Full Moon O Sagashite

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

Full Moon O Sagashite V. 4

By David Rasmussen
25th 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 just got a major dose of This Is Your Life thrust down your throat, to the point of it almost making you non exsistant? It might change your thoughts on the person whose soul you came to harvest, to the point of you deciding you’ll not take her when the year ends… if possible.
To that end you might go and seek the guy you’ve been throwing fits about everytime you hear his name, only to finally get your fingers on a picture of him to realize that…

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 existence harbinger of death Takuto (in that order) for awhile now as we open the doors on the dark twists of the fourth 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!

This is not a good thing. 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 because (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… Eichi is dead.
Apparently his plane went down into the sea and Takuto (fresh as a shinigami) met Eichi’s spirit, only to fail to take him away as his spirit tells him he’s only going to go with Mitsuki, then dropping into the deep deep ocean… because love means never feeling overtly guilty about setting the stage for a sad ending to the series because you are full of yourself. Thanks, Eichi, thanks loads.

Volume 4
Now that the truth about Eichi has come to light all the “Friends of the Forest”, aka the Shinigami, have to do is keep their yaps shut about it… too bad subtlety is NOT their strong suit as they suddenly become all avoidance and silence which sets off major alarms for Mitsuki right off the bat.
Then again maybe they have a good reason for avoidance now that they know why Mitsuki does not fear death, mostly because she has a death wish and wants to die in order to join Eichi… which, really, wouldn’t work anyway since he threw himself into the bottom of the sea and the only way she could reunite with him is the obviously painful obvious ending that you might already have seen coming as of this review.

Anyway since secrets in series like this don’t stay secrets for long, this whole Eichi thing won’t stay a secret for long either as the whispy bag of spectral gas named Jonathan (who was patterned after a bad attempt to draw Peeves from Harry Potter) spills the beans that they know about Eichi and sets off a bad set of circumstances that somehow brings about a meeting between Meroko and Mitsuki’s grandmother, which in turn ends up waking up her own memories of her past life.

But the circumstances of the issue does not end well, with Meroko seriously considering taking off after realizing that she may end up losing Takuto to Mitsuki. That leads to a batch of four panel skits and a tale from the past (concerning Mitsuki’s dad, the doc and the previously living Takuto).
How this all rolls into Volume 5 is a concern, but may be derailed as the story going on now might have to take a back seat to a crazed psychotic fan obsessed with FullMoon… but that’s next time, for now let’s wrap this up with the breakdown.

Full Moon O Breakdown the 4th
What’s Hot?
Full Moon O Sagashite reaches for the stars, rising into full moon status as we roll into Volume 4, showing it’s strength in full as the title continues forward and continues to get better with each volume. Full Moon O Sagashite is 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.

Once you start turning the pages you’ll find yourself held tight by the read, and by the end of these first three 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?
The title continues to grow abit darker and darker taint (with darker revelations being dragged into the light), but that (again) shouldn’t stop you from reading this title to it‘s fullest. Aria’s full happy happy joy joy it ain’t, but that can be a good thing (take the dark yet well written Gunslinger Girl for instance).
The dark taint should only grow worst as FullMoon is harassed by a violent stalker next volume.

Moments to Remember?
Quite abit about the title is memorable, actually, which grows as we roll from 4 to 5, even as Volume 4 ends with what may be a breaking of the “Fellowship” and Meroko’s desire to leave.

What to Ignore?
Yes, I’m going to start ordering Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne and start reviewing it soon. Promise.
That and I have to order Full Moon O Sagashite V. 5 to 6 (soon).

Overall?
We are rolling along at a full clip so I’m looking forward to the coming review for the first break… because we’re going into abit of a break for awhile until I review Full Moon O Sagashite V. 5 to 6 and Full Moon O Sagashite DVD V. 1 in July (coming soon one and all). See you then!

-- David Rasmussen 25th Jun 06