History Manga / MoonChild

[[quoteright:275:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_moon_cover.jpg]]

New York City, 1985. Art Gile, a dancer who has been struggling with both his personal life and his auditions accidentally strikes a young boy with his car. In the hospital afterwards, the boy is uninjured but can no longer remember his past or his name. Art takes the child in and names him Jimmy.

At the same time, alien mer-people are returning to Earth for their spawning season, where they must pair up to mate, lay eggs, and die. This happens only once every several hundred years, and the rest of the time they live on other planets, but they must return to their spawning grounds on Earth in order to breed. However, there are prophecies warning that the Earth may soon become uninhabitable, and a woman known as Benjamin may be the key to preventing it, or causing it.

Then one day Jimmy suddenly wakes up in female form...

A ScienceFiction {{Shojo}} manga which includes references to many tragic real-world events of the time period. No relation to the film of the same name or the work by Crowley.

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!!This manga provides examples of:

* BloodFromTheMouth: [[spoiler: Seth]]
* CreepyTwins: Seth and Teruto. Technically triplets, but the third is less identical and less creepy.
* CuteMute: Like the Little Mermaid, Benjamin finds herself unable to speak to Art.
* DeathOfAChild: While it was a historical event, readers too young to remember the Armero disaster may take a punch to the gut.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Most of the upcoming disasters are foretold in dreams, though the visions are not always completely accurate. [[spoiler: Teruto also forces Art to see distorted visions of the future.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: Both Art and Benjamin attempt it. [[spoiler: Neither succeeds.]] Rita [[spoiler: poisons herself and Gil.]]
* GenderBender: Mermaids apparently have a child phase where they are technically neuter but appear male, becoming male or female as they reach adulthood. Like clownfish, male mermaids can also become female if needed to adjust the gender balance.
* GenderBlenderName: Benjamin is a male name in English. No character questions this, and some comment that it's a beautiful name for a beautiful woman.
* GodivaHair: Benjamin, frequently. Transforming into female form seems to make her male clothes disappear.
* GorgeousPeriodDress: The extras at the end of volumes often have extremely elaborate historical costumes.
* InterspeciesRomance: In the past (with the fairytale Little Mermaid) one caused a great deal of trouble. The fear that one now will lead to even worse disaster is important to the plot.
* InTheBlood: Most major characters are very concerned with the possibility of being forced to relive their parents mistakes. [[spoiler: Art is the last to fall into this trope when he discovers that his father went mad and tried to murder a woman who he believed would bring about the end of the world.]]
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Rita for Gil.
* LoveTriangle: It's messy. Main contenders being Holly/Art/Jimmy, Art/Jimmy/Shonach, and Jimmy/Shonach/Seth. If you take Jimmy and Benjamin as separate the count gets worse.
* LovesMyAlterEgo: Jimmy/Benjamin has some problems with this.
* MindOverMatter: Jimmy and other mermaids can move objects by telekinesis, or sometimes cause things to spontaneously shatter under stress.
* MistakenForGay: It's complicated, given that some characters look male when they aren't, but neither Shonach nor Art is actually gay.
* MistakenForPedophile: The adult male mermaid Shonach doesn't seem to understand how much he's disturbing others by appearing to be in love with a very young boy. [[spoiler: Considering Jimmy's mentality, it may be a little disturbing even when she's in beautiful female form]]
* MisterSeahorse: [[spoiler:Apparently it is possible to fertilise a mermaid's eggs even when they haven't quite become female yet.]]
* MermaidProblem: Laying eggs is frequently mentioned.
* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: [[spoiler: Shonach's son]] though subverted in that the mother didn't live many years after that either, and the son ended up more resembling his uncle than his father.
* SweetTooth: Jimmy goes nuts for chocolate cake.
* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Rita is quite tall (6'3", tall even by US standards but unbelievably huge by Japanese) and is often drawn hunched, trying to take up less space. Gil is not a tall man, so he's much shorter and more delicate-looking than she is.
* WeirdnessCensor: Art refuses to see or believe in the supernatural things happening around him.

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* RapunzelHair: Common in female mermaids, and in Benjamin's case, even magically appears and disappears when she changes form.

* InfantImmortality: Averted. While it was a historical event, readers too young to remember the Armero disaster may take a punch to the gut.

* UnfortunateNames: The author seems to have been unaware that Benjamin is a male name in English. No character questions this, and some comment that it's a beautiful name for a beautiful woman.

* [[spoiler: Mister Seahorse: Apparently it is possible to fertilise a mermaid's eggs even when they haven't quite become female yet.]]

This manga provides examples of:

* DrivenToSuicide: Both Art and Benjamin attempt it. [[spoiler: Neither succeeds.]]

A ScienceFiction {{Shojo}} manga which includes references to many tragic real-world events of the time period.

* {{Yandere}}: Rita for Gil.

* Yandere: Rita for Gil.

* WeirdnessCensor: Art refuses to see or believe in the supernatural things happening around him.

At the same time, alien mer-people are returning to Earth for their spawning season, where they must pair up to mate, lay eggs, and die. This happens only once every several hundred years, and the rest of the time they live on other planets, but they must return to their spawning grounds on Earth in order to breed. However, there are prophecies warning that the Earth may soon become uninhabitable, and the child known as Jimmy may be the key to preventing it, or causing it.

* MindOverMatter: [[spoiler: Jimmy]] and other mermaids can move objects by telekinesis, or sometimes cause things to spontaneously shatter under stress.

A ScienceFiction {{Shojo}} manga.

* RapunzelHair: Common in female mermaids, and in Benjamin's case, even magically appears and disappears.
* UnfortunateNames: The author seems to have been unaware that Benjamin is a male name in English. No character questions this, and some comment that it's a beautiful name for a beautiful woman.