The Tale of the Merfolk
Once upon a time,
a beautiful woman and an infant washed up on an island called Sameshima.
Considerably weakened,
the village chief and his son did their best to nurse them back to health.
The woman said she had come from across the sea.
The woman, who worked at a bean confectionery in town,
fell in love with the young shopkeeper and gave birth to a baby.
However, she was cast out and even had brigands set upon her.
2 Years Later
Two years later, the confectioner's men came to the island.
The shopkeeper and his wife couldn't conceive,
so they demanded the woman's child and took it from her.
They cut the woman down with swords and threw her into the sea.
As the men cast off to return home, the seas grew rough,
a storm descended upon them, and a horrifying merfolk appeared.
They abandoned the child and attempted to flee,
but they were eventually swallowed by the waves.
The merfolk's face was that of the woman,
but there was no trace of her beauty, as she'd become an unsightly malevolent spirit.
Following the instructions of Koetsu,
the priest who came to the island, the village chief's son said a prayer.
When they mummified the child's body and presented it as an offering, the storms calmed.
This is how Sameshima came to be known as Merfolk Island.
Don't move a millimeter!
The island's...
Our ancestors'...
Mother's... sacred festival...
That arrow...
Sir, you can't do this.
I've been watching you since you're so suspicious.
Is that what Mama told you to do, sonny?
Not only am I suspicious, I know everything.
An Oedipus complex fogey, an evil little girl, and a monstrous hag.
I doubt it'll do any good, but let me say the decent thing anyway.
You call yourself a company president, you fogey?
Who are you?
What did you do with the arrow?
What is that lamp?
Did you do something to the Moris' boy?
Why is the other one uninjured?
It doesn't make sense!
You think pretty clearly for a puppet.
You're wasting your potential.
You've got a way with words, and you're quick-witted.
Careful with that. Is that a knife for butchering fish?
You don't have many openings.
You practice a martial art, don't you?
You must've been raised well.
You even look pretty good for your age.
You'd be a desirable man if you were weaned.
Anyway, nobody wants to see a fight between a middle-aged man and an old-timer.
Let's not do this.
On top of that, you've got that boss hag and minefield girl behind you.
If this were a manga or anime, you wouldn't have any fans.
You gotta at least have a young handsome boss.
Don't insult my family!
Your family, huh?
About This Shrine The merfolk of the island's merfolk legend is enshrined on the reef on the north side of Masago Bay. With a head resembling an infant and the body of a woman, it lures men into the sea with its voice. Originally a human girl, its life was filled with grief. When its child was taken by humans, it became a malicious spirit, and its beautiful form transformed into an unsightly merfolk, causing rough seas, and the surrounding eight islands are said to have been destroyed in a single night. In the third year of the Keicho era, Koetsu the priest dedicated a child's mummy to Sakazukiyama Watatsumi Shrine (present day Samejima Shrine), sparing the island from disaster. During the annual Spring festival, the islanders perform a ritual using arrows and flames to quell the malicious spirit and pray for safety on the sea. While feared as a source of calamity, the shrine has also been used for many years as a landmark for those returning to the mainland.
Isn't this what it said?
With a head resembling an infant and the body of a woman, it lures men into the sea with its voice.
Goo-goo ga-ga.
"With a head resembling an infant
and the body of a woman,
Yes, yes!
it lures men into the sea with its voice."
Shriek Shriek Shriek Shriek
The unsightly merfolk
is your family!
Episode 11 "The Merfolk and the Bakeneko"
Anyone who mocks my family is a bad person!
Apologize!
Are you throwing a tantrum now?
You're a child in every way!
Wh-Whoa! That was close.
That thing is sharp.
Anyone who offers an opinion is an enemy of peace.
Mother was right.
Kirihara brought calamity to the island.
Calamity is a monster that arrives in human form.
That's how it works in the fairy tales Mother tells me.
And though his form was derivative, his bow skills were exceptional.
He's a true monster.
Everything Mama says is always right.
Our peace is being tested.
Do you have a mother? A family?
What? No.
I didn't think so.
You grew up to be a bad boy because you don't know a family's—a mother's love.
You're jealous of our family.
Poor thing.
Children who don't know the warmth of a family turn out wrong.
You don't realize that's you, do you?
You poor thing.
Mother always tells me that I know love.
That's important for human beings.
You don't understand? Poor thing.
I'm sorry to say it, but that means you're a bad person.
In the stories I love, those who don't know love are always bad people.
And bad people must always be defeated.
Everyone's always waiting for the moment the bad guys are defeated.
Defeating them makes me a hero.
I've been defeating the bad people on the island.
Mother always praises me, which makes me even stronger.
It's all about doing what Mama taught me.
You're the one who's crazy!
Thank you for saying something a bad guy would say.
I can defeat you now, right?
I cut through the bow so easily.
How?
In Japan, when people die, they're sent to one of the Six Paths or paradise.
The Hell Path, the harshest of all paths,
is divided into the Eight Greater Hells and the Eight Cold Hells, each with eight realms.
Additionally...
Actually, that's enough about that.
In the Black Thread Hell, one of the Eight Greater Hells, the dead are tied up with ropes.
This is one of the ropes they use there.
It's stained red with blood, but it was originally black.
It's not easily cut by objects of this world.
You really are crazy.
By the way, I've got a question for you.
Did your Mama not teach you the incredibly basic lesson
of not pointing sharp objects at people?
That sounds way worse than whatever she taught you about love.
Don't insult Mama, you monster!
I only know what I've been taught!
What kind of logic is that?!
Would you just...
...think for yourself for once?!
Mama...
Poor kid.
I'm glad I'm in my 30s right now.
If I were his age, that could have taken forever.
FWAP FWAP
Magi! Mori-kun!
Magi-kun! Mori-kun!
Even if I fired an arrow of this world,
I lack the power to exorcise an otherworldly creature like that merfolk.
Damn it!
Nice, boss! You got here in time!
Meow
Waaah
In that moment, it was clearer than it had ever been to me
why Ikebukuro-san deserved to be referred to as Ikebukuro-san.
I'd better not fail any of the professor's classes.
Sir! Kyo-chan!
Thank you for coming!
"Why is that thing shaped like a merfolk?"
How it became a mass of spirits aside, that was my biggest question.
Right.
In other words, this is its true identity.
Ikebukuro, I'll buy you a squid spinner later, so pull on the merfolk's head!
Squid Spinner
Motivated By Food
Nabeshima, don't let me down!
You're the coolest one here, so pull on the merfolk's tail!
Motivated By Coolness
Eek
Eek! The merfolk split into a human and a fish!
It's a shark!
Shark attacks have occurred in this area for a long time.
But around here, great whites and tiger sharks do occasionally appear.
There are even records from the Edo period.
Apparently the island itself used to be called Sameshima, or Shark Island.
What?
This describes the origins of the merfolk legend.
Since you grew up on the island, perhaps you've heard it.
It's a genuine folktale. There's even a priest who suddenly shows up.
And this was written by Kirihara Yutaro-san.
In other words, Yuhachi-san's father.
Great-grandpa's dad?
Yes. The contents were quite interesting.
Old Man Hanada got drunk and told me this story.
Generations before he was a child, the Samejimas' ancestors came to this island.
Apparently the island's legend is half-true.
The Samejima ancestor who was village chief sold the woman's
child to the confectioner's men.
The woman became distraught and chased after the boat, but she was attacked by a shark. The islanders struck the shark with harpoons, but they died along with the shark. The woman and her child died as well.
The woman became distraught and chased after the boat, but she was attacked by a shark.
The islanders struck the shark with harpoons, but they died along with the shark.
The woman and her child died as well.
Their dead bodies washed up on what's now known as Merfolk Rock.
Their dead bodies washed up on what's now known as Merfolk Rock. After my son Yuhachi was discharged, he remarked that he saw a merfolk.
To summarize,
the island's dark history caused a part-human and part-fish mass of spirits to form,
and years of growth turned it into a minefield of a monster.
You see it often in fairy tales,
but when animals are near humans who die while experiencing powerful emotions,
the human's spirit possesses the animal and turns it into a monster.
Bakeneko are one such example.
Or like in Santo Kyoden's "Baika Hyoretsu".
That was a goldfish.
The warning about not eating beans in the old woman's presence
likely comes from that story as well.
Sir.
Let me pay for the exorcism.
I only work part-time now, but I promise I'll pay once I get a proper job.
Thank you, but I've already been paid.
What?
In addition to those, we found a first edition of
"The Restaurant of Many Orders" in the Kirihara family storehouse.
Look it up. It's quite valuable.
Your great-grandfather gave it to me for looking after you.
Mogura, he wants you to have his moth-eaten rucksack.
I don't want it!
Mr. Professor from Tokyo!
Can you believe this? He hit me in the head!
It was a metal lamp or something!
Look at this wound!
What wound?
Huh? What?
It's not there? Did it heal?
You slipped on your own and knocked yourself out.
Maybe you hallucinated.
There's no way.
There's even a pool of blood here!
That must've come from a butchered fish.
Impossible!
By the way, can you see things now?
This one's no hallucination.
I wouldn't say we're close now, but there's definitely a deep bond between us.
Mama!
This is the price you pay for all you've done.
Take a good look.
Mama! Mama!
Mama!
I mentioned before that Magi and Yae-chan's brains and eyes adjust quickly,
but this is how stubborn people react.
I wonder when he'll return to his senses.
So that's what happens when your SAN hits zero.
Mama!
Mama! Mama!
Nom nom nom nom
Nom nom nom
Mama!
Sorry, Shio-chan. Give me a minute.
You two take the motorbikes to Mogura-chan.
We'll go down to the sea and see if there's anything we can do to help.
That said, walking downhill on foot is harder on the knees than I thought.
Pant
You can barely stand.
Pant
Once you're over 30, your body starts falling apart from the inside.
Pant
But I bet you'll be fine even in your 50s.
Probably. My 80-year-old grandma competes in triathlons!
I'll carry you.
Oh, perhaps I'll take you up on that.
Wow! My knees are so unbothered!
Oh?
What are you doing?
We were in a hurry to reach the sea, but my knees gave out.
Are you going there, too?
Yes. An islander fell into the sea, so I need to go check on him.
But from what I've heard, he's okay.
Great. What a miracle.
Oh, hop in.
Yui-chan, have you ever left the island?
I think it might be a good idea.
That sounds fun, but I have to work for the island.
I think there are plenty of jobs you could do there.
It'd be a good idea to experience more things.
For example...
Being a dominatrix.
What?
Nothing.
Um, what did you mean by that?
We think that's a great idea!
Don't suddenly express your own opinions!
We'd patronize your business!
We'd love to be filleted by you!
Don't make such islander suggestions!
And stop shouting in unison inside the car!
I think there's demand for it.
After all, you're that genre of person.
What does that mean?
Tokyo is a terrifyin' city!
A professor's wife, huh?
You're a bit of an oddball, aren't you?
I'm sorry.
But what you did to Mori-kun is far stranger, don't you think?
Where did that come from?
Evil deeds always come to light.
Please don't insult me based on conjecture.
You're smart.
Even when caught off guard, you don't panic and dig yourself deeper.
You're definitely competent.
That's why I recommend you leave the island at least once.
Especially since you're young.
I've heard enough, old woman.
It's good to listen to older women once in a while.
You're scaring me. What's your problem?
I don't know what you think you heard, but please stop.
You don't need to worry about me.
What are the islanders to you? What about Mori-kun?
Are those two important colleagues to you?
Oh, please. They're servants.
We have helpers, too, but they're all important to us.
What is this about? Servants are servants!
Graaah
They exist to be commanded!
Reeeaaah
You've revealed how you truly feel!
I heard your family eliminates everyone who isn't of your bloodline!
I don't wish to criticize other families,
but you even eliminate spouses and trust nothing but your blood!
How do you know about my family structure?
Furthermore, you don't have an independent male role model.
Roll Model?
Roll model?
And you're obsessed with forcing others to obey you.
That's why you became excessively angry with Mori-kun when he didn't obey you.
Shut up, shut up!
Who do you think you are?!
An adult responsible for guiding children!
Shut up! I'm 20 years old!
Go cling to your husband with that empty head of yours!
I'll command the island with my own strength!
Spouses are all outsiders anyway!
There's no point in trusting fake intimacy!
Forbidden technique unleashed.
Shoof
Hummm
Activate ultimate ability.
Kapwing
When I was 18, Toshiro-san said this to me when he gave me this ring—
Magi-kun! Mori-kun!
You're okay!
Ah.
You two got here, too?
Kyoko, what is it?
Shut Down by Guilt
I don't believe you!
Nobody really talks like that!
It's not possible!
I'll become a great person all on my own!
We'd talk like that if you wanted!
Not you!
You're just saying that out of obedience!
But we would say anything you told us to say!
Something seems to have happened, but I won't ask.
Did Ikebukuro-chan do a good job?
Ikebukuro is currently eating the "folk" half of the merfolk.
It's the merfolk's last gasp!
It went after her because she's disheartened for some reason!
Something's holding me down!
The Samejima girl!
She's drifting away!
I've got this!
Shio-chan?! Wait, wait, wait!
You wore that under your clothes?!
Shio-chan, you were planning to swim?
Ta-dah
I thought it'd be an island with a beach, so I wore this instead of underwear.
Why would you wear that to a beach?
Maybe she planned on doing a long-distance swim.
And if you wore that instead of underwear, what were you going to do after you swam?
It's too dangerous!
Didn't I tell you the currents are unique?
It's me!
Oh...
Maggie-kun and I struggled desperately in those waters.
And so, a new merfolk legend was born.
They say a young woman appeared and swam like a fish to rescue the village chief's daughter.
As her speed was superhuman,
she must have been the merfolk described in the island's legend.
That was how Grandma Hanada described the event later.
I forgot to bring a change of underwear.
President Samejima still isn't here?
Merfolk. Merfolk are terrifying.
Episode 12 "During the Rainy Season"