Wild Moon Swings

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Full Moon Manga

Okay, so I really liked the anime for 'Full Moon wo Sagashite'. I wasn't going to read the manga though because I didn't think there was a point. I thought that the anime probably followed the manga faithfully, but then I started thinking about 'Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne'. It's by the same author (Arina Tanemura). I thought the anime was pretty fun but that the manga was INCREDIBLE. So, I decided to read the manga for 'Full Moon wo Sagashite', but it took me awhile to get my hands on it - I don't get out of the house as much as I would like.

There was also one other thing that drew me to reading the manga. I read a review for it that said it was really dark and depressing compared to the anime. Well, that sealed the deal for me.

FYI: This is about a 12 year old girl who has a tumor in her throat. Her one dream is to become a singer so that she can one day meet her crush, Eichi-kun. The story starts out with two shinigami (death gods) appearing in her room. They tell her that she only has one year left to live, so ...

Here's my review of the manga. Please bear in mind that I haven't got to read the end yet.

It is AMAZING. Why on earth did they add all that excess crap in the anime? They took out all the good stuff and instead filled the anime with trash. They do a complete character swap all the characters. The only character that I felt they remained true to was Eichi - everyone else is completely different. They don't explain anything. They cover pretty much everything that happens that I found interesting in the first 26 episodes in the first two chapters.

Basically, it felt like they took a complex and wonderful story and dumbed it down so that they could rake in the broadest audience possible. But, flip - the manga is fantastic. I was thrilled the entire time and seriously couldn't put it down.

Oh, and by the way - Takuto intentionally commits suicide - none of this 'accidentally' running his motorcycle off the edge of a cliff. I thought they were being wussy in the anime and I was SO right.

So, everyone run quick and read the manga.