Anime is known for remixing several fantasy and mythological concepts, be they exclusive to Japanese culture or derived from other sources. These can include ghosts and spirits, as well as the idea of aquatic mermaids. Though these creatures are typically portrayed as quite beautiful, one anime series took them in a far darker direction.
Mermaid Forest didn’t feature mermaids as water-based beauties but instead as beings whose flesh would provide either immortality or death. This is a far cry from the use of mermaids in Disney productions, proving that not everything’s better down where it’s wetter. Here’s how mermaids made a much different kind of splash in the harrowing horror anime.
The Premise of Mermaid Forest, the Mermaid Horror Anime
Ironically enough, Mermaid Forest isn’t focused on mermaids as characters so much as concepts. The protagonist is Yuta, whose youthful appearance belies the fact that he’s been alive for over 500 years. This immortality was granted to him after he consumed the flesh of a mermaid, which in the world of the show can have two effects. Outside of the aforementioned longevity, it can also kill those who eat it, though Yuta came out on the more “positive” end of this.
Growing weary of his long life, Yuta seeks out another mermaid to consume in order to reverse his curse. During his search, he comes across a young lady named Mana, who’s about to be sacrificed and consumed by mermaids so that they can absorb her youth. Yuta frees her, though she’s also afflicted by the curse of immortality. Together, they scour the land in search of more mermaids that might be able to undo what’s befallen them.
Lasting for 13 episodes, Mermaid Forest was the second anime adaptation of the Mermaid Saga manga by Rumiko Takahashi, who also created the classic shonen series Inuyasha. Essentially a somewhat darker take on some of that series’ fantasy concepts, the story of Mermaid Forest explores what separates monsters from humanity, regardless of which form the former take. In doing so, it completely upends the more positive and angelic imagery associated with mermaids in the West.
Mermaid Forest Was the Exact Opposite of Disney’s Take on Mermaids
The concept of mermaid flesh granting immortality if consumed is actually taken from Japanese mythology, meaning that it isn’t something that Rumiko Takahashi made up for her Mermaid Saga. Still, anime rarely utilizes this element, thus leaving mermaids something most associated with the wonderful world of Disney. In Disney’s iconic version of the story The Little Mermaid, Ariel and mermaids like her are beautiful, fun-loving people whose only difference from humanity is their fish-like tails. They’re as human as any person on the land, with their beauty further making them admirable and desirable, not detestable.
The mermaids in Mermaid Forest aren’t the same at all, being portrayed instead as inhuman monsters with ugly faces and fangs. Even the potential boon of immortality can only be gained after eating the beasts’ flesh, and this has just as high of a chance of killing those eating the meat. Thus, even when they offer something, these mermaids are an inherent threat to humanity. Likewise, they feed upon humans for their youth and vitality in the same way that humans seek immortality from their flesh, making the two species ironic metaphorical twins.
The curse of immortality also makes these mermaids somewhat similar to vampires, further explaining why humanity hates and fears them. Such is the true nature of the creatures in Japanese folklore, and Mermaid Forest perfectly captures that disturbing aspect of them. Regardless of whatever powers they may have afforded humanity, most of the mortals in the anime would have preferred to not have these mermaids as part of their world.
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