Until the Full Moon Vol. 1 (Manga)
Publisher: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: August 2011
Price: $10.99
Creator: Sanami Matoh
Format: 240 pgs.; Black & White; Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-9354-2989-0
Age Rating: 16+
ICv2 Rating:  2 out of 5 stars

Half-werewolf, half-vampire Marlo under the light of the full moon becomes a girl.  And since there's no cure for his 'condition' his parents decide to make the best of it and arrange a marriage with Marlo's childhood friend David.  David has a reputation as a playboy but immediately has deep feelings for Marlo and doesn’t seem to care whether he's a boy or a girl.  Which only serves to make Marlo even more confused about who he is and and what he wants.

You would think that a pansexual premise this complicated would be capable of generating at least a little romance, drama or even comedy, but instead it pretty much falls flat from the first pages.  Marlo adjusts to being a temporary girl with a remarkable lack of complaint and David never explains how a supposed womanizer is interested in boys, or at least this one boy.

So except for the occasional kidnapping and odd love rival, like Aila the witch who loves David, there just isn't any real impediments to their relationship.  And without any great obstacles to keep them apart and no new characters introduced things get pretty dull fast.  It doesn't help that the focus shifts from Marlo and David's relationship to a fairly length (not to mention unnecessary) flashback to the lives of their ancestors whose lives mirror theirs.

Besides some nicely drawn pretty boys and a couple of  stolen kisses there’s not a lot to Until the Full Moon, but fans of vampires and tortured relationships might feel otherwise.

--Steve Bennett: Writer and retail services consultant.