Review: MERMAID SAGA

 It's a little late, but think of this review like a treat, that last bag of clearance-price Halloween candy on the shelf the day after.  So let's take a look at one of Rumiko Takahashi's rare stabs at horror and one of her most underrated tales.

MERMAID SAGA (Ningyo Shirizu), by Rumiko Takahashi.  First published in 1984 and first published in North America in 1994.

PLOT:

It is said that anyone who eats mermaid flesh gains eternal life.  Yuta is all too familiar with this legend.  500 years ago, he was a fisherman who sampled the flesh out of curiosity.  While his companions died or turned into monstrous fishmen, he became immortal.  He has spent the centuries searching for another mermaid in the hopes of finding a cure, and his search eventually leads him to Mana.  She is a young girl taken captive by an elderly group of mermaids in the hopes they can sacrifice her to regain their youth.  The two of them escape, but this is only the beginning of their journey...

STORY:

This is a very uncharacteristic work for Rumiko Takahashi.  There are no wacky martial-arts, no bickering couples, and no electric aliens.  Instead there are loads of monsters, blood, greed, and sadness, and it's legitimately kind of awesome.

I rather like Yuta, which is something I can seldom say for most of Takahashi's male leads.  He's very focused and empathetic, refusing to allow himself to get mopey or overly dramatic about his fate.  He and Mana contrast one another very well.  While Mana is a pampered, naive ingenue, Yuta is quite literally an old soul, but the two are equal when it comes to understanding the mechanics and the philosophy of being immortal.  Then on top of this you have action, although it comes at a much slower pace then most of her better-known manga.  If this series has one negative, it's that Mana is not very involved in the action thus far.  Yes, Yuta has more stories to tell and more experience, but Mana deserves to do more than serve as a coveted object who exists only to be saved by others.

ART:

The characters look fairly typical for Takahashi at the time: tiny heads, big blobs of black hair, short bodies with comparatively long legs.  There is some variety, though, be it the rough-looking pirates from Yuta's past or the shriveled, ancient old women who kept Mana captive.  The strongest designs here are easily the most frightening: the Lost Souls, the fate of anyone who consumes and rejects the magic of the mermaid flesh.  They are hideous fishmen with bug eyes, huge gaping fanged mouths, hulking, lumpy bodies, and strange, veined, almost reptilian skin.  The only thing that rivals them is the true face of the actual mermaids.  Once they drop their human guise, they lunge for our leads with similar bug-eyed, predatory looks.

Otherwise, this holds a lot of the polish that had come to be expected from Takahashi by this point in her career.  The action is drawn in a clean, crisp manner and there's a smattering of fanservice with a few topless scenes for Mana.  If anything, I wish she had let herself cut loose a little more stylistically to really heighten the horror and unnerve the reader.  Still, it's as attractive as any of her better-known epics.

RATING:

If you're curious about Rumiko Takahashi but not in the mood to dive into something as long as Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, or Inuyasha, Mermaid Saga is not a bad place to start.  The concept is a bit atypical for her work, but it's got the tight writing and great art one would expect and a spooky, slow-creeping atmosphere that makes it stand out.

This series is published by Viz.  This series is complete in Japan with 4 volumes available.  All 4 volumes have been published.  The single volumes are currently out of print, but the series will soon be re-published in 2-in-1 omnibuses.