Mermaid Forest

Aired: 1991

An OVA based on Rumiko Takahashi's Mermaid Saga of supernatural horror tales. The immortal young man Yuta, kept alive after eating mermaid flesh, meets Mana, a girl with mermaid blood of her own, and the pair confront fateful encounters that haunt them both. The story revisits Japanese mermaid folklore from a darker angle, exploring the loneliness and sorrow of immortality and the depths of human cruelty in a manner unusual for Takahashi's catalogue. The OVA distils the manga's brooding tone into compact, atmospheric drama and serves as a touchstone for the later television adaptations of the Mermaid Saga.