Mermaid Saga

If you say Rumiko Takahashi in the presence of an otaku, the older ones think of Ranma 1/2 and the younger ones think of Inu-Yasha. The hardcore completists think of Mermaid Saga.

Mermaid Saga (人魚シリーズ) is a series of darker stories that follow a young man named Yuta in his quest to find a mermaid. Legends tell of the flesh of the mermaid granting eternal life, but the reality is far uglier – both literally and figuratively. Along the way he rescues Mana, who ends up following him in his search.

The stories in this series are darker than anything Takahashi-sensei has written since Laughing Target, with murder and frightening creatures being the norm.

Rin-ne

Many years ago, the first exposure that I and many budding otaku my age had to manga was through Rumiko Takahashi in the form of Ranma 1/2. It was one of the first widely distributed manga series in the United States and whether they loved it or hated it, just about everyone had read Ranma. Later, Inu-Yasha would become a smash hit, and her other series such as Maison Ikkoku, Mermaid Saga and One-Pound Gospel also did well. There’s only one problem as far as I’m concerned – these days she doesn’t know when to quit.

Rin-ne (境界のRINNE; RINNE of the Boundary) is about a high school girl called Sakura Mamiya, who is able to see ghosts after being spirited away when she was a child and her classmate Rinne Rokudo who is half-shinigami and helps souls break their attachments to this world so they may be reincarnated.

Dating Myself: Maris the Chojo

Quite some time ago, long before Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha, even before Urusei Yatsura, Takahashi Rumiko did a number of one-shot manga for different Shonen magazines. Maris the Chojo (ザ・超女)* was one of these early manga, about a super-strong alien girl forced to work menial jobs to pay for the numerous things she unintentionally broke on the job. Eager to get the reward money for saving – and possibly marrying – the only son of a family of quadrillionaires Maris sets out on yet another ill-fated adventure, and of course hilarity ensues.