r/MyHappyMarriage • u/IslandGal623 • Apr 16 '26
Light Novel The bubble love of the mermaid impressions (don't read if you don't want spoilers) Spoiler
I put this under the spoiler tag just in case.
Overall Impression: I liked it. Is not MHM, but at the same time you can tell the influence. I mean, it is the same author.
- This story is not for everyone. There is abuse of the FL. Quite a bit. There, I said it. I don't know if Akumi Agitogi has a thing for abused FLs, but yeah. Keep that in mind if you want to pick up this story.
- There are some fantasy elements but is not like MHM. I'll try to explain without getting confused in the process.
- The author herself said in the afterword she is using The Little Mermaid as a base for the story, but hopefully with a happy ending (here's where the bubble in the title comes to play).
- There is a 7-year age gap that may become an issue for some readers, especially since the FL is still a minor.
- Is not as romantic as MHM, maybe because of point #4.
What is it about:
The FL is the fantasy element here. She appears to be a descendant of the Yaobikuni, and thus has "mermaid blood" in her. She is treated like a monster by her family once a mark that looks like fish scales appears on her left wrist. She is the latest "girl with mermaid blood" to have been born in her family, the last before was her great-aunt.
HER FAMILY IS DESPICABLE. If you are like me, you are going to hate them (more than Kanoko and Shinichi). The girls with mermaid's blood were treated horribly in the past, and our FL is the one going through hell literally.
The ML is a kind young man who is the illegitimate second son of a prominent family. He agrees to become engaged to the FL to please his grandfather because the grandfather supported the ML and his mother when he was boy when his father didn't care his mistress got pregnant. The grandfather arranged the engagement. Somehow, his grandfather knows that the FL is a girl with mermaid's blood and tells the ML it is his destiny to wed such a girl. Why? Because when the ML was 15 years old, a mark appeared on his chest that looks like a flower. According to his grandfather, every once in blue moon, a boy with such a mark is born in the family, so the grandfather uses his influence to make the ML part of the family registry, though he remains illegitimate. How his grandfather found about the FL being of mermaid blood? We still don't know.
The leads met each other when they were young: she was 8 and he was 15 (first scene in the book). She had ran away from home and tried to scratch her mark away making it bleed, when he appears and tends to her. In the book it is said over and over that touching her blood could harm someone else. BUT, if the ML tended her bloody wrist, that means he touched her blood and the next day that's when he had the mark appear on his chest. We know this later in the story. She recognized him from the get go when they meet for the engagement. He takes longer to remember the young girl he helped and realized it is the FL.
Her family accepts the engagement because of the bride price. When I said earlier they are despicable, I meant it.
Like in MHM, the leads are drawn to each other. Since the ML is also a teacher in her school, she always addresses him as "professor" and the whole time they are keeping the engagement under wraps at the school. They don't fall madly in love with each other, and I am thinking the author is considering the FL's age in all of this. They do have a sweet relationship though. And though she tries to cancel the engagement to protect him (in her mind, remember this is a victim of horrible abuse here), he feels he needs to protect her, so at the end of the story they are still engaged. He actually asked her, which reminded me of MHM.
Conclusions: There will be people who will have tons of issues with this story. Why?
- The FL is a victim of horrible abuse by her father and elder brother. Since she has "mermaid blood" she heals quickly so the abuse is not visible.
- She is considered a monster because in Japan mermaids (ningyu) are considered as such.
- The age of the FL compared to the ML. She is a minor still, but apparently marrying young was the norm in Japan in early 20thh century. If they do get married, hopefully it will be when she above the age of consent...
- The story seems to be set early 20th century before television was invented. There are things like buses, streetcars, cars and even telephones (the ML uses a pay phone in one scene).
Where Akumi is going with this story is anybody's guess. I know there is a manga coming up in July. I am thinking whether to get it or not.
1
u/AcanthisittaNo9122 Apr 16 '26
Thank you for the review, I wasn’t sure if this one is for me but I think I’ll put it on hold now. I almost laugh when I read to the part about age of consent, I think it’s currently 16 in Japan now but it was 13 just a few years ago so I won’t be surprise if FL got married before turning 15 or sth 😭😅
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u/IslandGal623 Apr 16 '26
She's 16 when the story starts. He's 23.
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u/AcanthisittaNo9122 Apr 16 '26 edited Apr 16 '26
So the author started the story exactly at the age of consent 🤣🤣🤣
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u/IslandGal623 Apr 16 '26
One thing I didn't mention is that her family was considering marrying her off to a 40+ dude who was a sadistic brute before accepting the marriage offer from the ML's family. And while in school talking with her classmates, they all are like "oh I hope I marry someone handsome..." and stuff like that. So yeah, marrying young was the norm back then.
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u/AcanthisittaNo9122 Apr 16 '26
That’s basically their life back then 😭 and the author clearly has a thing for abused FL. Thank you for the review again, I think I won’t be reading this anytime soon.
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u/IslandGal623 Apr 16 '26 edited Apr 16 '26
The funny thing is that when Asana sees Sakuya for the first time at the engagement dinner she has the same reaction Miyo had when she saw Kiyoka: "What a beautiful human." (and then she realizes he is the kind boy who helped her when she was 8) So you could see the influence of MHM throughout the story.
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u/trustInGod33 Apr 16 '26
Thank you for the awesome synopsis! I really appreciate it you doing this. You covered a lot that would have had questions about. I'm not sure I'll read it, but I may consider putting it in my to read list.
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u/IslandGal623 Apr 16 '26
Thanks. I left quite a bit out because then the post would have been a mile long.
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u/trustInGod33 Apr 16 '26
I definitely get that.
You may have mentioned it, but maybe I'm not clear: if you had to say their was a romance type in this story, what kind would it be?
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u/IslandGal623 Apr 16 '26
VERY S. L. O. W. burn. So slow is like an IV line full of tar. There is a lot of abuse the FL needs to get over before she reaches her HEA.
The ML had the stigma of having been born illegitimate and them getting married is not making a lot of people happy (except for his grandfather). Also, at the end (before the epilogue) there is something about him that we don't know.
His inner monologue is this Now then, I wonder when I should tell Asana about my other profession…? What does he mean by *that*?? We don't know.
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u/trustInGod33 Apr 16 '26
Ah. Thank you. I super appreciate your expanding and clarifying. This makes sense. Makes me a little more curious about the story.
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u/Sara_T1991 Apr 20 '26
I looked it up. This was a one shot light novel. Didn’t hear about the manga until your post, so maybe it will be longer.
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u/IslandGal623 Apr 20 '26
There are some things I felt were left unresolved but what do I know?
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u/Sara_T1991 Apr 20 '26
Just about as much if not more than I do.
As far as anyone (even the author) knows, it could have started as a one shot, but if it gets enough traction, she may continue it in the future. Such as the manga.
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u/IslandGal623 Apr 20 '26
I searched online and it is being advertised as vol 1. I hope it continues because I want to see how the relationship develops.
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u/Ymalran Apr 16 '26
Thank you for sharing this synopsis… I’m unsure if I’ll read it. I like more romance heavy stories 😆