Anime Meta-Review
Mermaid's Forest
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Title Info
- seen: 1 of 1
- type: OAV
- grade: watchable
- people: Takahashi
- made: unknown
- Review created: Recently, but I didn't record the date.
- mod: none
Feel free to replace OAV with short (40 min.) movie if so desired. This is a reasonably solid adaption of a Rumiko Takahashi horror manga, and as such it is quite a nice suprise to spring on Ranma fans. The manga has been released, under the same title, but it must be mentioned that the anime only covers the final story contained in the VIZ manga, which is a great shame.
The story concerns Yuta, a 500 year old fisherman who has become immortal through eating the flesh of a mermaid. This flesh can either grant this boon or, more commonly, turn the consumer into a mutated insane beast. Yuta has had many adventures (story 2 in the manga) and finally found someone else able to share his life (story 1 in the manga) when he is drawn into great danger. This danger involves a family who have been tainted by their possession of a mermaid and have many hidden desires and competing ambitions. The arrival of Yuta and Mana upset the status quo and bring these dark desires to the surface, with horrible results.
The production of this anime is fairly competent, as was previously mentioned. The animation is older but quite good and has some moments of charm. The characters are interesting, with the trademark RT agressive females being much in evidence. The changes between quiet moments and violence are well handled. The action scenes are relatively simple, but there is lots of blood splattered throughout. The story is acceptable, as is the dialogue, retaining some of the psychological horror of the original. The unfortunate thing is that when the anime follows the manga it does no better, and when it deviates from the manga the changes are questionable. Thus while the animation allows for a richer atmosphere, and contains some of the strengths of the manga, it is ultimately inferior to its source. This is especially true in the conclusion which is illogical and a complete invention. Of course it must be said that I am a great fan of RT manga, which may help explain why I find a lot of these early anime conversions to be lifeless and inferior. Of course someone who has not read the manga may well enjoy the story more, and will certainly view it differently.
Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Wed Aug 5 12:39:22 WST 2009