Original subtitles

February, 1936

Sixth Ward of Asakusa

Come in!

See the King of Comedy!

Come see Enoken and the Kingdom of Laughter!

Come one, come all!

Everyone's invited!

Hey, mister!

Wanna souvenir for Hades? Take a look at Enoken!

A souvenir for Hades?

A fabulous memory that you'll carry into the afterlife!

Then it's got nothing to do with me.

What?

You bastard!

Hey, you!

Are you some sorta crook?

No, sir.

You've been snooping around all day. What are you up to?

I'm looking for someone.

Who?

I don't know.

You're coming to the station.

Why?

I told you to come with me!

Extra! Extra!

World shaking news!

Out of my way, idiot!

What?

I'm sorry, officer!

Hold it!

"Prime Minister Okuda Dies"

There must be another person like me, somewhere!

Stop! We'll shoot!

I'll never stop!

Take aim!

Fire!

What's going on?

He's dead!

The Kannagi Mansion on the Noto Peninsula

Men of the armed forces:

Remain true to our beloved Emperor!

It's not too late! Return to your units!

Those who resist will be branded traitors!

The blizzard seems to be getting worse.

I wonder if my sister will make it through the winter.

Modern medicine can't help her.

No, there must be something you can do!

I've done everything I can.

Sawa, why are you looking at me like that?

Get up.

I don't have much longer.

I'll probably never again...

feel the warm sun of spring.

Towa. You're another one of me.

You can't die!

But...

I brought this medicine from Mermaid Hill.

You must not tell Father.

The medicines don't do any good.

It's mermaid blood.

If you eat their flesh, you can live forever. This is only blood...

but I'm sure it will help you!

Drink it.

Dispose of the corpse.

It can't be!

He was dead!

My body!

Help me!

Towa!

Doctor! My body is burning up!

Sawa! What did you give her?

Mermaid blood.

Shiro.

MERMAID FOREST

ORIGINAL WORK BY Rumiko Takahashi

Really? You've died dozens of times?

A lot can happen in 500 years.

Don't you get tired of dying and coming back so often?

I don't do it because I like it.

This is a "cat", isn't it?

He must be all alone, too.

I suppose so.

Let's take him with us.

Don't. He'll die soon.

He won't come back?

No. He'll stay dead.

Can I just play with him?

Just for a little while.

Where are you going?

Mana!

"Shina Clinic"

They said my friend was brought here.

If you mean that girl, she only had a light concussion.

She was here, but when she woke up, she left.

What was her name?

She never said.

You'll have to excuse me, but I have a house call to make.

I wonder who's sick.

The only Kannagi still alive is a 70-year-old woman.

For the past few decades, the doctor's been her only visitor.

The rain's getting worse!

She hardly looks dead.

She fell headfirst off the cliff and died instantly.

It's the freshest corpse we've ever had.

Ever since that day, every three years...

How many arms have we replaced?

How many times do you plan to repeat this?

Sawa.

Until we find a mermaid.

That means...

There must be one hidden somewhere on the estate.

I've told you there isn't.

Then you have no right to interfere.

My arm hurts. I can't stand it anymore!

Doctor! Hurry!

She moved!

No!

She's come back to life!

But she was dead!

Where am I?

So the legend of the mermaids is true!

It smells like death.

Shiro.

Can't you find it?

My arm hurts.

Shiro! Find it!

Mermaid Hill, where the mermaids are buried.

Mermaids?

Who's there?

I'm looking for my friend.

That girl?

She's here, isn't she?

Answer me!

I know she's here. Where's Mana?

Towa!

Shiro, go home.

What are you doing out here?

Something terrible has happened!

He's dead!

Towa... Did you...?

It must have been some animal.

I can't take this anymore.

Cutting up corpses. Dumping bodies.

Why do you do it for her?

I love her.

For more than fifty years...

More.

Will it be all right to eat so much?

Will what be?

I'm so jealous of you. Your youth, your body...

Don't be such a dirty old man!

No...

I was just wondering...

about how you came back to life.

I'm not on display. Don't stare.

I'm so jealous. Aren't you, Sawa?

So, you have no family?

Won't you stay with us?

As my sister.

I can't.

Yuta is waiting for me.

He's looking for me.

Then he'll come here, won't he?

Probably.

Why not stay until then?

Okay.

I'm so lonely living here with an old woman.

It's just Yuta and me, but I'm not lonely.

Is Yuta your boyfriend?

No. Just a friend.

Friend?

We're traveling together.

What's that?

It looks like blood.

What's wrong?

I'm not well...

Got a fever?

I don't have much longer.

Are you going to die?

No, worse.

I'm going to hell, alive!

A dream.

What's wrong, Towa?

Please, come in.

I had that dream again.

I'm never able to help you.

It's not your fault.

She must have eaten mermaid flesh.

Perhaps it was a miracle.

Eternal life... Can it be true?

It hurts! Do something, Doctor!

I'll give you an injection.

NO!

That doesn't work anymore!

It hurts! Do something!

I don't want to become a monster!

Switch my arm with hers.

No! I can't cut off the arm of a living girl!

Oh?

I'm not the sun!

I can't die every night just to come back each morning.

The mermaids are just a folk tale.

My uncle saw one before he died.

Is it true that if you eat one, you'll never get any older?

It's an elixir of immortality.

What's wrong, Yuta? You look depressed.

I don't want it.

You'll be immortal!

It wouldn't be right for humans to live forever.

There's one!

C'mon. It's great! Eat!

What's wrong?

It's poison!

Shiro...

I'll bet you're hungry. I'm sorry I'm late.

Shiro, here you go.

One of the poisoned!

My beautiful Shiro, only you understand how I feel.

Spending 55 years like this after drinking that mermaid blood.

I thought so!

I knew it couldn't have been a normal dog.

You came back to life, too?

That's the way I am.

You ate mermaid flesh.

Where's my friend? Where's Mana?

Cleansing her body for me in the bath.

What do you mean?

Don't immortals truly die, when you cut off their head?

What are you planning?

Stay out of my way!

Shiro, tear off his head and eat it.

Wait!

Don't touch Mana!

Shall I wash your back?

I'm fine.

It's no trouble.

I can't use both my hands. Please forgive me.

I'm leaving tomorrow.

Why?

I have to look for Yuta. He's probably worried.

I wonder...

You'll see him soon.

Really?

Yes, so just relax and let me wash your back.

There's not a single blemish on your beautiful skin.

I like you.

You want to switch heads?

Yes, hers and mine.

Absurd!

If I only take her arm, it'll grow back like this in three years.

I'm so weak, I expect my body to start changing, like my arm.

That won't happen!

It will.

You've been so kind to me, these past 55 years.

Why?

Well...

I love you.

If so, then help me. Give me her body.

Give me eternal life.

Sawa, I know you're in there! Come out.

Stop this! Doctor! Towa!

Why?

She's still alive! You can't just murder her!

You should talk!

Well, Dr. Shina?

What's this?

We're two of a kind.

But God was unfair!

I'm in agony, while you have the glow of eternal life.

So now, I'll have your body and live forever.

Please stop, sister!

I'll show you the entrance to Mermaid Hill.

So, you've finally decided to tell me.

It smells like rotting fish!

Let's go!

What was that?

Nobody will be coming for you now.

It's a mermaid!

Great grandfather caught it 100 years ago and hid it here.

Its flesh will make you immortal, like this girl. Right, Sawa?

That's why you gave me the blood to cure me.

Towa!

Carve off some meat for me.

What was that? I could've broken a leg or something!

What's that?

That's...

This is your hill! You should know!

Tell me, Sawa.

One of the poisoned!

Where's Shiro?

I feel sorry for it.

Mermaid meat is poison!

Nearly everyone who eats it, dies.

Can people change, the way Shiro did?

Mana!

Yuta!

Mana, over here!

Thanks to you, I finally have mermaid meat.

Don't!

Towa!

It was still alive!

After all this time, it was still alive!

Just like me.

Don't eat it!

Eat it, Sawa.

I wanted the meat all this time, to give to you.

What do you mean?

You were the one who wanted immortality.

Is there really such a thing as mermaid meat?

I think so.

I want to eat it. No matter what.

Why do you want it so badly?

I don't want to lose to you.

Don't you want to be young and beautiful forever?

What's wrong?

You knew what that monster was.

It was our great grandfather, who ate the mermaid meat.

So you used me, to see what effect it would have.

But...

It's true, isn't it, Sawa?

We're twins.

Basically the same person.

You got married...

raised children.

You lived a normal happy life,

you grew older and you'll die.

I won't let you die!

Eat it!

Will you become a monster, or live forever as an old crone?

She had a heart attack.

It's not fair.

Towa!

Stop!

For this day!

I only lived so I could see this day!

Dr. Shina, I want you to burn Mermaid Hill.

Everything is in that fire.

All my nightmares, all my hatred.

I no longer have anyone to hate, and it's lonely.

It doesn't have to be!

I've always loved you!

Goodbye, Doctor.

Towa!

Don't!

Towa!

We can take back the years we lost!

I wonder if the Kannagi mansion burned down?

Mermaid Hill and the mansion shared the same fate.

What's it like to be dead?

Maybe it means losing the chains that tie humanity down.

Chains?

Hatred, bitterness, betrayal, revenge...

I don't feel tied down.

You're different.

What do you mean by that?

You have freedom.

Shooting stars!

That's...

She's returned to the Mermaid Forest in the depths of the sea.

Her soul is...

Eternal?

Eternal.

Hey Yuta, how long is eternity?

You said it yourself. Until the end of time.

Forever and ever?

Until the humans all die off?

Will we still be alive then?

Probably.

Just the two of us?

Yuta...

Is it lonely to be by yourself?

Well...

If I wasn't here, what would you do?

I'd look for you.

And if you couldn't find me?

I'd look some more.

And if...

I'd keep looking.

And looking and looking.

My whole life, no, for all eternity.

All eternity.

Thanks.

Listen, to the faded wind that whispers to me now.

I must let go, and release your hand that I held so close.

Why is, my heart filled with so much pain and suffering?

Could these feelings, be a message that it's trying to show?

The deepness of the night

The blueness of the sky

You taught me all I know,

All of the things I have seen,

And now all I want to do is find you.

So maybe someday we will meet

If I keep walking on this Earth.

Come to me and I'll hold you tight.

I was born with this destiny

I'll love you forever I know.

It was you who enlightened me.

For "eternity" is true.

It's the first time I want really to believe

We'll be together forever.

I'll never let you go again

I only want to stay with you.

Only that will fill me with joy.

And in those eyes of yours I see

Nothing that could make me afraid.

If in them I'm reflected back.

So maybe someday we will meet

If I keep walking on this Earth.

Come to me and I'll hold you tight.

I was born with this destiny

I'll love you forever I know.

It was you who enlightened me.