Mermaid Saga (manga)

While this manga series was originally released in English by Viz Media in 3 volumes from 1994 to 1997 (under the original titles "Mermaid's Forest," "Mermaid's Scar," and "Mermaid's Gaze"), Viz released the series again in 2004 in 4 volumes under the collective title "Mermaid Saga," resulting in confusion about the number of volumes in the series. The original release was done in the style of Western literature, printed left-to-right, so when Viz released the series again in 2004, they changed the style back to the original Japanese format of reading right-to-left.

The first kanji, "Yu" in Yuta's name can be one of many things: "Boil, ferment, seethe, uproar, or breed". The second kanji, "ta" means "big". So the most likely meaning to Yuta's name is "Big Uproar".

Mana's name is made up of two kanji. The first being for "truth" and the second for "fish". Mana is also defined as "a dynamic supernatural power dwelling in and flowing from certain individuals, spirits, or things and capable of producing great good or evil".

The manga is based on the Japanese folktale, Happyaku Bikuni (The Eight-Hundred Year Buddhist Priestess). It is a story about a fisherman who captures a mermaid while out at sea. Upon returning to his village he cooks the mermaid, and plans to feed it to his friends. One of the fishermans comrades sees the mermaid's face while it is being cooked and privately warns the others not to eat the "fish". Instead they hide the meat in their clothes intending to throw it away on their way home. One man makes the mistake of drinking too much and accidently gives the flesh to his daughter when he returns home. The girl eats it, but no ill effects seem to befall her. Years pass and the girl marries and soon it becomes apparent that she is no longer aging. Decades pass and the girl out lives many of her husbands, become a widow many times over. Eventually she decides to become a Buddhist nun and makes pilgramages to many countries. After having lived for eight-hundred years, the girl returns to her village in Wakasa Prefecture and goes into a cave to die. Many elements from the legend are replicated in Takahashi's story including the fisherman (Yuta) and the immortal girl (Mana).