Flowers, cards, candy, and chocolate – the discounted stocks are slowly depleting only to be hastily replaced with Easter festivities, but there’s still plenty of love here with this week’s theme at One-Shot Manga Roulette. Although with this specific topic it’s a toss up on whether that’s good or bad as this week will be about mermaids!
Gene
A piece from “Mermaid’s Voice”.
The concept of human-fish hybrids have existed long within multiple different cultures throughout history with the most popular in contemporary culture being the Greek depiction of the beautiful sirens who would lure men to their watery deaths.
Other depictions are less flattering such as Japan’s Ningyo only being fortunate enough to receive the head of an attractive woman, or the abomination that is the Fiji mermaid. Some stories such as the one found in “One Thousand and One Nights” are more mundane with its depiction simply being humans that exist underwater.
Those more interested in fairy tales would find more familiarity with the classic story “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Anderson, which in and of itself is based on the story of Melusine, or the extremely sterilized Disney film adaptation.
Even more depictions of merfolk can be seen within other films such as the humanoid amphibian in Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” (2017) or Hayao Miyazaki’s story of the goldfish princess, “Ponyo” (2008).
Artists have long been fascinated by the idea of humans living in the oceans. Whether that’s to explore ideas of relationships, gender roles, and humanity, or simply because the concept is innately fantastical, one-shots are no different to any other art medium in its exploration of the folklore surrounding our aquatic counterparts.
Miyokawa Masaru
A page from “Suzuki the Mermaid”, brought to you by the same author of “The Smell of Happiness” (previously featured in the pets week.)
Like the varied depictions of mermaids this week’s emotional stress level is a toss up with the six recommendations totalling to 6/12!
Will the story be a happy off-shoot of Ariel’s story or will it be a personal tragedy for one of the two parties? Ready for the one-shots? Well, water we waiting for?!
Featured this week is actually a two-shot with, “The Reincarnated Little Mermaid Does Not Want to Disappear as Foam”, made in collaboration between shoujo mangakas, Nanao Mio and Toma Rei. This is the pair’s second one-shot together, with their first being another fairy tale retreading with their story: “The Reincarnated Snow White Doesn’t Want to Eat the Poisoned Apple”.
The story is a fun, familiar retread of “The Little Mermaid” with the twist that our main character has been reincarnated into the situation of that same mermaid with all the knowledge of the original story.
This week also contains a three-shot, with the “Mermaid Prince” being the longest featured story (but not the longest individual one-shot) as well as the first inclusion of a long strip: a story told and illustrated by a single continuous image!
DISCLAIMER: To preserve the experience of the column, tags and disclaimers have not been included for individual one-shots. Stories may contain suggestive or sensitive content. Discretion is advised.
“The Reincarnated Little Mermaid Does Not Want to Disappear as Foam” – Author: Nanao Mio, Arist: Toma Rei (49 pages) – A college student was living her ordinary life until one day she was reincarnated into the world of “The Little Mermaid!” Suddenly stuck with a curse, she must do everything to seduce the prince before she turns to foam!
“Suzuki the Mermaid” – TATSUKI (41 pages) – “The rate is 1800 yen per hour. They subsidize my rent, and 5 days a week of travel costs. For a surface job, the terms are decent enough. My job description: Just be a mermaid.”
“The Voice of a Mermaid” – Ningyo no Koe (26 pages) – Honorable mention in Kodansha’s Monthly Afternoon Seasonal Manga Awards (Autumn 2018). In a slight reversal, Ranju must figure out a way to grant a voice to her precious pet mermaid.
“Mermaid’s Voice” – Gene (long strip) – Mommy’s bright red hair is only matched by her warm comforting smile. I want to be as beautiful as mommy.
“Mermaid Prince” – Ozaki Kaori (123 pages) – Having recently moved from Tokyo to the coastal town of Okinawa due to his sister’s marriage, Mugi is having a hard time adjusting to his new life. One day Mugi comforts classmate Madori, who comes to view him as her Prince Charming. A coming-of-age story brought about by their connection to mermaids.
“Endless Mermaid” – Suama (16 pages) – The desperate pleas and missing family is all too common in this oceanside town.
Enjoy the whole trove, and the stories untold, how many one-shots can one website host? Looking around here you’d think, sure it’s got everything. Hopefully, everyone got to dress up and feel cute for Valentine’s Day, but even if you didn’t, there’s plenty of drip under the sea!