Ningyo Series

Name: Ningyo Series
Rating: 7.4

人魚シリーズ
Mermaid Forest
Mermaid's Gaze
Mermaid's Scar
Ningyo no Mori
Mermaid Saga

Manga7.43346 votes3 volumes · 16 chaptersFinished

HorrorRomanceSupernaturalShounen

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About this title

Synopsis

There is a legend that says if someone eats the flesh of a mermaid, they will attain immortality; but this myth contains a darker side, in that the devourer may die or become a monster. The youthful Yuta has been wandering Japan in search of mermaids not to become immortal, but to break his curse of eternal life. Over five hundred years ago, he ate a mermaid; now, Yuta is in search of a cure, hoping the mermaids know the secret. When he stumbles upon a hidden village, he quickly learns that it is full of mermaids that live in an underground society centered around the murder and cultivation of young human women to maintain their own youth and immortality. Their most recent victim, Mana, is given the flesh of a mermaid to eat in order to fulfill the recipe toward being a perfect candidate to be eaten. Yuta helps her escape, and they find themselves on a journey to live their lives as normal as they can. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Publication notes

Ningyo Series began publication in Shounen Sunday Zoukan and later moved to Weekly Shounen Sunday. It was published sporadically during its serialization. The original Japanese release was two wideband volumes and was incomplete; the second was complete in three small size volumes. The first two story arcs were serialized in English in the 1993 March issue of VIZ Media's Animerica—Anime & Manga Monthly magazine. The remaining stories were subsequently published in comic book format by VIZ Select Comics, with four issues to each part titled Mermaid Forest, Mermaid's Dream, Mermaid's Promise, Mermaid's Scar, Mermaid's Gaze and Mermaid's Mask, published from 1993 to 1995. The series was additionally printed in standard tankoubon format by VIZ Graphic Novels in three volumes titled Mermaid Forest, Mermaid's Scar, and Mermaid's Gaze, from December 6, 1994, to March 8, 1997. VIZ Media republished the title in four volumes as Mermaid Saga from July 14, 2004, to December 22, 2004, in the original right-to-left order. A two-volume collector's edition was later released. The series was also published in Argentina as Cuentos de Sirenas by LARP Editores from November 2008 to April 2009.

Published

Aug 1984 to Feb 1994

Authors

Takahashi, Rumiko

External links

MyAnimeList page Wikipedia

MAL rank: #4187
Members (MAL): 8,860
Favorites (MAL): 103

Related titles

Adaptation

Main characters

Mana15 fan favorites
External profile
An immortal companion of Yuta. She was raised by a group of old women that kept her captive and incapacitated in a hut. They were really mermaids that sought to eat Mana once she reached her adolescence to regain their youth. She travels with Yuta since, and possesses a large sense of loyalty and feelings towards him, but due to her somewhat naive and spoiled nature, she doesn't seem to truly realize that her emotions towards him are possibly love or just simple affection.
Yuuta11 fan favorites
External profile
500 year old immortal. He ate the flesh of a mermaid out of curiosity when he and his fellow fishermen had captured one, but out of all the fishermen who ate a piece, only Yuta had survived. His comrades had either been poisoned or turned into soul-less monsters. Yuta, being scared that he will meet the same fate, goes into denial before simply forgetting about ever eating the mermaid's flesh. He takes a wife and lives normally until he discovers that while she grew older as the years go by, he hasn't aged since the day he ate the flesh. He hears that a mermaid will be able to help him turn normal again, thus, travels endlessly in search of a way to become mortal. Along his travels, he meets a girl named Mana, another immortal who was fed mermaid flesh by the ones who raised her. He saves Mana from the mermaids who were planning to devour her and takes her in as a traveling companion.