Anime Boredom - Until the Full Moon manga reviews

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Until the Full Moon GN 1 to 2 (of 2)

Once again we have ourselves a short one, so let’s get the whole thing down in one sitting eh?
There are a lot of things that are different between the US and the UK.
The sport of “football” being one thing. In the US “football” means the NFL which is best known gamewise as in the John Madden NFL games (and most recently as the second sport that was dragged into the whole messy steroids controversy that started with Major League Baseball).
Meanwhile “football” in the UK is soccer in the US, of which the best out right now is World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 International (of which I’ll review in the near future)... oh, and it’s also the sport known for the one person some of you might be tired of hearing about... you know, that “Bend It Like...“ David Beckham guy. (Are you really tired of hearing about him or is it jut the media whose tired of him?)

Another thing the US and UK differ greatly in is soap operas. American soap operas and UK soap operas no doubt being two entirely different “beasts”... beasts, however, that we as a group are not entirely comfortable touching let alone talking about. So then how about a manga that has the feel of a soap opera? A supernatural soap opera at that?
The first time the words “supernatural” and “soap opera” came together, at least the time that was most memorable, it was for the BBC series “Dark Shadows”. So then how about a series that takes the ideas of vampiric relationships, spins it onto it’s head, and then does something really awkward to it!

Marlo and Vincent were childhood friends. Marlo being the son of a vampire who married a werewolf (she’s such a cute werewolf in human form too!), while Vincent is the child of a vampire who married a human woman who he had no choice but to convert to vampire so they wouldn’t be separated.
Marlo, being half werewolf, does the transformation thing under the full moon... only this transformation isn’t into a big bad powerhouse of a beast -- it’s into a WOMAN!
So, if changing into a woman wasn’t awkward enough for Marlo? How about if I told you that, during the course of the first book, Marlo falls in love and ends up becoming engaged to marry Vincent (who knows all about his transformations into a woman)!
So is it that bad a guy who can change into a woman (on full moons) is going to marry another guy?
It might be bad if the guy is a major “player” and womanizer!

As the second book opens it looks like Marlo might be well on his way to becoming a player hater.
He’s getting a little miffed about all the attention (in the form of letters) that Vincent has been receiving from female patients that his doctor father has been treating (and he’s been helping out as an assistant).
Too bad an old girlfriend of Vincent (when Marlo was away in America) is going to rock the boat further by calling Vincent to her side... too bad it’s a bad case of mixed signals as she had called him there to help her win another vampire doctor who she loves, and wants to make jealous, only to put Vincent’s future plans with Marlo in jeopardy once he (who followed him) catches him and Claudia kissing (along with the doctor fellow she wants to make jealous).

After the confusing bout of matchmaking we next have fun with age altering grapes turned to wine!
They don’t tell you about this sort of grapes down at the Victory Garden!
Anyway after this bout of age troubles which turns Marlo into a little kid for awhile we’re off to the race to the altar and the marriage of Vincent and Marlo, if only the problems of Vincent’s dad, his love for a human woman, and the woman he snubbed to marry the human woman didn’t get in the way!
One final interesting story and we got ourselves husband and occasional wife... that is if somebody doesn’t get killed on the way to the altar first! It’ll either be a happy or sad ending, and it’s not the ending as much as the “ride” to the ending that is important... once you get to the ending it’s over either way regardless of whether it’s happy or sad, being this is a two volume series, so the ending isn’t important.
It’s the trip to the ending that is the important thing, as you’ll see during the breakdown.

Until the Full Moon Breakdown (full)
What’s Hot? - Well that was certainly something different!
I would have been even more excited if it was a woman marrying another woman series but I still have nice things to say about the title. Yes, it reads like a soap opera, and it’s very intellectual... then again maybe that’s the biggest selling point of the read. It’s a different kind of romance book that has some intelligence to it which should make it worth reading, it‘s a romance book filled with intelligent adults who can articulate their feelings in meaningful words. The characters are interesting, the setting and story is unique (haven’t seen it done like this before), and everything from the writing to the artwork is solid.
And there isn’t an annoying character in the whole cast so that’s another plus if I do say so myself!

What’s Not? - However you might not be comfortable with the two male leads in this romance. Well, for your information all the heavy romancing is done under the full moon while Marlo is female... of course that doesn’t excuse the fact that he isn’t a she most of the time, but then again it’s ONLY a two volume series so even if the idea is awkward it’s only a short series so I think you can withstand a short dosage of this kind of strange romance!

Moments to Remember? - Hmm... I’m going to be general about this and say the book, because of it’s uniqueness and different way it runs the romance game is the most memorable. Really, you should find quite abit of the antics going on here will leave an impression on you!

What to Ignore? - Yeah. Yeah. The stuff has been seen before.
Girl tricks male to help her with her own relationship problems only to put male’s relationship in jeopardy. Typical soap opera fare.
One of two lovers is turned into a kid jeopardizing their relationship... saw that on an episode of Star Trek : The Next Generation once for instance...
Some secret of the past puts marriage plans (and someone’s life) in jeopardy... that’s another typical soap opera plotline, by the way.
But you might as well ignore the subtle sense that you’ve seen it before since it has a brand new spin here.

Overall? - I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it is short enough to be a suitable recommendation to a varied audience. If you are a romance fan then you should go for it, even if the coupling is a little odd.
If you are not a romance fan? It’s short, like two books, so if you feel you’d like to expand your library and try something new and different than the usual things you read? Here’s a good title for a little experimentation if I ever saw one!
Overall this is something different, and well worth giving a shot since it’s something new, something unique, and it’s short so it’s easy on your budget and something different to boot! So give it a shot and buy both volumes ASAP!

Still waiting for that perfect woman loves woman manga to review... and I’ll even take it with a supernatural twist like in this book! Oh, well, one of these days.

Until the Full Moon

Until the Full Moon Reviews

Until the Full Moon GN 1 to 2 (of 2)