The Search for the Lost Dub of this Classic Anime

Key Takeaways

American release of Full Moon o Sagashite was botched with a canceled dub after only 28 episodes.
CEO Sevakis acquired rights for BluRay re-release but confirmed the loss of the missing dubbed episodes.
Despite dub’s mystery, the BluRay will include the 28 dubbed episodes, preserving some of the lost content.

As someone who has been following the world of anime for decades now, I must say that the story of Full Moon o Sagashite is one that resonates deeply with me, not just because it’s a fantastic series, but also due to its intriguing behind-the-scenes journey.

On this platform, we’ve frequently discussed the rising worries regarding missing anime titles. However, contrary to popular belief, not every lost anime consists of rare content that aired just once and vanished without a trace.

It’s becoming more common for popular anime series, including this classic one, that were widely loved for years, to have their content (either individual episodes or the entire show) disappearing or getting destroyed. This is unfortunate even for an anime like this, which enjoyed significant popularity, but faced challenges during its American release. As a result, we’re left wondering where its dub might have ended up.

What is Full Moon o Sagashite?

The Search for the Lost Dub of this Classic Anime

Searching for the Full Moon is a popular Japanese anime and manga series penned by Arina Tanemura. Originally published in Ribon magazine between 2002 and 2004, it was soon adapted into an anime that ran from 2002 to 2003. The narrative revolves around Mitsuki Koyama, a 12-year-old girl who adores singing, aspiring to become a professional singer in order to keep a vow she made to her childhood friend and crush, Eichi.

Despite having throat cancer, Mitsuki’s aspiration to be a singer seems unlikely to materialize. One fateful day, two spirits of death named Takuto and Meroko manifest, revealing that she has just a year left to live. Fortunately, Takuto offers Mitsuki the chance to fulfill her dream temporarily by transforming into Full Moon, a 16-year-old teen idol, granting her the magical ability to sing even with her illness.

Who Originally Licensed it?

In the United States, Viz Media acquired licenses for both the manga and anime versions of certain popular Japanese series. One of these series, “Full Moon o Sagashite,” served as a prominent title under Viz Media’s Shojo Beat line, although its distribution strategy was somewhat puzzling (which we will delve into later). For a long period, Viz Media retained the license for this series. However, at some point, the license expired, leading to both the manga and anime editions going out of print. Fortunately, these releases didn’t perform as well as Viz Media had anticipated.

The Failed American Release

Despite the manga garnering modest success for Viz Media, many fans perceived the release as poorly managed. When Viz acquired the series, it already had a dedicated fanbase online, and a well-executed launch could have significantly increased its popularity. Viz had previously achieved significant success with the American edition of Weekly Shounen Jump (renamed Shonen Jump), and they aimed to replicate this triumph by introducing a shoujo magazine.

Creating the Shojo Beat line meant launching a magazine dedicated solely to shoujo manga, catering specifically to female readers. Notably, Ai Yazawa’s “NANA” was slated as the main series for this publication, eventually becoming one of its top-selling titles. However, it caught many fans off guard when they noticed that “Full Moon o Sagashite” wasn’t included in the magazine.

Although it’s more popular than other titles that were chosen (such as Baby & Me and Kaze Hikaru), Full Moon o Sagashite was published in book form under the Shojo Beat label. The anime itself was chaotic, with each DVD disc containing approximately 4 episodes. Unfortunately, these discs didn’t sell well and after 7 releases (with the last two becoming valuable collectibles), the series release was discontinued, and the remaining dubbed episodes were never released. However, Viz Media did manage to get the series on some streaming platforms towards the end of their contract, but unfortunately, these platforms didn’t offer an option to watch the dubbed version, leading to speculation about its status in later years.

The Series Receives a Second Chance

At an Otakon Con panel for AnimEigo, CEO Justin Sevakis announced that his company had picked up the franchise for a re-release on BluRay sometime next year. The set will have all 52 episodes of the anime. It will be a BluRay release using the best elements that the company has available, and this is a personal victory for Sevakis as it is one of the company’s first major acquisitions since he bought the company. As predicted though, once the acquisition was announced, fans had one question: will the BluRay retain the long-lost dub of Full Moon o Sagashite?

The Lost Dubbed Episodes

Initially, Viz Media managed to distribute 28 DVD episodes of “Full Moon o Sagashite” before the show’s termination. However, these dubbed episodes were never made available for legal streaming on any platform. Various reports circulated about whether the series had been fully dubbed or not. Some actors asserted that the entire series was dubbed, while others suggested it was the cost of dubbing that led to the DVD releases being halted. This confusion led to questions such as:

What happened to dub?
Did all the episodes get dubbed?
Are the audio masters still available?

Due to Sevakis’s hands-on approach as CEO (which is more involved than many American anime company CEOs) and his background in journalism (he also co-founded Anime News Network), he donned his detective hat and initiated an investigation into the dubbing of Full Moon o Sagashite. After several months of making phone calls, sending emails, and speaking with acquaintances and their connections, he unveiled the findings of his probe on X.

As it turned out, this situation wasn’t conclusive. With lost media sleuthing gaining immense popularity online, fans began contacting related companies during their spare time. This action led someone connected to the production to discover these statements, who then contacted Sevakis with additional information about the location of the missing dub. Unfortunately, the new details didn’t bring much hope for recovery.

Essentially, there’s no evidence that a dub ever existed, as it appears to have been lost long ago. However, don’t let this disappoint you! The anime “Full Moon o Sagashite” is making a return on Blu-Ray, so if you were among those who missed out on this touching series in the past, you’ll soon have the chance to own it within the next year.

2024-10-14 23:34