Also known as ‘Muromi on the Shore’, Namiuchigawa no Muromi-san is a 13-minute 13-episode comedy series about a boy named Taku who fishes up a mermaid named Muromi one day only to find that mermaids once caught aren’t so easily gotten rid of.
There isn’t much story to speak of. Most episodes consist of Tak bravely trying to fish at the same spot while Muromi and an increasingly crazy cast of friends show up and get in his way. It turns out Muromi has been alive for millions of years and knows all kinds of mythical creatures like the (stupidly adorable) Yeti and (spacey fanservicey) Levia-san. So every episode has the gang saying and doing crazy things like they were the most natural thing in the world, like Muromi going out drinking with the Kraken or Levia-san casually blowing a hole in an ice floe to threaten a bunch of penguins.
Is it funny? Sometimes. Especially in the beginning when you don’t know what Muromi is going to pull next. “Oh yeah, the mythical sea palace? It went out of business a couple of years ago.” “Atlantis? Went up in flames. Best fireworks show ever.” Unlike most other such shows, Muromi and co. don’t particularly try to hide their existence from human beings. In fact they’re so used to being among people that they ride around on skateboards saying hi to everyone and the only one to bat an eyelash is Takkun, though he gives up pretty quickly.
Is it a good show? Umm, well… Almost. The best thing about it is that each episode is short, so it’s over before you know it and you’re left wanting more. And in the early episodes it’s full of surprises and you’re always looking forward to the next revelation about mermaid society. Also some of the characters like Yeti and Harpy are completely adorable both in terms of design and behavior. Yeti especially is really, really cute. Is this what they call… moe?!
Buuut… some of the jokes fell a bit flat sometimes. Like Muromi and her buddies washing up on a shore drunk is just …huhhh… And all the episodes revolving around the kappa were just depressing and offputting. Don’t put such ugly characters in my cute series! The worst part of the show was the fanservice, the sheer tastelessness of some of it, especially the scenes where the characters pretend to fellate cucumbers just because… what? I have no idea. I had to skip a couple of episodes and end the OAV early because of that.
So I started out very enthusiastic about Muromi on the Shore, but the longer the show went on the older the jokes got and the more disgusting the show itself grew. I’d give a 7/10 to the first half and a 3/10 to the second half. Overall though, since it’s only about half the length of most anime shows, it’s a good show to check out if you’re looking for a slapstick comedy and don’t mind crude fanservice as much as I do.
