Wadatsumi no Yometori

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The greatest wish of immortals is to die.

To put it shortly, Wadatsumi no Yometori is a story set in 19-20th century Japan (Meiji period) about an immortal merman and an immortal human. The human, Kiyo, became immortal due to being unknowingly married to the merman and searches for a way to die. While looking for a cure for immortality, Kiyo and the merman (wait did he have a name??) live a peaceful life.

To be truthful, when I first picked this up I thought it would become your typical BL manga especially with the length of the manga being 8 chapters, I didn't think it was ... possible to pack in so much character and backstory into those limited chapters but somehow it worked. The dark undertones are masked by the happy slice-of-life goofing off between Kiyo and the merman but underneath the lull of everyday life are the glimpses of a changing era and Kiyo's guilt of living on.
This is a actually a really sweet love story of two immortals that only have each other to share the pains of never dying.

I also really loved the how the clothes says something about the changing era of the Meiji Restoration. Flapper dresses and suits with hats mixed with traditional Japanese garments is a stark contrast to the traditional clothes he wore when he encountered the merman. When put side by side, it solidified the fact that Kiyo is immortal and has lived through a whole era change and will continue to live through the changes.

I tried my best to write this without spoilers but there's only so much I can say. This is a short read and I encourage you to read this for yourself.