A Mermaid Never Smiles
Originally Published in:
Shonen Sunday Extra 1985 August - September
Published in English as:
Animerica Vol. 1 No. 1 - 4
Mermaid Forest Graphic Novel
Chapter 1 Ningyo wa warawanai (zenpen)
A Mermaid Never Smiles, Part One
One night, a young woman is awakened by the horrible sounds of moaning outside her room, she wastes no time in telling her caretaker to kill whatever it is thats causing such an awful sound. Her name is Mana. Meanwhile, a ragged young man walks across a public beach, trying to find his way to Cape Nosuri, this boy's name is Yuta. Mana dreams of leaving the room where she's lived her entire life. She hasn't been outside in years, and the old woman taking care of her says she can no longer carry her. Later that night, the old woman meets with the other women of their tribe and tells them that one must give her life. They choose a pretty young girl named Ayu, and say that she's lived the longest. As she enters a pool of water, the other women waste no time in harpooning her to death. Ayu was a mermaid! Soon, Yuta arrives and is startled to find so many women living in such a deserted place. The women quickly kill Yuta, and throw his body into the pit with the remains of Ayu. Within a few hours, the tribe have decided to take Mana outside, when Yuta bursts into her room, carrying the carcass of a mermaid. The women try to attack him again, so Yuta wastes no time in taking Mana hostage. The two run out of the village and into the forest, hiding in the pit where Yuta had been left to die. While he's there, he unbinds Mana's legs and treats her cuts. Yuta then tells her the story of his life. He is immortal. 500 years ago, he ate the flesh of a mermaid along with some other men from his village. One man turned into a horrible monster, and the next day another died instantly. Yuta was afraid he would be the next to die, but his death never came. As the years passed he never grew older, even as his wife became an old woman. She told him that he would have to find another mermaid and eat its flesh if he wished to regain his mortality. As Yuta finishes his story, a horrible sound emerges from behind.
Chapter 2 Ningyo wa warawanai (kohen)
A Mermaid Never Smiles, Part Two
As Mana looks on, Yuta begins battling a horrible monster. Nothing he tries seems to work until a woman from Mana's village named Kajika shows up and throws a harpoon laced with poison through it. Kajika tells Mana and Yuta that the thing is called a "Lost Soul" and Yuta realized that his friend who ate the mermaid flesh had turned into something that looked exactly like it. Yuta decides to take Kajika who has been severely injured back to the village. Once he arrives he realizes that everyone there looks exactly alike. Mana's caretaker explains that all the women in the village are mermaids and they need to eat the flesh of an immortal human in order to regain their youth, Mana is the chosen one. The other villagers waste no time in recapturing Mana and bringing her back, but Yuta is able to escape with her once more. As they hide in another cave, the old woman decides to flood the area, and drive them out to the ocean where they can easily catch them and devour Mana. As they are pushed out to sea Yuta sees dozens of mermaids coming to attack. He manages to fend them off until morning, when the old woman says that now that they have become mermaids again they have no chance of regaining their human forms. She then tells them that she too is an immortal human and that she will stay with the mermaids until the end of time.
以上是人鱼系列的第一部
<人鱼从不会笑>
(好吃力呀,我也不知道到底中文引进的时候是怎么翻译这个名字的,想了一会儿,还是弄了这个听起来很"蠢"的名字)
大家先看看这个英文简介吧.
中文的过两天贴上来.
