Mermaid Forest (2003– ) User Reviews

Rumiko's sublime horror visual poetry

[rodrigofv · 7/10 · 13 June 2020]

Unexpected horror from Maison Ikkoku's Rumiko Takahashi brings us a horror tale, incomplete for me, but with extraordinary script beauty.

It is very difficult to find somewhere else what i find to be sublime poetry told by means of horror. Simply a must.

I am glad this at least adapted more of the story

[WeAreLive · 8/10 · 14 May 2023]

A young man unknowingly eats a piece of mermaid's flesh and becomes immortal. For a long time he searches for other mermaids hoping they'll grant him mortality. Finally, he finds them, but they're about to eat a girl and he can't let that happen.

The series on the hand gave the two characters thankfully more detail, and I do think the animation give how it was produced around the same time as Inuyasha was a massive step up (the previous two were good as well) not mentioning it did adapt more story then those OVA's including them.

Also the ost was excellent.

My only bad qualities was that there was still some animal cruelty (thankfully only one scene), child abuse and on top of that a SA scene. Also Masato was a lot more unlikeable here.

The dubbed version was by New Generation Pictures/Post Office Inc. While I am not trying to be LA biased in anyway or always going with the more recent, however for most parts i did find that better the latter two. The only, I didn't really like how Yuta's voice changed after 3 episodes in. I do find a massive after this Justin seem to have disappeared from anime dubbing. Overall though I do think in the end Liam ended up having more work as so yeah he is probably my favourite voice between the 4 actors for Yuta.

That being said though for Mana I am not too sure as at first I did find Megan Hollingshead's take a bit too Rangiku sounding for my liking. But she did thankfully improve.

While I will give Erika Lenhart/Weinstein some credit that it does sound unique coming from her since majority of her roles that I have heard are either teenagers or mature women, But I just think Masato being voiced by an actual kid like with the Scars OVA would've made me take them seriously.

Very dark series. Not a happy tale.

[frankblack-79961 · 6/10 · 31 July 2020]

Came across this series online looking for horror anime. I guess the series i watched was the more recent of the 2. While I wouldn't classify it has horror exactly, it was definitely dark. The only real issue I had was the main male character was quite unintelligent for being so old. I would think an immortal would be a bit smarter than he was. Otherwise it was interesting and quite violent and bloody. Not gory, but very bloody. Showcases the worst of humanity when immortality is within reach. I enjoyed not having all the silly faces and over the top reactions like in many other animes I've seen. It's worth a watch.

Why are two completely different shows listed as one on this site?

[petekrug17 · 9/10 · 25 January 2007]

First, it should be noted that these are in fact two different series, but for some reason IMDb has them listed on as one. They're both based on manga stories by the same person, Rumiko Takahashi, and they're both released by Geneon and thus feature many of the same English dub voice actors (I don't know about the Japanese ones,) but that's about where the similarities end. There is the "MERMAID FORREST" T.V. series, which is one (fairly) long-running series that tells an ongoing story. (Although both the Mermaid manga and the anime leave a few loose ends hanging that never get resolved, for example that little immortal boy never gets killed, the one thing that left me dissatisfied with it.) Then there is "RUMIKO TAKAHASHI ANTHOLOGY", which is a series of self-contained stories, each containing it's own situation and set of characters.

Even the tone of the two shows is very different. The Mermaid series is another fantasy by Takahashi (though a much darker one,) while the stories in "Anthology" tend to be more realistic, with a few exceptions. (For example, one story has an actual "gremlin" which only one woman can see.) More importantly, though, "Mermaid Forrest" is a horror story (and often times a pretty graphic one,) while the stories in "Anthology" are much more light-hearted, though they do sometimes venture into the realm of suspense. (In one story a woman begins to suspect her next-door-neighbor may have murdered her mother-in-law, while in another tale a girl becomes afraid that her family's latest outing is in fact a planned suicide.) Each show is well-worth seeing (though again Mermaid Forrest does leave you feeling like you haven't seen the complete ending,) however it must be stressed that again they are in fact two different shows. Trying to lump them together is like trying to take two different shows like "Tales From The Crypt" and "The Cosbys" and then trying to say they're both the same show.

The Little Mermaid gone bad

[heyjupiter76 · 4/10 · 13 November 2005]

Whether you like this series or not will depend on how much you favor story over animation. The Mermaid-series harbor a fascinating universe with intense stories and a fairytale like quality. Problem is the animation is very lackluster. It's all done by computer and features none of the gorgeous hand drawn anime we're so used to seeing. Instead everything on screen is kept very simple and the environments have no dept whatsoever. Back in 1991 another version of the 'Mermaid's Forest' tale (also included in the new series, as a new, but lesser two-part take) was made, where both the story and the animation were so much better. Unfortunately this is only available on VHS. The previous version was also much more violent and featured nudity, which gave the story a sharper, more sinister edge. This new take on the saga is more like kiddie matinée stuff in comparison. So, check out this series if you like the work of Rumiko Takahashi, but don't expect too much magic. I'm sure everyone who happen to see the 1991 version will agree.

Yeah I probably should've realised this wasn't the original but instead a trap to a bad reboot

[Irishchatter · 3/10 · 30 January 2019]

So basically and stupidly, I didn't do my homework right on researching further realise, the original version was made in 1991 not this 2003 version. Although I applaud the English Dub actors and the visuals, it let me down with a pretty boring and rubbish storyline. I felt the whole storyline just seems like a recipe for disaster but making it something that came out of a bad disney movie. I'm definitely not talking about "The Little Mermaid" here, I'm talking about the ones who failed miserably to captivate audiences and seemed like they lack creativity by copying other disney made ones.

Just go with the 1991 version for your own sake!