Forum - View topicColumn - Mer-Maid in Japan
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Blanchimont
 Posts: 3561 Location: Finland |
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Too bad the only formats these old OVAs (Rumic World Ovas) of Takahashi(this, Mermaid's Scar, Laughing Target, Fire Tripper, One Pound Gospel, Maris the Chojo) were ever released to were VHS and laserdisc. Rumor has it Takahashi tried to bury these into obscurity... |
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Netero
Posts: 172 |
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Neptuna? You're making her sound even fishier than she should be. Her name was Neptina.
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zawa113
 Posts: 7358 |
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Wait, Sanrio made another overly dark and depressing children's film? That did get a US VHS release way back when? And Discotek hasn't released it yet? Any time, I wants it! I had my friend watch Ringing Bell recently and she said it needs some sort of "ultra-depressing" warning on it or something.
And speaking of Discotek, I quite enjoyed The Little Mermaid! I like it when things don't play it safe (like Disney clearly does. Addictive songs aside, I don't think it's that good a movie anymore, even if I did love it as a kid). Though one thing that bothered me about the anime Little Mermaid movie was that the dolphin says he's never been up to the surface before (mermaids can go when they're 16 here. Also, the guy hands her pen and paper to write, but she doesn't know how, but plot hole avoided!). Really? You, a dolphin, have never been to the surface? For any reason? Like, I dunno, breathing? So yeah, Disney was correct to go with a fish. Except when Flounder puts his head out of the water all the time anyway. And speaking of Osamu Tezuka, there's always Triton of the Sea! Where mermaids are dimorphic creatures, and the women look like normal mermaids, but the dudes look like humans, all while the audience wonders how they reproduce. It was a decent manga though, I enjoyed it. Always appreciate a shoutout to Song of the Sea! |
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Blanchimont
Posts: 3561 Location: Finland |
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It's a bit of a funny story.  Marine Boy original Japanese production was cancelled after 13 episodes, offered to west to Warner Bros who asked for a full 78-episode run, so this, along with reworked episodes of earlier Dolphin Prince, were repackaged and the rest of the episodes/material was produced for it. It started its first run in US in -67, and was aired full back in Japan in -71(half was aired on another channel in -69).
That version was later released from Warner Bros on three 3-disc season collections in 2014. And those can still be ordered from them. |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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Not that I wish to muddy the waters here, but can Song of the Sea compare to the beacon of subaquatic western animated films that is The Water Babies, last sighted in the murkier depths of 1978? |
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Freyanne
 Posts: 216 |
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I've been hearing over the years that Mermaid Melody was actually dubbed (apparently the entire series?), but they didn't release it due to not being able to get a TV deal, or something of the sort. They had even made a promo-video for the dub as well, assuming this video is legit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jjxJ1gCCSg Either way, I am still a little upset that Memaid Melody wasn't released in the US, because I was really looking forward to seeing it, and I remember that some of the fansubbers had stopped subbing it because of ADV announcing that they were going to release the show. |
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trilaan
 Posts: 1071 Location: Texas |
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Noonsa is SO close, Mike! But, I'm sorry, I gotta go with Shark Fujishiro from My Bride is A Mermaid.
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grooven
Posts: 1428 Location: Canada |
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 Too bad they couldn't put this out! I wonder if they could pitch it to Netflix or maybe it is too dated
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11584 |
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I know that one! Actually, I know about Triton and his story, but only due to his appearances in Peeping Life TV Season 1??.
I have Mermaid Forest on dvd, but I suppose my favorite mermaid is probably the one that popped up in Natsume's Book of Friends. Or the selkie Merituuli from The Ancient Magus' Bride, even if she's a seal and not a fish. She was fun. |
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6580 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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The earliest anime I'm aware of where the protagonist is a mermaid is Mahou no Mako-chan from 1970. It was the third in Toei's long run of magical girl shows from the 60s and 70s, after Sally the Witch and Himmitsu no Akko-chan. It takes the Little Mermaid story and plants it squarely in a Japanese schoolyard. In this instance she doesn't actually know the identity of schoolboy she saved. It's most famous for introducing fanservice to the magical girl genre. There's a scene where she teases her sea-king father in lingerie and then undresses in front of him. TV tropes labels it as anime's lingerie scene trope codifier. There's also an episode on the devastation that chemical factories were inflicting on the sea, broadcast not long after the Japanese Government belatedly admitted the cause of the Minimata mercury poisoning disaster.
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MischievousMelody
 Posts: 485 |
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I hate to be that person, but Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch has 91 episodes, not 101.
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CatSword
 Posts: 1489 |
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There's evidence they dubbed the first season and the Spanish and French dubs are based on this English version. More info is on the Lost Media Wiki: https://lostmediawiki.com/Mermaid_Melody_Pichi_Pichi_Pitch_(partially_found_English_dub_of_anime_series;_2004) |
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GVentola
Posts: 23 |
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In the 1990's, I bought 6 VHS tapes for a dollar each featuring one 30 minute episode of "Saban's Adventures of the Little Mermaid". At first, I thought the article was talking about this, because the mermaid's name is Marina, but it became obvious as I continued to read that the author was talking about a movie which ended tragically. Unless the TV series reworked the ending so that Marina didn't die and turn to sea foam. She had a mutual romance with the human prince, Justin. There was this potion they could drink that would allow Marina to spend an hour on land with Justin, or allow Justin to breathe underwater with Marina, also for just an hour. In this way, they were able to be together, but searched for an artifact (a scroll, I think) that had the secret of allowing them to be together in a more permanent way. I found out later that this was an anime series which Saban had imported, and had more episodes, which I would've liked to have seen. Does anyone else remember these tapes?
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purplebird76
Posts: 9 |
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Mermaid melody received a surprising amount of dubs, all things considered, but no Germanic languages. We have Chinese, Korean, Serbian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Italian. They also made an English dub at one point but they weren't able to release it on time and now the dubbing company has lost the rights to the show, so I think its safe to say that its gone forever. The dubs we do have are really good though, I recommend checking out some of the songs they dubbed on youtube.
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CandisWhite
Posts: 282 |
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Ach, my long landed sea traveller, you done missed the 80's cable run on this side of the pond where it was known as Slip Slide Adventures ( probably to avoid a fight with Disney and its cartoon short) and the release done by MGM, under its proper British title, done in the 21st century. Not to mention a Blu-ray recently released on your own shores. And Oh My God! I forgot about Song of the Sea; That was on my to-do list one upon a time and never got done.
IIRC, Saban's series was one of those French/Japanese deals more than straight up anime but that the Japanese version did have a different score and opening/closing sequence than the English version. I don't know whom Saban subcontracted to do the dubbing but those are the voices of famous Canadian VAs. The episodes are up on Youtube if you'd like to watch them. |
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