The role reversed Little Mermaid
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Yomi Sarachi
Translation/Adaptation: Christine Dashiell
What They Say
With long beautiful hair, eyes as deep as the ocean and a manly chest, Prince Naru is the absolute hottest among the merfolk. Though all the mermaids have been trying to catch his eye, the one he falls in love with at first sight is a human! Desperate to meet her again, Naru accepts the sorcerer Mellow’s offer to get human legs. Unwillingly to pain the price with his voice (what’s the point if he can’t talk to her?), the princes instead to give up his…hotness?! Without his good looks, can Naru hit off with the girl of his dreams?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Naru is the sought-out prince of his kingdom and being forced to choose a mermaid bride per their custom, however, when his mother is upset by his refusal, Naru sets off to the surface to clear his head. It’s there he falls in love at first sight with a human girl. Rim, Naru’s friend, tries repeatedly to try to talk him out of the foolish notion of loving a human, but when the girl, who can’t swim, falls into the ocean, he doesn’t think twice to save her. For violating the law and not feeling a bit of remorse about what he did, Naru is imprisoned.
In prison, he meets a sorcerer that grants his wish to be human in exchange for his good lucks. After the deed is done, the sorcerer adds he must be intimate with the girl he loves within one year or he we turn into seafoam. He makes his way quickly to the surface and washes up on the shore, where the love of his life, Nami, finds him and rescues him. Naru finds himself at Nami’s house and while they agree to take him under the pretense that he has memory loss, Nami is wary of Naru’s strangeness and lack of discretion. Naru also realizes that Nami isn’t exactly the girl he thought she was.
Naru tries to woo Nami anyway because no one wants to be turned into seafoam. He fails miserably over and over. Naru learns from the only other person that lives with Nami, Hii-san, that Nami’s mother is an actress in Tokyo and her father was a fisherman that died and left the inn to her. When two guests at the inn are rude and not following the rules, Nami tries to stand up for herself, but Naru buts in protects her. A moment pops up that reminds Naru why he likes Nami. However, when they spend some time near the water and Naru falls he realizes he is able to turn back into a merman.
Naru ends up going to Nami’s school and realizes there are some humans he doesn’t like, such as Arashi, who seems to also like Nami. He also finds out that Nami actually can swim but hasn’t since her father died out on the ocean, but the swim club keeps on pestering her. After Naru boosts of his swimming abilities, the swim team goes after him in place of Naru, but will he turn back into a merman if he does? He gives it a try and finds out he doesn’t turn into a merman in the pool and even gets Nami to join him. However, one of Nami’s friend, Ryou, has figured out his secret. In return for keeping Ryou’ secret, he demands that Naru be his slave. It doesn’t take Naru long to figure out that Ryou is a meran too!
In Summary:
If you’ve been waiting for good looking merman in what is basically The Little Mermaid, then this is the story for you. While there are many similarities between the Disney classic, it isn’t fully a carbon copy of it. Other than obvious that the genders of the main characters are reversed, it is set on a Japanese island and has all the slice of life action that any other manga of that genre has. There’s quite a bit of comedy as well, and Naru is certainly entertaining throughout the whole volume. If you are looking for some sort of amazing drama with deep meanings, this isn’t for you. But, if you are looking for a light comedy, a hot merman, and romance, you’ll find what you are looking for in this manga. As far as the production of the book, it does have a color insert but is otherwise a standard published manga volume.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: April 10, 2018
MSRP: $13.00
