé, Soichirō Shidō. Believing that Nachi and Soichiro are childhood friends and because Chisato had offended Soichiro by declaring she would not marry such an ugly boy, Madoka thinks Nachi is out to avenge Soichiro and runs off, thinking that Nachi's feelings for her are just a ruse to get revenge.

Madoka/Chisato goes to apologize to Soichiro's mother and asks to break off the engagement because she loves Nachi, only to discover Soichiro is Nachi. Soichiro/Nachi, who loved Chisato, had decided to get plastic surgery and become an idol in hopes of making her love him. In the end, they remain engaged (and Nachi wins Gutchan's approval).

Hikari Hayashi ( , Hikari Hayashi^?)

Appears only in the manga. She was Takuto's girlfriend while he was alive. After dating for a while, Takuto discovered that she was cheating on him with someone else. Their relationship apparently began to take a downhill slide, and Hikari was about to break up with Takuto when he committed suicide. By the time Hikari realized that she still loved Takuto, he was already dead.

Two years later, she makes her manga debut in Chapter 24, helping Mitsuki plan for her first concert. At this point, Hikari is engaged to someone, but still wears the ring that Takuto gave her while he was alive and is apparently unable to forget Takuto. She shows Mitsuki a picture of her and Takuto together and tells her of their relationship. When she notices how depressed Mitsuki becomes upon hearing the news, she gives her a pair of tickets to an amusement park. Mitsuki gives one of the tickets to Takuto, and the two of them arrange to go out on a date.

Later, when Takuto is on his way to the date (using his energy to make it so that other people can see him), he sees Hikari arguing with her fiancee and stands up for her. Hikari sees his face and drags him off, believing him to be Takuto (although Takuto insists that he is, in fact, someone named Takuya). She forces him to spend time with her, threatening commit suicide if he leaves. After a few hours, they step out of the rain, and Hikari kisses Takuto, who starts to kiss her back, but then notices Mitsuki standing nearby. He breaks away from Hikari and calls after Mitsuki, but she has already run away.

In the next chapter, Takuto and Hikari are seen talking during a flashback. Takuto tells Hikari that if she wants real love, she has to express her feelings and only say the truth, no matter how hard it is. After he leaves, Hikari looks down at the pictures she and Takuto had taken in a photo booth earlier, and notices that Takuto's face has disappeared from all of the pictures. She looks up with a smile and says that Takuto is even more good-looking than he used to be. In the last chapter, she is seen clapping with a sad smile on her face as Takuto and Mitsuki kiss.

[edit] Shinigami

The shinigami are spirits who committed suicide when they were human and are consequently punished with the task of collecting souls. The manga goes into more detail on the past lives of the shinigami. Of all the shinigami's lives as humans, only Takuto's is covered in the anime. If a shinigami fully remembers his/her past life before becoming a full Shinigami, he/she is to disappear and to become a ghost.

Takuto Kira (タクト・キラ, Takuto Kira^?) / Takuto Kira (吉良　托人, Kira Takuto^?)

• Voiced by: Yasuo Saitou (Japanese), Jeffrey Watson (English)

Takuto is partnered with Meroko, and they are assigned to take Mitsuki's soul. His shinigami costume is a cat outfit (with a backpack with wings), without which he would not enjoy the power of flight because he is not yet a full shinigami and hence has not sprouted wings of his own. Takuto is capable of transforming into an anthropomorphic cat plushie. Takuto transforms Mitsuki into a 16-year-old to help her participate in a singing audition. Meroko loves Takuto and gets very jealous whenever he shows affection towards Mitsuki. During the manga he remembers his past as the youngest member of Route L and also develops romantic feelings for Mitsuki. He becomes depressed at times, especially when Mitsuki talks about Eichi, the boy she loves. Towards the story's end, Takuto resolves to save Mitsuki's life, violating fate and his duty as a shinigami. Meanwhile, Mitsuki finally reciprocates Takuto's affection.

In his past life, Takuto was once a lead singer in Route:L, the same band that both Mitsuki's father and doctor were in. Takuto also named Mitsuki and Takuto did meet Mitsuki when she was 7 years old when Dr. Wakaouji introduced them. He developed a malignant tumor in his throat, just as Mitsuki later did. Wakaouji removed the tumor in surgery, but it made Takuto lose his voice. Unable to bear the thought of being unable to sing, Takuto jumped from the top floor of the hospital and became a shinigami. Upon remembering his past life, he slowly disappears, but Meroko and Mitsuki manage to stop him in time.

In the anime, Takuto drove his motorbike off a cliff as soon as he found out about his tumor and its consequences. At the end of the anime, he is reborn again at an unknown age (presumed 16 years old by most fans) and doesn't remember anything until Mitsuki yells for Meroko and Takuto sees her while holding a feather he had gotten from Meroko, who had been watching over him ever since his rebirth.

In the manga, he commits suicide after Keiichi operates on him, and is unable to speak. Unlike in the anime, instead of riding off a cliff in a motorcycle, he jumps off a building. Near the end of the manga, when Jonathan/Sheldon tries to take Mitsuki's soul, Takuto jumps in front of the scythe, and both of them are hit. Although the Death Master says that the scythe had no effect on Takuto, he later begins to disappear. He wakes up in a coma (was never dead) with no memory. However, he is able to speak because Sheldan and Mystere healed his throat. He remembers everything after about three months. In the final chapter of the manga, he appears at Mitsuki's concert and shows himself to Mitsuki, who confesses to loving him. The end of the manga sees them standing on the stage, smiling and holding hands.

Meroko Yui (めろこ・ユイ, Yui Meroko^?) / Moe Rikyou (里匡 萌, Rikyou Moe^?)

• Voiced by: Chieko Honda (Japanese), Leda Davies (English)

Meroko is Takuto's partner and is infatuated with him, though her love is unrequited. Meroko is a rabbit shinigami with long ears, and she is capable of transforming into an anthropomorphic bunny stuffed toy. In the anime, she is rather fond of changing her appearance into other characters, and her trademark phrase in the anime is "Mero Mero Change!"

In the anime, she is initially portrayed as a stickler to the rules, often consulting the Shinigami handbook, but her love for both Takuto and Mitsuki eventually gets the better of her. Meroko's ultimate fate after agreeing to sacrifice herself along with a fading Takuto is to become an angel.

In the manga, she is jealous due to Takuto's affection for Mitsuki, and occasionally vents her wrath on Mitsuki. She fears that Mitsuki will make Takuto recover his memories, and if he does, he will become a ghost. In the end, however, she is considerably softened and finally realizes that she has loved Izumi all along.

Meroko, who was named Moe Rikyou when she was alive, was Mitsuki's grandmother's best friend. Mitsuki's grandmother, Fuzuki, was engaged to be married and Moe was a 16-year-old girl. One day they both met a violinist and the trio spent much time together from then on. Moe fell in love with the violinist, but he loved Mitsuki's grandmother so he became engaged to her and the person who was once engaged to her was passed on to Moe. When she was told the news, she rushed to Fuzuki's house to see if it was true and caught Fuzuki and the violinist kissing, then abruptly ran off. Later on, her fiancee tried to rape her and she ran away in the rain. Feeling depressed and suicidal, Moe slit her wrists and bled to death.

In the manga, she was able to resolve her issues with Fuzuki when she found out the real family line of Mitsuki; Fuzuki did not marry the violinist. Even though it was forbidden to show their old form to those they lived with in the past life she showed herself once more as a ghost to Fuzuki. She also visits Fuzuki in her rabbit form and they are quite friendly with one other, with Fuzuki often providing sweets for Meroko.

Later in the manga, she and Takuto attempt to take Mitsuki's name off the death list. Meroko ventures alone into the Death Master's room, and finds out that it was all a trap, and that Sheldon had gone to take Mitsuki's soul. After receiving keys to Takuto's cell from the Death Master, Meroko frees Takuto. While being chased by underling shinigami, she tells Takuto to go to ahead, confessing that she still loves Izumi; he leaves, and she turns to face the shinigami on her own. However, Takuto comes back to protect her, and she realizes that at one point, she loved him, too. She and Takuto reappear on Earth to protect Mitsuki from Sheldon.

At the end of the manga, Izumi and Meroko become partners again.

Meroko's shinigami name, Meroko Yui, is an anagram of Moe Rikyou.

Izumi Rio (いずみ・リオ, Izumi Rio^?) / Rio Izumi (泉　利緒, Izumi Rio^?)

• Voiced by: Megumi Ogata

Izumi is a shinigami who appears later in the story. He is somewhat cold-hearted and distant, particularly in the anime. Of all the characters in the series, Izumi is the only one whose personality and plot role are noticeably different in the manga and its anime adaptation.

Izumi is capable of transforming into an anthropomorphic dog plushie. However, he does not do so often because his animal form renders him unable to speak and use his powers, and because it takes a lot of his energy to change back. Despite these difficulties, his animal form is seen a few times in the manga. In the anime, Izumi's animal form is never seen.

In the anime, Izumi's background story is not mentioned and he is portrayed throughout as a cold-hearted character, often as the serie's main antagonist. He makes several attempts to steal Mitsuki's soul over the course of the series, and although he claims to love Meroko, he only seems to do things that cause her pain (as Takuto points out). It is also revealed later that he was the one who assigned Takuto and Meroko to Mitsuki in order to force Takuto to remember his past life as a human by taking the soul of the daughter of his former friend.

In contrast, he is a tragic figure and has an understanding personality in the manga. He was a 6-year-old boy whose mother hated him. When his father died, his mother lost her mind and beat Izumi for growing up to be like his father. When she beat him, she thought that she was scolding his father for leaving her. In an effort to make his mother happy for once, he ran off while they were out shopping and stood in front of an oncoming train. He saw his mother smile as he was hit, but somehow it didn't satisfy him even though he believed that it was what he wanted to see. Later on, his mother died and Izumi went to take her soul, telling his mother that he had became a shinigami. Eventually, Mitsuki's gentleness makes Izumi realize that he had wanted his mother to call his name while he stood on the railway tracks.

He was once Meroko's partner in the Pediatric Death Ward. Meroko loved him, but he did not return the feelings. Tired of her frequent declarations of love, he tricked her into accepting a new partnership by sending her to train newcomer Takuto in his place. When Meroko fell in love with Takuto, Izumi realized that he loved her and spends much of both the anime and the manga trying to get her back.

He is, at one point, captured by Sheldon and is tortured with memories he forgot as a human. He tricks Mitsuki, assisting Sheldon. Sheldon tells Mitsuki, "Everytime he touches your pure heart, he realizes how stained he is, and it hurts him." He has only one memory left, but is afraid to see it, because if it will not offer him salvation, nothing will.

In the end, he recalls the memory, and sees that his mother is smiling through tears of guilt and relief, watching him die and thinking he must escape from her. She also reveals that she had to tell herself not to call out, and that she was sorry for not being able to love him. In the end, Izumi resolves to protect Mitsuki. At the end of the manga, he and Meroko team up again as angels.

Izumi likes to call other characters by nicknames (Mitsuki is "Miki/Micky"; Takuto is "Tak-kun"; Meroko is "Me-chan"). In the English manga, however, Mitsuki is the only one he addresses with a nickname.

Jonathan (ジョナサン, Jonasan^?) / Boss Sheldan (シェルダン部長, Sherudan-buchou^?)

• Voiced by: Norihisa Mori

Jonathan is the Shinigami who becomes Izumi's partner after Meroko leaves. He wears a top hat and often speaks in English.

In the anime, Jonathan's role is fairly minor. He follows Izumi around and seems to annoy him a lot, but doesn't play a major role in the plot.

In the manga, Jonathan has a larger role. He was the one who revealed to Mitsuki that the Shinigami knew that Eichi had died, causing her to run away. Later, he exposed himself as a fanatic who tried to harm Fullmoon and her friends. Near the end of the manga, he reveals his true form: Sheldon, the head of the pediactrics ward.

As Sheldon, he attempts to take Mitsuki's life; however, Takuto, Meroko, and Izumi stop him. He calls for the Death Master to wield the Scythe of Fate. Later, he reveals that he hoped Mitsuki would live. He is the second shinigami, and uses up all his powers with the Death Master to get Takuto's voice back. He appears to show great affection for the Death Master.

In the manga, on one of the sidebars, Arina Tanemura mentions that one day with her friends, she drew a picture of what she thought 'Peeves' (From Harry Potter) looked like. After she was finished, she showed it to her friends, who laughed and said it did not look anything like 'Peeves', for Peeves has a human form (the picture she drew of Jonathan was in ghost form), and deciding not to waste it, she renamed the character and made it into a character for the manga.

In a couple of the extra four-panel comics at the end of a manga volume, Mitsuki asks what kind of animal she would be if she were a shinigami. Jonathan always responds, "A Female Jonathan" or "Jonako", for which Mitsuki slaps him.

Mystere (ミスティア, Misutia^?) / Death Master (死神主人, Desu Masutaa^?)

Appears only in the manga. She was the first human soul to descend to the underworld, and is known as the Death Master. She is a very fragile person. After discovering she could take the souls of humans, she encountered a dying young girl who asked her if she was a shinigami. Since then, she convinced herself that she was a Shinigami. She was later crowned queen of the underworld.

When Meroko enters the Death Master's room to steal the main list and erase Mitsuki's name from it, Mystere walks in on her and warns her of Sheldon's plan to take Mitsuki's soul. She then gives Meroko the keys to free Takuto, who is imprisoned in a cell. She later wields the Scythe of Fate on Mitsuki in order to find out why Mitsuki can see Shinigami. At the end of Chapter 29, she listens to Mitsuki's final performance as Fullmoon with a smile on her face.

At the end of the manga, Mystere and Sheldon use up all of their power to heal Takuto's throat. They appear to show great affection for each other, and she comments that unlike the last time she died, she has no regrets about leaving this time.

Mystere appears to be the most powerful of the shinigami, and can wield the Scythe of Fate, which can take the life of any human. She owns a small orb, in which resides a picture of the human girl, and it repeats her words. She likes to speak in metaphors. In a 4-panel side story, it is revealed her favorite word is "skull."

[edit] Songs in the anime

Opening Songs

Performed by THE★SCANTY, who makes several cameo appearances in the anime:

• "I ♥ U" (Episodes 1-26)
• "ROCK'N ROLL PRINCESS" (Episodes 27-52)

Ending Songs

The four ending songs of Full Moon o Sagashite are all songs Full Moon (Mitsuki) sings throughout the course of the anime. They were created and performed by Myco - Mitsuki's seiyū - and her band Changin' My Life. In order of appearance, these songs are:

• "New Future" (Episodes 1-6 and 52)
• "Myself" (Episodes 7-26)
• "Eternal Snow" (Episodes 27-42)
• "Love Chronicle" (Episodes 43-51)

Often, the songs relate to the plot. "Myself" and "New Future", with their references to romantic longing, reflect Mitsuki's yearning for Eichi and her efforts to find him. "Eternal Snow" was a song that was originally played by Route L, or Mitsuki's father's band. "Love Chronicle" alludes to Mitsuki's disheartenment near the end of the series, Takuto's efforts to revive Mitsuki's former self, and their eventual romance. Lastly, the anime's finale is aptly reflected in the title of "New Future", the first and last ending song.

"New Future" is also featured in the manga as the song Mitsuki sings at the end of the manga.

There is an insert song, "SMILE," also created by myco and Changin' My Life. This song is featured at the end of both the anime and the manga.

Another insert song is "Focus", created and sung by myco and Changin' My Life. It was sung by Mitsuki in her dream at the beginning of Episode 1.

[edit] English adaptations

[edit] English-dubbed anime

In 2005, VIZ Media had obtained the rights for Full Moon. VIZ released the first volume of Full Moon in an uncut bilingual DVD in June 2006. However, the songs were not redubbed in English, and the English dub often "switches" between English dialogue and Japanese singing. ^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Full Moon wo Sagashite on Animenfo.com
• Full Moon at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Full Moon wo Sagashite (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Full Moon wo Sagashite Song Lyrics
• Full Moon wo Sagashite English Fansite
• Full Moon wo Sagashite EichixMitsuki
• Full Moon wo Sagashite at Tanemura.INFO

Footnote: The spellings in the English version of Full Moon wo Sagashite manga vary slightly on occasion from the Japanese version. VIZ did this to make the pronunciation easier for English readers.