Full Moon o Sagashite (満月をさがして, Furu Mūn o Sagashite?, lit. "Searching for the Full Moon") is a Japanese shōjo manga by Arina Tanemura. According to the furigana, the kanji 満月 in the title are read furu mūn ("full moon") and not mangetsu or mitsuki, the Japanese words for the full moon. In North America, the series is published as Full Moon,[1] although the full title is given on the front cover.
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 with throat cancer, which is curable only through a surgery that could cost her her vocal chords and her ability to sing. The tumor in her throat also affects her ability to breathe well and sing loudly. On top of that, her grandmother hates music, and is completely opposed to Mitsuki's wish to audition. Her dreams seem impossible to achieve, until one day she is visited by two shinigami whom only she can see. Without knowing Mitsuki can see and hear them, they accidentally mention she only has one year left to live.
Realizing she cannot wait any longer to fulfill her dream, she runs away from her house and the shinigami to try to audition for a singing competition. However, the shinigami catch her before she is able to audition. Mitsuki moves one of the shinigami, Takuto, to make a deal with her—if she goes quietly when her one year is up, he will help her become a singer so that she may leave the world without any regrets. He gives her the ability to transform into a healthy 16-year-old self who is not encumbered by a throat tumor. Though there is much competition, she is able to win over the judges with her enthusiasm for singing and her excellent voice. To conceal her true identity, she chooses the stage name Fullmoon.
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 the next time they met, they would both be closer to their dreams. 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. Mitsuki hopes that by becoming a famous idol, Eichi will be able to hear her sing and realize her feelings for him.
Shortly after her first audition to become a singer, the plot of the manga and anime of this series separate. The two stories share common themes, but events develop differently as the series advances. In addition, several of the characters in the anime have different histories and personalities from their manga counterparts.
CharactersMitsuki Koyama (神山 満月, Kōyama Mitsuki?) Voiced by: myco (Japanese), Katie Rowan (English)
A 12-year-old girl who dreams of becoming a pop singer but a tumor in her vocal chords restricts her ability to sing. She is an orphan who grew up in an orphanage, then later went to live with her strict grandmother, Fuzuki, who forbid her from singing. When Mistuki learned that she would die if her vocal cords were not removed, she refused the surgery, saying that she would rather die than not be able to sing. With Takuto's help, she can transform into Fullmoon (フルムーン, Furumūn?), a 16-year-old pop idol, completely free of cancer and able to sing. As Fullmoon, she is discovered by Seed Records during an audition and releases several singles in both the manga and anime; the anime ending theme songs are all supposedly sung by her. Mitsuki chooses the stage name Fullmoon both because mitsuki means "full moon" in Japanese and because her childhood friend, Eichi Sakurai, wants to become an astronomer and the name reminds her of him.
Mitsuki wants to become a singer because she wants to tell Eichi that she loves him. However, the shinigami eventually discover that Eichi is dead. In the manga, they realize that Mitsuki knew all along; in the anime, Mitsuki learns of his death during a trip to America. Both the manga and anime revolve around Mitsuki dealing with Eichi's death, as well as her eventual feelings for Takuto.
Eichi Sakurai (桜井 英知, Sakurai Eichi?) Voiced by: Ryohei Kimura (Japanese), Graden Gant (English)
Mitsuki's childhood friend and first love. After his parents died, Eichi lived with his grandfather, then when he died as well, Eichi moved to the orphanage where he met Mitsuki. They became fast friends, and he eventually falls in love with her, confessing his feelings just before moving to America. Mitsuki was heartbroken when he left, as she could not yet confess her true feelings to him. Part of the reason she wants to become a singer is to find him. In the manga, Eichi dies when when his flight to America crashed; in the anime, Eichi dies in a car accident.
In the manga, Takuto's first assignment was taking Eichi's soul, but Eichi refused to depart the world and instead stays near Mitsuki as a spirit, which gives her the power to see shinigami. He stays with her until the end of the manga, when he leaves after seeing that she is now happy and wants live on, and no longer needs his presence.
Fuzuki Koyama (神山 文月, Kōyama Fuzuki?) Voiced by: Kazuko Sugiyama (Japanese), Maureen Jones (English)
Mitsuki's grandmother. She initially hates music because she believes that it has stolen everyone she has loved. She becomes angry when Mitsuki sings in her house. After Mitsuki runs away from home to become Fullmoon, Fuzuki constantly worries about her and gradually realizes she cannot keep Mitsuki from music, and the two reconcile.
In the manga, as a young woman Fuzuki was friends with Moe Rikyou (the human who became Meroko) and they both fell in love with a violinist, Seijuro Koga. He chose Fuzuki as his fiancée, but broke off the engagement after Moe committed suicide in despair. Fuzuki later married someone else and had Hazuki, who became Mitsuki's mother. At the end of the manga, Fuzuki reunites with Seijuro and they attend Mitsuki's concert together.
In the anime, Fuzuki was engaged to a man who wanted to become a famous pianist. He became obsessed with practicing the piano, and when she suggested that he should relax a bit, he said she did not understand and left Japan, breaking Fuzuki's heart.
Takuto Kira (タクト・キラ, Takuto Kira?) Voiced by: Yasuo Saitou (Japanese), Jeffrey Watson (English)
Takuto is Meroko partner and trainee, and they are assigned to take Mitsuki's soul. His shinigami costume is a cat outfit plus a backpack with wings without which, as a trainee shinigami, he cannot fly. Takuto is capable of transforming into an anthropomorphic cat plushie. Moved by Mitsuki's plight, he transforms her into the 16-year-old Fullmoon to let her audition as a singer, and develops romantic feelings for her. He becomes depressed at times, especially when Mitsuki talks about Eichi, the boy she loves. At the end of the series, Takuto saves Mitsuki's life, violating fate and his duty as a shinigami.
In the manga, he remembers his past as the lead singer of ROUTE:L, the band that both Mitsuki's father and doctor were in. While alive, he named Mitsuki and met her when she was four years old. He developed a malignant tumor in his throat, just as Mitsuki later did, and lost 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. In the anime, he instead drove his motorbike off a cliff when he first learns about the tumor. At the end of the series, it is revealed he was never dead, merely in a coma, which is why he could never be successful as a shinigami. In the manga, Takuto only lost his memories for 3 months when he woke up at the hospital. After 3 years, during Mitsuki's concert, he and Mitsuki reunited in which Mitsuki finally confessed her feelings to him. In the anime, Takuto is brought back to life in the final episode and at first had no memories, but seems to remember something when Mitsuki yells for him. His name as a human was Kira Takuto.
Meroko Yui (めろこ・ユイ, Meroko Yui?) Voiced by: Chieko Honda (Japanese), Leda Davies (English)
Meroko is a rabbit shinigami with long ears, capable of transforming into an anthropomorphic bunny stuffed toy. In the anime, she is fond of changing her appearance into other characters using the catchphrase "Mero Mero Change!" Meroko is Takuto's partner and is infatuated with him, though her love is unrequited. She is jealous of Takuto's affection for Mitsuki, and fears that being around Mitsuki will cause Takuto to remember his past, and thus become a ghost. Meroko was Izumi's former partner and was infatuated with him; when Izumi grew tired of her frequent declarations of love, he tricked her into training newcomer Takuto in his place. Although Meroko tries to fall in love with Takuto, she eventually realizes that she loved Izumi all along.
When Meroko was alive, she was Mitsuki's grandmother's best friend, Moe Rikyo (里匡萌, Rikyō Moe?) (of which her shinigami name is an anagram). Mitsuki's grandmother, Fuzuki, was engaged to be married when they both met, and fell in love with a violinist, Seijuro Koga. He loved Fuzuki, however, and eventually became engaged to her, whereupon her former fiancé was passed on to Moe. When Moe caught Fuzuki and the violinist kissing, she ran into the rain and committed suicide by slitting her wrists. Meroko is often linked to rain, and it is used as a symbol in the manga.
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