Review - Mermaid Forest Vol. 1 - Quest for Death
Reviewed by Richard Brownell on 1.26.2008.
Score: 7/10
Rumiko Takahashi is best known in the United States for her work on Inu Yasha. But she's been involved in a variety of anime styles, not just young teen action. Mermaid Forest is a much more adult story. Originally told in OVA format, this series gives the story a lot more time to flesh things out with 13 episodes, two of which were never aired on Japanese TV.
While many stories are told around a particular character, item, or setting, Mermaid Forest is based on legend. In particular, the Japanese legend of mermaids tells that eating their flesh could grant the consumer immortality. But it could also poison them, or worse, turn them into mindless deformed creatures for eternity. The legend is not a happy one. And to make things more interesting, mermaids aren't the beautiful women of Western myths and legends. Instead, they can be quite hideous in their natural state. But they can make themselves appear human and even have legs to walk on land.
The first episode of volume 1 takes place in what we'll call the present. There is a strange village where dozens of identical looking women live. A young looking man, Yuta, hears that there are mermaids near the village and goes to investigate. Instead of talking to him about his desire for mermaids, they kill him. But of course he has eaten mermaid flesh before so he comes back to find out what's going on. The women in the village tend to a young girl named Mana who is bed stricken and Yuta is determined to save her, or at least use her as bait to find out what's going on.
This opening episode introduces us to all of the concepts of the show as well as to our main character, Yuta. Upon rescuing Mana and learning of the truth of the village, the two of them go on a journey to find a mermaid who can help them. But that journey is not important, at least not in this DVD. The second and third episodes tell a tale of Yuta's past, at some undisclosed time in his 500 years alive.
While the first episodes is very introductory and has little character development, the story in episodes two and three is the opposite. Though it does reiterate the mermaid legends all too many times, it's more about what happens as a result of them. Yuta washes ashore and joins a village of good-hearted pirates who plunder only 10% of the goods on ships they capture. But there's a rival pirate group that kills everyone and steals everything. Their captain has been looking for somebody to get mermaid flesh so that he can live forever. The good pirates' captain is dying so his daughter also wants to find mermaid flesh. Poor Yuta is the only one who has actually had it and merely wants to return to normal.
The stories told about mermaids in Mermaid Forest are uniquely Japanese. But the central themes in those stories, greed, death, and revenge are universal. The introductory story didn't grab me as I always want a first episode to do. But the story of Yuta's past is a more traditional story, though very dark.
The production quality of Mermaid Forest makes it look like a low budget release. That's not always that unusual for Rumiko Takahashi anime. The character designs for the most part are quite good. And the colors really work well, especially considering all the nighttime scenes, water, and caves. It's the animation itself that leaves something to be desired. It's rigid, commonly using still frames for action, and generally looks more like an anime from 15 years ago rather than from 2003.
Still, the animation quality is not bad enough to bring the whole show down by any means. The legend of the mermaids of Japan makes for some interesting storytelling. And while there hasn't been a lot of characterization, Yuta makes for a compelling single-minded main character. His only desire is to become a normal human again. But will it happen?
Special Features
DVD Features
· English Dolby Digital 2.0
· Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0
· English Subtitles
· Running Time Approx. 75 Min.
· 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen
DVD Extras
· Production Art Gallery
· Geneon Previews
