Audience reviews
12 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
H0P3-B4G3L
I'm used to most animes looking "the same" (Flat colors, general anime style, a little less saturated) but the look of this one was interesting to see.
The style is still very much anime but very stylistic.. Mainly. Sometimes the OVA will switch to a scratchier style to portray a more anxious/negative emotion which is cool to see since I really like it when mediums use abstract methods as ways to portray emotion and feelings. The most grating animation changes are when they go into a Chibi art style. A similar anime (Merman in My Tub) did the same thing, but that anime was always light and comedic and would change the environment to fit the style but this OVA does not.
The colors make great use of contrast and saturation to set the mood of the scene. One of my favorite details is the dif…
Read at the sourceAnshiAneko
Woooow, my first review will be for a gay OVA :') Why the hell not.
(there is, like, one minor SPOILER ahead)
When it comes to shounen-ai, it's supposed to be pretty easy to make it enjoyable for the targeted group. You know, just mix two guys, a bag of stereotypes, sexual tension and you have a shounen-ai anime/manga. ...But then there am I, who will probably shit all over this anime/manga, even though I love LGBT+ stuff.
But let's take it from the start.
Story - 5/10; Characters - 3/10
If you are looking for a good plot, good characters and good story pacing... do NOT watch this OVA. It's so cliche that I wanted to slam my head against the table. There are, like, two moments when I was actually really moved by the story, but the rest? No, thanks. Characters are pretty much dumb, the…
Read at the sourceHina901
Okay so it's 4 AM and I'm unable to sleep but that's besides the point. I found the english dub of this OVA on a website where I generally watch animes and cartoons and well, at first I couldn't get into this anime. It was the weird art style but after pushing past the unique yet beautiful art style, it grew on me and I kinda liked it and the story.
Which brings me to the scoring!
Story: 4/10
Sometime before the start of the anime/ova, Shima loses his grandpa and he's left all alone, until one day while he's at the ocean, mourning his grandpa's death, he drops his grandpa's picture into the water and goes in after it. Nearly drowning himself in the process. He is then saved by a merman he calls Issaki. From then on, Shima and Issaki start living together, despite Issaki needing water to…
Read at the sourceligerlover297
WARNING: THIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. I'LL TRY TO BE SUBTLE WITH THE SPOILERS BUT JUST FOR A WARNING IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE SHOW, DON'T READ THIS.
To put it simply, I'm pretty chill with yaoi. It's not like I like to watch it on a daily basis, no sir, but it's just when I find one that catches my attention that leads me into watching it. This was one of them.
Story: 6
The story is about our main protagonist, Shima, who is basically that kid who wanted to be perfect for his family. So when his parents had a divorce, he was taken to live with his grandfather, and life was pretty good after that.
A few years later, his grandfather died and Shima just hangs out at a cliff near an ocean. Suddenly, the picture of his grandfather flies out of Shima's hands and, without thinking, he jumps in…
Read at the sourceMeruru-tan
So I wanted to spend some BL quality time and gave this anime a try.
At first I wasn't too sure if I would really watch this to the end or if I would rather stop halfway because the plot would just be too boring and annoying, but to my surprise Kono Danshi, Ningyo Hiroimashita turned out to be one of the best shounen ai series that I watched up until now!
Story 7/10
Ok the plot of this fictional work isn't that great, it's not some really original story that you have never seen before but it is enough to keep you entertained and to make you eager to watch more.
It's a typical teenage drama about who you really are and who really understands you that kind of story, so despite the merman in this series there is nothing supernatural to find here. It's a really slow paced romance setting whe…
Read at the sourceangelsreview
A lonely boy and a lonely merman meet one cold night and soon make a lasting friendship. It’s a pretty sweet story in that regard no matter how choppy the script and imagery was. Shima seriously has an emo sad story which seemed to mess him up badly. It is almost like he wished for someone like Isaki to wash up on shore. Someone to care for him and make him not feel so alone. Someone who was a bit childish himself that could make him smile. Isn’t that what love is all about? In falling in love, it healed a wound that both of them had from being alone.
It made the story even better that they didn’t end up going into a sexual aspect. It stayed in a rather innocent level like two little kids falling for each other. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that went to far for a first meeting. It…
Read at the sourceflaming-moltres
The story is kind of cliché, but really enjoyable anyways. The characters are nice, kind of seen before, but they both have some things that make them unique. Some parts were funny, others were really touching, especially Shima's story. The art if what I like the most. It is unique and beautiful. The animation is good, although I did find it a bit not fluid enough at times. The music and sound fitted well with the anime, but nothing outstanding. The Japanese dub is great. but I feel like the English dub was a bit rushed (thus the 6 score).
If you like yaoi and Shonen-ai, you will love this. As I said, it is the kind of story you might have seen countless times, but I really enjoyed watching this.
Read at the sourceNutty-Sama
I first saw a gifset of it on tumblr, and I was drawn in automatically, the art was beautiful and so I set out to find the anime it was from without knowing anything. You know what? It didn't disappoint me.
Story: 8/10
Within a few minutes, I was already in love with the OVA and by the end of it, I was actually somewhat emotional and very touched by the story even though I found the pacing to be off at times, but let me elaborate a little bit.
In usual anime and manga, parents are either devil spawns or complete angels, but it's not true and this OVA captures that really well with the relationship dynamic between Shima's parents and Shima, along with the way Shima was developed (more on that later), the story really hit home for me, and I think it will for most people too. It shows real…
Read at the sourceggultra2764
Guess I found a shounen-ai title that's actually decent for once. This Comix Wave short focuses on a lonely teenage boy bonding with a merman who saves his life when he falls into the ocean and the two connecting through feeling similar bouts of loneliness that they are enduring. The short offers enough depth on both characters to explain their personal issues that led them to how they were living now and it tosses in a dramatic twist in the second half that tests their bond and reaffirms to Shima that he isn't truly alone in life. What allows This Boy Caught a Merman to work in comparison to most titles of its genre to click for me is that it shows enough restraint with its drama to not get too overbearing and it fleshes out both guys enough where they feel like people and not mere archet…
Read at the sourceXemorth
Plot Summary: This guy (uke) feels sad cause his grandfather died, so he goes and emo's it out on like a rock in the ocean. Stuff happens and he ends up drowning. BUT THEN LIKE A SEXY MERMAN COMES TO SAVE HIM. And like. They bond and fall in love. The end
Art: 10/10
The art style is really unique, pretty, and overall memorable
Story: 6.5/10
It's pretty cliche and corny.
Characters: 6.5/10
Their relationship progresses at an unrealistic rate. And sometimes you want to face palm. But hey, the character interaction is pretty amusing Enjoyment: 9
Overall: 9
How does a 10 + 6.5 + 6.5 + 9= a 9 you ask? WELLLLLLLLLLLLLL. Alright, to be honest it's probably like a 7.5-8, BUT YOU KNOW WHY I'M RATING IT A 9?
a) Because in the yaoi world, its pretty damn good. There aren't that many yaoi anime,…
Read at the sourceArciam
This *really* restored my faith in the shounen ai genre.
Despite liking shounen ai - in the sense of "love between boys/men" - very much, I hardly ever read or watch anything of this particular genre anymore... I don't really see the point when it is always the same; the same general design, the same problems that arise, the same unrealistic mushiness. All of which might be enjoyable once or twice but really? Isn't there any other way BL can unfold besides "extremely gooey" or "extremely dark/psycho"?
Now I have found there is.
I gave the story a 9 because, well, I suppose most of all because of the authenticity of the problems the characters face. Nowhere else have I ever seen this specific kind of loneliness that Shima experiences being adressed when in fact, it is so common among us.…
Read at the sourcesakeya-teddi
When i first started to watch the ova i was pleasantly surprised by the art; it was/ still is beautiful. It wasn't like every other anime, it was colorful yet dark. It drew the eyes in. It was perfect. The music that accompanied the art was wonderful, it really hit the heart and filled the story with life.
In the first two minutes i fell in love. I think the concept of this show was cute, and clever. The characters were really well expressed, being brought to life in front of me.
It made me laugh and giggle, with the subtle little jokes, and had me crying at the sadness that Shima held. I just loved the way their love was portrayed in the show. It wasn't instantaneous love, but one that grew.
It filled my heart as the plot progressed and Shima grew, and Isaki and him became closer. All…
Read at the source