Peach Mermaid

Volume 1

Synopsis: Boy meets Girl. Girl likes Boy. Boy accidentally makes a deep impression on Girl. Girl grows up and chases after Boy. Girl is also a Mermaid whose leg fin reappears at awkward times. Hijinks ensue.

Peach Mermaid is difficult to write about substantially - it sits in that awkward “just above average, but nothing amazing” position that makes you want to use a lot of long-winded vagaries to pad out the word count.

The series sets its stall out early - Rune is a mermaid who is besotted with the uptight and disinterested male lead, but whenever she gets aroused her legs turn back into a fin, frustrating her desire to do “The Sex”. It plays around with this gag for a few short chapters, throwing in some side characters and some additional “fish out of water” (Hurr!) jokes as Rune tries to adjust to the human world.

The series gets more interesting in the back half though as things move beyond the initial set of jokes into the start of actual romance, setting the cast all blushes. It’s all chaste in that juvenile fashion akin to a virgin constantly talking about sex- I had a friend like that back in sixth form. I hope it moves more in this direction in future volumes as it could evolve into an interesting romantic comedy as opposed to slamming on the same gag which it has already done well with but can very easily outstay its welcome.

It comes across as inoffensive in art and story both, especially when you read the authors omake drawings where it grounds the series in terms of “I was told to make a raunchy series, so here we go!” I honestly don’t have anything to add about the art, as nothing memorable comes to mind about it, despite having read the volume two days ago.

Peach Mermaid is a solid “on sale” manga - honestly worth a shot if the premise interests you, just don’t expect to be blown away.

Rating: Under the Sea.