Merman in my Tub Review

Volumes: 8 and ongoing.

Publisher: Seven Seas

Many of you may already be familiar with “Monster Girl” anime/manga. Well, this easily falls into the genre of “Monster Boy”. Many of you might be familiar with titles such as “Rosario and Vampire”. But all the characters are handsome anthropomorphic sea-creatures. Ranging from an octopus, a shark, a jellyfish, a clown-fish, even a tiny hermit crab.

This is a four-panel style manga that does exactly what it says on the tin. It runs in short isolated chapters of slice-of-life sitcom adventures of high school student, Tatsumi, and his handsome free-loading roommate, Wakasa the merman. Every so often, Wakasa’s fellow fish friends will turn up to hang out. There isn’t any serious ongoing plot. Just the daily life of a boy and his merman housemate.

Wakasa’s energy and naïve curiosity of the human world is often curbed by Tatsumi’s dead-pan expressions and opinions. I found myself asking why Tatsumi puts up with this free-loading diva, but then I remember that behind that dead-pan face, is a kind, caring sort of character.

As expected for a series about “Ikeman”, literally translating to “handsome man/men”, the art style is very pretty and airy. The colour scheme of the cover art is understandably pastel themed.

It is the kind of manga you can pick up and put down anytime you want and not lose your place in the plot, as there really isn’t any. If you enjoy stories about cute boys doing cute stuff with a healthy sprinkling of fan service and the occasional “no-homo” humor, you will probably like this. (Those who have seen Free!! Iwatobi Swim Club will probably enjoy this type of fluff. Just without the competitive sports element. But seriously, no one was tuning into Free!! for the sports.)

In addition, there is a 12 episode anime adaptation, which is currently viewable on Youtube. Each episode only runs for about 5 minutes, making it one of the fastest series I have ever completed.