Rating: 
Summary: Takahashi's "hobby"
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Takahashi's "hobby"
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful, but a little graphic.
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely Good!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Really Good
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Rumiko Takahashi is amazing ^_^
Review: 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 ^_^
Rating:
Summary: The best manga artist did it again...
Review: Unlike Ranma ½ or most of Takahashi's works,mermaid forest is a bit into the horro side.Still,it's marvelous.I really felt sorry for Towa about all that she's gone through...One of a kind!!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best mangas out there !!!!!
Review: You got to get this ! it`s by rumiko takahashi! get this book people! if you like mermaids get this book! :):):):):)
Rating:
Summary: One of the best mangas out there !!!!!
Review: You got to get this ! it`s by rumiko takahashi! get this book people! if you like mermaids get this book! :):):):):)
|
