- “Even a mermaid would shed tears to possess a person she loved.”
- ―Count D
The Mermaid is an episodic character from the anime and manga series Pet Shop of Horrors. She is the focus of the episode Delicious.
Biography[]
In truth the story starts well before the Mermaid's involvement. Events set in motion, a terrible tragedy, all left the perfect stage for her appearance and an easy road to her desires. It all started with the famous singer Evangeline "Eva" Blue. One day, Jason Gray, Eva's manager, caught her eye. He had no interest in her advances but that only made her want him more. For the business, Jason agrees to marry her, leaving his girlfriend Louise. On the night of the wedding, Jason tells Louise that Eva will grow tired of the marriage but Louise knows why Eva wants him and worries she will never let him go. Jason pledges his devotion to Louise, only for Eva to appear. Eva begins to cry and leaps overboard.
After the event, Jason and Louise swore to never see each other again and parted ways, hoping to leave the event behind them. Later on, Jason received an invitation to Count Do's pet shop to pick up the fish Eva had ordered before her death. The Count escorts him to a huge ceramic pot, claiming Eva's fish is an incredibly rare specimen to valuable to be displayed. As Jason looks into the water, a mermaid surfaces, a mermaid the spitting image of Evangeline, her wedding ring still on her finger. Count D explains how he found the Mermaid washed ashore the night of the full moon, Jason's wedding night. Count D spins Jason a tale of mermaids leaving their magnificent underwater palace to mingle with human men, leaving Jason with the possibility that his Eva was never human and that she now stands before him, alive and well. However the Mermaid has no recollection of who she is or where she came from. Count D believes that in Jason's care, she may remember the vow they made to each other.
Jason agrees to take Eva home. Before he leaves, Count D gives Jason three rules that, if broken, the pet shop cannot be held responsible for the outcome. First, no one must ever see her. Second, keep her in a large tank filled with sea water. The water must be changed regularly. Third, never let her go hungry at any time. Jason brings Eva to his pool. There he keeps watch, playing Evangeline's music, hoping for her to remember. One day, he is woken from his sleep by the sound of the Mermaid singing with Evangeline's voice. Overjoyed he embraces the Mermaid, vowing to start over with her and to never leave her again. Lost in happiness, he ignores the phone while the Mermaid looks on, triumphant.
Jason spends all of his time at the pool, forgetting the rest of the world as he listens to the Mermaid's song, Eva's song. After her interview with the police, Louise visits Jason to talk about the investigation. Louise, seemingly unable to hear the Mermaid, is left horrified by Jason's haunted gaze and his sudden devotion to his seemingly dead wife. He closes the door, but not before Louise glimpses something big in the pool.
Jason once more settles into the Mermaid's embrace, his gaze euphoric and dreamy and completely unaware as she cuts his ear and drinks his blood. The lovers sink below the surface. At the same time, Count D wonders if Jason remembered to follow the rules, namely not to let her grow hungry. Louise and the police arrive at the Jason's house only to find the pool filled with blood. The Mermaid leaps out of the water, her true form revealed, a monstrous eel-like beast, Jason's arm clutched tightly in her jaws. The police kill the beast and later discover the remains of a human torso inside the creature. These remains are believed to be Evangeline Blue.
Gallery[]
