i personally think that this was a really good manga ^^ i read the manga... not the anime... because the anime, it goes off into a different direction and the manga's art is much more nice than the anime... tanemura-sensei's work are always sooo strong and emotinal... no matter how many time you read it... you will still cry!!! hahaha!!! i love fmws... if you guys like this you should read her newest manga, Shinsei Doumei (The alliance gentlemen) ^^ it's soo good so far... the art is great and is brand new =p recentlly came out in September on the Ribon Magazine so there is only 3 chapters so far... u_u
Full Moon wo Sagashite tv Review
Twelve-year-old Kouyama Mitsuki was devastated when she was diagnosed with a malignant tumor of the throat. She had made a promise to the boy she loves that she would one day become a singer, but her illness made singing impossible. To make matters even worse, two angels of death, Takuto and Meroko, appeared to Mitsuki and informed her that she only had one year left to live! This news provides an even greater motivation for Mitsuki to fulfill her dreams, and with a little bit of divine intervention, she begins her quest to become a professional singer so she can be reunited with Eichi before time runs out.
Synopsis: MizzDorKeeAznGurRl
Story & Characters
The only reason that I watched this anime was because I wanted to see how this anime could be top-rated on animenfo… and of course to annoy my friends that threatened to kill me if I watched something with such a silly storyline and such a girlish design. Before I downloaded it I read about the storyline, I couldn’t claim I was mesmerized by it’s complexity and I could for my life not understand the why it was top ranked at animenfo, but I could understand why my friends tried to abolish all friendship with me…
Just to make this clear, I’m not the emotional type, I usually regard drama as slow and rather boring (both Hollywood
and anime productions), I don’t like the average shoujo series I don’t listen to J-POP or POP in general for that
matter and to pit in the finishing blow; I don’t appreciate childish humour either...
That doesn’t really leave much room for this show since that’s exactly what it’s labelled as, an idol singer
anime, a show for girls aged 8-14.
So, how come I wasted 20 hours of my precious time to watch this anime then?
Well to start with I think it was Mitsuki’s very strong character that pulled me in, she gets to know that she only
has one year left to live by the shinigami – who she’s not supposed to see - (gods of death in Japanese mythology
who’s job is to protect Mitsuki from dying before her destined day and to make sure that she has no regrets by then)
but instead of sulking about it she decides that she must accomplish something while she still can, so before the
shinigami notices she sneaks out of the house and rushes to the audience that she finally had gotten past the primary
selections on.
I almost directly wanted this girl to succeed and to fulfil her life dream of becoming a singer because she was so
determined and she’d rather just live one more year and get to sing than live a lifetime without being able to do it,
actually that’s literary her situation, with throat cancer that needs to be removed, but if they do surgery they’ll
almost definitely damage her vocal cords thus making it unable for her to sing ever again, but if it’s left alone
she’ll die of it.
She’s genuinely nice and healthily naïve giving her a very nice charm. But her situation is really sad, destined to
die within a year without the ability to sing, she has no friends due too that she’s often too sick to be in school
and her health is rather weak, she has lost her parents, her love Eichi-kun has moved to America two years ago and she
lives with a grand mother that hates music and prohibits anything that has to do with it.
Now you may think that this story is too unbelievable, yes, it is, but they execute it in a nice way and they make the
story believable instead of alienate it.
What I miss here is a Characters section, so here it comes...
(b)Characters: (/b)
I would almost go as far as to say that Mitsuki with her motivation and determination as well as her confidence that
people aren’t always what they seems at first is purely impressive and is a guarantee to pull you into her world, make
you laugh with her, cry for her and simply be stunned by how valiant she is.
However I found the acting of the shinigami duo Takuto and Meroko pretty childish and they often seemed to overreact…
at first, their characters do develop very nicely and when they get a depth their behaviour becomes much more
explained.
I also got annoyed by the total mental block that Mitsuki’s grand mother had for music but it was explained
satisfactory later on… I still found her too narrow minded, but I got over it :)
Ooshige-san, Full Moons manager is simply likable because of her spontaneous behaviour and lovable charisma.
Not to forget is the obligatory hatable rival Madoka… or is she really that bad? And is really that obligatory bad guy
that gets added later that mean? Or is he simply misunderstood?
Anyway, all the characters will develop and I will probably issue you some medicine if you don’t like every single one
of them when this show ends.
Characters: 9/10
Rating:
Art
The animation isn’t especially detailed but it doesn’t have to be, it’s very vivid, rather funny and always
delivers the right mood, or I was too into the story to notice anything wrong besides the fact that the transformations
from the 12 year old Mitsuki to the 16 year old Full Moon were repetitive and just slightly varied, brought back
memories from Sailor Moon they used to broadcast here in Sweden as a kids show....
But, the animation still is not top notch, it does its job good, but it doesn’t compare with the rest of the show
that’s better than good ;)
Rating:
Sound
Well, the voice for Mitsuki is Myco, the lead vocalist of the J-POP band "Changin` My Life", she does the job
well, the voice might seem to strong for a girl with such weak health, but it isn’t out of place and her vocals in the
songs are nothing short of great; very sensual and emotional. She delivers the feeling as if it really was Mitsuki with
one year left to live that sings the songs and not some half-hearted vocalist from a J-POP band. :P
All the songs are extremely well-written, well-executed and well-fitting with the story. And they often use instrumental
versions of the various tracks that she makes during the show to bring forward the emotional parts even better, and they
succeed.
The rest of the sound track isn’t something you’ll really remember, but they mostly use the songs that she sings and
those are the master-pieces (still occupies my play-list).
Rating:
Presentation
The story of Full Moon wo Sagashite is very well written, while the first season it is mostly comedy and happy moments,
but still with some sad and powerful moments, the second season is the exact opposite, it relies mostly on drama and
powerful moments with occasional comedy and happy moments. Actually that's why she sings; because she wants to meet
Eichi-kun again...
That fact disturbed me at first and that all the talk about this Eichi-kun was getting on my nerves, luckily I wasn’t
alone, the shinigami Takuto also found it rather disturbing and often pointed that out to her.
There are some basic elements that exist in all anime but they are so originally executed so you won’t even notice it
as something you’ve seen before.
And the ending is also worth a note, it will leave you wondering what will happen even just before it happens and the
story overall is almost too well executed to be given to such young girls that the genre is developed for…
I think that anyone could appreciate the story simply because of Mitsuki.
And I’d like to recommend this anime to anyone that searches for lovable characters and an amazingly intriguing storyline, although it starts off as a series suitable for girls aging 8-14 as it develops and proceeds onto the second season I think these girls are being spoiled and shouldn’t have this series for themselves.
As I said before; I’m not the emotional type and this was the first anime that made me cry because it was so well
done, you really can sympathise with Mitsuki...
When it came closer to her destined day I really wished that she could defeat the un-defeatable, fate, but something
told me that it is impossible even if I don’t believe in fate myself (must have been (b)some(/b) good plotting). I
actually still get emotional just by thinking about the ending and when I’m listening to the songs I still still
feeling Mitsuki...
Rating:
Final Verdict
8.0000 (good)
Reviewed by cyberstorm, Oct 16, 2004
Comments
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ookami14 Oct 16, 2004
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Ilona Oct 18, 2004
I've read some scanlations of it (few chapters) and that's how I became interested... but the anime is so diluted that I've thougth to give up watching since I'm not that much into filler eps. Well it's a quite nice anime but I'm pretty sure they could have make it in a 26-eps serie. even if I really the manga is better (but too much twisted for me), especially since Arina Tanemura's art has greatly improved even if she and her assistans probably spent too much time on the hair.
I agree that Mitsuki's seyuu doesn't really match her and the endings are really nice... but the openings were really un-Fullmoonlike.
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shadowedkitsune Nov 13, 2004
I saw the anime and i thought it was pretty cool. It had a good ending and thatz what i actually liked. Though the characters were a bit girly and the openings were a bit unfitting ^^;; I would give it a overall 7 out of 10 ^^
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AmethystCitrine Nov 24, 2004
I'm very happy that I started with the anime and then moved on to the manga. This is an extremely worthwhile series and the manga and anime both have their pros and cons, the manga is definitely better, but don't pass up the chance to see such an excellent anime. It does go in a different direction from the manga, but the ending was nicely done, and it brought out a lot of emotion from me. W00t for FMwS. - Amy.
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Kumi-chan May 04, 2005
i loved this series so much. I would actually give it a 10/10 in my opinion.
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angelflorinabellkitten May 10, 2005
:nya: :D :nya: :D :nya: I JUST LOVE THIS anime PLUS anime LOVE IT LOVE IT I didn't started AND AM hooked 4 charaters AND AM crazy FOR IT ITS REAL funny halfway THE other HALF IS kinda SAD <_< >_> x_x :(
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kenzie11222 Mar 21, 2007
Small question: Is there really going to be a second season of FMwS?!? If so awesome! Lol,and also I had the same reaction to it at first,lol! :)
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nainoi Sep 27, 2009
I very liked this anime
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