Already partially published 23 years ago, “Mermaid Forest” was one of the first manga to be translated into French. Adapted from the English version, this edition has never been completed to this day. Equipped with a new translation and enriched with the missing episodes, it is finally possible to read in French the entire sirens saga concocted by Rumiko Takahashi (Angoulême Grand Prix of 2019). Discover or rediscover the tragic fate of Yuta and Mana in this horrific series spanning hundreds of years.
First edition, already at Glénat.
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This first volume of “Mermaid Saga” comprises five adventures, including four double stories published sporadically in the various editions of the Shonen Sunday from Shogakukan: Rumiko Takahashi’s historical editor. The first, published in 1984 in Japan, lays the foundations for a saga which is not yet one at the time of publication. This two-part adventure was to be a unique publication, showing another side of the star designer of the time. While Takahashi is already directing two comedy series “Lamu” (“Urusei Yatsura”) and “Juliette, je t’aime” (“Maison Ikkoku”), she tries her hand at short stories out of step with what made her successful. . This is why this first story, “The Sirens do not know how to laugh” (“Ningyo wa warawanai”), has a darker graphics, with a pure adventure scenario: Yuta, an immortal young man is in search of sirens, because he thinks that he will be able to resume the course of his life if he eats the flesh of this one again. It is indeed after an evening with fellow fishermen, 500 years ago, that they tasted a strange flesh supposed to come from these women fish. However, if Yuta thus obtained eternal youth, his unfortunate comrades died violently, writhing in pain, their faces deformed before expiring in a more or less long agony. Her journey will lead her to meet Mana: a young girl kept captive by a group of old mermaids who also want to eat her to regain their youth. But that’s not going to go as planned, with Yuta thwarting their plans.
The second story, also in two parts, appeared in 1985. “The Village of the Fighting Fish” (“Toogyo no Sato”) goes back in time and presents us with the past of Yuta, when he was stranded in a village of sinner. Even if it picks up the main character, this tale does not yet form a saga as Takahashi might have envisioned it. It is with the other parts, better known, “Mermaid Forest” (“Ningio no mori”), “The End of a dream” (“Yume no Owari”) and “A day after promise” (“Yakusoku no Ashita »), As well as the stories to appear in the second volume, that a continuity is really taking place. The reader follows the journey of Yuta and Mana, always in search of the mermaids, and perhaps the promise of returning to normal life instead of surviving for eternity. We should therefore not be surprised at the gap between the first two adventures and the following ones.
Recently compiled in three volumes in Japan, this saga is presented here in two large volumes which bring together the 16 chapters that the author has drawn over a period of ten years. Even though his latest fantasy series flirt with demons and other creatures from paranormal folklore, it doesn’t compare to the pessimistic stories and sometimes gory drawing of “Mermaid Saga”. The target audience is clearly young adults. The humor is less present than in his stories for a younger audience. Rumiko Takahashi doesn’t hesitate to talk about death and show it in the most raw way. Death is often violent, both for humans and for mermaids. And it is even crescendo and the monsters occupy more and more space over the stories. The scene of the mermaid skewered on stakes in the cave in the fifth episode is particularly morbid. Obviously, as Yuta is immortal, he undergoes the worst torments. In the ninth chapter, he even risks having his head cut off with a chainsaw in the purest tradition of the horror films in vogue in the 1980s.
“Mermaid Saga” was also adapted in animation directly released in video from 1991 for the part “Mermaid Forest” and 1993 for “Mermaid Scar”. Then, in 2003, the part “Mermaid’s Forest” was again the subject of a series of 13 episodes which almost follows the various plans of the manga. The last two, taking up the part “Mermaid Scar” being only released on video, because they cannot really be watered down by violent scenes like the other episodes.
A work of great notoriety throughout the world, this series was nonetheless unpublished in its entirety in France: the first volume being more difficult to find today. It is therefore good news that Glénat has decided to reissue and complete the sirens saga of one of the greatest current manga author. The only regret is that the color pages are only printed in black and white in this edition which is nevertheless quite prestigious with its large format and its jacket covered with a glossy varnish and with golden letters. It remains now to dig the bottom of the drawer, because other titles of Takahashi, like “One Pound Gospel”, unfortunately remain untranslated to this day.
Gwenaël JACQUET
«Mermaid Saga» T1 par Rumiko Takahashi
Éditions Glénat (€ 14.95) – ISBN: 978-2-344-04792-7
publication: 20 October 2021
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