Mermaid Forest- Cult Manga Review

Rumiko Takahashi might be better known for her quirky comedies and romance tales but her Rumik World series showed her sharper, horror tinged edge. Her Fire Tripper run in Manga Mania was the first complete manga series I read and I purchased quite a few of the OAV adaptations from the Rumik World anthology series including Laughing Target and Maris the Wonder Girl.

One of the Rumik World films I had not seen but had read a bit of was Mermaid's Scar. I had picked up a grab bag from my local comic shop and it contained an issue of Mermaid's Scar comic in it but this was not the whole run. I'd only read this one comic and wanted to read more but never found any other issues.

I found this comic in a grab bag and it was the only one in the series which I had.

Doing some research, I found that Mermaid's Scar was one of the many tales that made up the Mermaid Saga. The series apparently ran sporadically in Japan and the premise is based on the Yao Bikuni, or Happyaku Bikuni legend, where eating the flesh of a mermaid will grant immortality or turn you into a terrible monster called a 'lost soul'.

The series follows Yuta, a young man of about 18 years old, who eats the flesh and is thus immortal. He seeks a way to gain his mortality whilst undergoing The Littlest Hobo or The Incredible Hulk TV show style adventures where he helps people before moving on in his quest.

I saw this on shelves bu never got around to buying it or watching it at the time.

In Mermaid Forest, the prequel, Yuta and Mana, who are of a similar age and suffer the same affliction of immortality, are drawn into a terrible situation when their power is sought by an evil woman named Towa. She was half-turned into a 'Lost Soul' by her sister many years ago. Mana's life is in danger as Towa wants to know why the mermaid's fleshes power doesn't work for everyone and wants a head transplant!

This is a very effective story as we get the back story of Yuta and see how he became immortal with a flashback, taking in the horrific situation of his fishermen friends all dying. Throughout there is extreme violence as Takahashi is not squeamish at all with liberal use of gore.

This OAV is well animated and is very evocative if the era with quality framing and artistry throughout. The music is dramatic and complements the scenes well but it's the foley work, with all the squelching, slopping about of blood and slapping that really sells the horror.

The tale of revenge is well done and it's a shame we didn't get more of this series in the West as I would definitely have invested in it. If you have a spare 50 minutes, this manga is well worth your time of you like twisted little horror films.