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Story
Full Moon focuses on a 12-year-old girl named Mitsuki Koyama. While Mitsuki is a talented singer and dreams of becoming a pop idol, she is afflicted by throat cancer, which seems curable only through surgery that will destroy her voice. One day she is visited by two shinigami whom only she can see, Takuto and Meroko, who go by the team name "Negi Ramen" or "Onion Noodles." These shinigami tell her she has but one year left to live. Mitsuki realizes she cannot wait any longer and attempts to achieve her dream of becoming a singer. However, she does not look old enough to be a singer, so she makes a deal with one of the shinigami, Takuto, to transform her into a 16-year-old who goes by the stage name of "Full Moon." Not only does she become older, but her throat is healthy in this form, and she is able to sing without any difficulty.

To start a career as a singer, 16-year-old Mitsuki auditions in a singing contest. Though there is much competition, she is able to win over the judges with her enthusiasm for singing and her excellent voice. Two years before the shinigami's arrival, she promised Eichi Sakurai, a boy she met in an orphanage, that they would both achieve their dreams together. Eichi wanted to become an astronomer and Mitsuki wanted to become a singer. Shortly after, Eichi was adopted and emigrated to America before Mitsuki could express her feelings for him. Because Mitsuki is fated to die, she is intent on achieving her dream and meeting Eichi. Mitsuki hopes that one day Eichi will hear her songs and return to her so they can be together again before her life ends.

In the manga, like the anime, Mitsuki debuts as a singer under the alias "Full Moon." However, unlike the anime, she does not gain instant overwhelming success and popularity as Full Moon and instead struggles to survive in charts. Despite their similar beginnings, the manga and the anime of this series enjoy extremely different plotlines.

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Characters
Names are in Western order, with the surname after the given name.

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Humans
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Mitsuki Koyama (神山満月 Kōyama Mitsuki) - Seiyu Myco
The protagonist, she dreams of becoming a pop singer but suffers from throat cancer. She is told that she will die if the surgery to remove her vocal cords is not performed, but Mitsuki still refuses the surgery. With Takuto's help, she is able to transform into Full Moon, a sixteen-year-old pop idol, completely free of cancer and able to sing. She wants to become a singer because she wants to tell her love, Eichi Sakurai, that she loves him. Mitsuki lost contact with Eichi when he moved from the orphanage to America. In the manga, after he leaves Mitsuki she realizes that she loved him. She waited to call him in America but later finds out on television that his plane had crashed and sees name on the list of the deceased. In the anime, she does not find out until much later in the series that he is dead (and of a car crash in this case).

Full Moon
A pop idol and the stage name of Mitsuki Koyama in her 16-year-old form. The reason Mitsuki chooses this stage name is because Eichi's goal is to become an astronomer, and the term "full moon" reminds her of him. It is also because Mitsuki's name means "full moon" in Japanese.

Unlike Mitsuki, Full Moon does not have throat cancer, and therefore can sing. She is discovered by Seed Records and is selected from their audition. Full Moon is a major hit, releasing several singles in the anime, including "Myself" and "Eternal Snow." Full Moon has made several public performances and two concerts.

Eichi Sakurai (桜井英知 Sakurai Eichi)
Mitsuki's first love. After his parents died, Eichi lived with his grandfather until he, too, died. He was then moved to the orphanage where he met Mitsuki. They became fast friends, and Mitsuki was heartbroken when he went to America, as she could not yet confess her true feelings to him. Part of the reason she wanted to become a singer was to find him. However, in the manga, Eichi died when the plane transporting him to America crashed. Mitsuki knew he was dead all along but pretended not to realize it. Much of the manga revolves around Mitsuki dealing with Eichi's death. In the anime, Eichi dies in a car crash in America, and Mitsuki does not discover his fact until much later in the series when she finally gets to travel to America.

Fuzuki Koyama (神山文月 Kōyama Fuzuki) - Seiyu Kazuko Sugiyama
Mitsuki's grandmother, she initially hates music because she believes that music stole away everyone she loved. She is strongly against any music, and becomes angry when Mitsuki sang in her house. In the anime, Fuzuki fell in love with a man who wanted to become a famous pianist. He became 'obsessed' with practicing piano, and when she suggested that he should relax a bit, he pushed her away and said she did not understand. Then he left Japan, and it broke Fuzuki's heart. In the manga, Fuzuki was friends with Meroko (when she was a human) and they both fell in love with a violinist. The man chose Fuzuki as his fiance, but after Meroko/Moe committed suicide, broke off the engagement. Later in her life, Fuzuki married someone else and had Hazuki. Later, Hazuki fell in love with Aoi Koga, the son of the violinist that both Fuzuki and Meroko/Moe fell in love with, and a member from the band Route L. She eloped with him, and was killed in an accident when rushing to the hospital when she went into labour. Fuzuki was only left with Mitsuki.

Keiichi Wakaoji (若王子圭一 Wakaōji Keiichi) - Seiyu Teruaki Ogawa
Dr. Wakaoji is Mitsuki's doctor and a friend of her deceased father. He performed in the band Route L with Mitsuki's father Aoi Koga and Takuto Kira and plays the keyboard. Most fans named him "Prince". In the manga, he was the doctor who performed the surgery on Takuto which removed his vocal cords in order to save his life.

Masami Oshige (大重正実 Ōshige Masami) - Seiyu Tomomi Seo
Ms. Oshige is Full Moon's manager and an avid fangirl of Route L, especially Dr. Wakaoji. She and Dr. Wakaoji end up going out in the manga. She started out as an idol singer herself, under the stage name Yuina Hanakazari (花飾結菜, Hanakazari Yuina), but was not very successful.

Madoka Wakamatsu (若松円 Wakamatsu Madoka) - Seiyu Kana
Madoka is Full Moon's rival in the music industry but at the same time befriends twelve-year-old Mitsuki. Madoka sang the song Eternal Snow, which was originally sang by Route L. She chose Eternal Snow because she overheard that Full Moon wants to sing it as well, and she hoped that she if she sang it first, the producer would not let Full Moon sing it. Eventually both Full Moon and Madoka had a single produced under the title Eternal Snow. However, there are some differences in the song. Madoka's version of Eternal Snow is Diamond Dust Remix. Near the end of the anime, Madoka performes her version of Eternal Snow in Full Moon's Final Live Concert. Madoka also has a chibi pig called Gu-Chan who worships her. She, on the other hand, seems to despise him.

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Shinigami
The shinigami are spirits who committed suicide when they were human and are consequently punished with the task of collecting souls. The manga goes into more detail on the past lives of the shinigami. Of all the shinigami's lives as humans, only Takuto's is covered in the anime.

Takuto Kira (タクト・キラ Takuto Kira) - Seiyu Yasuo Saitou
Takuto is partnered with Meroko, and they are assigned to take Mitsuki's soul. His shinigami costume is a cat outfit (with a backpack with wings), without which he would not enjoy the power of flight because he is not yet a full shinigami and hence has not sprouted wings of his own. Takuto is capable of transforming into an anthropomorphic cat plushie. Takuto transforms Mitsuki into a 16-year-old to help her participate in a singing audition. He later develops romantic feelings for Mitsuki. He becomes depressed at times, especially when Mitsuki talks about Eichi, the boy she loves. Towards the story's end, Takuto resolves to save Mitsuki's life, violating fate and his duty as a shinigami. Meanwhile, Mitsuki finally reciprocates Takuto's affection.

In his past life, Takuto was once a lead singer in Route:L, the same band that Mitsuki's father and doctor was in. He developed a malignant tumour in his throat, just as Mitsuki later did. Wakaoji removed the tumour in surgery, but it made Takuto lose his voice. Unable to bear the thought of being unable to sing, Takuto jumped from the top floor of the hospital and became a shinigami. In the anime, Takuto drove his motorbike off a cliff as soon as he found out about his tumour and its consequences.

Meroko Yui　(めろこ・ユイ Meroko Yui) - Seiyu Chieko Honda
Meroko is Takuto's partner and is infatuated with him, though her love is unrequited. Meroko is a rabbit shinigami with long ears, and she is capable of transforming into an anthropomorphic bunny stuffed toy. She is rather fond of changing her appearance into other characters': her trademark phrase in the anime is "mero mero change!" In the anime, she is initially portrayed as a stickler to the rules, often consulting a rule book, but her love for both Takuto and Mitsuki eventually gets the better of her. In the manga, she is jealous due to Takuto's affection for Mitsuki, and occasionally vents her wrath on Mitsuki. She fears that Mitsuki will make Takuto recover his memories, and if he does, he will become a ghost. In the end, however, she is considerably softened and finally realises that she has loved Izumi all along. Meroko, who was named Moe Rikyō (里匡萌, Rikyou Moe) when she was alive, was Mitsuki's grandmother's best friend. Mitsuki's grandmother, Fuzuki, was engaged to be married and Moe was a 16-year-old girl. One day they both met a violinist and the trio spent much time together from then on. Moe fell in love with the violinist, but he loved Mitsuki's grandmother so he became engaged to her and the person who was once engaged to her was passed on to Moe. When she was told the news, she rushed to Fuzuki's house to see if it was true and caught Fuzuki and the violinist kissing, then abruptly ran off. Later on, her fiancee tried to rape her and she ran away in the rain. Feeling depressed and suicidal, Moe slit her wrists and bled to death. Meroko's shinigami name, Meroko Yui, is an anagram of Moe Rikyō.

Izumi Lio/Rio Izumi (いずみ・リオ Izumi Rio) - Seiyu Megumi Ogata
Izumi is a shinigami who appears later in the story. In the anime, Izumi's background story is not mentioned and he is portrayed throughout as a cold-hearted character, sometimes almost as an antagonist. In contrast, he is a tragic figure and has an understanding personality in the manga: He was a 6-year-old boy whose mother hated him. When his father died, his mother lost her mind and beat Izumi for growing up to be like his father. When she beat him, she thought that she was scolding his father for leaving her. In an effort to make his mother happy for once, he ran off while they were out and stood in front of an oncoming train. He saw his mother smile as he was hit, but somehow it didn't satisfy him even though he believed that was what he wanted to see. Later on, his mother died and Izumi went to take her soul, telling his mother that he had became a shinigami. Eventually Mitsuki's gentleness makes Izumi realise that he had wanted his mother to call his name while he stood on the railway tracks. When he regains his last lost memory of his mother, he also realises that his mother was smiling through tears of guilt and relief. He was once Meroko's partner in the pediatric death ward. Meroko loved him but he did not return the feelings. When Meroko is forced to train newcomer, Takuto (and eventually falls in love with him), Izumi realises that he loved her and spends much of the manga trying to get her back.