Moon Child, Volume 1

月の子 / Moon Child #1

by Reiko Shimizu

Will a half-mermaid, half-human girl bring an end to the feud between humanity and the mer-people - or bring about the destruction of all life on Earth? As a merman named Shona is returning to his birthplace to spawn, he meets a young human, Jimmy, who suffers from amnesia. Together, Jimmy and Shona set off to find the missing girl. Will they be able to avert a mysterious prophecy, or will finding the secret of Jimmy's identity delay them enough to set Earth on the path to destruction?

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Shojo, Science Fiction, Comics, Romance

192 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1989

About the author

See also 清水玲子.

Reiko Shimizu (清水玲子 Shimizu Reiko, born March 26, 1963 in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese shōjo manga writer and illustrator. She made her professional debut in 1983 with Sansaro Monogatari in LaLa, and has written primarily for the publisher Hakusensha. She is noted for her works of science fiction and her art style, and is also known for her illustrations of tarot cards called the Miracle Tarot deck.

She received the 2002 Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo for Kaguyahime.[1] Her Himitsu - Top Secret has been recommended twice by the Japan Media Arts Festival jury in 2007 and 2008.[2][3] It has also been listed on the Tohan charts four times as of May 2009.[4] Her manga Moon Child is licensed in English by CMX Manga.

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first this seems like a fairly typical shōjo manga (I'm guessing it is classified that way because of the fairy tale elements and emphasis on emotional pairings, although so far the MCs are male). Attractive young people, an awkward encounter with a former love interest, emotional drama, questionable behavior, an accidental meeting that is clearly going to motivate the plot, and then--

Then suddenly some surreal and visually striking monster images. Dark. Is this horror? What's going on? I don't know, but it worked effectively to hold my interest. Bonus star for one of the most unusual versions of mermaids that I've ever come across. They have a fish form that lives for many centuries and swims between the planets, exploring, only returning to earth to spawn.

The art and to some degree story seem influenced by Moto Hagio, which is not a bad thing.



Only serious caveat: Why does the prophetic mermaid grandma look like a racist caricature of a South African woman? and she's the only who speaks with poor grammar? But all other mermaids are white. Not sure what the author had in mind here.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ξέρω πως ακούγεται κάπως περίεργο ανακάτεμα θεμάτων αλλά κάπως καταφέρνει και τα φέρνει βόλτα η Reiko ακόμα μια φορά. Ο τίτλος είναι γεμάτος ρηξικέλευθους πειραματισμούς ειδικά στον τομέα της σεξουαλικότητας μιας και μιλάμε για το 1993 και όχι το 2016. Μου έχει δοθεί η αίσθηση ότι πέτυχε το πείραμα της αναλογικά με το κοινό που στόχευε, αλλά σίγουρα δεν είναι ένας τίτλος για όλους ή για τα πιο συντηρητικά μυαλά (κακώς αλλά έστω). Το σχέδιο είναι πραγματικά άριστο δείγμα παραδοσιακού manga σκιτσαρίσματος, επηρεασμένο πολύ από χρυσούς τίτλους της δεκαετίας του '80. Αν μαντεύω σωστά, ήταν από τους πρώτους τίτλους που συνδύασαν αφαιρετικό σκίτσο με φιγούρες και πρόσωπα μέσα από τον πιο κοινότυπο σχεδιαστικό Ιαπωνικό δρόμο. Μόνο που τότε δεν ήταν κοινότυπος (αλλά σίγουρα 100% Ιαπωνικός). Πολύ ωραίο μελάνωμα και υπάρχουν πάνελ που σε ταράζουν με την πρωτοτυπία και την αλλαγή της αισθητικής, ξαφνιάζοντας τον αναγνώστη κάθε φορά αφού είναι τοποθετημένα σε απρόσμενα σημεία του κάθε κεφαλαίου. Η Reiko ακολουθεί μια αγαπημένη μου τακτική, να γράφει στα πλαίσια του κόμικ διάφορες λεπτομέρειες και πληροφορίες που της έρχονται στο μυαλό είτε έχουν σχέση με την εξέλιξη της υπόθεσης είτε όχι.

Από την άλλη πλευρά η δημιουργός φαίνεται να έχει πάθει ψύχωση με την Akira Okada (την πρωταγωνίστρια της σειράς) προσπαθώντας συνεχώς να την παρουσιάσει ως femme fatale. Δεν είναι καθόλου νοηματικά ευανάγνωστο οι "δότες" να είναι εξαγριωμένοι με τους ανθρώπους που τους δημιούργησαν (είναι κλώνοι όπως ανέφερα) αλλά να λατρεύουν την Akira και να ορκίζονται υποταγή παρόλο που αυτή είναι η πηγή του κακού. Δεν θα πω παραπάνω αλλά η θεοποίηση του χαρακτήρα που προσφέρει γενικά τα λιγότερα στην υπόθεση και η παραγκώνιση άλλων πολύ πιο καλοστημένων, όπως ο "πρίγκηπας" Yui Lindros, ήταν κατ'ελάχιστο βεβιασμένη. Αντίστοιχα η δόμηση των σχέσεων μεταξύ των ανθρώπων/κλώνων κλπ και η ταχύτητα της ιστορίας είναι προχειροφτιαγμένες. Σίγουρα δεν συγκρίνεται με το πολύ ανώτερο (και πολύ πιο ώριμο λόγω χρονολογίας και εμπειρίας) himitsu

[Leila Anani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Down on his luck dancer Art hits a boy with his car. The boy has amnesia so Art takes him home and gives him the name Jimmy.

This boy is really Benjamin the son of alien mermaid Seira and her human husband. Seira betrayed her people on Earth by marrying a human and then selling out her people to Medieval witch hunters.

Shona (a confusingly similar look alike to Art) is a merman who has come to Earth to mate. He's looking for Benjamin the "daughter" of Seira in order to heal the breach of long ago. His father had been engaged to Seira before she rejected him in favour of her human prince.

Shona's world is thrown into total confusion when he meets Jimmy and realises that Seira obviously had a son rather than a daughter.

This is a really interesting take on the little mermaid with a fascinating premise. No idea how things are going to turn out. Artwork is nice and clean and the panels of Seira with her flowing hair and fish tail are beautiful.

Mermaid fans are not going to want to miss this one.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mermaids in Spaaaaace. I guess?

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got a bit confused at times but it was very entertaining and read it super fast.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story of mermaids and a world of paranormal phenmomena.
A mermaid names, Seira, was destined to mate with a mer-man named Ponto but betrayed her race and fell in love with a human and had a human/mermaid child. The child was supposed to be born a girl but for some reason was born a boy!
Ponto's son, Shona, is now destined to mate with the child, Benjamin, who was supposed to be born a girl.
The elder Mermaid, a seer, had a vision of the world turning into a waste land in 200 years and that if the child didn't mate with it's destined partner (Shona) then the world will turn to ruins and the mermaids will not be able to have children and their race will die out.

I really liked this one, the plot was very interesting and I can't wait to read the following manga's to see what will happen to Benjamin, and what they will do to stop to world from turning into a wasteland now that Benjamin is a boy.

[Lord · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is rather weird but interesting old-school shojo manga that could probably be clasified as science fiction or rather "industrial fantasy". The first volume sets up the story (as the author says) and I can't wait to read what happens next..

[Nichole Dawn Romero · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was a little weird...I'm hoping the next one will be better. I liked it but like I said it was a little weird...