Happy New Year everyone! My all-time favorite manga series include Sailor Moon, Fruits Basket, and Full Moon O Sagashite. Aside from Naoko Takeuchi, my all-time favorite mangaka is Arina Tanemura, the Mangaka of the aforementioned Full Moon O Sagashite. I thought it would be nice to kick off the year by showing some love to a favorite. The following list of her works, all of which I adore, will be in order of favoritism.
- Full Moon O Sagashite
This was my first introduction to the work of Arina Tanemura. One fine day, I googled “shoujo manga with beautiful artwork,” and Full Moon appeared. Brief summary: Mitsuki Koyama is a twelve-year-old orphan now living with her grandmother. Although her grandmother forbids it, she dreams of being a singer. It’s in her blood, after all. A fatal illness may destroy her dreams until two fun-loving shinigami appear with the power to make her dreams come true. This manga, along with one other work received an anime adaption
2. Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne
While some might argue that Full Moon O Sagashite straddles the line of being a magical girl work, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne leaves no doubt. It centers around Maron, a high school gymnast who is seemingly an art thief known as Jeanne by night. She is really releasing demons from the artwork in the name of god with the help of the small angel Finn Fish. Hot on her trail at every turn is her best friend Miyako (The daughter of the police chief who is unaware that Maron is, in fact, Jeanne) and Sinbad, her thieving rival. What happens when Maron’s two worlds collide? This manga also got the anime treatment.
3. The Arina Tanemura Collection: The Art Of Full Moon
This art book is one of the pride and joys of my manga collection. Rivaled only by my recent acquisition of Sailor Moon art book 1. It includes Full Moon O Sagashite artwork, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, and even lesser-known works such as Time Stranger Kyoko.
4. The Gentlemen’s Alliance Cross
In terms of protagonists, Haine, the protagonist of Gentlemen’s Alliance Cross, is the most interesting, in my opinion. Haine becomes a delinquent after her father has her adopted into another family in exchange for a small loan. When she meets a boy, Shizumasa Togu, his kind words inspire her to change. She decides to enroll in his elite high school to win him over. The problem? He claims not to remember her. Prepare for a romance that even a former delinquent has trouble fighting against.
5. Idol Dreams, A.K.A 31 I Dream
Idol Dreams is essentially a reverse, if you will, of Full Moon O Sagashite. 31-year-old Chikage is unhappy with her office worker’s existence. With the help of a friend who developed an age-defying medicine, she becomes 15 again and decides to become an idol singer. Who is the real Chikage? The cuteness of this series surprised me. Tanemura considers it an ode to fans who have grown up with her work. She herself is now in her early 40’s.
6. Time Stranger Kyoko
Time Stranger Kyoko is one of her lesser-known works, but I love the character designs. Kyoko is a princess who has had to hide her identity while in public. On her 16th birthday, she is told that if she can rescue her twin sister, who is stuck in time, her sister Ui may inherit the throne instead. Kyoko has the power to both stop time and go back in time. Tanemura has revealed in recent years that the series was not popular with her editors, and thus, the ending was rushed. It is the one series she would love a chance to redo.
7. Short Tempered Melancholic
A collection of. Short stories, which include her first work. My favorite story in the collection is about a female ninja who contemplates giving up her ninja lifestyle when a boy she has a crush on declares she should be more ladylike. Another story is about a girl who falls for a boy after sharing his umbrella.
8. Sakura Hime Kaden
I won’t lie; I spent half of this manga fawning over how much Oura looked like Takuto from Full Moon O Sagashite. What I loved about this manga was the art and the mythology, with Sakura being the demon-slaying granddaughter of Princess Kaguya. It’s a bit darker in tone than other works but in a thoughtful way
Other works include Mistress Fortune, about teenagers with ESP powers, and Neko To Watashi No Kinyobi. The latter of which has not been translated into English and is the one series from her that I did not enjoy. She has also provided character designs for the game Idolish7.
So, readers, are you all familiar with Arina Tanemura’s work? Which is your favorite? Are any of her works on your radar now?
