If you've heard about "Full Moon wo Sagashite," then I wouldn't be surprised. For the past few years, "Full Moon wo Sagashite" has been hailed as the best shoujo that no one's ever read/seen. I was one of those people, hanging out on message boards, trying to get people interested in the series. If it weren't for the fact that there was a lack of in interest in shoujo in America, then I may have even been successful to a certain extent. However now I have a bigger weapon in the fact that Viz Media, a company that has been in hot water with manga fans recently, have picked up the series and are releasing it under the "Shojo Beat" banner. Why they are not including this series in the actual magazine itself is the big question, but my theory is that Viz Media, in the famous words of Ron Weasley, "needs to sort out their priorities." The best example of this is the title itself. The series full title in Japan is "Full Moon wo Sagashite," which in English translates to "Search For The Full Moon."

However the cover says that the title is "Full Moon o Sagashite." What the 'o' is supposed to stand for is anyone's guess. To make matters more confusing, the spine of the book claims that the series title is simply shortened to "Full Moon," and various websites (including Anime on DVD.com and Anime News Network) can't seem to agree on what Viz is really calling the series either. Ah, but I'm sure what the series is called doesn't really matter right now, as I'm sure this title mess will just become worse once someone picks up the rights to the TV series. For the sake of this review though, I'm going to refer to the series as "Full Moon o Sagashite," as this is the closest version of the American title that properly reflects the Japanese title. Anyway, the story of "Full Moon o Sagashite" revolves around a ten year old girl named Mitsuki Koyama. Mitsuki would be just a normal girl, but there are two things that make her different from everybody else: Number one is that she has a dream to be a famous singer, and number two is that she has throat cancer, and thus only a short amount of time to live unless she gets an operation that could damage her vocal cords and make her dream just that. Since this operation would veto any chance she would have of being a singer, Mitsuki decides that she doesn't want the operation.

Mitsuki's grandma doesn't seem to care about that though, as for some reason she hates music, and the less chance Mitsuki has of fulfilling her dream the better. Then one day, out of the blue, Mitsuki gets some unexpected visitors: Two gods of death. However these are not just any gods of death, no sir, THESE gods of death wear cute hats that are shaped like dog and bunnie ears, and THESE gods of death can also transform into stuffed animals! These cute things show up in Mitsuki's room one day to warn her that she only has a year left to live...whether she has the operation or not. With this news, Mitsuki escapes from her room to try out for a singing audition, as she vows that she must become a famous singer so that she can keep a promise to someone she knows. The two angels of death decide to let her try the audition (as a last request), transforms her into a sixteen year old girl, and then an amazing thing happens: Mitsuki beats everyone else at the audition, and gets on track to be one of the biggest singers in Japan under the record label chosen name 'Full Moon.' For many people, a shoujo series that features a transforming girl who pursues her lifelong dream sounds like a mere childrens series, but if you are one of these people then you are in for a big surprise. Despite the series starts out, "Full Moon o Sagashite" is actually a very serious DRAMA! Yeah, it does start out a little on the cliche side, and it does sound a bit on the childish side, but it is not.

Don't be fooled by first appearances. "Full Moon o Sagashite" is so much more then your standard shoujo manga.

At one point in the series, there is a story twist that comes out of nowhere, and once that twist shows up the series goes in so many different directions you're head may start spinning from having to deal with the raw amount of information. I'm not suggesting that this series becomes confusing later on, but that you'll be surprised at the wealth of how much new information shows up that turns this series upside down. There are moments of humor, moments of tragedy, moments of drama, moments of fun, and ALL of it works splendidly! What makes most of these story twists work are the extremely complicated characters. No one in this series is completely good or completely bad. By the time you think you've got certain characters figured out (the grandma for example), you see a side of the character that makes you think twice about them. Even Mitsuki herself has hidden demons, and a secret of hers that is revealed in a future book actually made me feel like she betrayed and lied to me (but at the same time, what would I have done in that situation). I'm not going to say what this situation is, or how it gets resolved, but it's one of the many situations that adds an extra level of humanity and depth that you rarely find in comics these days. The artwork is where people will find themselves divided upon. While the background, situations, and worlds are beautifully detailed, drawn, and exploited to their full potential, the character designs are rather poor for the most part.

So much more...

Not severely poor mind you, but they seem to lack the originality spirit that dominates almost every other aspect of the series. Of course, the simplistic designs may be there to help with the illusion that this would be a standard shoujo series for girls, when it is instead a complicated story of tragedy and death. Now's the part where most of you serious manga fans are looking forward to reading the most, where I answer the one question you all have on your minds: Did Viz screw up the release with pointless censoring? My answer is an enthusiastic NO! "Full Moon o Sagashite" has been left completely intact, with a wonderful translation and some of the best paper Viz has ever used. In fact, if there's one real complaint I have with Viz's handling of the series, it's the fact that this isn't in the actual "Shojo Beat" magazine. I know Viz probably didn't want to put a series that is guaranteed to make money in a magazine that is being created to give everyone a sampling of what manga is to people, but this series would have definitely helped sell magazines. All in all though, the translation is great, books are extremely well made, and there is no censoring to be found. In short, this is some of the best work Viz has done since "Rurouni Kenshin," and "Full Moon o Sagashite" also happens to be one of the best shoujo series to come out in the last ten years. With a combination like that, I can't recommend this series enough. You are doing yourself a great disservice if you are not reading "Full Moon o Sagashite." Please get people interested in this series, as this series deserves to be the number one shoujo in America (much more then "Fruits Basket" does).

- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -