Mermaid Forest 7/10

Most would say at first thought that immortality would be a good thing. No one wants to die. But after a second thought problems appear. If you're the only one, everyone you've ever known will die. Everywhere you've ever been will change. You would have to move from place to place so no one discovers your secret as you'd be forever hounded by others seeking immortality. Any family you have would get old and die and you would only be able to watch helplessly.

Not all it's cracked up to be is it?

From 2003, Mermaid Forest runs 13 episodes. This show has some nice art and it's nice and colourful. The character designs are OK but a little angry looking considering the manga on which this is based it by Rumiko Takahashi. I was also a little disappointed at the somewhat dodgy animation quality at times. This is a Takahashi based anime! Where's the budget? The music was OK but I found the OP and ED pretty forgettable.

Say you're an immortal guy, aged about 22. Say only one immortal is created every several hundred years. Say you've lived 500 years alone and wandering from place to place searching for a cure. Meet Yuta who 500 years ago ate the flesh of a mermaid and it granted him immortality. Any small wounds heal immediately, larger wounds take a little longer, and even if he dies he comes back to life in about half a day. You'd think that with immortality being so easy to come by eveyone and their dog would be immortal but in reality the flesh is a deadly poison that usually turns those that eat it into big purple googly-eyed monsters.

He left his hometown once his then old wife died and has been travelling around Japan searching for a mermaid or anyone else that can return his mortality. He doesn't want to die as he could accomplish that by cutting off his head but just wants a normal life.

One day, following a lead from a local town he stumbles across a village filled with women that all look strangely similar and gets murdered by them. It turns out they're all a type of mermaid who kidnap little girls, raise them to about 15 or so, and feed them mermaid flesh in an attempt to make them immortal. Then they eat them.

Now meet Mana their most recent victim. She survives the mermaid poison and becomes an immortal like Yuta and he manages to rescue her before she gets feasted on. She's about 15 and spoiled but extremely naive since she's been a captive for so long. She decides to travel with Yuta and becomes his friend.

After the 2 episodes that introduce Yuta and Mana the rest of the series consists of 1-2 episode arcs that are either stories about Yuta's past life or adventures in the present with Mana. The shows all revolve around Yuta discovering some mermaid related nastiness in the town in which he's currently living (with Mana in the present). Each arc delves into a different price others had to pay in their attempts at immortality. Most of the arcs are really good and rather thought provoking.

I personally liked the developing relationship between Yuta and Mana best. Since Yuta has been alone for 500 years he's been desperately lonely and his discovery of Mana is like a miracle to him. Since she is so naive and he's a nice guy he's content to have her as a travelling companion but is extremely protective of her when she gets into trouble. Mana on the other hand doesn't seem to have any special feelings for Yuta at first but the final arc interestingly focuses a little more on her than Yuta for a change. When she discovers Yuta's life is in danger she gets truly scary mad at his attacker and defends him viciously.

At the end of the series after the fighting there's a scene where she sits by the sea with Yuta's dead head on her lap watching the sun rise. She has her hand on his chest and when it starts beating she starts to cry. I really liked that scene, softie that I am, and it made the series for me.

I recommend this series but I have to mention that there are some pretty bloody fights in this show. I guess since Yuta and Mana are immortal they figured it's OK to hack them up a bit. Mana dies like 3 times I think. Also, doesn't anyone have a gun to kill people with? What's with all the meat cleavers?