Customer Reviews

Mermaid Forest, Volume 1 (Viz Graphic Novel)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the first manga I ever read and it's still one of my favorites. People familiar with Takahashi's work will find her trademark humor and romance only not to the usual extremes. The story is a bit dark and very gory. It's like INU YASHA in the aspect there are bloody fights and cool demonic looking foes.

The story is about a legend that if you eat the flesh of a mermaid you gain long life and youth (assuming you're young when you eat it). The sad thing is that most people learn the hard way that not everyone who eats the flesh gets like this. Only one in a thousand people have bodies strong enough to take the effects of this poisonous flesh. Those that can't either die right away or become "lost souls", terrible fish like creatures that have lost their souls and wander the Earth forever, mindlessly killing and whatnot. And some people get in betweeners.

The beginning introduces one such guy that ate the flesh and did gain immortality. He meets a girl who has recently suffered the same fate and they journey together to see where their endless lives will take them. Oh and you'll never look at mermaids the same way after this book. I dont think they have ever been depicted as grotesquely as they are in this short but sweet series.

This story is wonderful. I first got hooked on the Mermaid series after renting the video The Mermaid's Scar. Then I bought this book and was delighted once again ^_^ Rumiko Takahashi is a story-telling genius and her artwork is efficient yet at the same time gorgeous, and easy to read. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes any kind of horror stories, manga, or just comics in general (but don't buy it for your kids unless they're over about 12 because it's rather.. violent) This book is very very awesome ^_^

The first three of the nine stories that has become known as Rumiko Takahashi's Mermaid Saga. Written over the course of about twelve years, while still working on her major series (Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, and Ranma 1/2), this is Rumiko at her darkest--only her short story, Laughing Target, is as intensely frightening. While some of the later stories (especially the very last two) were more about the surrounding characters and are more plotted, these first three are all about Yuta and Mana, even while other characters plot and scheme around them. Even though these are horror stories, in the more literary sense of the word, there is also a great amount of comedy. My favorite--the first, "A Mermaid Never Smiles"--is practically a Swift-esque satire on the strive for beauty at any cost, and it sort of disappointed me that these themes weren't hit on more throughout the series. The best parts of the series, the thing everybody has come to wait for, are the little sections at the end of each story, when Yuta and (usually) Mana leave for the next town and talk to each other. Sometimes they moralize, sometimes they talk about how they feel, but it's always poignant.

This is the first manga I ever read and it's still one of my favorites. People familiar with Takahashi's work will find her trademark humor and romance only not to the usual extremes. The story is a bit dark and very gory. It's like INU YASHA in the aspect there are bloody fights and cool demonic looking foes.

The story is about a legend that if you eat the flesh of a mermaid you gain long life and youth (assuming you're young when you eat it). The sad thing is that most people learn the hard way that not everyone who eats the flesh gets like this. Only one in a thousand people have bodies strong enough to take the effects of this poisonous flesh. Those that can't either die right away or become "lost souls", terrible fish like creatures that have lost their souls and wander the Earth forever, mindlessly killing and whatnot. And some people get in betweeners.

The beginning introduces one such guy that ate the flesh and did gain immortality. He meets a girl who has recently suffered the same fate and they journey together to see where their endless lives will take them. Oh and you'll never look at mermaids the same way after this series. I dont think they have ever been depicted as grotesquely as they are in this short but sweet series.

i bought this book thinking it would be funny like ranma 1/2 and urusei yatsura. i was so wrong. it was good nonetheless and it made me cry in more than one place. rumiko takahashi is so talented and this book is more proof to that. it starts with a wandering man (yuta) looking for a mermaid. he then meets mana who has been in shackles her entire life. they are both blessed (or cursed?) with immortality and they both die several times. this book is definately NOT for younger children or people with weak stomachs. However, it does have a very sweet bit of romance in it. the only reason i gave it four stars instead of five is that the story is rather choppy wheras i prefer a smooth running story. a great book all in all, and greater still if you are looking for a surprise from takahashi.

This is really an amazing peice of work. The characters become real people with real faults and real hearts, and the stories--macabre, yet insightful towards human nature--are ones that will keep you thinking well into the future. It is made up of three stories-A Mermaid Never Smiles, Village of the Fighting Fish, and Mermaid Forest--and all revolve around Yuta, a man who appears to be 20 years old, but is really 500. Long ago, he ate the Flesh of a Mermaid, and now he is cursed with Immortality. Wandering, alone, for hundreds of years, he seeks the cure--but all he knows is he must find a Mermaid. Each story is about his quest, spanning hundreds of years, beginning in 1509 in Ancient Japan. Takahashi does her best work here--beleive me. If you are a devout Ranma addict, look out--one look at this, and you'll never be able to go back.

I found this book to be very good, partially because it's very different from any manga I have read(possibly besides Inu Yasha), and partially because the story itself is very good. The drawings of course are wonderful. The book starts out with Yuta finding Mana, a girl who will be fed to many mermaids, and saves her(several times actually). It then went on with a story about a girl named Rin who is sort of a "pirate" though she herself denies it. She wants to save her father who is very sick and sets out to find a Mermaid that she can feed him, after meeting Yuta(no Mana)and hearing his story. They meet a mean mermaid who wants nourishment for her baby..blah blah blah(im not spoiling it anymore). the third part of the story goes back to Yuta and Mana where they meet one very selfish girl(who isnt really selfish) and one selfless girl(who is actually very selfish). There was a mermaid buried on a hill near then but only one of the girls knows where it is. They want to eat Mana but they decide against it because she isnt dead. They(the two girls, Yuta, and Mana) find it, but Yuta and Mana encounter a lost soul (when they are forced to go get the mermaid)in the meantime....I found it somewhat confusing though how the story of Rin just kind of showed up in the middle of the tankoubon. it took me a little bit to figure out what was going on. Yet, I am still confused. I almost think that Rin is the wife that Yuta told Mana about. all in all, I do suggest that everyone reads it. You do not have to like a certain kind of book to like this one. And if you like Takahashi Rumiko-san's other work, then you will like this one as well. if you have any more questions e-mail me.:)

I've had this GN for serveral years now. The story is very interesting. I've always thought it would be neat to live forever. I've never realized the disadvantages of immortality until I've read this novel. I guess you can get sick of life. That's basically what the main characters are implying since their quest is to find a way to be normal again. Along the way they encounter people who would love to be in their position. This is a very well written series. Be sure to read the other GN from the series. I can't enough of it.

This is definitely classified as the well-known manga style comic. It seems nice from the front, and one would expect a little cute-Ranma 1/2 type storyline. This is not the case. This is an example of Rumiko Takahashi's earlier work - more graphic, violent, and a little more intense in storyline. It's certainly not lighthearted and I don't suggest it for those who are interested in Ranma, even if it is the same artist and creator.

It is basically about a young man who wants to find a mermaid to consume of the sacred scales - I believe it gives eternal life or eternal youth, one of the two, and is extremely desired. The young man has a health ailment of sorts. It's a bit fuzzy on this part of the story, probably due to translation as well, because it was written in Japanese first.

The artwork is beautifully done, in the usual pen and ink style of most mangas. The storyline is a bit strange and graphic, but the art makes up for it if you want to look at it from a visual perspective versus a literary one.

I would recommend it, but it's a little unusual. It's a little darker than other works by her, and though the trilogy is worth reading, I would not readily reread it as I have with other series.

Another great story from Rumiko Takahashi. This one is definitely not in the same vein as Ranma 1/2 due to the great prevalence of blood and death, but the familiar themes draw the reader in. We are introduced to Yuta, a tragic character with a heart of gold. Takahashi paints an aching portrayal of the loneliness that comes with immortality; the curse of life ever-lasting. We see how he comes across, through horrendous means, a young girl named Mana who has been cursed just as he. In finding her, he also finds the will to continue to walk this earth a little longer as long as she is by his side. Just as I did with the Ranma 1/2 series, I looked forward to every subtle, yet profound development of Yuta's relationship with Mana through their glances, gestures, and concern for each other during their many macabre adventures. Believe it or not, it is romantic. Sometimes what is left unsaid is worth more than any flowery exhortation. For those who seek it, there is plenty of action as well as an on-going revelation of many sides of the human nature. Don't miss this intro to a great series.