Horobishi Kemonotachi no Umi (滅びし獣たちの海 — The Sea of Fallen Beasts)) is a collection of short stories, written and illustrated by Yukinobu Hoshino, more often than not relating to the seas.
Tropes included in this work include:
- Apocalypse How: See Gaia's Vengeance - Outburst, deadly Festering Fungus which can infect humans because humans don't respect nature.
- Black Dude Dies First: Played straight in Island of Sins. Krankey is sole black character and one of the minority ethnic (the other is Inuit dude named Imnah). He is first named character to die.
- Body Horror: Outburst, the Festering Fungus controls victim's body by making them move to crowd and once victim is in the crowd, the body will burst and infect everyone in the vicinity by releasing spore.
- City of Gold: Outburst, Subverted the whole city is not built by gold, only the Sun God Temple is.
- Cold War: Setting of Red Zeppelin short story. Specifically the historical expedition of USS Nautilus across Arctic Sea for the most part.
- Cool Ship:
- Sea of Fallen Beasts, there is fictional submarine Beowulf, a non-nuclear submarine which can go diving for days and carrying secret weapon of missiles. We also see some actions of Bismarck and British ships near Scapa Flow which possess more advanced RADAR.
- Red Zeppelin, USS Nautilus at their historical expedition across Arctic Sea. In response, Soviets sent the titular Red Zeppelin, a nuclear-powered icebreaking aircraft carrier. Imagine how cool the Red Zeppelin is.
- End of an Age: Sea of Fallen Beasts, the narration and everyone agrees the days of battleships are over and it's end is compared to extinction of "great beasts at the end of Cretaceous (era)".
- Festering Fungus: A variant of Cordyceps that affects humans, in Outburst.
- Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke: Island of Sins. The Soviet was trying to clone a species of sea-cows which have gone thanks to over-fishing, and succeed while tinkering their genes so the sea-cows will grow as big as whale.
- Gaia's Vengeance:
- Outburst, the dormant Festering Fungus which once devastate an ancient city which is big on deforestation. As modern deforestation open the path to the Ghost Town, so does path for Festering Fungus to outside world.
- Island of Sins, Soviets successfully revives the extinct species of sea-cows but subject experiments gone awry when there was riot in prison adjacent to research facility. Currently, the island is abandoned and the sea-cows are hostile to humans who come nearby.
- Hot Sub-on-Sub Action: Almost, in the Red Zeppelin.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: Naturally as these stories are either classified (Red Zeppelin, and some extent Sea of Fallen Beasts- Beowulf's existence), few if any of human survives (Sea of Fallen Beasts - both Beowulf and German surface fleet and Island of Sins), happens in backwater area (Island of Sins and Legend of the Demon Whale), some big disaster just started (Outburst), and/or just plain horrific .
- Insufferable Genius: Sea of Fallen Beasts, Lt. Neithard is cocky yet very competent submarine commander. Another German in Red Zeppelin, Commander Karl Steiner, is one of important factors Nautilus crew in success of their mission and survival but his arrogance is justified by the fact of they're in military (when a crew member gave a mocking salute), he is there as advisor when US Navy already failed twice at same expedition, he has experience sailing in Sea of Arctic or close there of, and (when he takes over the command from hot headed US submarine captain) the world is in the brink of war.
- Manipulative Bastard: Ahab in Legend of the Demon Whale. He roused the whalers to hunt down Moby Dick by reciting Bible and point Moby Dick as Satan without ever bothering to warn them the danger.
- Pride Before a Fall: Sea of Fallen Beasts. The Admiral on the mighty Bismarck and Prinz Eugen is sure Kriegsmarine can break the blockade of pitiful, cowardly Britons and their insignificant more advanced RADAR. After few well-placed shots in misty night battle later, he might have change his opinion.
- Sea Monster: Hostile sea-cows as big as whale in Island of Sins, Moby Dick in Legend of the Demon Whale, and Stock Ness Monster in Sea of Fallen Beasts.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog:
- Legend of the Demon Whale, the Christian villagers' struggle for better living is complicated when many of their whale-hunters are dead when they tried to hunt down Moby Dick.
- Sea of Fallen Beasts, Beowulf's desperate adventure after spending days in strange under-water current ended when they surfaced on Loch/Lake Ness. Yet, their relief was cut short after few minutes when "something" hit their ship's hydrogen peroxide tank.
- Stock Ness Monster: In the Sea of Fallen Beasts
- Sub Story: Red Zeppelin, and to a lesser degree Sea of Fallen Beasts
- Whole-Plot Reference: Legend of the Demon Whale. No points given for guessing the reference.
