Now where to start...
Story
This was something that kind of really surprised me. Mostly, when having watched an anime and being curious for the manga, you expect a broader approach to the story with much more content. This is actually opposite here. The anime is much more developed with its 50 episodes per season. This manga only has 35 chapters.
Personally I felt like the first part of the manga series (The Gackto arc) was so rushed compared to the anime. It felt like many parts were missing and the story jumped to different plots, but that could also be because pretty much all manga reader sites have listed the chapters in a weird way which concluded in me reading the wrong follow-up chapters sometimes (please fix this oh my god it was so confusing).
It's also safe to say that the manga is quite more mature than the anime. I was 12 years old when I started watching the anime and looking back at it now, it's kind of childish and happy/romantic feeling. Let's say I'd compare it to Winx Club which I used to watch around that time as well. Of course, it has its typical Japanese favorite romantic moments thrown in, but the fact that the anime had such a big succes in Italy with children says enough.
In which aspect is the manga more mature then?
There is much more nude shown. For example: in the anime, when the mermaids were bathing, they would never show you how they turned back into humans after getting out. In the manga, they often show how the girls actually wipe off the water with towels and turn parts of their body humanly that way. So needless to say, there are many drawings of the girls naked (with parts covered of course) using a towel.
It's not like this is a bad thing, but it certainly helped making the anime more child-friendly by leaving out parts like this.
Another thing which clearly showed the older targetted audience in the manga was the dialogue. Now I know some things get lost in translation, but the dialogue was kind of long and annoying sometimes. I'm not talking about the parts where the girls are just humans and have fun, it's more about the actual fighting parts. Especially the Michel arc made my brain hurt. so. much.
I am still very confused about that Michel arc. Everything was so unclear to me, and I'm definitely not too young to understand complex stories, but this... It felt like they tried to fit too much information in a few chapters. I must admit it has also been a long time since I saw the anime, so I can't compare if it was explained better in there. Overall, this arc felt much more developed than the Gackto one in the manga, but it hurt my brain so much trying to understand what was going on.
One last complaint I have is the actual concept of Mermaid Melody. It's in the name, these mermaids save the day by singing their enemies to defeat (I don't even know if you can put it this way). In the anime, you would be entertained with the catchy, pop-ish sounding songs every episode, making them stuck in your head. I know this is very difficult to portray in manga of course, since you can only work with visuals. But honestly... I even sometimes forgot that they actually SING to defeat their enemies.
This concept of defeating with songs was so much more developed in the anime. In the manga, it often felt like it was the last thing they'd do to save the day. They also would only show one panel with some catchphrases and then directly a panel with the enemy being defeated. Only in the bigger fights, a few panels with actual lyrics would be shown. In the Michel arc, they had at least 2 or 3 chapters without singing! Needless to say, this concept worked way better in the anime.
Art
It actually is very pleasant to look at while reading. It's similar to the anime style, but much more detailed of course. It perfectly portrays that early 00's anime style with the hideous big eyes. One thing that turned me off was the ridiculous small waists as if the girls were supposed to be looking like barbie dolls. I'm glad realistic body proportions and curves have made a major introduction since a few years.
Character
Since I've seen the anime, I was familiar with the characters. And many people would agree if I'd say the main character is your typical shoujo main heroine. Then you have her two best friends always supporting her and the other heroines who show up from time to time.
Now this is the typical Sailor Moon concept. Mermaid Melody has often been blamed for being a cheap copy of the popular Sailor Moon series, but honestly, which shoujo series isn't?
I have to be honest and tell that I never saw Sailor Moon before Mermaid Melody because Sailor Moon just never was popular where I lived and I just didn't think about watching it as my first anime. So I wasn't too familiar with the similarities. But I think that anyone who knows about the magical girl concept could sort of know that it's very similar.
So to the point.. The characters are fine. I can't say much about it honestly since it's kind of stereotypical. But I like them how they are, it's pretty much standard and they could've done more with it, but it's acceptable anyways.
Enjoyment
I must say, I enjoyed the anime much more. I kind of had to force myself to finish the manga and that is to me never a good sign. Just so many things were off about the actual story that it didn't make it completely enjoyable. It's just extremely predictable as well, something I probably notice a lot faster currently compared to back when I watched the anime series (since that was so predictable as well). But still, the story felt much more developed in the anime series which makes that I'd rather rewatch that now rather than reading the manga again.
Overall
I was more disappointed with the manga than satisfied. I expected much more of it after having had such a big love for the anime. I did expect to feel a little bored with the story since it was so predictable and I pretty much knew what would happen, but I felt even more bored than I thought I would thanks to the poor elaboration of the story.
If anyone would be interested in Mermaid Melody, I would recommend them to just watch the anime and leave out the manga. It really doesn't add anything to the story (it rather leaves out things) and isn't pleasant to read at all. With the anime, you'd enjoy a much more developed story and pleasant songs to sing along with, guaranteed for more fun.
