泡沫の声を聴いて

by Kotarō

「恋なんてしたくねえのに」

亜依人は一見普通の男子大学生だが、実は「人魚姫」としての前世の記憶がある。
さらに前世のトラウマから、好きな人を前にすると立てなくなり声も出せなくなるという呪いにかかっていた。
「非恋愛主義」を掲げ、10年恋をしていなかった亜依人だったが、
同じ大学で他クラスの徹に一目惚れしてしまう。
「これは恋なんかじゃない」と言い聞かせても徹を目の前にするとときめいてしまう。
と同時に恐れていた呪いの症状も…
しかし徹との恋を諦めるのではなく、呪いを克服しようと決意した亜依人。
前世の呪いに打ち勝ち、徹との恋を成就させることはできるのか…？

Genres: Manga, Romance, Fantasy, LGBT, Graphic Novels, Queer, Comics

224 pages, Paperback

First published December 10, 2024

Reviews

[Lily the Lilac ✦]

❀ 𝔸𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟: 𝕊𝕡𝕠𝕚𝕝𝕖𝕣 𝕗𝕣𝕖𝕖 ❀
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

🧜🏻‍♀️≋🫂≋🌊 𝓥𝓸𝓲𝓬𝓮𝓼 𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓢𝓮𝓪 𝓕𝓸𝓪𝓶 🌊≋🫂≋🧜🏻‍♀️

꒰➛ Stars: 4 ⭐!
꒰➛ Pov: N / A
꒰➛ Spice: 1 / 5
꒰➛ Content: No cws for this one!

꒰➛ Thank you to NetGalley for this e-ARC!

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✎𓂃 Mini Review! ✎𓂃

As a lot of people who read my reviews know, I'm an MM romance reader. So it's not surprising I read BL manga as well 💗 To all my BL lovers out there (and I know you're there), this was a really solid standalone! It's fast-paced, as most standalone mangas are, but leaves a sweet taste in your mouth near the end

The romance is super innocent, as in we don't even get to see them kiss, and I know it can be hard to find BL / yaoi on the more clean end of the spectrum sometimes!

The art? It's ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS, like I appreciate when a manga has good art, and this definitely did 🥰

Also just want to point out that the best friend of the first MMC (the reincarnated Mermaid Princess one) is very clearly transfem, and I like to see little inclusions like that <3

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[Krysta ꕤ]

a BL little mermaid retelling with beautiful art, but i couldn’t get behind the instalove. i also feel like the reincarnation side of things was a bit confusing too. it is a standalone, but i don’t think it met its full potential.

⇨ thanks to the author, NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for the arc, all opinions are my own.

[✨ gabi ✨]

oh my god, this one was such a cute little fairytale, i wish it never ended! i picked it up because of the cover art, so i never imagined it was a mermaid queer story! <3

the “falling in love at first sight” annoyed me in the beginning (bc yk, you don't even know him!), but then, bang, destiny. loved it very much. m

[Liz ✨]

it’s like the little mermaid but make it gay (kinda)

[Bettina]

5 ⭐️ This Little Mermaid inspired story was breath taking, and I loved every page! Aito can't fall in love without loosing hos voice, and ever since he was a child, he's avoided falling for anyone. Until one day he meets Toru who wants Aito to sing for him. This story was so beautiful, and I loved the inspiration form the Little Mermaid, the sea theme, and the art style was simply perfection. Overall, it was a great story, very interesting characters, and just a wonderful story. An absolute must read for anyone that loves mermaids, pining, beautiful art, and a cute love story.

A big thank you to Kodansha for giving me an arc of this beautiful manga!

[gracie]

I didn't like the fantasy created very much and that didn't make for the best reading experience but I loved the art style. Toru and Aito were so cute omg, and I think the story did a wonderful job of showing how fear can be physically disabling.

Thank you Kodansha Comics and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review

[Spens]

A very cute, straightforward, and queer retelling of The Little Mermaid! While it doesn't offer anything necessarily fresh, I loved the art style and I appreciate the angle of fear as something that prevents us from loving fully.

[Scientist's Reading World | Hugo Lapa]

THIS WAS SO CUTEEEEEEE OMG I LOVE ITTT A blend between fantasy and finding love. Everyone needs a BFF like the MC's one, who is there for everything, even the craziest things. And the MC's love interest is sooooo perfect, omg. I loved the conclusion, the art, and the pace. Everything was so cool! Top to Top recommend!

[Bibliothecat]

Thank you Kodansha for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am so sad to give this a fairly low rating - the cover is absolutely gorgeous and I like the premise; a reimagining, or almost sequel if you will, of The Little Mermaid set in modern times. The inside art is pretty and the idea really was neat. Unfortunately, this story lost me already around the first chapter. I realise this is a standalone and therefore quite condensed but I found this to be one of the worst cases of instant love I've ever come across. I can get behind instant attraction or infatuation, but the main character is cursed to feel miserable once he falls in love. He literally falls in love in chapter one simply by looking at someone for the very first time and immediately triggers the curse.

I just don't buy into that and it took away any form of tension and of things to root for. It also sadly continued that route as the story went on and it caused me to loose focus and ultimately I stopped caring about it one way or another. I can still see it appealing to some people and for those who mostly care about art - sure, why not? I really wish I had liked it more but it is what it is.

[Frank Chillura (OhYouRead)]

It’s May, the month of Mer and it wouldn’t be right not to fill my soul with the songs of mermaids. Voices in the Sea Foam isn’t a retelling of my favorite classic Disney movie, it’s a continuation of the original Hans Christian Anderson story. It asks the question: what would happen to the mermaid princess if she was reincarnated as a human?

Aito has known since he was in elementary school who he was in a past life. His memories flooded back after he came face to face with a boy that would be his first (and hopefully only) experience of love at first sight. The curse that was put on him in his past life is still in effect and when he sees the boy, he immediately can’t speak and walking becomes painful like his feet are being stabbed through with knives. He went home from school that day and his parents immediately removed him from school.

Now years later, he’s in college for fashion, having vowed to never fall in love. His family, as well as roommate/best friend knows the story and all about the curse, but he’s kept it to himself beyond that. That is until he meets Tachibana and immediately falls in love.

This was starcrossed lovers and fated mates all rolled into one incredibly romantic and beautiful story that evokes all of the fond memories I had pretending to be a mermaid as a child, while also wishing for a prince to find me and fall in love. I read this completely in one sitting while my husband drove us to a musical. I couldn’t put it down, needing to know how it ends.

I loved every moment of reading this.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the gifted eARC.

[WSY]

* AN ADVANCED READERS COPY REVIEW *

=> Gay little mermaid
=> Reincarnation
=> Cursed love
=> Soft BL
=> Gorgeous illustrations

🌊 I rarely pick up graphic novels these days so i was actually really excited for this because gay little mermaid in modern day?? yeah that already had me interested immediately. and honestly the strongest part of this whole story was definitely the art. the illustrations were GORGEOUS. some panels genuinely carried more emotion than the dialogue itself and the whole dreamy underwater sadness vibe was done so well.

🫧 I also liked the overall atmosphere and the way scenes developed but at the same time… this story confused me a little 😭 everything moved emotionally SO fast that i never fully connected to the romance. like this man saw a boy once and immediately his entire body started collapsing from love. sir please relax for two business days.

🐚 The curse concept was genuinely interesting though and i liked the fairytale feel throughout the story. i just really needed more buildup because the instalove took away a lot of the tension for me instead of adding to it. i wanted to FEEL the connection more before the story expected me to emotionally invest that heavily.

🩵 Overall this was decent for me. not bad at all, not life changing either. just a quick pretty read with beautiful illustrations, soft tragic romance, and enough gay mermaid suffering to keep things entertaining. the art absolutely carried this for me though because wow those illustrations were stunning.

[Logan]

Thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha for the ARC! The following is my honest review:

This was a lovely take on The Little Mermaid fairytale, or rather, a take on a sequel. The art was beautiful, the dialogue felt natural, and the pacing was smooth. For something as serious as a story about a curse, though, the tone was pretty unserious overall. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just not what I was expecting. While I wish some aspects had been given more weight or depth—or that we’d been nicer to Ami lol—I still appreciate this queer take on (an already queer-inspired) fairytale for what it is.

[nene]

5 ⭐️

Voices in the Sea Foam is a heartwarming and soft retelling of the story of the little mermaid with a young queer setting. Not only is the story beautifully written, with a nostalgic and almost melancholic feeling to it, but one thing that really captivated me were the drawings and illustrations, especially the ones related to the sea and the marine aspect of the story. I completely recommend it to people that love BLs and want a quick but meaningful reading.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kotaro and Kodansha Comics for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[selly rose]

3.75 ⭐️

thank you netgalley for sending me this in exchange for an honest review!

This was so honestly so adorable omg romance manga will always be loved by me!! It had a cute twist to the little mermaid tale and it’s great if you’re looking for a palette cleanser read. A cute couple, fun side character, and a beach chapter?! Cliche but i loved it 🙂‍↕️

The reason why it’s not 4 stars is because some parts did feel a tiny bit rushed, but overall I had fun!

[Bin]

4.25 ⭐️ Super cute little mermaidesque mlm romance with some classic manga tropes!

[Cee]

Very sweet~

[Mystic DreamClouds]

Review to follow soon...

[K]

I liked the idea behind this one, but the execution wasn't quite there.

The premise is that The Little Mermaid - the original fairy tale, not the Disney version - was a true story, ending in heartbreak and the mermaid dissolving into sea foam while her beloved prince got his happy ending without her. As she was dying, she had one final wish: to be reborn as a human, with a soul and more of a future.

Aito discovers his past life at the age of ten, when he has a chance encounter with another boy whom he falls for at first sight. Just like the mermaid, he loses his voice and struggles to walk, so he drops out of school and never sees the boy again. Or so he thinks.

As a college student, Aito is studying fashion design and hanging out with his bestie, Mizuki, who runs a semi-famous crossdressing tiktok and seems to be casually trans. (It's not specified, but despite the crossdressing label in the posts, she seems to always present as female.) She also fully believes in Aito's past life and his curse; their friendship is the most solid dynamic in this story.

Aito, however, falls in love at first sight, again, with a handsome student named Toru, who - like the prince - is head over heels for Aito after hearing him sing. Through one of Mizuki's tiktoks, since Aito is unable to speak whenever he knows Toru is around.

That to me was the first indication that all of this "past life" stuff was just in Aito's head, which I think is a more interesting reading of the story. Mizuki even tests it out, by telling Aito that Toru is on the phone, then revealing it was Aito's older brother when he's unable to make any sound. So it's...obviously just in his head. And later on he does acknowledge that he's getting wobbly legs and a clamped-down throat because he's so panicky at the idea of falling in love.

But then it steers hardcore supernatural at the end, with ghost ships and talking sea turtles and a near-death encounter with the mermaid (who wouldn't exist even in a supernatural world because she was reincarnated after disappearing). So it's just kind of messy.

I also didn't find the central romance that engaging. I appreciated how kind and patient Toru was; he didn't see anything strange about Aito's inability to speak in public settings and even said he had a friend who struggled like that when she was away from home/safe spaces. But his confession just came too quickly for me. The two of them did communicate via text to some extent, but too minimally to get to know each other well enough to actually be in love. Toru still basically knows nothing about Aito because Aito gets too panicky to interact with him. But Toru's in love with him anyway? It just didn't really work for me.

Parts were very pretty, like the scenes with Aito and Toru in the sea together, and the "fate" ending was sort of an interesting twist, but this really didn't end up being that memorable of a story.

[Coco]

I really enjoyed this fresh, gender‑bent reincarnation retelling of The Little Mermaid. The illustrations are gorgeous—Aito’s character design is especially striking, and even the more unsettling figures, like the Sea Witch, are beautifully done.


Aito’s past life and curse haunts his memories both mentally and physically- cursed to lose his voice and unable to use his legs whenever he falls in love. As a result, a decade ago he made a promise not to fall in love again.

But everything begins to unravel when a friend posts a karaoke video of Aito singing. The clip catches the attention of Toru, who wants Aito’s vocals for a soundtrack in his college film project. Unfortunately, being around Toru triggers Aito’s curse but thanks to modern technology, the two are still able to communicate through messaging.

One of my favorite moments is the swimming scene, when neither has their phone and Aito gently traces letters into Toru’s palm so they can “talk.” It’s intimate, sweet, and beautifully illustrated.


During the group trip when Toru is asked about his dating life he admits he likes someone and is waiting for their answer, everyone seems disappointed by his answer wanting him for themselves. When alone Toru reassures Aito he will continue to wait for his answer.
The story ends with a heartfelt HEA, and the final panel is absolute perfection.

[Emily]

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for providing a copy of this manga!

This manga was a unique take on the traditional Little Mermaid tale. I liked the concept and was really engaged at the start, but the romance just fell a bit flat for me. I do not like "insta-love." however, I didn't really mind that Aito falls in love with Toru at first sight. Mainly because he is meant to be a reincarnated mermaid that also pretty much fell in love with a prince at first sight. I kind of like the idea of this mythical creature getting reincarnated and essentially doing the same thing after being reincarnated. That said though, I still wish we wouldn't gotten more romance and connection. The majority of this manga was focused on Aito stressing over his curse. I don't even think Toru is in the story that much. I did like the scenes where Aito and Toru were talking and bonding, but there just wasn't enough of this before Toru was declaring his love. I wish we could have gotten more scenes of Aito and Toru actually "talking" and getting to know each other.
I also wasn't a fan of the ending. Honestly, the ending was pretty bad. I was quite disappointed to be honest. It just felt like a cop out.
So overall, I liked the premise of the story, but I think the romance could have been built up more.

[Carissa]

*3.75 Stars*
*Thank you to Kodansha Comics for the E-Copy!*

This was so cute ohmygosh!! The Little Mermaid but BL!

Aito is a former mermaid princess who died and became reborn as a human. He thought he was just a normal boy until he gets a little crush on a boy and gets flashbacks of his past life, where the mermaid princess gave everything up for a human prince only to be turned to sea-foam. Not only does he get his memories back, but he is suddenly faced with a curse where he cannot speak to the one he loves.
Flash forward a few years and Aito meets Junior Toru and instantly becomes enamored with him, problem is that Aito can’t talk or communicate with him. Despite this, they get closer and Aito has to figure out what it means to love someone, and how to break the curse.

This was such a cute story! The artstyle was stunning, especially with scenes featuring the ocean and the plot itself was simple but effective. While we only know these characters for a short time, their personalities are defined and I was routing for them since the beginning! Such a well done reincarnation story mixed with a retelling of a classic fairy tale. Definitely recommend!

[Adriana]

Aito is cursed with the memories of his past life. He's the reincarnation of the famous mermaid princess who died because her one true love married another. He's sworn off love ever since the day he fell in love at first sight with a boy at school and felt all the pain and trauma of his first life. He's convinced that he will live his life alone until a fateful encounter with charming Toru has him rethinking his stance on love and the impossibility of breaking that curse.

An adorably sweet and emotional new take on the story of the Little Mermaid that pays tribute to the original while being a wholly unique take. Aito is all attitude. He hides behind it to keep others away, although it doesn't work on his best friend or Toru, who is one of the most understanding and unrealistically perfect males in BL, and that's why I love him.

It's a very quick read that left me feeling happy. And the fact that the art is also cute is a very nice bonus.

Delighted thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics | Vertical Comics for the cute read!

[I']

I received this as an advance reader copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions my own.


Is it a Little Mermaid retelling? Yes. Is it gay? Absolutely.

Looking at the cover I knew the art was going to be beautiful but I was not prepared by how actually stunning it was. Definitely one of the highlights of the manga. But not only that, as it help it make it a stunning read in all aspects. The art is usually a deal breaker for me in the sense that if I don’t gel with it, it will impact my reading experience but in this case. Stunning does not cover it all.

The plot, knowing it comes from the Little Mermaid you can expect it is heavily inspired by it with a modern University twist. It is a single volume so you have to condense the whole story in 200 pages. With this in mind it did not feel rushed, as the pace feel consistent through the volume. I can also see how it may seem differently to some as you have a very limited space to tell the story but in this sense, I think adding the reincarnation part of the story fit very well in order to make it feel less instant.

It ticks both the sweet and dark boxes, at I feel it walks the line between them fairly well. In due homage to the original story. But also modernizing it in a way that does not feel forced or takes us out of what already is familiar to the reader.

[Becky (romantic_pursuing_feels)]

There was a lot to love about this one but ultimately it wasn't 100% what I wanted. I did adore the art - it was really beautiful and there were a lot of little details I appreciated. I loved all the characters, they were all fun and so sweet. I think maybe just the evolution of how the plot went was just not what I wanted - maybe the way the past life was given out to the reader. Still fun though and I'd search out more from this author!

Give this a try if you want:
- M/M relationship
- past life
- college setting
- Little Mermaid inspired
- lots of yearning
- no spice on page

[Skirmantė]

Grimm’s The Little Mermaid, but make it BL.

I liked that Aito could remember his past life as a mermaid princess, and his fear of the curse added an extra emotional layer that made his experiences easier to understand and feel more grounded.

The art style is just captivating, and all the characters have their own unique charm, but the love story itself fell a bit flat for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Awesome Ashley Renee]

I enjoyed this one a lot more than I thought I would. It gave me vibes of a darkish bl little mermaid but with a better story. The art was beautiful and this was overall a quick one shot that kept my interest since I really enjoyed the characters and learning more about the curse. This is a story that both the characters fall instantly in love but l personally usually like those stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha for the ARC.

[Maia]

I loved this retelling of the little mermaid with this BL love story. There is instalove, which I do struggle to enjoy sometimes, HOWEVER, there were barriers which I enjoy the storyline of overcoming to get to their happy ending 💖

Aito suffers from a curse from his previous life, stopping him from speaking to his true love, and then we meet Tachibana and a connection is formed!!

Beautiful illustrations and I plan to read more from Kotarõ

Reviewed as part of an ARC from NetGalley

[Kiana]

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha for providing me with this ARC.

AHHH I loved this BL retelling of the Little Mermaid! For some reason I thought this was going to be a series, which could have had more potential for more yearning and magical mermaid moments, but this was still so cute. I beg the author to make a sequel or something because I love these characters. And the art was GORGEOUS!!

[Carrie]

The Little Mermaid but BL with beautiful art. Yes please and thank you very much.

[Demetri Papadimitropoulos]

Bad News for the Little Mermaid: College Does Not Cure Catastrophic Romantic Thinking
In “Voices in the Sea Foam,” Kotaro turns queer fairytale longing into a romance about panic, repetition, and the awkward labor of not disappearing on cue.
By Demetris Papadimitropoulos | April 6th, 2026

Fairytales prefer their suffering outsourced to magic. The sharper move in “Voices in the Sea Foam” is that Kotaro lets magic linger only long enough to show how pain can become reflex. Aito does not simply fear love. His legs give way, his voice cuts out, and his body reacts as if desire were an old disaster arriving right on time.

That shift keeps the book from mistaking seawater for substance. “Voices in the Sea Foam” begins with the familiar machinery of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” – painful transformation, muteness, the humiliations of wanting to cross into another form of life for love – but uses it to build something more immediate. As a child, Aito falls for a boy at school and remembers a past life as the mermaid princess. The memory brings a trained reflex with it: attraction means pain, silence, collapse. Ten years later, now a college student in the fashion department, he has built his life around not giving that reflex another chance to fire. Then Toru appears – softly spoken, musically gifted, almost suspiciously polished smooth – and the old order begins to short-circuit.

That is the plot. The motion lies elsewhere. The real engine is repeated near-contact. The manga moves through six “songs” and a short Bonus, and those “songs” are not there to prettify the table of contents. They teach the reader how repetition sounds. The cycle is simple, which is why its variations matter. Aito moves toward Toru, his body revolts, some new condition changes the terms, hope slips in, old fear resumes its seat. Texting is manageable where speaking is not. Sitting is tolerable where standing is not. A confession can be wanted long before it can be answered. Kotaro builds not by springing surprises but by replaying the same crisis under altered conditions, each pass shaving a little off Aito’s certainty and adding a little to ours.

At the level of line and caption, the script knows the drawings are carrying half the current. Cat Anderson’s translation keeps the dialogue contemporary without flattening tone. Mizuki’s teasing has snap, Toru’s speech has a matter-of-fact warmth, and Aito’s interior captions stay clipped and alarmed in exactly the right way. Kotaro is smart not to slather delicate material in extra feeling. The book’s image field is narrow but disciplined – feet, blades, water, foam, cold, voice – and the diction rises only as far as the fairytale material can bear. The result is control rather than flourish. The language stays on a short leash, which is exactly what this story needs.

Just as crucially, the script stops talking when the body has already made the point. Silence here is not mood. It is plot. Aito’s muteness is staged through stranded replies, dropped speech, panels that hold him on the verge of utterance and then leave him there. Toru keeps talking into those silences without making a performance of his patience. That matters because the manga is not really about confession in the abstract. It is about what happens when feeling outruns the body’s willingness to cooperate. Of course the page has to learn how to wait.

Those six “songs” are the frame that lets repetition bear weight instead of simply recur. The first installs the wound. The second discovers that distance – especially digital distance – loosens the body’s grip a little. The third deepens attachment through collaboration. The fourth pushes private longing into public space. The fifth delays the expected payoff and makes trust, not confession, the actual obstacle. The sixth throws both boys into the sea and forces the manga to decide what it believes about its own curse logic. Kotaro is not interested in formal fireworks. He is interested in what happens when recurrence is tightened until it starts to bruise.

The middle is where the hook stops sounding clever and starts costing the characters something. The film project, the rides home, the costume work, the rehearsals, the lunches – these are not filler but usable excuses in a romance whose whole problem is proximity. Love here cannot descend as revelation. It has to be smuggled in through tasks. The white-dress fitting shows the mechanism most clearly. Aito, a fashion student, tries on a dress he has made; Toru watches; the mermaid story is still hanging about, but it no longer gets to act like the star. What matters just as much is the more immediate panic of being looked at by the person you want while dressed in a way that makes wanting newly visible. The scene is not merely pretty, and not merely symbolic. It is embarrassing in the productive way. It lets myth and self-consciousness occupy the same body at once.

Here the manga quietly outruns its own pitch. It gives fear a timetable. Aito’s condition is not a one-off metaphor but a loop with triggers: seeing Toru unexpectedly, standing near him, moving toward him, sometimes even anticipating him. By contrast, a screen helps. In text messages Aito can still be nimble. In person he may not be able to produce a sentence. That split – fluent on a phone, short-circuited in a hallway – is the book’s sharpest current observation, and it makes the point without fanfare. Mediated ease and embodied ease are not the same thing. Plenty of people know that. Kotaro is simply sharp enough to build a romance around it.

That same exactness keeps the romance from floating off into pure wishfulness. Toru matters less as prince than as steady disproof. He keeps showing up. He keeps liking Aito before Aito can answer him. He keeps filling silence without demanding instant reciprocity. Kotaro is too shrewd to pretend that being liked back fixes anything on contact. Toru does not rescue Aito. He pressures Aito’s explanation of himself.

Here tenderness gives way to diagnosis. Once Toru confesses, wanting is solved. Believing is not. That delay after the confession is one of the manga’s strongest choices because it refuses the easy fantasy that mutual feeling is the finish line. In Aito’s inherited rulebook, words are unreliable. The prince in the old tale says what he is meant to say and then chooses another woman anyway. What Aito carries forward is not just sorrow but instruction. Hope humiliates. Longing makes fools. Love cannot be trusted to stay love. His silence after Toru’s confession is painful, but it does not read as plot maintenance. It reads as a body and mind still taking dictation from an earlier betrayal.

That is where the metaphor earns its keep. “Voices in the Sea Foam” begins by asking whether love can break a curse and ends up asking what happens when a person mistakes a learned response for a law of nature. Aito thinks he is under a spell. The manga gradually proposes something more unnerving: he has built his life around an old rule and forgotten that it was learned. That is why the fairytale frame matters. Kotaro is not borrowing “The Little Mermaid” for atmosphere. He is showing how a story of pain can become a private myth of consequence.

The insight survives the book’s main limitation, though not without some narrowing. The island climax is the point at which the manga finally allows itself to be openly melodramatic. The ghost-ship material is gleefully pulpy, the sea turtle’s return unexpectedly charming, and the rescue sequence gives the book the full-body reckoning it has been promising from the start. Once Aito understands that there is no active witch’s curse – only fear, loneliness, regret, and the residue of a previous self’s despair – the turn lands because the sea does not merely symbolize the old catastrophe. It stages it again, this time with just enough difference to make choice possible. Still, the ending tidies too soon. Earlier pages let the curse stay bodily, mythic, and half-legible all at once. The final clarification scrubs away some ambiguity that was doing useful work. The book’s best scenes trust recurrence, gesture, and bodily panic to do the thinking. The ending, while moving, is slightly more eager to translate.

Toru, though, remains almost frictionless. He is appealing company – attentive, tactful, talented – and the story plainly wants him to feel safe. Fair enough. But he rarely misreads, pressures, or meaningfully complicates the romantic field. A rougher Toru might have made the manga stranger, harder, perhaps better. Then again, a rougher Toru might have sent Aito straight back into preemptive collapse, and this book already has enough water trouble. Kotaro is clearly making a trade here: less interpersonal mess in exchange for a cleaner experiment in how Aito’s body reacts to steadiness. The trade mostly pays off. It is still a trade.

Even so, the last act finally spends the emotional credit the manga has been hoarding. Once Aito stops mistaking terror for destiny, movement becomes possible. He can call out. He can act. He can reach Toru instead of freezing at the edge of feeling. That is the sharpest reversal in the book. “Voices in the Sea Foam” begins as a story about breaking a curse and ends as a story about recognizing that the curse has already done its work by teaching the wrong lesson.

Kotaro does not let that idea hover above the plot like a tasteful thesis card. He returns the story to art-making. The film is finished. Aito sings. Their story is screened, and someone praises its perfect happy ending. It matters because the manga opened by refusing a prettified version of suffering and now allows another painful, awkward, halting experience to become neater once shaped into narrative. Stories prefer their edges clean. Life keeps arriving with damp corners. “Voices in the Sea Foam” knows this. It participates in the smoothing while glancing sideways at it, which gives the ending a sideways intelligence beyond simple sweetness.

The Bonus, mercifully, arrives without trying to feed us sweetness by hand. After so much failed speech, plain, uninterrupted conversation feels almost indecently luxurious. Aito and Toru talk. They exchange old facts about school, family, and missed chances. There is a light suggestion that their lives may have crossed before. Kotaro is wise enough not to pile another metaphysical ribbon on a story that has already made its case in the nerves. At that point the miracle has become almost embarrassingly ordinary: Aito can speak, stay, and keep going.

By my lights, “Voices in the Sea Foam” comes in at 84/100 – 4 stars here – because it is emotionally persuasive, formally alert, and just a shade too eager to neaten its own best trouble. What remains is not really the reincarnation hook, or even the fairytale frame, but the image underneath both: a body that has learned to vanish on contact and mistaken that reflex for selfhood. Kotaro gives that reflex foam, silence, song, and a prince-shaped trigger. Then, with more nerve than most fairytales can tolerate, he asks a better question than the old story ever did: what if the hardest transformation is not becoming human, but giving up that well-rehearsed little vanish, right on cue?