Anime: Bermuda Triangle: Colorful Pastrale (2019)

Bermuda Triangle: Colorful Pastrale (2019)

This is a new 12 episode anime following 5 teenage mermaids who live in a village in the middle of nowhere under the sea. A storm uncovers an abandoned movie theatre and they decide to renovate it.

When you get over the super cuteness.... and think about this, it is a totally bizarre plot for a mermaid story. There is no reason whatsoever for the girls to be mermaids - The whole thing could easily be set on land with regular teen girls. They spend their time eating cake at the local bakery, helping random locals, cooking, singing, making clothes and babysitting the little mermaids.

Canon was a teen idol in the city who got stressed out and crystallised into a ball which apparently happens when mermaids get depressed or upset. She gets sent to the village because Ardi the shellsis (sister in the loosest sense - mermaid from the same class/close friend) of her guardian lives there and it was thought it might help her recover.

There are 4 mermaids Canon's age living in the village who are close friends:

Sonata, the leader, forever thinking of others before herself.

Serena the somewhat geeky tech girl

Fina the homebody who excels at cooking, sewing and sorting out people's problems. She has a pet.... otter? called Poco who follows her everywhere.

and finally Caro the live wire - she's the outspoken, comic of the group with a temper and obsession for cake.

Canon responds to Sonata's voice and breaks out of her sphere.

She becomes best friends with the 4 girls and  joins in with enthusiasm to renovate the movie theatre. Things go swimmingly until her guardian sends a letter asking her if she wants to return to the city and audition again. She freaks out and she goes back into a crystal. Her friends sing together, shatter the sphere and they all go off to the city together to become a pop idol group.

The only 'mermaid' lore seems to be the turning into a crystal ball when upset. The rest of the 'mer' content is entirely visual - tails, underwater setting etc.  What I particularly like is that it's set (all bar one episode) entirely under water with no mention of humans or the human world. In one episode they take a potion which turns their tails to legs and allows them to go to the surface - but it's to a tiny island inhabited by a single mermaid in human form who wanted to live on land. I loved that the potion reacts weirdly to certain mermaids - so while she does get legs, Serena manifests as a child whilst all the others are normal size.

The lack of humans is rather interesting as is the complete lack of men. There are no mermen - mermaids are referred to as 'shellsis' which suggested to me maybe they are born from shells like Venus.

A mermaid lesbian utopia? It's certainly one interpretation although since this is very child friendly it's implication at best:  Ferma the cake shop owner and Ardi are nearly always together and could easily be a couple. Similarly you get close friendships between our main cast: Sonata/Canon, Fina/Serena. There's definitely fertile ground for fem-slash. The only male characters are Manta - a ray with a deep bass voice and the Seal postman. Oh and Poco I think, though he only squeaks.

Bermuda Triangle: Colorful Pastrale is a total guilty pleasure - the visuals and annoyingly catchy theme song are its main selling point.

Opening Theme

In a way this is almost a precursor to Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch - aimed at a slightly younger audience. I will say it's refreshing to have a mermaid story set entirely under water with no humans whatsoever and no romance plot. This one's all about friendship. It does not however have much plot or explore the notion of a mermaid in any great depth. Still if you want ultra cute, brightly coloured mermaid 'fluff' this is certainly the series for you.

4/10

Book Review: The Lurid Sea by Tom Cardamone (2018)

Described as "either the most lyrical filth I've ever read or the most sexually explicit novel of Ancient Rome ever put to paper" how could I not be excited at the release of this Ancient Roman gay merman erotic horror novel? That's five boxes checked before we even get into the fact that it's written by Tom Cardamore author of the anthology Pumpkin Teeth - Which if you haven't checked out you should do so there are some really good stories - although no specifically merman ones there is 'Bottom Feeder' in which rich and bored men turn themselves into manatees.

The Lurid Sea takes its inspiration from the manga Thermae Roma. The story follows son of Neptune Nerities cursed by his father to time-travel back and forth for eternity to a variety of bathhouses around the world where he has to perform oral sex on all the men he finds there. Instead of treating it like a curse however our lusty merman revels in his sexual odyssey. The only downside is that he finds out his half brother (son of Pluto - death) is following in his wake, slaughtering many of his lovers.

The 'merman' content is negligible - despite being a son of Neptune, Nerities doesn't have many merman attributes - he can breathe underwater, hold his breath and has an affinity for language being able to understand all human speech, like his father can understand all the sea creatures. There is a water connection and he is transported by a giant whirlpool/vortex - plus of course his prison is always a bath house. But those of you looking for a fish tail, telepathy or any interesting transformation skills, forget it.

The erotic content of this is repetitive and boring in the extreme - we're told the bathhouses and the men are different eras but essentially they are the same and there is barely any variety - Nerities arrives, sucks off a load of men on to the next - I really wished that there was some variety in the sexual escapades but honestly other than the two times Neptune's involved it's rather dull.

What makes this interesting is the use of classical mythology and the horror element. I love Nerities' back story and the scenes with his unnamed mother are wonderful. I also rather liked Neptune. However the star of the show is his incestuous lover and nemesis, half brother Obsidio - their first sex scene on top of a corpse in a cemetery sets the trend for their twisted relationship and the later half of this novel where Obsidio follows Nerities its a wonderful metaphor for STDS - the linking of sex and death is beautifully handled. I just wish there had been more story and more Obsidio instead of endless repeats of oral sex - we could have had him following early on and this would have made a brilliant horror story.

Overall I was really disappointed with this it had so much potential and draws on such a wealth of Classical mythology and ends up being the erotic adventures of a lusty male sea nymph. I like the fact that this exists, but honestly there are so many other better gay merman novels out there...

3/10

Cover art is Youth & the Dolphin by Felix d'Eon - And fans of gay mermen should check out his work it has a wonderful vintage feel and is choc full of mermen and other mythic creatures - A perfect choice for this novel.

Felixdeon.com

Eclipse Mints Mermaid Advert

Mermaid advert for breath mints. Love it!

Mermaid Film: Arwah Kuntilanak Duyung (2011)

Mermaid Film: Arwah Kuntilanak Duyung (2011)
Indonesian mermaid comedy horror.

Trailer here. Will post more once I've seen it. Looks fun.

Book Review: Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs (2011)

Book Review: Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs (2011)

Tempest Rising is the first book in a teen paranormal romance trilogy. Tempest has a tough choice to make on her 17th birthday she can become a mermaid and head to the sea like her mother who abandoned the family 6 years previously for the ocean's call or she can stay human. Bitter against her mother, with a loving father, 2 brothers and a hot boyfriend she's certain she'll choose to remain on land, until a hot selkie prince turns up and tells her she's the undersea messiah - thing's aren't nearly as cut and dried as they seem.

At first I thought this was very "beautiful creatures" but with mermaids - we have a heroine who can control the elements who has to choose to be good or evil on her birthday and has an evil witch after her, but this plays out slightly differently.

The characters are OK, but I'm not totally won over by them. I found Tempest quite annoying at times - it was so obvious she's the soul mate of the selkie prince and yet she strings poor human, Mark along. I guess it's to show the two choices that she has to make, but I just found her bitchy but without the bite of say Frederica from Mary Janice Davison books. I also wasn't convinced by the actions of her mother - her letters seem far too cool and collected for someone that's been forced to abandon their family. Kona the selkie prince is a bit too perfect a hero - Tempest cruelly breaks up with him and he still pursues her without any anger or aggression.

What I did like was the scenes undersea and the fact that a mermaid has to earn her tail and manifests unique tattoos.

The best thing however is the use of Tiamat mythology. I'm a massive folklore fan and I was really excited that this fused the Babylonian/Assyrian primordial dragon with the sea witch for the series big bad.

Not my favourite mermaid series, but hums along merrily enough. I will certainly be picking up the subsequent books.

5/10

On a purely aesthetic note I was very disappointed with the UK cover (see top) - no tail at all. BOOOOOOOOOOOO Hisssssssssss. The US and Hardback cover is stunning in comparison:

Mermaid song: Mermaid by Train (2012)

Mermaid Song: Train - Mermaid (2012)

Heard this on Radio 2 this morning - Thanks Ken Bruce! I just wish there was an official video. In the mean time this Pirate of the Carribean 4 fan vid is pretty good.  Had to share!

Book Review: Merrow by Louise Cooper (2005)

Book Review: Merrow by Louise Cooper (2005)

Three teenagers; Robyn, Jay and Kieran fail to save a girl from drowning on the Cornish Coast. Kieran starts seeing her everywhere even though he knows she's dead. He believes he is being haunted and becomes increasingly distant and angry towards his girlfriend and best mate. Robyn thinks that the girl might be the Merrow of Cornish legend.

This is a wonderful coming of age YA novel that perfectly captures the elusive nature of the merrow. We never find out one way or the other, nor by the end do we really care, she is a cypher there to help explore the emotions and relationships of the three main characters.

Mermaid enthusiasts are going to be disappointed, this is no H20 or Aquamarine with a fish tailed protagonist, but a far darker story with a somewhat open, bitter ending. I was absolutely hooked by the mystery and thought the punchy writing kept a cracking pace.

Verdict 6.5/10