Until the Full Moon (AKA: Full Moon ni Sasayaite) Vol.#02

By: Eduardo M. Chavez
Review Date: Saturday, June 04, 2005
Release Date: Tuesday, February 01, 2005



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Matoh Sanami
Translated by:Rie Hagihara
Adapted by:

What They Say
Who would have thought that there was anything worse than changing into a woman on nights of the full moon? Marlo certainly didn't.

But now his engagement to David Vincent, the handsome skirt-chasing vampire, has been jeopardized by threats from the past. When one of David's former flames sends for him, begging for help, she neglects to include all the details. Then a glass of "special" wine causes some childish complications. And to make matters worse, it seems that David's father has a few secrets of his own that may very well tear David and Marlo apart.

Can Marlo and David overcome these pitfalls, or is their love doomed to fail?

The Review
Packaging:
Let me repeat this: Broccoli Books is the North American standard in packaging! Okay, I am done....

One would expect Broccoli Books to take care of their BROCCOLI properties with the utmost care, but after seeing their first non-Broccoli release there is no doubt that they are able to consistently produce wonderful manga for their entire library. Broccoli uses the original cover art featuring lead characters David and Marlo, who is in his female form. Red berries and dark leaves surround the image... Romantic? Not sure, but kinda stylish. They also use a crescent moon to hold the volume number, as well. The opposite cover does not have character art, however beneath the volume description there is another lingonberry floral arrangement.

Inside Broccoli has a full color landscape wedding portrait of David and Marlo, which is followed by a list of brief character bios. At the end of the manga, there is an after talk from Matoh-sensei and a short preview of volume two. All of this was done with crisp clean printing on nice paper. Very nice.

Artwork:
Right off the bat, I want to say I have never been a big fan of Matoh's art. I tend to find some of it really sloppy. Matoh's older work in particular has very little consistency. Characters apparently have a set design, but Matoh tends to only be able draw them well in certain angles. When the characters are not in that optimal position then jaw lines change, eyes tend to look different, and detail is greatly lost. I also find Matoh's length annoying. Jaws are huge and legs are unbelievably long. What I found funny about this is that, like her faces, in certain situations (IE when the costumes are detailed) Matoh cannot even consistently maintain the length. Give David a tuxedo and he looks like a tall umpa-lumpa.


Backgrounds are stale when they are present. Matoh tries to cover for it with manpu and flowery patterns as often as possible. This does not remedy this problem, but it does help with the complex but slow layout.

SFX/Text:
I love how well the translation flows in this manga. I have not read the original, so I cannot properly asses this, but Higahara was able to create a translation that kept the personality of each character. I did not notice any honorifics. I wonder if they were there originally, as they could have added some more humor to this funny little romance comedy.

BroBooks translates their SFX with small subs. This is perfect, as they keep the original art and provide appropriate translations that do not distract or compromise Matoh’s art.

Contents: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Poor Marlo. First, he has this problem with his unique werewolf blood that transforms him into something that is not furry at all. Then he is falling in love with a modern day vampire gigolo, who has women in every European nation. Now these women are calling for his David and the goon is answering their calls. Is this how a fiancée is supposed to behave? David always says he loves Marlo, all of Marlo; however, his actions have left poor Marlo questioning his feelings. Sure Marlo does not public ally express his feelings, but he loves that gigolo. Then why is David seeing other people?!

What Marlo has to understand is that everyone has a past. There is no way to hide from it. One can never separate oneself from their own history. So, as much as David would like to forget parts of his past, he cannot ignore it. That is the same reason why he loves Marlo. He remembered their time together when they were young. He could not ignore those feelings. He was able to wait and ultimately luck placed him back into Marlo's life.

Therefore, if Marlo is going to go through with this wedding he too will have to accept all of himself as well as all of David. He has to take his history good and bad, and share that with his new partner.

Comments
Hah! Cute, two boys love each other but one of them turns into a girl. Cute! Why does every chapter except one have Marlo turn into a woman? Cheap! Why does most of the seduction happen when Marlo has boobs? Cheap! Why do they only have sex when Marlo has a female body? Cheap! Why is Marlo a family joke when he does not have long fling hair? Why do his parents treat him like their daughter, when he is only once a month!

Come on now, this story was already pretty corny and then this convenient little device cheapens the boy-boy love. Why not go all the way? For 27 straight days, Marlo is a man. Why does this series have to conveniently pick out that one day a month? Are the other days not important? Is the love between Marlo and David not valid on those other days?

Sorry about the rant, but this story is nothing special without the love between Marlo and David. Because of the length of this series, there are no arcs, therefore episodic from start to finish. There is very little variety in the few stories here, for most of them are similar in structure and purpose. None of the supporting cast brings anything to the table. Simply said, this is about Marlo and David, so why not follow through with David's feelings about him loving all of Marlo. I understand how that can be unfair of me to demand, but since there is nothing else to appreciate, I would at least portray the characters as they are most of the time - boys in love with each other. Yeah that would defeat the purpose of having Marlo turn into a girl, but where are the women going after Marlo when he is a guy? Is it fair that David is the only one who women find attractive? Maybe he just does not like women, but we do not get to see that either. We know David does, though.

Maybe I am looking at this the wrong way. Maybe my perspective is biased or clouded, but I do not see equality, empowerment, or much entertainment value. Honestly what was a fun but simplistic title, ended up being nothing but simplistic. I did not have much fun at the end, because nothing changed. The chapters were almost all the same and in the end all that was resolved were that an arranged marriage, where love was questioned, ended up working well for all involved - David got what he wanted, Marlo's parents got what they wanted and Marlo accepts his fate cause no one really tried to do anything about it. Hmmm, but I, as the reader, got nothing but simple resolutions.

Disappointment.