#TBT: Full moon: in search of the full moon

worthy heir of love story, Full moon: in search of the full moon broke the hearts of thousands of female readers in the early 2000s. A look back at an unjustly forgotten shoujo, twenty years after its debut.

In their orphanage, Mitsuki Koyamapassionate about singing, must say goodbye to his first love, Eichi Sakurai, adopted by a family moving to the United States. On this occasion, the two children confess their feelings and make a promise to each other, that of following their dreams. Alas, victim of throat sarcoma, Mitsuki cannot exploit her voice at full volume – a real handicap for her who wants to become a professional singer! Only surgery could cure this 12-year-old girl, but she refuses, as the risk of damaging her vocal cords is great… Yet Mitsuki has only one year left to live, as announced to him two shinigami, Meroko and Takuto. The two supernatural creatures offer a contract to the young girl: if she accepts that they guide her soul to the other world a year later, they will transform her into 16 year old teenager so she can join an audition under the identity of Full Moon…

Since local channels in Aiichi Prefecture only offered reruns of old anime in the early 1980s, Arina Tanemura spent most of her childhood immersed in preprint magazines. Since his mother bought him titles that are a little too mature for a kindergarten student (Bessatsu Margaret and Bessatsu Friend), and that his brother only read Shônen Jumpit’s a revelation for her when a school friend lends her a Ribon ! Passionate about shoujo, Arina Tanemura, who has been drawing since the age of five, begins to create her own manga when she enters college. It was at 18 that she joined the professional circuit, in 1996, in the magazine Ribon Original. Two years later, she finally joined the magazine of her dreams, Ribon, with Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne (available from Glénat editions). The Adventures of Joan of Arc’s Reincarnation, Stalking Demons in Artwork, which spans seven volumes up to 2000, elapses more than five million copies !

This first success is followed by a memorable gadin, since the mangaka is forced to stop Timer stranger Kyoko after twelve chapters. Therefore, when Arina Tanemura begins Full moon: in search of the full moon (available from Glénat editions) in 2002, she chose a field close to her heart, songwriting – for a time she considered becoming a lyricist. The melodramatic atmosphere of his manga touched the little Japanese girls, who gave a triumphant welcome to the first bound volume, released June 14, 2002… especially as the title benefits from a anime adaptation produced at studio Deen since April. Unpublished in France, the series of 52 episodes Full moon wo sagashite nevertheless diverges from the manga (still in progress at the time) after the heroine’s auditions to offer a different conclusion. Although a bit dated graphically, the manga is still as effective with young readers. Just as dads transfer their copies of dragonball, mothers, twenty years after crying in front of Full moon: in search of the full moonwill offer it to their daughters of reading age… with a packet of Kleenex !