I’d usually go by the official English name of a manga series first, but in this case i’m gonna have to use the localized title publisher JPOP chose for the Italian release, La Sirena Cannibale (The Cannibal Siren), which is actually even better than the original, Ningyohime no Gomen ne Gohan , translating literally to “The Mermaid Princess’ Guilty Meal”, even the latter is more descriptive (and sounds better in Japanese due to the allitteration).
I guess it made more sense given how Italy hugely/almost entirely created and fed the 60s “cannibal boom” in cinema, but i do like it better, sometimes localized titles here can be deceiving, excessively forward (to the point of “spoiling” any surprise effect) or just absurd, but THIS is the kind of “to the point” title that makes sense, so i’m gonna that for the rest of the review.
Written by Hiroshi Noda and illustrated by Takahiro Wakamatsu (also behind Love After World Domination and No Longer Allowed In Another World), The Cannibal Siren is about the mermaid princess Era, who lives happily in the ocean with her fish friends, beloved by all in the undersea kingdom, all is well… until one of her friends get fished out by humans.
She then runs (transforming her fish tail into legs, as mermaids do) to the surface in incognito to pay the final respects, seeing her friend being served by the nearby sushi restaurant, but then, prompted by a patron that jokingly encourages her to eat it – and i quote – “otherwise it won’t go to heaven”, she tries, and finds out she finds it delicious.
Then she begins spiraling out in a cannibalistic frenzy, ready to jump ashore to eat whichever of her subjects is fished out and served on a plate, all on the hush and despite knowing how she is a monster for doing that.
It’s indeed a peculiar mix of black comedy-drama, horror, a bit of ecchi and of course also being one of these cuisine/foodie/gourmet manga, which became more of a thing in no small part thanks to Dungeon Food taking off in 2014, and of course Food Wars kicking off the “food porn” angle.
Can’t say i’ve ever heard of a manga quite like this.
the problem is that it also sounds like the kind of modern manga series that immediatly tries to entice readers with its “shocking” twist on things (even more forward in this regard since it’s a manga series that originated on the web), with the “Sword of Damocles” effect kicking in at a fast pace since it’s entirely predicated on the singular catchy idea already laid out in the very beginning.
If you’re gonna build a series on a single core joke, it better be a damn good one… and even that often is not enough, as clearly this series demonstrates, since it’s not long, just 7 volumes, but i felt “done” even when i just read the first volume years ago, and on a second read i can i was right.
The core joke is quite fine, truth to be told, but the execution, relying on charicatural “toon” design for the fish-sonas that are often a deliberate parody or spoof of something (like the “delinquent fish”, “the yakuza clans of softshelled mollusks”, the “assassin urchin drama”, a copyright defying Gillman from Universal’s Creature From The Black Lagoon, etc) and routinely fished out so Era can cry of sadness while she stuffs her face with their cooked carcasses.
Problem is, there’s not really much of a story around it, or any escalation, stuff does happens, it does, but it’s mostly due both other mermaids/half-humanoid characters subplots and how they entangle with the humans’ living on this seabound city where most of the stuff happens, even when it happens on the sea kingdom side it’s mostly because it was gonna happen anyway regardless of Era, heck, it does happen regardless even she goes missing from home for a while.
Era’s storyline really doesn’t go nowhere, i get it does serve the point of shaping her as the tragic secret villain that can’t escape her cannibalistic lust for her kin, as the secret catalyst for the other’s plots, but it’s telling one could read the first volume and then skip to the last, since only then Era’s plot moves forward…. with a copout, meaning timeskipping where she is now an “Ursula-Maleficent” brand of evil queen that has did done a Dio Brando.
…. But then as fast as it happens it’s undone so we can a big villain show up almost ouf of nowhere in order for the series have a “climax” and to give Era a super-fast redemption arc.. with a little fitting final twist, one that still doesn’t change much because she never properly gets blamed for her cannibalistic deeds, as everyone who knew her secret has been digested by Era herself, basically.
Thanks for the other characters being there, i do like them, especially Sango, and they help a lot since Era is both the protagonist yet oddly irrilevant in the grand scheme until the very end.
Maybe i would be less harsh with the story if the comedy wasn’t also flawed, not bad but it’s way too reliant on references, references, and more references, from the fish fast food manager being…. Gustavo Fring, two random douches looking like Cumberbatch and Freeman’ characters from Sherlock, and with the fish character it’s out of control, with the Black Jack fish, the urchin assassin whom i think does look like Donpatch from Bobobobo-bo but wasn’t meant to be a reference, the salmon squad having an AOT style corps’ flag, and so on.
At least the references being brazen are a thing the manga committs to constantly, to the point a chapter just begins with a brief bio of The Silence Of The Lambs film’ director and the plot… which it’s odd because i’m pretty sure the target audience does know the film, i mean, it’s a seinen manga and i doubt kids would get cover chapter parodying The Smiths album like Meat Is Murder, or a Tarkus one, didn’t expect that!
The art by Hiroshi Noda is pretty solid, nothing great but above decent, but still, it’s odd how the manga doesn’t take time to explain the more japanese jokes foreign audiences (even weeb audiences) simply won’t get, i personally just didn’t get a good chunk of these, and i feel for a lot of people they will just get lost into the sea of other references and the many narrative stereotypes used to give the soon to be sushi characters a background of sorts.
It’s not a bad comedy, it’s not offputting or too weird for its own sake, there’s enough to like and enjoy, and it’s not true the series is predicated on just a single joke… i mean, it is, but then it becomes predicated on like 3/4 jokes that the writer keeps using, with some occasional good ones, though the concoction is peculiar enough that you kinda wanna see how things play out.
Still, it would have made for a better read if it kept things shorter, with 3 volumes instead of 7, as the repetive nature of the main core idea does get worn out fast, in spite of the cool and unique premise, as it feels the writer had a good idea-concept and was aware of that, but really didn’t know how to iterate and escalate things (again, the plot both doesn’t really go anywhere yet it also moves too fast when it shouldn’t),so stuffed the chapter with a delirious amount of parody, spoofs, puns and references, to the point i was expecting to see a DeNiro pufferfish.
In conclusion, even if flawed, Forbbiden Fish Is The Sweetest/The Cannibal Siren it’s not bad or painfully unfunny, it’s a decent manga but due how it handles itself (including feeling stretched even at just 7 volumes, i’m not even sure if i recommend it, even if just for it being a weird blend of Shark Tale, Bobobobobo, Nekromantik, a Rammstein live show, and a gourmet manga.
If any of that might appeal to you, i’d say it’s definitely worth a shot just for curiosity’s sake.
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