Find the lost dub of this classic anime

Key takeaways

• The American release of Full Moon o Sagasite was neglected with the dub canceled after only 28 episodes.
• CEO Sevakis acquired the rights for the BluRay re-release but confirmed that the missing dubbed episodes were lost.
• Despite the mystery of the dub, the BluRay contains 28 dubbed episodes, preserving some of the lost content.

The growing concern about missing anime is a topic we've covered many times on this site. Contrary to what some may believe, not all Lost anime is obscure content that airs only once and never again.

There is an increasing number of anime titles that were very popular for many years that are finding their properties (or entire shows) disappearing or being destroyed completely. It's the same with this classic anime, which despite its popularity, had a rough American release, which has resulted in the mystery of what happened to its dub.

What is Purnima O Sagashit?

Purnima O Sagashite (which translates to Looking for the full moon) is a Japanese shoujo anime and manga series created by Erina Tanemura. It was serialized in Ribbon magazine from 2002 to 2004, shortly after which an anime adaptation aired from 2002 to 2003. The story follows Mitsuki Koyama, a 12-year-old girl who dreams of becoming a professional singer. To fulfill a promise he made to his childhood friend and love interest, Ichi.

However, Mitsuki has throat cancer, which makes it difficult for her to sing and her dream of becoming a singer is certain not to come true. One day, two shinigami (death spirits) – Takuto and Meroko – appear and tell him that he has only one year left to live. With Takuto's help, however, she is able to temporarily achieve her dream before time runs out, transforming into the 16-year-old teen idol Poornima, who gives her the ability to sing despite her illness.

Who originally licensed it?

In the US, both the manga and anime were licensed by Viz Media. Viz Media was actually used Purnima O Sagashite As one of their flagship titles for their shojo beat line (albeit in a very confusing way, which we'll discuss later), and they licensed it for many years. At one point, the license expired and both the manga and anime went out of print. Even if the release wasn't a hit, Viz Media had hoped it would be.

Failed US release

Although the manga was a minor hit for Viz Media, many fans felt the release was neglected. When Viz picked up the series, the title already had a following in online circles, and a proper release would give the series another big boost. Wiz had previously found success by launching an American version of Weekly Shonen Jump (retitled Shonen Jump), and the line was so successful that they wanted to replicate the success with a shoujo magazine.

This would lead to the creation of Shoujo Beat Line, a magazine that would focus exclusively on shoujo titles that were primarily aimed at a female audience. The flagship series of the magazine was to be Ai Yazawa Nana (which would become one of the line's best-selling titles), but many fans were surprised by that. Purnima O Sagashite It was not part of the magazine.

cut (baby and me and Kaze Hikaru for example), Purnima O Sagashite The book was sold in book form under the Shojo Beat label. The anime was even more messy, with the DVD series coming out with about 4 episodes per disc. However these discs did not sell well, and after 7 releases (with the last two becoming huge collector's items at this point), the release was canceled and the rest of the dub was never released. Despite this, Viz Media acquired the series on some streaming services at the end of its contract, but the streaming options did not offer the option to watch the dub. This would lead to much speculation about its status years later.

The series gets 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 contain all 52 episodes of the animation. It will be a Blu-ray release using the best elements the company has available, and it's a personal victory for Servants as it's one of the company's first major acquisitions since he bought the company. As predicted, once the acquisition was announced, fans had one question: Will BluRay retain the long-lost dub? Purnima O Sagashite?

Lost dubbed episodes

Viz Media will release 28 episodes Purnima O Sagashite on DVD before the series was cancelled. Those dubbed episodes were not legally streamed on any site and there were conflicting reports as to whether the entire series was dubbed or not. Some actors claimed that the entire series was dubbed while others cited dubbing as an expense that canceled the DVD releases in the first place. Now the question arises:

• What happened to dubbing?
• Are all episodes dubbed?
• Are audio masters still available?

With a CEO (more than most American anime company CEOs) with a history in journalism (he also co-founded the Anime News Network) with a lot on his hands, Sevakis put on his detective hat and started making phone calls to find out what happened. to dub Purnima O Sagashite. After months of calls, e-mails, and talking to friends of friends, he came to X and revealed the results of his research.

The thing was, it wasn't really the end. Because lost media sleuthing has become an explosive hobby on the Internet, fans began to reach out to these companies in their free time, which means that someone who is very close to the product gets these quotes, and reaches the servants to give him. Some more information on the address of the missing dub. Follow-up information was not very promising.

So, there you have it. If the dub existed, it was destroyed a long time ago. It is disappointing to get a straight answer, but there is good news Purnima O Sagashite Coming back to BluRay, so for those who missed out on this (surprisingly heartbreaking) anime back in the day, you'll be able to own it within the next year.