Mermaid Saga
Also known as Mermaid Forest in anime form
By: Rumiko Takahashi
I don’t care what any of you guys say! Mermaids can be terrifying!!! O.O
I have no idea if it’s a Japanese thing or whether it’s just drawing on the traditional legend of sirens of death that would drown sailors, but I can name more than one manga with evil mermaids…
Anyways of all the mermaid manga this one is probably one of the more popular, as it’s by the same author as Inuyasha, and was widely published outside Japan. Don’t worry though! If you’re thinking this will be too much like Inuyasha! Its not, and it’s also fairly short at, I believe five books long.
Mermaid Saga is based off a legend (that I’m not sure, again, if its Japanese, a widely believed piece of lore or made up by the author, but I have seen the idea in other series) that if you eat the flesh of a mermaid you will be granted immortality.
The story begins with Yuta, a young man who stumbles upon a strange villiage where it appears only women live. Well they kill him less than 20 pages in so I’m not counting it as a spoiler. XD And guess what? He’s partaken of mermaid’s flesh. The story develops from there and is really a great introduction to this world of evil mermaids that the author proceeds to develop in the rest of the series.
If you’ve never read anything else by Rumiko Takahashi other than Inuyasha, you’re really missing out and this would be a good introduction to the rest of her works! The series is a bit more mature than Inuyasha (not by much, though) and keeps a fun supernatural vibe throughout.
This is a great series for people who want supernatural things on Halloween but don’t want to be wading across a river of blood to get them.
And come on! Don’t even pretend like evil mermaids don’t sound kinda awesome!
~Tsu
