Full Moon wo Sagashite (Searching for the Full Moon) Review

As you know I did a review on Kirarin Revolution about 5 months ago and mentioned I would watch Full Moon wo Sagashite. Well I finished watching Full Moon wo Sagashite also known as Searching for the Full Moon in English so I am going to review it. First Full Moon wo Sagashite started as a 7-volume 2002 manga written by Arina Tanemura. If she sounds familiar she also wrote Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne (Phantom Thief Jeanne) and many other manga. I think more of her manga should become anime. Anyway it was adapted into a 52-episode 2002 anime series by Studio Deen. Full Moon wo Sagashite is a music romantic comedy supernatural drama anime. Full Moon wo Sagashite is known for initially looking cute and innocent at first but is in fact one of the most emotional saddest music anime and one of the saddest anime ever. Now that being said, I loved Full Moon wo Sagashite and it exceeded my expectations. It's a great anime with pursuing your dreams/ambitions. Oh yeah, I will talk about the ending but I will try not to spoil it too much but just in case...

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Summary
Two years ago Mitsuki Koyama's older friend, Eichi Sakurai, moved to America before she could confess her feelings to him. Though she cannot contact him, they made a promise to fulfill their respective dreams: Mitsuki wants to become a professional singer, adn Eichi an astronomer. She hopes that one day her music will reach him across the world with a brilliance like that of the full moon. There is just one catch: Mitsuki suffers from throat cancer, which makes her voice quiet and singing strenuous. Her grandmother, who has a hatred of music, insists that Mitsuki undergo surgery to remove the cancer, but she refuses due to the risk of losing her voice. One day, two shinigami-Meroko Yui and Takuto Kira-appear to tell her that she only has one year left to live. This sudden revelation spurs Mitsuki into action, and she decides that with Meroko and Takuto's help, she will become a professional singer in the time she has left. Full Moon wo Sagashite is the emotional story of Mitsuki and  her shinigami friends as they discover what it means to sing-and ultimately, what it means to live.

My Thoughts
Before I explain my thoughts I should point out that there are several differences between the manga and anime and the anime was changed at little bit to make it more "family-friendly", nevertheless it is an emotional story. Full Moon wo Sagashite was a fantastic series that combined supernatural, romance, and music together into one hell of an emotional ride that exceeded my expectations. The emotional level is probably comparable to that of Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noburo Sora (Which I reviewed previously), Kobato, and Your Lie in April. The last 13 episodes in the anime will pretty much put bullets through your heart. While sad it also gives you hope as well. The Japanese pop band Changin' My Life provides most the songs used and their lead singer Myco was the voice actress for Mitsuki Koyama in the anime and the music is just amazing. It really brings out the emotions and makes can make you really sad at times but gives you hope and optimism as well.

Shinigami are known as "death spirits" and usually they are seen as bad but Full Moon portrays them as being good and Takuto and Meroko both help Mitsuki out. Full Moon wo Sagashite covers the concepts of pursuing your dreams and never giving up. Mitsuki also comes to terms with her romantic feelings as well. Full Moon wo Sagashite is a sad emotional anime but has a happy/bittersweet ending. In fact the ending to Full Moon was pretty much the cherry on top. It seemed like the type of ending where you have to decide things for yourself, whether you think it was happy or not but does make you hopeful regardless. The quote at the end was "I'm going to keep shining, just like the moon.. I'll light the way." It was pretty much filled with emotions but also gave me hope as well, just like the anime, and was a great finale to a fantastic story. I even had to watch the ending again to just take it all in. The only cons to this anime is that there are a quite a few questions that are left unanswered and there are a few filler episodes at the beginning but overall they didn't ruin the anime for me. Also, what's sad is that Takuto and Meroko's voice actors, Yakkun Sakurazuka and Chieko Honda are both dead. In the anime Takuto dies from a motorcycle accident in his human life and Yakkun Sakurazuka died in a traffic accident.

My Conclusion
I would give Full Moon wo Sagashite 5/5 stars or a 10/10 score. This anime was a masterpiece filled with emotions. I would recommend Full Moon wo Sagashite for anyone who likes music or romance anime, or is looking for a sad emotional journey with a happy ending. Next I will watch and proably review another one of Arina Tanemura's works, a magical girl series called Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne (Phantom Thief Jeanne). Later I will be reviewing a similar magical girl series, Mermaid Melody. Yes I know both like Sailor Moon but there are differences between them.