For a long time, circa 2003-2005, Full Moon o Sagashite was #1 on Animenfo’s ‘Top 100 Anime’ list, which was based on fan votes. Arguably that was because its relatively small audience found little to object to in such a charming anime, while the more prominent and boyish anime it outranked, like Rurouni Kenshin and Akira, had their vociferous detractors. The show still made some big ripples, and even though its run was just when I was starting to become a real anime obsessive, it had started just that little bit too late, and only now have I gotten around to watching it.
In many ways, Full Moon o Sagashite is an archetypal girls’ series: a sweet, happy-go-lucky young orphan girl is living a stifled life with her overprotective grandmother, but has a big dream – in this case, to become a singer. But thanks to a sarcoma in her throat, little Mitsuki has only a year to live. For some reason, she has the ability to see the Shinigami (gods of death in Japanese mythology) who have come to ensure no-one interferes with her fate, and even manages to convince them to use their magic to transform her into a sixteen-year-old so that she can begin her singing career.
Everything in Full Moon o Sagashite is cute. Mitsuki is a thoroughly lovely girl, who has a pure ambition, pure love, and often acts selflessly, though rebels and argues when she feels she has good reason, meaning she’s believable as a very, very sweet twelve-year-old. The people working with her in the music industry have her best interests in mind, and even the nasty rival figure is soon won over. The gods of death are of course wonderfully pretty and not only have cutesy kemono-mimi but can transform into adorable mascot characters – that genuinely are very cute. Of course, Mitsuki’s rise to prominence is jarringly fast, her very first single selling hugely, though since she’s a heavily-produced, heavily-promoted aidoru (pop idol) this makes a degree of sense. Studio Deen, the show’s creators (responsible for other cute shows like Binchou-tan and Maria-sama Ga Miteru), made the excellent decision of actually hiring real singers to voice Mitsuki (and her rival Madoka) and getting good songs written for them, which you can really believe would sell well – for that’s often the crucial element that music anime (like Beck) lack.
Arguably the real meat of the story would have fit into a 26-episode series rather than a slightly slow 52-episode run, but the relaxed pace and episodic nature to the middle part actually helped create a mood of relaxed intimacy that helped make proceedings more likeable. The anime, which like many adaptations that begin while the manga is still running, veers off in its own direction when it runs out of source material, is perhaps less mature and less realistic than the version fully realised by a single mangaka (the anime, for example, never shows how a singer has to struggle to stay in the public eye, and rather sidelines Meroko), but its pace is far more conducive to the kind of atmosphere in which this sort of story thrives – unhurried, detailed, rich in character; the manga, on the other hand, can at times seem like a rushed infodump.
Full Moon o Sagashite may not feature clashes for the fate of the world; it may not have the best, deepest study of how death affects people (though there are some lip-wobbling moments), nor have all its details fully worked out (for an anime all about death and the certainty of an afterlife, it seems strange that people are always insisting on what a loss it is, especially since Izumi tempting Mizuki with a vision of Heaven gives such a great opportunity to discuss the issue). However, it is a light little drama-comedy with some profound moments that at the very least will always stick in the mind, and always bring a smile to the face.
(Originally written 9.7.2007)
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