Do You Like Mermaid Characters in Anime?

Mermaids in anime are beautiful, graceful, and sometimes silly creatures who are at home under the water. These 15 anime offer a glimpse at the life of these mythical underwater beings.

Seto no Hanayome (My Bride is a Mermaid)

MAL Score: 7.99 | Episodes: 26

How far would you go to save the life of a stranger? Mermaid Sun Seto risks her life to save a drowning boy, and in return Nagasumi Michishio offers her his hand in marriage in order to save both of them from her Yakuza family's wrath. Let the hijinks ensue!

Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san (Muromi-san)

MAL Score: 7.09 | Episodes: 13

Muromi-san is a bit slow on the uptake, a bit crazy, a bit of a drunk, and very much unaware that she's a mermaid. Things change for her and her mermaid friends when Takurou Mukoujima accidentally fishes her up and reveals to her the wonders of the human world. Looks like Takurou caught a whopper...

Mermaid Melody: Pichi Pichi Pitch

MAL Score: 7.12 | Episodes: 52

These girls are more than just mermaids in human form -- they're also teen singing idols! It's not all fun and games, though, as the stake of their ocean world depends on them and the powers they gain through their singing.

Mermaid Forest

MAL Score: 7.18 | Episodes: 13

If you think all mermaids are cute and girly, you might want to avoid Mermaid Forest and its OVA Mermaid's Scar. The mermaids in these anime are portrayed as selfish and dangerous beings, who eat humans to stay young. The sinister tones of the anime are a bit surprising coming from creator Rumiko Takahashi, the mind behind Ranma ½ and InuYasha.

Kono Danshi, Ningyo Hiromashita (This Boy Caught a Merman)

MAL Score: 7.82 | Episodes: 1 (OVA)

Part of the Kono Danshi shounen-ai series, this installment features a tale of forbidden love between a merman and a high school boy. Long distance relationships are difficult enough to maintain, but it's even more difficult when you literally live in different worlds.

Orenchi no Furo Jijou

MAL Score: 7.17 | Episodes: 13

Imagine waking up one day and finding a merman in your bathtub. That's exactly what happened to Tatsumi, who must now care for the merman who invited himself to live in Tatsumi's bathroom. Wakasa is not a terrible houseguest, but it sure costs a lot to keep a merman happy.

Ningyohime Marina no Bouken (Saban's Adventures of the Little Mermaid) and

Andersen Douwa: Ningyohime

MAL Score: 6.59 | Episodes: 26

MAL Score: 7.37 | Movie

In these two retellings of the classic Little Mermaid tale, the leading mermaids both meet a human prince, and both decide that love is worth giving up their fins for.

Ningyo (Mermaid)

MAL Score: 6.66 | Movie

The world would be a different place without our imagination. The boy in this uniquely styled anime lives in such a world, so when he finds a fish that transforms into a mermaid he is punished for his "nonsense." But what will become of the beautiful mermaid in a world where no one believes she exists? This super short film comes from the mind of Osamu Tezuka, the "father of anime!"

Gake no Ue no Ponyo (Ponyo)

MAL Score: 7.94 | Movie

Ponyo is not a full-fledged mermaid, but she lives in the sea. She's so little that she's only a goldfish of a mermaid!

One Piece

MAL Score: 8.60 | Episodes: 730+ (and counting!)

One Piece has its share of merfolk, like the beautiful Shirahoshi and Mero. In an interesting twist to the usual mermaid folklore, mermaid tails split into two when they turn 30, allowing them to walk on land. Even more interestingly, merman tails do not.

Fairy Tail

MAL Score: 8.28 | Episodes: 175 (with ongoing sequels)

You can find mermaids in the anime Fairy Tail, unironically. Aquarius is a beautiful but moody mermaid who is based on the zodiac sign of her name and uses water-based magic.

Renkin San-kyuu Magical? Pokkan

MAL Score: 7.13 | Episodes: 12

Pokkan has plenty of strange and mythical beings, so the mermaid princess Lulu is not too out of place here. Like many other mermaids in these anime, Lulu wants to win the love of a human boy. As they say, the grass is always greener… or the seaweed, we suppose.

Umi Monogatari: Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto

MAL Score: 6.78 | Episodes: 12

Not all mermaids have fish tails. The mermaids in Umi Monogatari look like regular girls who just happen to live under the water with among the fish. They long to visit the human world, though. The ocean must be a really terrible place to live or something!

Nagi no Asukara (A Lull in the Sea)

MAL Score: 8.36 | Episodes: 26

There are no mermaid tails here either, but the people of this anime have the ability to breathe underwater. The mermaids and humans are not that different, in fact, but the rift between them has grown large over the years. Can they learn to live with each other again?

Shinryaku! Ika Musume (Squid Girl)

MAL Score: 7.62 | Episodes: 12

Here it is, the answer to the question posed by most of the anime in this list: WHY are all the mermaids so desperate to come live in the human world!? According to Ika Musume, the waters of the world are becoming polluted! Ika might not technically be a mermaid, but as a squid girl she does live under the sea. Lucky for all the other mermaids, instead of coming out of the waters because of a boy (ugh), Ika emerges to enslave the humans and punish them for turning the oceans of the world into a terrible place to live. Too bad she's just so darn cute!