Por partida doble: Full moon wo sagashite (Searching for the Full Moon)

We have just finished watching this series. We only have the OVA left to watch - that made 8 eps in a single day! (that also explains why I'm still up so late). The story was getting rather exciting, as it was affecting all characters that actually had grown into you. So I just thought I'd write a few lines about it.
It is basically the story of a girl who has been living for her grandmother two years, after being recalled from the orphanage where she spend her first ten years, and where she met her best friend and now beloved, Eichi. He wanted to be an astronomer and was adopted by a couple living in America, which is the reason why the promised to work towards their dreams until they met again. But the girl, Mitsuki, has developed throat cancer, and when two shinigami (Meroko, who is a bunny in her plushie form, and Takuto, who takes the form of a cat plushie) turn up she learns that she only has a year to live. Her dream is a singing career which will lead her back to Eichi. The shinigami pity her, and, so that she can actually audition, they turn her into a 16 year old, becoming the pop idol "Full Moon". This is the story of her singing career, of her will to live, of how she relates to other people. It is also about Meroko and Takuto's feelings. As an antagonist to these two shinigami there's a third one - not so sentimentally scrupulous as the former, and still in love with Meroko, who will do his best (or rather his worst) to win her back. I don't like the design for this character, Izumi. By his odd hat I assume that his plushie form would be a dog, but does or does it not like a bullfighter's hat?

It does, does it not? XD. But there was Ogata Megumi voice acting, so I couldn't have asked for anything else. I find her impressive - she's believable both as man and as woman, though she'll always be the voice of lovable Yukito from Card Captor Sakura (most of the cast was in love with him at some point of the series, so I guess it wouldn't be odd if I fancied him myself, a little bit at least!). I'm trying to listen to a few of her songs. Yes, I'm a classical music person, but I still feel curious and I enjoy a good tune as much as anyone else. What I've noticed with "popular" music is that it feels tiresome or boring sooner, just that. Which reminds me to say that, though the main two songs ("Myself" and "Eternal Snow") are repeated a bit too often, I quite like them. Especially "Eternal Snow", when sung by Full Moon (I like Takuto's too, certainly not Madoka's!). Though gosh, such a mixture of languages gets on my nerves - what's that of singing "I love you", "Hold me tight" so on and so forth in the middle of a song in Japanese. Hmm. I know it's common. But I still don't like it. It often does not even make sense!
Now, about the art. The little brother is just right. It is really average, but now I've been looking around for illustrations from the manga I realise its rather the studio's fault, not the author's, Tanemura Arina, whose art is definitively shoujo (all girly), but is rather beautiful. See Takuto, Meroko and Mitsuki in the illustration from the artbook. It is nice. And this is one of the simplest ones in the volume.
I've also enjoyed the end - it's as open-ended as one is used to expect from anime, but at least is sufficiently satisfying, it leaves threads resolved, you sort of know where characters stand as the action closes. Yup. Thumbs up for whoever decided not to frustrate fans!
More on what's next tomorrow - besides my 27th birthday, that is!
Oops, and here are my results for a Full Moon quiz. Hmm. I'm not sure I identify myself fully with any character, but I suppose Meroko would be first - she's loud and clumsy, too...