This Boy Caught A Merman

この男子、人魚ひろいました。 (Kono Danshi, Ningyo Hiroimashita.)

7.2(20,796)

MAL Score

Ranked #3619

Popularity #4072

Boys Love
Drama
Fantasy
Adult Cast
Iyashikei
Mythology
Urban Fantasy

Episodes: 1
Duration: 29 min
Aired: Nov 9, 2012
Status: Finished Airing

Synopsis

After a cold divorce leaves him with little family warmth, Shima Kawauchi is raised by his gentle grandfather. When his grandfather eventually passes away, Shima is left on his own, and his grief draws him to the shore night after night.

One evening, an accident sends him into the sea, and with no ability to swim, he’s moments from drowning—until a striking merman pulls him to safety. Shima names his rescuer Isaki, and, sensing Shima’s fragile state, Isaki urges him to bring him home until he recovers. Living under the same roof, their connection deepens into an intimate bond that reaches beyond species and gender.

Otaku Consensus

Soubi Yamamoto’s direction turns a compact BL OVA into an unusually tactile mood piece, with CoMix Wave Films’ darkly colorful imagery and the leads’ vocal chemistry carrying its grief-to-intimacy progression. Its emotional resolution is remarkably satisfying for a standalone release of barely 30 minutes, but the compressed pacing and visual-novel-like stretches of limited motion can make transitions feel choppy. The result is more accomplished as an illustrated emotional reverie than as fluid conventional animation.

Why You Should Watch

Watch this if you want queer romantic fantasy distilled into one emotionally complete sitting, without a season of delayed confessions or elaborate supernatural lore. It scratches the domestic merman itch of Orenchi no Furo Jijou, but replaces that series’ sitcom rhythm with grief, iyashikei calm, and direct emotional intimacy. Soubi Yamamoto’s graphic compositions, high-contrast palette, and near-storybook stillness give the OVA an identity far removed from standardized television BL, while Yuuki Kaji and Hikaru Midorikawa make the central relationship feel warmer than the brief runtime should permit. It is especially suited to viewers who value atmosphere and emotional candor over fluid action: the limited animation is visible, yet the framing, music, and vocal performances ensure that the short format feels concentrated rather than disposable.

Key Characters

I
Isaki(VA: Hikaru Midorikawa)
Isaki’s playful directness and emotional openness prevent the OVA’s melancholy from becoming oppressive, with Midorikawa giving him both otherworldly poise and disarming warmth.
S
Shima Kawauchi(VA: Yuuki Kaji)
Shima is compelling less as a passive romantic lead than as a portrait of guarded grief, and Kaji makes his gradual emotional responsiveness legible without overselling it.

What Makes It Stand Out

1
CoMix Wave Films uses saturated colors against somber backgrounds and graphic, illustration-like framing, producing the colorful-yet-dark appearance repeatedly singled out by viewers.
2
The entire relationship is developed and resolved within one OVA of barely 30 minutes, favoring emotional compression over the prolonged courtship structure common to television romance.
3
Soubi Yamamoto’s direction frequently prioritizes composed images and atmosphere over continuous motion; critics have compared the result to a visual novel, praising its distinctive artwork while noting the limited fluidity.
4
The soundscape is central to the presentation rather than ornamental: reviewers consistently identify the music and imagery as working together to intensify the OVA’s emotional impact.
5
Its genre balance is unusually specific: AniList users identify Boys’ Love at 94 percent and mermaid imagery at 86 percent, while lower-weight slapstick and tragedy tags reflect the tonal interruptions around its predominantly intimate, soothing mood.

Fun Facts & Trivia

Fun fact 1: The OVA was released on November 9, 2012, as a single finished episode rather than a television series.
Fun fact 2: Hikaru Midorikawa performs both Isaki’s voice and the theme song, giving one of the two principal performers an additional role in shaping the production’s musical identity.
Fun fact 3: The central pairing brings together Hikaru Midorikawa and Yuuki Kaji, two performers from different generations of prominent male voice acting.
Fun fact 4: Its reception differs notably by platform: MyAnimeList records a 7.23 average from 20,783 votes, while AniList lists a 67 out of 100 score and 87 favourites.
Fun fact 5: The OVA’s visual identity proved especially shareable online: one cited viewer discovered it through an animated GIF set before knowing its title or story, reflecting how strongly its palette and character art function outside narrative context.