What lurks in the waters of the small town of Ade?
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Satoshi Kon
Translation: Maya Rosewood
What They Say
Yosuke’s family has a strange tradition: once every sixty years they receive an egg from a mermaid. When the egg matures his family dutifully returns it to the sea, where the whole process is then repeated. In exchange for this favor, the mer-people bless his coastal town with bountiful catches of fish and calm seas. But as a commercial development encroach on the sleepy seaside village and Yosuke’s father is lured away from tradition towards modern properity, turning the egg into a tourist trap, what will happen to the promise their family made to the mermaids generations ago?
Satoshi Kon’s first feature-length manga, Tropic of the Sea includes a dozen black and white art plates from the original release plus a 5-page essay written by Kon in 1999 detailing his transition from the manga industry to the animation business.
Technical:
The cover here is an absolutely fantastic image of Yosuke with what appears to be the mermaid egg cracking through his body. It’s all done in a beautiful deep blue with a glossy shine used for the mermaid egg, making for one of the most appealing manga covers I’ve ever seen. The back cover similarly crates an image of Yosuke sinking into the ocean while the mermaid swims overhead, illuminated by the sun shining through the water, and it works great. The paper quality feels solid, and some bonus images and an afterward from the author are included at the end of the book. Text reads smoothly, sound effects are left in their original format and translated, and honorifics are maintained.
The artwork here has the characters looking a little rough, but it’s got something of an old school feel that definitely works. They can look a little under detailed or bland a lot of the time, but the art has character to it, even if it isn’t necessarily for everyone. The backgrounds and objects, however, look great and appear very frequently, creating a fantastic atmosphere that makes the small, growing town of the story really come to life. Water and the ocean in particular are captured very well, which is good considering how prominent they are throughout the book. Even if it’s quirky in several ways, this is definitely a book with a nice style to its art.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
After his mysterious routine of gathering ocean water to pour on an enshrined object, we find a young boy known as Yosuke caught up in his father Yozo’s TV interview. Their small town of Ade is undergoing development for the building of a resort, and in turn attention is being drawn to Yosuke’s family shrine, which houses a mysterious mermaid egg. It is said that this egg was handed over to humanity, and that it must be returned to the sea after sixty years, after which it will be replaced with the next egg. However, Yosuke’s grandfather is furious to see his son showing off the secret family treasure, as well as the way that he is taking part in the development. Not wanting to get caught up in this feud of tradition versus progress, Yosuke sneaks off with his friend Tetsu, and they eventually meet up with Nami, a girl who left to live in Tokyo and only recently returned home.
After a mysterious glimpse at what appears to be the shadow of a mermaid, we spend a bit more time getting to know our characters. Eventually the business man in charge of the town’s development, Kenji Ozaki, stops by to look at the egg. After we learn that the fishermen have been protesting the development, it soon becomes apparent that Yosuke’s grandfather has made off with the egg. Yosuke and company track him down to a hidden shrine in a cave that can only be reached through the ocean, and there they find the egg. As they take the egg back, Yosuke finds a previously obtained wound mysteriously healing, making it clear that the egg has strange, otherworldly powers.
As the story continues the feud between those wishing for development and those wishing to preserve their heritage continues to flare up, eventually resulting in rather open hostilities. To make matters worse, Ozaki takes possession of the egg with Yozo’s blessing, much to the dismay of Yosuke’s grandfather. When Yosuke decides to reclaim the egg and fulfill the tradition by returning it to the sea, will he be able to overcome Ozaki’s opposition, and even if he can, will the otherworldly mermaid forgive the humans’ transgressions?
In Summary
With a compact story that manages to tell a rather complex tale over the course of a single volume, this book makes for a great, almost movie-like experience. Though the time spent with the characters is not terribly long, they manage to flesh themselves out well with relatively few scenes, and escape from being simple cardboard cutouts. The key element of the story is the battle between tradition and progress represented by the development of the town itself and Yosuke’s father and grandfather, but it’s interesting to note that Yosuke himself doesn’t seem terribly attached to either side at the start. Even if his actions by the end of the book may seem to put him on one side, he arrives there in his own way, and it’s fascinating to watch him struggle to figure out his place in his feuding family in a way that is surprisingly subtle. The mermaid egg itself also makes for a great overarching element, slowly weaving its way through the plot while still maintaining an air of mystery. It’s not a perfect story, but it’s very well told and has a definite charm that makes it easy to recommend. Though Satoshi Kon may not be known for his manga, this is definitely a fantastic little read that shouldn’t be missed.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: N/A
Released By: Vertical
Release Date: September 17th, 2013
MSRP: $14.95
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