Moon Child (1989 - 1993)
Manga, read on May 22, 2026
Author: Shimizu Reiko
Rating: ★★★★
Thoughts: When I looked up English reviews on other sites for this, I noticed that a lot of the reviewers called this "weird". I suppose it is, but I personally felt like the manga was operating on its own fairytale logic, aided by the incredibly beautiful and dreamy artwork. It's not a perfect read, but the strengths really make up for its faults.
The story starts off with a struggling, New York-based dancer named Art who encounters a strange orphan who believes his name to be Jimmy, but doesn't remember much other than that. Art then lets Jimmy stay at his place as they try to learn more about Jimmy's past, a past that's actually connected to a whole race of mermaids and a world ending prophecy. The story has a lot more going on, evidenced by how Baka-Updates has a summary that's very different from mine but is still accurate.
There's three competing plots going on here that eventually coalesce: Art and Jimmy's story which focuses on Art's dance career and Jimmy's origins, Shona's story as seen in the previously linked summary that has more to do with the aforementioned prophecy, and the story surrounding Jimmy's siblings Seth and Tilt. There's a lot going on, and I find that most readers seemed to be interested in the latter two parts of the story. However, I enjoyed Art and Jimmy's story the most, so that's what I want to focus on.
Art is a down on his luck dude with no living family, an orphan in a sense much like Jimmy. The story at large focuses on the theme of love, specifically what it means to love someone for who they are vs what they represent via their title or beauty. Art and Jimmy's relationship in particular is a vehicle to examine what it means to find unconditional love for those with no family. I found this exploration to be both unique and thoughtful, but I think the sentiment amongst most readers was that this was the least interesting aspect (including from Shimizu herself judging by how Art is only featured on one of the manga covers lmao). I appreciated that Art was an adult with adult problems, compared to the other characters being adolescent despite also being centuries old mermaids.
Once the story introduces all those aspects, it begins to really intensify plot wise. There's just so many twists and turns and dramatic moments and cliffhangers that I had to take a couple of breaks while reading because it was a lot lol. While I was fine with a lot of the plot twists, some were a bit tasteless, like attributing the Challenger disaster and Chernobyl to the characters lmao? It then ends and...tbh...I was a bit iffy on the ending...if I wrote this entry and rated it right after reading, I'd probably have given it a lower score...
Jimmy has two forms: the little "boy" we see at the beginning, but also a beautiful mermaid form named Benjamin that's actually her true form. She's a descendant of the mermaid from The Little Mermaid story, cursed because she's half human and because her mom's love was never reciprocated back...Art is attracted to Benjamin but loves Jimmy like he would a family member, a dichotomy which gives him a lot of grief once he learns about it. The story keeps hinting how both of them are fated to die, but through the honesty of their love, they both make it out in the end...except Jimmy is now fully human instead of mermaid and has a new, younger adolescent looking form but Art is still attracted to her and proposes to her despite the childish apperance. Umm. Okay. I actually don't mind how the story goes about exploring the boundaries between platonic/familial love vs romantic love, but I also think we could have kept her looking like Benjamin and not an 8th grader lol.
...basically, it's in the vein of CLAMP where you're gonna just have to roll with some questionable stuff. Regardless, I don't regret reading this at all. Looking back on it, I'm only left with fond memories about what I enjoyed about the comic: the characters, the gorgeous art, and the wonderful world that Shimizu Reiko crafted. It's a really imaginative read, one that I think is truly unique and unlike any other comic out there.
←Back to Media Log