Mermaid Forest is a short 1992 fantasy-horror original video animation (OVA) released in Japan in 1991 and dubbed for English audiences for its 1993 American release. It is based on the manga Mermaid Saga by Rumiko Takahashi, the creator of Inuyasha. The English dub is currently available to watch on YouTube. Trigger warnings include sexual assault, dog death (kind of), and exploitation.

I was genuinely surprised by how well the storytelling held up for a modern audience; the animation itself is pretty standard for the time, if a bit dark (whether that’s due to the tone of the narrative or to cover up errors, I couldn’t say). It follows a girl who drank the blood of a mermaid and a boy who ate mermaid flesh as they contend with the various monsters created by such acts, including a dog. At under an hour long, the film tells a succinct tale grappling with themes of control, resource extraction, intergenerational trauma, mortality, and love.

I quite enjoyed the film. It’s easy to follow despite having a fairly complex weave of thematic elements, and the general concept was new to me. There are some old-fashioned ideas about gender, but, considering it’s a 35 year old film set in the 1930s, it wasn’t as problematic as most content of the time (American comedy was a problem in the ’90s).

There is a sequel, Mermaid Scar, which I will be reviewing in the near future.