Takahashi Rumiko Gekijou Ningyo no Mori

According to an ancient legend, mermaid's flesh can grant immortality if eaten. 500 years ago, Yuta unknowingly ate a piece of mermaid's flesh. For centuries, he travels across Japan, hoping to find a mermaid, thinking she may be able to make him a normal human again. When he finally finds one, he discovers that she and her companions have been raising a girl to be their food so they can eat her and take on her youthful looks. That is how mermaids stay young. Yuta kills the mermaids and rescues her, but she has already eaten some of the mermaid's flesh. Although he had to kill the mermaids, Yuta isn't too disappointed. Yuta's once lonely existence is now over, as he has found a companion in Mana. And Mana, who had been trapped in a small hut her whole life, finds delight in even the simplest of things. Together, Yuta and Mana attempt to seek out more mermaids, trying to become normal humans again.

(Source: ANN)

Mana Main

Takayama, Minami Japanese

Yuta Main

Yamadera, Kouichi Japanese

Big Eyes Supporting

Gouri, Daisuke Japanese

Rin Supporting

Kuwashima, Houko Japanese

Kannagi, Towa Supporting

Shimamoto, Sumi Japanese

Rin's Father Supporting

Arimoto, Kinryuu Japanese

Kogure, Nae Supporting

Amano, Yuri Japanese

Natsume's Father Supporting

Kitamura, Kouichi Japanese

Monk Supporting

Katou, Seizou Japanese

Natsume Supporting

Sugiyama, Kazuko Japanese

Yokoyama, Satoshi Producer

Okamoto, Junya Assistant Producer

Oozora, Masaki Director

Urakami, Yasuo Sound Director

Reviews

May 6, 2008

kufreabia

Recommended

If you are currently watching a long series that occassionally takes 2 week breaks (think Bleach and GrayMan), and you want to fill that spare time with some short, enjoyable anime, then you are obliged to see Mermaid Forest.

STORY:

Mermaid Forest to me is a story of endurance, love and ultimately a moral theme follows through it. The writer of this anime is famous for many love animes, so it is no surprise this anime would eventually end up being one too. The whole story is like reading a book, with different chapters. Usually each episode represents a chapter. The theme of the show is ... consistent through each episode, and I believe that is a good strength of the anime.
I also enjoyed the fact that this anime employed the use of filler episodes to flesh out the main character. I did not think that could be done with 13 episodes, but it was well done - :)

What then could be wrong with mermaid forest's story to earn a seven? Here is where the story fails: It does not connect with the audience in the way most animes do, but being that it is a fantasy story, we may overlook this fault.
Another problem with the plot is that the series of events occur in such cliche formats that they tend to become annoyingly predictable. ALthough this does not detract the enjoyability, it does not strengthen the overall anime either.
Finally, my last problem was that the story, in my opinion, was not, in the large view conclusive. I found this to be really disappointing as the final episode was so good!!!

ART

The art of this anime is unique because it deceives you. It gives you the feeling you are watching an old school anime, while it has all the feel of a modern art-anime. This series was made in 2003, but the drawing is reminiscent of such anime as in 1987-1993. I do not think this detracts from the story, but actually makes you feel like you are watching a show from the past. As for this, I believe the art of the anime is consistent with the theme of immortality, which recognizes the timelessness of the art form used. I liked it, and give it a 9 for art.

SOUND

The sound track for this anime was actually good, once you get used to it. I liked it. Overall, the sound for the anime is commonplace, and has nothing special going for it.

CHARACTER

Character development is actually biased here. Whereas there are two main characters in this anime, the focus for the entire story is the man. As unfair as this sounds, it is not so bad. Eventually, you get to realize that one of the two main characters is simply playing a supporting role - and that is all you will ever get in terms of depth from this character. Now, this is not really a problem as this anime is, at best, a filler. I guess with more episodes, there would have been much more work put in.
The main character is well developed, and this is done by using fillers to build the individual. And you can get to see his overall frustration with his long life, and his search for humanity. It is painful to see his search go on for so long, but it is helpful to understand what he has been through.

CONCLUSION (with a little spoiler)

I did enjoy the anime. i did not come to it expecting much, therefore i did not leave disappointed. I believe many people would like the anime once they begin to watch it, but I know some people will utterly dislike this piece of work = and i think that is ok. You either like or hate, but i don't think you can love it.
The one thing i can say for those who watch this anime is that the last episodes are really good. I actually cringed at one scene. I hate to name drop, but the last episode would draw to mind the great anime "MONSTER." For that reason, it is worth watching.
My biggest problem was the scene that made me cringe was the scene that also disappointed me! I just thought that the anime should end on a note of the man finally finding rest from his journey. This did not happen, and that alone killed this series for me. I like conclusions whether happy or sad, just end the thing!

OVERALL

Sorry for my long review, but if you wish to kill time between episodes of a long series that just took a short break (think bleach, or grayman), then this might just do it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jun 20, 2012

angelsreview

Mixed Feelings

For those of you who don’t know, this is a show that was created by the same manga-ka that created Ranma ½, Inuyasha, and Lum. I had actually never known of this show until I was just glimpsing at a list of dubbed anime. Having said this, the show is a bit odd in comparing it to the shows she normally does.

The story follows two characters the most part, a man and woman who have eaten mermaid flesh and so have gained immortality. Throughout the story, you can see the different changes of the world as years go by. In a way, this is ... somewhat like RIN: Daughters of Mnemosyne in that sense. A lot of times though, they do look back on Yuta’s life, sometimes making it a bit hard to understand exactly what is going on when we pop back suddenly into a new time frame. Once in a while, it is hard to pick out what is looking to the past and what is actually in the ‘present’ day time frame since some places never change. It makes me wonder why they didn’t just show Yuto’s life threw up till when he meets Mana instead of flopping back and forward.

The stories not only follow these two as they travel around but also seem to be cases in where others have been affected by mermaids weather eating their flesh, having ashes dumped on them, had drunken mermaid blood, or even just had someone they knew eaten by a mermaid. We get a sort of case file of the mysterious world of the mermaid powers which reminds me of shows like Petshop of Horror and detective anime, just a little more based on one specific piece of the mermaid mythos.

The idea of mermaids being able to give birth is actually a really cool thing to see and I love how they put that into the show. It’s awesome and I have never really seen that happen in a show so it makes it rather different then other mermaid tales. Another really interesting thing is that the went off the normal folklore of the mermaids looks, having them be beautiful women sometimes and then giving them a monstrous look when they are fighting someone. Most of the time now a days, we look at a mermaid and we want to see the beautiful women with flowing hair but in reality, the story of a mermaid was placed as them being true monsters, something to be feared instead of loved.

The artwork is pretty much the same as Inuyasha and all her other shows. It’s pretty much the same in how the eyes and coloring is. There are some things that seem a bit off in their faces, when looking straight on, they look rather flat but when looking at them in profile, they show more to the face. Other things like details on the boats and water is pretty good. The scales of the mermaid seem to be different when you look between when they have them on and when they wash up on shore. Though it feels like a show that had cut corners on many pieces of the animation, it was a normal thing for them to do stuff like that when this first came out so I still give them props for making it pretty enjoyable.

The voices are really bad in the English dub. Non of them actually match the lip flaps. As I kept watching it, the Japanese voices did grow on me but that didn’t help the lip flap problem which did get a bit better as the story kept going but never seemed all that good. For it being a 2003 show (No, I don’t know when the actual dubbing took place) I would of thought it would have been just a little bit better. Music is so so, not great, and again, not that bad.

A small note to anyone looking for the manga, it is under the name Mermaid Saga by Rumiko Takahashi.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Feb 27, 2021

kirazerorequiem

Not Recommended

what a mess this show was. Everything was pretty subpar from the lacking story, the animation, (not the worst) to even the characters.

Following Yuta's adventure for finding a unknown cure for his immortality and his idiotic choices. Soon after starting he met with his immortal counterpart to adventure with.

whilst in the end, two immortals living together and to maybe grow more friends like them with time, that would not be a bad outcome. Instead Lets continue going town to town finding the most evil women or mermaid (that is right under their thumb) plotting the most evil plan by ... using mermaid flesh. It was showed / hinted multiple times the mermaids knew not of how to cure immortality peacefully, i mean if he really wanted to die that bad, it's possible.

The plot overall was pointless. Focusing on mundane travels and side stories whilst he tells everyone he meets that he is immortal.

The action scenes were only saved by some of the creative tactics that were used. But it was also unrealistic at time. The time when buddy cut through two metal chains with one, not even a leveraged swing. Or later that episode, they lightly tapped misses restrains with the hatchet then the ropes just fell apart.

The ending episode was horrendous. Consisting of, lets surprise him and bash through the window only to kneel down and console your friend for five minutes, all whilst the kid with the gun gets a good shot...

Next lets watch a bit as he drags his axe to the body and starts chopping his head off, then she decides to jump in and overpower the kid but states "if you kill him, ill come back from hell and kill you" only to pass out on top of the kid soon after. Yes, because almost chopping his head off with the intent to kill wasn't enough to mark him as a threat.

The kid somehow decides to leave them alive even after all the pity attempt's made before but sets fire to the spot as to say he did something. And that just the one scene.

overall: It was a boring watch. No real plot or comedy, just bad drama and interactions. It was easier to watch than other bad series I've seen, until the ending butchered it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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