Mermaid Saga

(Viz, 2004)
™ and © 1988, 1993 Rumiko Takahashi
Re-collects earlier Mermaid titles from Rumiko Takahashi under Viz Action Edition. Reads right to left; Graphic novel; b&w

Rumiko Takahashi is truly a consummate storyteller. Though chiefly known for her lighter fare such as Lum, Maison Ikkoku, or Ranma 1/2, Takahashi is nevertheless a master of dark drama and black comedy. Some of this talent is demonstrated in her popular Inu-Yasha series, but nowhere else is Takahashi as dark or as disturbed as in her Mermaid Saga. Her mermaids are not the bubbly or self-sacrificing fairy creatures of the sea that Disney and The Little Mermaid would have us believe. Here, they are returned to their true natures as grotesque monsters preying on men (as well as each other) to satisfy their primordial hungers. Legend has it, however, that a human who eats the flesh of a mermaid gains immortality, and for many, this is a much-desired elixir. But for Yuta, it has been a 500 year-long curse and a lonely journey through the eras of Japan in search of another like himself who has eaten the mermaid’s flesh and lived. For the legend of the mermaids has a dark secret: to an infinitesimal few it brings immortality, but to all others, it is a terrible poison that kills instantly, or worse, transforms the eater into a mindless, soulless monster.

From the second season of her Rumic Theater series, The Mermaid Saga begins with Yuta’s discovery of Mana, another like himself who is possessed by immortality, and the stories chronicle the pair’s travels across the landscape of Japan, both present and past, as their supernatural natures repeatedly draw them into encounters with the dark side of Japanese folklore. Viz initially published each Mermaid book in this series as its own title, but now re–collects the series as a whole in its original right to left reading format.

— Shiaw-Ling Lai

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