Ningyohime no Gomen ne Gohan

Have you guys ever wondered what your friends taste like? --- Wait, just hear me out. Before you think I'm some kind of weirdo, I swear this is a good intro...well, good enough. Anyhow, this is the story of the cannibal princess who enjoys eating her friends. May we live through her! Or, uh, not we. Maybe just you. In the first chapter, we’re introduced to our main protagonist Era, the mermaid princess of the sea, who is friends with all the fishies around her and deeply revered within her community. She spends her days helping her citizens get through their insecurities and is resolute inher goal of making this idyllic kingdom an even happier place. Essentially, Era is the ideal image of the perfect princess. May we live through her! But, Era is hiding a secret from everyone. A secret that she can't afford to let slip. A ghastly habit that would condemn her to the lowest levels of fishy hell (the bottom of the ocean?) if revealed. A yearning for something that is so frightful that it'd send chills down the spine of any fish (do fish have spines?) cursed with discovering her true nature. It all started when she made her first trip to the surface to pay respects to her friend…by ordering him at the very restaurant that caught him!! Intending only to bear witness to what had become of her piscine friend before her very eyes... she then proceeds to eat him!! The fool had been tempted by a customer who claimed it would be the only way to send the fish to heaven, ohh the horrors! However, even worse news bares my friends. This would unfortunately set forth the most heinous of cravings...cannibalism. May we die through her!.... Throughout the manga, she struggles with confronting her reprehensible longing to consumer her fellow brethren, her immense guilt overwhelming her at certain moments leading her to confine herself in her own bedroom. Yet, whenever this happens, the death of one of her friends inevitably prompts the urge to visit the surface once more to partake in her restaurant habit. The other fish believe that her voyages are solely for the purpose of paying respects to the lost souls of their brothers, sisters, parents, friends, what have you... but little do they know of the true horror that goes on behind their backs… oh my god! May we please expose her evils? Of course, like any other self-respecting manga fan, I just had to see how the author would develop this story and what themes would be explored under the vehicle of such a unique premise. However, I unfortunately find this manga to be rather lackluster in those departments. Upon my initial read, I felt profoundly disturbed by its concept. I mean, wow, this really is just cannibalism portrayed in a comedic light. Era’s constant refrain of “I’m sorry _, but you taste so good!” is delivered comically, yet she is depicted crying during every single instance. Clearly, she's facing an internal struggle and is in constant mourning over her uncompromising desire to commit sin. This all works together to set a tone of dark humor, yet I didn’t find this theme of the manga particularly all that funny. Sure, it was an engrossing concept for the first few chapters, but it quickly tires out. In fact, I'd say that I found Himada’s goofiness much more enjoyable than the whole "I'm sorry bro, but dam you sit so fine in my tum" schtick. Maybe I’d be able to enjoy the comedy more if I didn’t binge every manga I read and instead opted to space it out. Nevertheless, I believe that any manga professing to be a comedy should be funny enough to binge. Comedy series ought to be very careful when relying so much on one running gag like this manga does. Or maybe I'm silly and you can disregard what I say, your choice! The author tries to include backstories for the fishes that get caught and attempts to use Era’s consumption of them to be some kind of pinnacle or conclusion to their story, as if they were really being sent to heaven by this dreadful act. These backstories serve to add a bit of unique flavor to each chapter and offset some of the staleness, but I don’t really know how to perceive this in juxtaposition to Era’s moral conflict from a plot perspective. Perhaps these moments of resolution in the fishes’ stories are merely elaborate illusions crafted by Era’s desperate mind to convince her that her actions are not entirely evil. I particularly enjoyed the scallop’s story, I felt that it was well-executed and honestly surprisingly thought-provoking in certain ways. Other stories were also a cut above the rest, such as the story of Bonito and Nakajima. However, many of these chapters still felt bland and and were hardly taking us anywhere. Put some salt and sugar on that sushi rice will ya? I get that this series is structured as more of a weekly ordeal, but there were clear storylines that the author could have approached and dived deeper into that I feel were not given sufficient exploration. To mention a few things: I wanted to see more of Era’s character struggle and her helplessness in addressing it. I wanted to see more of Ryo’s past. I wanted to see more of Era’s history with Tuna. Finally, I wanted to see Sango’s development be slightly slower-paced and more filled-in with details. She seems to turn into an entirely different character all too quickly after her first trip to the surface, but nevertheless I have to note that the fact that the whole side plot with Sango exists at all was a great decision by the author. Truly. Why am I taking this manga so seriously? Hush now. Up to this point, I thought the manga was quite a decent read in spite of its flaws. However, reading the final chapters left me with a bitter aftertaste. The two chapters preceding the finale make absolutely no sense to me. In these two chapters, Era develops in a way that is completely uncharacteristic of her. The manga was clearly rushing to an ending, and I can only assume that this tale presents yet another case of ye olde chop-chop. Even if the manga was being axed, I still feel like this definitely wasn’t the way to go. The author-my, I'm being terribly rude by not even mentioning their name-Noda Hiroshi-sensei does make sure to hone in on the theme of friendship for the final chapters, a theme that was thoroughly explored in previous chapters and is perhaps the centripetal concept of the whole story, but sadly does so rather contrived due to the lack of panels to flesh things out. The final chapter does end in quite a comedic way, which I’m quite glad to see. But somehow its plot feels even more forced than the events preceding before it. It’s not like what happens in the end technically came out of nowhere, but the finale was not given enough space to breathe and therefore doesn't feel compelling. I honestly think the manga would’ve been better off if the final arc focused more on the series’ dark humor rather than trying to take itself seriously and delivering some kind of half-baked “meaningful” conclusion. Alas, it seems this is commonly the case for many axed series regardless. Maybe the authors always had that ending in mind, and they don't wanna abandon the series without touching on it a bit? I can see it. Still, no points for you on how it was done. Overall, I enjoyed this manga for what it was. That said, it’s definitely had its fair share of highs and lows. I would recommend it to fans of dark humor looking for a lighter read, though I’d advise you to not go in expecting brilliance. Only some sparkles. Enough sparkles to make me write out this entire review. --- To be honest with you, I don't care at all for what my friends taste like. Nor do you, probably. Sorry for the weird question.