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Ningyo no Mori TV
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Animation - 7.0 |
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Sound - 7.3 |
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Story - 6.9 |
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Character - 6.4 |
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Value - 6.4 |
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Enjoyment - 7.2 |
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Average - 6.9 |
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| Average |
6.7 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| One of the more darker works of Rumiko Takahashi, but still retains the good story-telling style and realistic + interesting characters that she is renowned for. Mermaid Forest is basically the journey of a 500 year old young man and a naive young woman together in a world where eating the flesh from a Mermaid's tail can either grant eternal life, death or permanent transformation. As they travel around looking for a real mermaid to help reverse the effects of the immortal life, they encounter all sorts of people who have also had their bouts with the flesh.
Mermaid Forest's greatest aspect is the unique storyline, strong integration of fiction with real world, and interesting scenarios. Although the storytelling formula is similar for each separate side story, I found each unique situation to be fun and refreshing. Essentially, the main driving idea behind each plot line is that the hope and desire for immortal life drives human ambition to greater proportions. As a result, the malevolent side of their actions are magnified causing great pain and hurt to the people around them. Through the journeys of Yuta and Mana, the viewer is told the story of all those inflicted by the curse of the mermaid flesh. There is not one story (except perhaps those of the protagonists) that is happy or hopeful, and hence results the dark nature of this anime.
Although I found each separate scenario interesting, the episodes that intrigued me the most were the episodes involving Yuta's past life (pre-Mana). I really did not like Mana running around getting into trouble and then having Yuta save her. Also, at first, when Yuta or Mana first died... I was pretty shocked and relieved when they revived again. But after Yuta started dying in every episode, I started to think in Southpark terms: "Omg you killed Kenny... you bastard", and the deaths starting to make for a more humorous effect.
Despite the fresh ideas that Mermaid Forest brings us, I found most of the characters to be quite a bore. At first, I admired Yuta's courage, strength, patience, and perseverance after living 500 years of human life, but his character personality got repetitious from scene to scene. Mana makes a little jump in personality change relative to the first episode, but soon remains naive and dim-witted throughout. These static character personalities are part of the formula of the story: naive Mana runs off unknowingly and gets herself into trouble. For some reason, she always runs off into some sort of trouble that is associated with Mermaid flesh. Yuta, who was busy resting or trying to get them some grub, realizes she is gone and has to travel the whole town to find her. Despite this repetitious nature of character behavior, the basic personalities are forgivable enough to ignore the lack of change and to just enjoy the story.
Overall, Mermaid Forest is a well done anime that ends soon enough before it got overbearingly repetitive. It would have been more infinitely better if something happened over the long term - some change or progress - in Yuta and Mana's journey. However, in the end this is just a series of short stories strung together with some unifying 'background story' cord. Semi-enjoyable the first time for its integration of mermaid folklore with regular everyday life, but definitely not worth another watch.
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| Average |
7.8 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| My first impression of this series was like "WHAT? Rumiko Takahashi is the author of this?" Mermaid's Forest is far different from all of her other works that I've come across. Hilarious comedy is nowhere to be found, unlike in Ranma 1/2. There wasn't much love story either, what's here is the horror and the tension which are new especially to a huge Rumiko Takahashi fan like me who watched all of her works (Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha) which are filled with comedy and romance.
The story is based on a japanese folklore in which if one eats a piece of mermaid's flesh, that person will be granted an immortal life. No one will believe the story as mermaids doesn't exist, but it's just a folklore anyway.
Yuta is a man who has lived for 500 years, he got the curse after eating a mermaid's flesh. While he's on a journey to find a mermaid, he came across Mana, a girl who was fed a flesh of the marmaid, making her an immortal, same with Yuta. Together they go on a journey to search for a cure. Along the way, they encounter people who are in the same situation as they are.
This series greatly portays that being an immortal is not a blessing but a curse. It shows the harships one has endured because of immortality. Yuta experienced the pain of losing his loved ones so many times. It also tells the audience that living an eternal life won't do anyone good. Imagine yourself being and immortal and seeing your loved ones grow old and die, I'm sure that won't make you happy.
More of my review, please read (^_^)
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| Average |
5.7 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| Mit “Mermaids Forest“ gehen die für Rumiko Takahashi typischen Boy meets Girl-Geschichten in die nächste Runde. Dieses mal allerdings angehaucht mit dunkler Gruselatmosphäre, was nicht unbedingt einen gängiger Faktor ihrer bisherigen Werke darstellt (und ich will jetzt nicht hören das “Inuyasha“ gruselig ist!). Beibehalten wurde allerdings das allseits beliebte Pärchen das sich gleich am Anfang der Serie findet und von diesem Zeitpunkt an gemeinsam durch jede Episode geht und bis zum Schluss zusammen bleibt. Im Fall von Mermaids Forest ist das Ganze in eine eigentlich recht originelle und interessante Story verpackt die sich um Meerjungfrauen dreht deren Fleisch ewiges Leben schenken kann und vor allem mit dem Thema “Unsterblichkeit“ und der damit verbundenen Frage “Fluch oder Segen?“ zu befassen scheint. Sonderlich neu ist das zwar nicht und es gibt nicht wenige Filme und Serien die dieses Thema bereits lang und breit getreten haben aber es ist immerhin eine gute Basis aus der man etwas machen kann. Leider jedoch wurde genau das irgendwie versäumt. Zwar sind in den ersten Episoden gute Ansätze zu erkennen aber schon wenig später verläuft sich die Chose komplett im Sande und tritt in den Hintergrund. Vor allem die Entwicklung des Hauptcharakters der diesen angesprochenen “Fluch“ mit sich herum trägt erleidet einen totalen Stillstand und die Message verliert immer mehr ihre Wirkung. Was bleibt ist ein Anime der aus vielen kleinen Gruselepisoden besteht die so gut wie jedes Mal den gleichen Inhalt präsentiert, nur in abgewandelter Form. Die eigentliche Hauptstory um Yuta und seiner Suche nach einem “Heilmittel“ seiner Unsterblichkeit hat sich längst verabschiedet und stattdessen springt die Serie von einer Kurzgeschichte zur nächsten, nach deren Abschluss alles wieder so ist wie am Ende von Episode 1. Immerhin gibt es aber die ein oder andere Geschichte die inhaltlich recht spannend ausgefallen ist und an deren Ausgang ich Interesse hatte. Außerdem kommt das dunkle Ambiente der Serie ab und an ziemlich nett rüber und vermag Mermaid Forest ab und zu in einen gruseligen Schleier zu hüllen. Zwar würde ich eher von “Kindergrusel“ reden (erwachsene Menschen werden sich hier sicher nicht anfangen zu fürchten), aber es reicht zur netten Unterhaltung aus. Allerdings bieten nicht alle Episoden dieses Niveau und ich habe mich bei so mancher Story auch ganz schön gelangweilt, da entweder alles zu leicht vorherzusehen war oder die Hintergründe der Nebencharaktere die in diesen Geschichten auftreten mich nicht überzeugen konnten. Ich würde zwar nicht sagen das Mermaid Forest eine gänzlich schwache Serie ist aber genauso wenig kann ich sagen das sie besonders gut ist. Von 13 Episoden haben mir 6-7 mittelmäßig bis gut gefallen, der Rest war zum vergessen. Insgesamt sehe ich Mermaid Forest eher als einen Pausenfüllter-Anime an denn man sich anschauen KANN aber nicht unbedingt gesehen haben MUSS. Fans von Rumiko Takahashi werden das sicherlich anders sehen, wo hingegen neutrales Publikum hier allerdings nichts sonderlich Großartiges erwarten sollte.
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| Average |
8.5 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
0 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
0 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Mermaids Forest is short, which has a great deal of appeal, and the two main characters are likeable. The story follows Mana and Yuta, two people who have eaten mermaid flesh and become immortal. The first two episodes are about their meeting, when Yuta rescues mana from the mermaids who have raised her for their own selfish purposes. The rest of the episodes are either flashbacks to Yuta's history, or present encounters with various individuals who are connected in some way to mermaids or mermaids flesh.
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| Average |
6.5 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Everytime I watch Rumio Takahashi's animes (Maison Ikkoku, Ranma1/2, Inuyasha) I expect one consistent factor that made Rumio the richest woman in Japan, and that is abundunt of eccentric and original characters. We all know that her works contain great romance comedy (maison), create some outrageous premise (Ranma 1/2), and have some great action (inuyasha). Now in the case Mermaid's Forest it does not have any of those factor that made Rumio the author she is, just her artwork.
This anime some interesting ideas that could potentially be very interesting. Who really wouldn't like to be immortals? but this anime's main character is trying not to be one. If this idea and some combination of interesting character development were to be merged together I think we could've had something very interesting.
The problem is that this anime does not do anything with this idea. All the episodes are episodic without any continuous plot. If those episodes somehow led to the conclusion of Yuta's desire to meet a mermaid that would've been ok, but it turns into second rate adventure series with rather weak romance underneath. No plot is advencement and NO significant character development will be covered in the 13 episodes of this anime. They are basically all fillers.
This anime also over plays it's own strong point way to much. I was sick of hearing something like "I've been living for 500 years already!" or "I finally found someone who' just like me!" Yes I get that point, but wasn't the whole anime about Yuta trying to not become one rather than pitying himself for living?
the characters are very dry. Yuta is as straight forward as he gets. You EXACTLY what he will do and say in just about every situation. Mana is not a significant addition to this cast as all she does is be a burden for Yuta by getting kidnapped. Some of the sub-characters from some of the episodes however I did find to be interesting. The kid in the episode 12-13(OVA) was rather interesting and brutal of the bunch.
The animation is strictly normal. The Rumio style is stil there but the looks of the characters aren't creative for distinct at all. The main reason would be because this anime is set on normal human world, but for some reason I think I was expecting some eccentricity (is that a word?).
The music another downer. I didn't like the OP just like the disappointing ED. the background music isn't a standout at all.
This isn't what I expected from Rumio's works. This is a filler anime. Characters are straight and dry, andstory goes no where but in circles; this is a disappointing work. But if you are rumio fan, I'm guessing you would give this one a try anyways.
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Ridian |
(2005-05-07 21:57:13) 2005-03-28 03:31:29 |
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| Average |
6.5 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| I feel genuinely bad that this was a Rumiko Takahashi work. Something as niche and unusual as this couldn't possibly find a comfortable spot between the titans that established her. How many Inuyasha-heads, Ranma freaks or Maison Ikkoku fans would really enjoy something of this caliber? It may bear some of the hallmarks of the esteemed manga author, but aside from that it's very off-kilter for her writing. Between a difficult time finding a marketable audience and a severe lack of aesthetic primping, Mermaid's Forest is the red-headed stepchild of the Takahashi library.
It may be neglected, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Mermaid's Forest is great. Unfortunately, the anime is riddled with mediocrity -- and not just that of the graphic kind. For reasons I couldn't always put my finger on, the series felt very rough around the edges and sloppy. Primarily I believe the anime's narrative style is to blame. Mermaid's Forest is the second season of a serialized Japanese program called Rumic Theater, a collection of short stories by the beloved Takahashi, and for this reason the plots of this series are designed to be mostly independent. For this reason, however, the anime very often feels disjointed and a little confused, like it was making itself up as it went along. The biggest culprits behind this were Yuta's flashback sequences, where he would churn something out of his 500-year track record to ruminate about; they provide interesting tales, for sure, but they don't help in either developing his character or the plotline as a whole. Worse yet, all of these little stories, though different externally, are generally structured the exact same. The dynamic duo of Yuta and Mana happen across something wacky, which later is attributed to someone consuming various mermaid-bits. Mana tries to investigate but, without fail, gets herself kidnapped/lost/locked in a room/tied up with barbed wire, and Yuta is left to clean up the mess that she leaves. Something tragic is revealed about the chapter's villain, then they storm off to take care of themselves, and everyone is all smiles. Adding insult to injury is the rancidly cheery ending, which totally ruined the tone of the entire series for me. The execution of these plots might be quite different (compare 2-3 against 12-13 and you'll see what I mean) but in reality they're just rehashes of everything else the viewer had seen previously.
There's also something conspicuously absent here that was present in the two OVAs, and that is an appropriate tone and atmosphere. The Mermaid's Forest universe quite simply did not translate well to 2003's animation techniques. The anime's colors are always incredibly vivid and disarmingly bright at times, which seriously undermines the dark mood that many of the stories are trying to maintain. I feel the only episodes that really nailed the 'horror' aspect of this series were 12 and 13; the rest felt like an abnormally violent and somewhat pokey action series. The final arc of the anime managed to not only immerse me in a gloomy, frightening atmosphere, it actually made me jump a couple of times. The rest of the series was given a very standard-issue tone, nothing too frightening...except if you count the laughable Lost Soul designs as frightening. And on the topic of design, will someone PLEASE teach Rumiko Takahashi how to create a different teenage female? Kagome, Suzuko from Fire Tripper, Kyoko, and now Mana...all of whom are Takahashi heroines, and all of whom are basically the same character with a few minor personality changes made.
Unfortunately, her characterization proves weak not only on the count of Mana but just about every other character as well. Yuta is the only other significant person in Mermaid's Forest, but he's bland as can be. He has literally no defining personality traits that set him apart from the typical shonen hero...not even a favorite food or particular habit. Mana eats a lot and gets really angry sometimes and that's all we know of her. The two rarely interact meaningfully with each other throughout the span of the anime, since they both seem to be too entangled in the plots to have a conversation now and then. If you're really interested in how their relationship pans out, there are little one-minute vignettes starring the two after every plot arc, but they really aren't worth the time. And the supporting cast is scarcely ever better. Villains almost always follow the same formula, except for the final plot arc's villain, who was my favorite character in the entire series.
Regardless of all of these quibbles, I consistently enjoyed the anime, and it's difficult to find fault in the plotlines themselves. Though some of the aspects of one or two stories might be a little contrived (episode 6) or downright bizarre (13), the anime still proves itself a delightfully fun romp through some bastard genre straddling horror and action. Mermaid's Forest has an excellent premise, but its appeal is very niche for sure; it is by fortune that I happen to fall in that niche. My true disappointment lies in the fact that the series wasn't as horrific as it promised.
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| Average |
6.8 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Aupa que tal. Esta serie me ha recordado mucho a 3*3 ojos, es diferente pero tiene muchos aspectos en comun.
Cuando los humanos comen carne de sirena se convierten en monstruos,mueren o rarisimamente se hacen inmortales a no ser que se les corte la cabeza. Yuta el prota comio carne de sirena hace 500 yeras sin saber las consecuencias y desde entonce vaga por el mundo atormentado por el sufrimiento que acarrea la inmortalidad.
Quiere encontrar sirenas y descubrir el modo de convertirse otra vez en mortal. En uno de sus viajes se ve involucrado con una chica que acaba de convertirse en inmortal tambien y la coje bajo su proteccion mientras continua sus viajes.
Mientas continuan estos viajes yuta tiene a menudo flashbacks de sucesos que le ocurrieron durante sus 500 years de vida.
La serie es muy bonita. Tiene algo de amor,accion y terror todo ello aderezado con la tipica historia de la inmortalidad no deseada. Tecnicamente es buena y ninguna de las historias se hace aburrida. Recomendada. Lo pase muy bien mientras la veia.
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| Average |
7.0 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| It's a rather underrated anime -- its level of popularity does not do it justice at all. The animation, sound, etc were all right, nothing spectacular, but relatively okay. There isn't much character development either, the two protagonists are pretty empty characters. Come to think of it, almost all characters are one-dimensional...they were mostly each given one motivation and they stick with it.
But for some reason, it all comes together nicely. The overall tone is dark, moody, tragic, slightly violent and highly dramatic. Which suits my taste perfectly well. For whatever (single) purpose each character serve they serve it well. In short, there's a lot of story and action without much depth, which makes it very entertaining indeed.
I also loved the way the mermaids are depicted -- grotesquely beautiful (or beautifully grotesque). I kinda wish the anime were more focused on the actual mermaids instead of people whose lives evolved around the mermaid legend.
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Freddy C |
(2004-08-06 11:22:21) 2004-04-14 18:57:11 |
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| Average |
5.3 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
3 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
4 |
| Enjoyment |
4 |
| Mermaid's Forest is like a hybrid of mermaids and vampire princess miyu. each episode deals with the villian instead of the main characters. this creates a very distant feel otwards the main characters.
the story started out so good, good enough for any writer to be proud of, then and started to 'patch out' and the excitment spreads out with the diffusion of the story as it is broken into strands. this may seem interesting, a multiple story anime, but here it doesnt work out.
the animation and sounds are nice enough, easily the best features of the anime, so are the characters (the 2 main ones), unfortunately the story doesnt do them justice.
i found myself really fustrated in mid series that im again watching an anime of such high potential but failed to live up to its image.
this isnt a bad anime, in fact at points it was excellant, but it's not worth your time and it hurts me much to say that...
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Sinai |
(2004-11-08 07:15:10) 2004-03-25 05:21:23 |
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| Average |
7.8 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Mermaid's Forest will always have a special place in my anime fandom heart, being one of the few Takahashi works I can be a fanboy about without embarassing myself. The stories are very good, however the whole mood of the series kept it from being extended much further than it was. Takahashi ended it pretty quickly, and even that was probably too far. You can't end the series on a happy or sad note without taking away the impact of forever that's necessary for the series. The folk lore leaning of the tales also plays a role in its lack of ending.
Anyways, I say this because the anime here is almost a direct translation of the manga. The art is much the same, even though it could have used a little modernization in my opinion. It's clean and simple, but so very dated. The stories are exactly the same, and even the frames used are often the same. All in all, I quite like it, but it's not exactly an epic piece. You'll find yourself moaning about the stupidity of Yuta the main character despite its necessity. Every episode is horrible tragedy that all happened to the same man, and it's driven home time and time again how living forever forces you to disconnect from other people.
So, a good anime, but not for everyone.
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| Average |
7.3 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| To say this is "1000000000x better than the crap that is Inu Yasha"
is really a no-brain comment considering both are Takahashi rumiko Sensei's works.
On one point if you must compare the two series, the animation of this series is seriously of lesser quality, something i fine pretty astounding considering this is more of an OVA with just 11 Episode, and IY has almost 129 Episode ans still counting. Second point, the pace & plot of the series are evidently opposite each other, Ningyo is more slower, methodically moving along the storyline, the plot is more about the experience of the characters on there quest for mortality and the mermaids. Unlike the other which is basically action, thrilling & romance.
Neveraless it is compelling and Rumiko Sensei story makes up for the shoddy visual, and though the opening theme song is typical and not really memoriable, the ending theme is perticularly catching.
Overall it is a nice anime to watch, if you like fantasy animes, with a slow story, and little bit of excitment here and there with no real character development besides the main man Yuta.
Just don't expect to be better then Inu Yasha or expect it to be like Inu Yasha.
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