I Was Raised After Being a Mermaid

Description

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An Jin, who had a water ability from the apocalypse, transmigrates to an interstellar world and becomes a mermaid captured by His Majesty, the Emperor Norman, on the planet Siao. He is careful to play the role of a pet but finds that the interstellar humans are extremely obedient toward the mermaids, not like a pet, but more like a mermaid master.

His Majesty Norman also discovers something special about the little mermaid as he gets along, and An Jin’s secrets gradually shine through.

Associated Names
One entry per line
After Becoming a Mermaid, I Was Raised
I Became a Mermaid and Got Raised
变成人鱼被养了
Related Series
The Cannon Fodder Doesn’t Want to Die (Adapted From)
Recommendations
Transmigrated Into the Violent Boss’ Little Mermaid (8)
I’m Not Human (6)
The Disabled Tyrant’s Pet Palm Fish [Transmigration] (4)
Interstellar Rare Species (3)
A Guide to Raising Your Natural Enemy (3)
The Villainous Marshal’s Little Mermaid is Reborn (2)
Recommendation Lists
  1. TBR (GL/BL) 3
  2. BL Interstellar or Apocalyptic setting Transmigrat...
  3. Future times - Fantasy/Sci-fi
  4. [BL] Mermaid/Fish
  5. Rebirth/Transmigration _BL

Latest Release

Date Group Release
08/01/22 Exiled Rebels Scanlations c100 (end)
08/01/22 Exiled Rebels Scanlations c99
07/31/22 Exiled Rebels Scanlations c98
07/31/22 Exiled Rebels Scanlations c97
07/27/22 Exiled Rebels Scanlations c96
07/27/22 Exiled Rebels Scanlations c95
07/27/22 Exiled Rebels Scanlations c94
07/26/22 Exiled Rebels Scanlations c93
07/25/22 Exiled Rebels Scanlations c92
07/25/22 Exiled Rebels Scanlations c91
07/24/22 Exiled Rebels Scanlations c90
07/22/22 Exiled Rebels Scanlations c89
07/21/22 Exiled Rebels Scanlations c88
07/20/22 Exiled Rebels Scanlations c87
07/19/22 Exiled Rebels Scanlations c86
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54 Reviews sorted by


ShadowAscetic
ShadowAscetic rated it
November 8, 2021
Status: Completed
It's a sweet novel about Emperor and his mermaid, which isn't a usual mermaid (as expected). MC has soft personality but he's also a cautious person, he knows how to speak interstellar language but he was aware that it wasn't a good thing because mermaid was supposed to be a pet. Even after he got the mermaid ancestor inheritance he tried to collect information first instead of telling ML. ML may looks like the usual cold type of guy, but he's actually a caring and responsible person. He didn't force... more>> MC to do anything he didn't like and he always tried to understand MC, especially after he got to know that MC wasn't a 'pet' but a mermaid with intellectual awareness.

4 for the plot, 4.5 for the main & side characters' personalities. <<less
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Lilfox
Lilfox rated it
May 20, 2022
Status: --
I think the story is ok but the MC spent too much time acting like a pet which is highly unusual. He just transmigrated from a zombie apocalypse, there's no way he should be as calm and accepting as he is when it's only been a few days. A normal person would've started learning the language as soon as possible to communicate more and show that all the mermaids are intelligent creatures so he can possibly be free instead he spends half the story acting like a kid. In an... more>> apocalypse I doubt anyone can maintain an innocent character and the way he acts shows nothing of having experienced an apocalypse. It would've made more sense if he was just a random person in a random world. For anyone who may say "he might be experimented on if he does that" they're already basically s*aves. They're forced to mate and don't forget they're the only ones who can help people heal their mental sea. I find it difficult to believe interstellar scientists can't even discover that a species can have an intelligence equal to humans when we literally know in this day and age the intelligence of pigs, dogs, cats, monkeys, and many other animals. Maybe some people like the child looking/acting MC but to me it's extremely off putting that a grown man is acting like a child and that another grown man is attracted to that behavior. The ML often describes him like a child and cute and small and timid and weak and it's again really off putting. The ML basically has all the power in the relationship and the MC doesn't really have a choice not to like him he literally has Stockholm syndrome. <<less
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Lea168
Lea168 rated it
January 15, 2022
Status: Completed
3.75/5*

Another formulaic interstellar story about transmigrated OP MC that has special abilities that can cure people (in this case mental illnesses and restoring spiritual power). As a result he is highly coveted by everyone and he changes the fate of the whole universe.

In this story mermaids are kept as pets that can cure mental disorders. And MC is bought as the only high level mermaid. There is no system here, but MC has a secret identity... more>>
Spoiler

He has actually transmigrated into the Mermaid King who has special water abilities. These abilities he already had during the Apocalypse time he came from. Later on the mermaid clan comes to find their King and in the end joins the interstellar Alliance, making all pet mermaids on equal footing as normal citizens.

[collapse]

I usually love these kind of smooth sailing, instant success interstellar stories. However, I think this story started really great with a interesting premise and right pacing (when focus was on developing relationship between MC/ML), but became draggy in the middle part (when focus shifts to empowering and freeing the other pet mermaids) and the end it became too much of just quickly summing up events and reforms one after another that MC made into a success.

I don't like it if success after success is reported without fleshing it out. It only makes the story and the characters too exaggerated. And the style becomes less and less of writing a story, but more like hurriedly writing some remarks and events. Too eager to wrap it up. Many times I think less is more in these kind of stories. Give MC 1-3 OP abilities is already life changing and more than enough and make sure there is a well executed and fleshed out story and side characters around it, instead of having 10+ major super achievements that no longer feel special.

ML is a super respectful, kind and loving character who fully supports MC. So, no faults here. <<less
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Wolffenrir
Wolffenrir rated it
June 15, 2024
Status: --
Halfway through the novel, I had some opinions that couldn't be suppressed so here I am, and also serve as a trigger warning for unsuspecting readers.

Firstly, I know that 'being raised' is in the title and it's part of the appeal of these genres, but really? At some point it just becomes creepy, especially if you don't equalise things before starting a romantic plotline. Let me explain: MC, to show his intelligence to the public and gain independence, comes up with a plan to slowly show the process of him... more>> learning and developing while livestreaming to the public. However, during his first livestream, ML unexpectedly confesses to MC, in front of the entire interstellar, when MC is still pretending that he's still a clueless but smart mermaid only beginning to slowly imitate the characters inside of a show for toddlers!! As in, when the kids in the show claps, he claps along and the audience praises him for how smart he is! And throughout his next few livestreams, when he's pretending to show that he only just learnt to use the mobility scooter to go towards the ML when ML calls him over, the mood of the audience is such: 'oh my god, what a good boy, who doesn't want an obedient partner like MC?'

Does author not see the problem? The entire universe basically thinks this 35 year old, middle aged ML fell in love with a creature with the maturity and intelligence of a toddler, and sees nothing wrong with it! Not to mention MC is supposed to be his pet! Is there not a concept of pet ab*se or pe*ophilia in this universe?? What??? I was so uncomfortable watching people on the livestream ship them while MC in their minds is literally still learning to clap like a child and clearly has no capacity to consent or understand romance! In my mind it's basically reading a perverse scene where a grown man is salivating over a child who's still learning how to walk, and the entire broadcast cheering over it. Yeah, no thanks.

Also, ML liking MC is weird even outside of the facade they put on for the broadcast. Yes, MC can speak and he's smart, but ML clearly still thinks of him as a teenager -- literally how he thinks of him, to the point of searching up teenage rebellion -- and also thinking that MC is too immature to understand the concept of romance. In that case, why do you like him?? He even played romantic movies for MC to hopefully 'educate' MC and let him accept him. Sorry, that's just too close to g*ooming for me to swallow.

If MC was truly mature like author tries to portray, I could've closed both eyes. But no, MC is an immature kid who does not act like his age at all. I can't even picture him as someone who survived the apocalypse, and author can't justify it either, that's why she keeps mentioning MC's young master conditions before the apocalypse. Even if that's true, the apocalypse would've wiped out any hints of that, right? I wonder why the author even bothered to keep the apocalypse setting outside of helping to explain why the MC has powers. It's just very lazy and inconsistent with his personality. Also, MC as an adult gets along well with the other mermaids who have the mental maturity of 5 year olds and refers to them as friends. When they were introducing themselves with names like Rui Rui, Ling Ling, Gu Gu, MC fitting right in with his nickname An An, playing around the mermaid playground harmoniously and MC asking to go back the next day to play with his new friends, I really felt like I was reading scenes about a child's first day in preschool. The author is really not doing MC any favours in showing that he's even a teenager, let alone an adult.

Finally, I don't get the point of this whole 'I will dumb myself down and slowly learn on livestream to get people to accept me' thing that MC is acting out. He thinks that people will be scared or want to study him in a lab if they find out he's intelligent, but his view is simply nonsense. Idk where the caution is from, the author brings out the apocalypse card but he literally shows no other symptoms of post-apocalypse ptsd except when it's convenient. He's 'owned' by the person with the highest power and position on the planet, who also showed him no signs of suspicion upon finding out his intelligence and even supports his every step. There's also apparently an application for intelligent beings which is a test that will let a creature be identified as highly intelligent and given rights, so it's not like the acceptance ability of the people in the interstellar world is low. You can't say it's bad when there's a whole bureaucratic procedure conveniently in place for you. Also, he's the only solid colour mermaid available, so there's no true precedent for people to say that he should be a certain way. All these convenient factors makes me more disgusted when author is writing out yet another scene of him roleplaying a toddler while ML thirsts over him on livestream. <<less
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Soeris
Soeris rated it
May 28, 2023
Status: c66
It has a good start and a nice movement. I really loved the way of romance. It was fun read. I really enjoyed. But I decided to drop. Cuz I really am so mad at the people of country about their behavior to mermaids.

Firstly mermaids were treated as pets. It was normal since people didnt know they had intelligence and communication. But:

... more>>
Spoiler

But after people know that mermaids can talk and they use a translation device to communicate with them, they didnt do anything about the mermaid sellers. Lots of day passed and only when a mermaid who came from mermaid planet mentioned, they finally fixed that problem. Wow, big brain moment! Really!

[collapse]

And it isn't just that..

Spoiler

Mermaids were thinking about having a choice to give to mermaids to go to all mermaids main planet. And they would join a test to find out mermaids are intelligent creatures or not.

But the human people was aganist it cuz of the spiritual power they give to them.

LIKE BRUH! THEY CAN THINK AND YOU CAN EVEN COMMUNICATE WITH THEM AND STILL THEY ARE NOT INTELLIGENT TO YOU? Like really?!!

I understand, mermaids are talking and thinking as the level of a child. But their memory is bad cuz of a gene somewhat enjected to them (plus they found a surgery for that to remove that gene). Its only normal for them to be just like children.

If they have a memory that they only remember several days all the time, they were be like a child also!

And MC convinced them. 'How' you wonder? BY GIVING THEM SEEDS WITH SPIRITUAL POWERS TO ALL GENERATION. LIKE BRUH?!!! YOU DONT OWE THEM ANYTHING!

I know people took care mermaids so long time. But that doesnt mean mermaids debt of a favor for them! Mermaids were treated as pets, they got sold, humans make them breed each other without their permission to just have high level mermaids. Plus human peiple gained spiritual powers by tricking them so many times...

Sighhhh

I know, human people in danger cuz of the usage of spiritual power. They in need spiritual power so much. Its about human lives we talking about. Its sad of course. And mermaids have spiritual powers they need. I understand. They need mermaids.

But that shouldn't be a reason to restrict mermaids, take away their freedoms and still insist that mermaids are not intelligent beings.

[collapse]

Well thats it, its over for me. Some people think that im wrong or something. They can. But im so sensitive about freedom.

Have a good day y'all~ <<less
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Xiu_er
Xiu_er rated it
February 23, 2022
Status: Completed
I have read a few novels like this one, interstellar background and a MC who transmigrated into a mermaid/rare species/underprivileged minority only to become stronger and more influential, paving the way to equality for the minority group.

I don't mind reading the same trope again and again so I won't dock any points for having a somewhat generic plot.

What did bother me, though, is the human baby of the main CP being such a genius that it is smart enough to already have low self-esteem at eight months old. I don't... more>> mind the mermaid baby since mermaid's inheriting knowledge and growing faster was already established in the world setting. But that human baby... F***ing gosh, one of my pet peeves are unreasonably smart children that talk and act like adults in Chinese novels. <<less
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Shrike1978
Shrike1978 rated it
May 28, 2022
Status: Completed
I really like this author's works. They are fun and fluffy and delightful. Always good for an interesting light read. Things I specifically enjoyed about this story:

  1. The ML is smart and understanding. In the beginning the MC keeps secrets to protect himself, and when the ML finds out he agrees with that decision - because it was a legitimate safety issue.
  2. The side characters have interesting and distinct personalities and experience their own personal growth.
  3. The MC may look like a delicate flower but when lives are on the line, he steps up without hesitation and fights like a tiger.
  4. The issues arising from the language barrier are ones that have happened in real life many times when new cultures meet. That's a nice detail to add to the story and gives it a little weight.
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Hippopotamus
Hippopotamus rated it
August 19, 2022
Status: Completed
Disclaimer : this review is my own personal opinion, based on my own experience after reading this novel.

Everyone have freedom to decide whether they still want to continue to read or not as each of us has our own preferences...

At the beginning, the plot was quite interesting, made me unable to stop reading for a while. But later, it became more and more ridiculous and illogical. It's boring.

... more>> The good thing about this novel is the fluff. I think it's okay 🤔

The ending is too rushed.

The characters are too shallow in foundation. Nothing special about them worth to be remembered....

There are some mistakes in translation... Some parts are confusing, I can't understand the meaning. Perhaps they should fix it later? 🤔 <<less
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earlgreyt
earlgreyt rated it
August 7, 2022
Status: Completed
As other readers have commented, very standard/formulaic interstellar transmigration/romance. It's not bad, still entertaining for the most part.

I did quite enjoy the beginning of the MC trying to act like a pet and being cautious, not knowing what the constraints/bounds of the mermaid species or scientific understanding of them were in the interstellar era, so he did his best to keep a low profile and feel out the situation at first.

... more>>
Spoiler

Once MC realized that he was safe, he did immediately try to show the ML his intellect as well as go live to show the rest of the world, so overall, I didn't find that plot point to be a big problem.

[collapse]

However, I agree with what others have said about scientists not realizing that mermaids had higher intelligence despite the language barrier is very unbelievable for sure. The author gave a reason that scientists couldn't observe or record mermaids as the reason for the language barrier but it's specious reasoning at best.

A couple other things I found unbelievable was that

Spoiler

mermaids were said to be of super utmost importance to the military, but they were auctioned off at billions - and apparently owned by individual commanders/soldiers, which makes it utterly unbelievable of a phenonmena. It would be more likely for mermaids to be bred by the government and then assigned as a group to take care of soldiers versus being sold off at high prices to individual owners which wouldn't give the government any return if they individually cost tens-to-hundreds of millions.

And has anyone ever heard of military service being lucrative to the point of captains/commanders being able to afford to bid on tens-hundreds of millions on a pet??? And then spend milions more to "keep them happy" and give them whatever they want?? Wild.

[collapse]

Translation overall wasn't too bad. Just a few misunderstood points here and there. <<less
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izayaYY
izayaYY rated it
October 14, 2022
Status: Completed
Hmmmm... plenty of negative comments but as a big fan of interstellar bl, I gave it a try. I did like it, despite the simplistic writing style, and some translation and editing issues. Compared to similar novels like "Number one lazy merchant of the beast world" it is subpar because of the poor writing style, sometimes so simple I wonder if a child wrote the sentences. Maybe the author wanted to portray the simple minds of the mermaids?

The world building is coherent overall. The characters are smart and cute. The... more>> pacing of both plot and romance were just right, even for the second CP. I did not find major plotholes or inconsistencies. Someone complained that mermaid intelligence and communication should have been obvious to the Siao ppl ages ago. I was also bothered by that but it is logical. Mermaids are akin to feral cats to the Siao ppl, with limited memory and highly aggressive behaviours, thus not conducive to research. It is very difficult to see any sign of higher IQ like speech or maths in feral cats!

Overall, a good light novel with coherent story, consistent characters without s*upid melodrama and dialogue. Yes, it is tropey and formulaic, yes it is simple and fairytale-like but if you like the genre, then give it a try :) <<less
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Majin11
Majin11
October 16, 2023
Status: Completed
Thank god I didn't listen to the reviews and just trusted the translator group Exiled Rebels😂

This doesn't have that much drama or anything. It's more like a soft fluff. Even the trauma of An Jin in the apocalypse wasn't discussed too much.

It's kinda funny how some reviews can see that An Jin is already an adult but doesn't trust him with his ability to love and kept shouting about Norman g*ooming him which totally doesn't make sense.

... more>>
Spoiler

An Jin is fully aware of what the possible consequences of his actions are. He explained those while he were in the process of doing them and also the same time he explained it to Norman. An Jin might be naive and innocent but he is not a reckless idiot and not at all blackbellied. He acted dumb on purpose because he knew that it's the safest way to get by. It's common sense for traumatized kids that grew up into adults to always be careful in a new environment and act accordingly to ensure safety. He made sure that Norman was trustworthy and unlike all other masters before he even spoke up. Another fact is that AnJin did not let Norman to pay for everything and to pursue financial freedom himself is a sign that he was not willing to stay as a pet or a 20 yr old adult under Norman's guardianship. Which again, An Jin vocally expressed.

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Anyway, give it a try if you like soft fluff. Not much drama and very much smooth sailing. <<less
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The1Rin
The1Rin rated it
December 29, 2022
Status: Completed
It was interesting, especially the beginning, but it becomes really boring.

It's fluff so some people definitely love it but even that is minor because the main focus of the story turns to MC making his own living with ML following along. Besides a few romance scenes scattered around, over all this is more of a MC mermaid tale.

Some characters are fun but it becomes repetitive by the end so I wish it was shorter.
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trash_generalist
trash_generalist rated it
August 29, 2022
Status: Completed
Interstellar Mermaid Universe! MC (An Jin) wakes up as a mermaid ready to be auctioned off. He maintained the water abilities he had from his previous life, but because of his inability to communicate with humans and his relatively weak strength, he had no choice but to go with the flow and be sold off as a pet. Fortunately, he doesn't have high requirements after living in the Zombie Apocalypse for so long, and being a Mermaid Pet in this era, where the strong humans require the spiritual soothing unique... more>> to mermaids, was a pretty cushy life. The ML (Norman) is the one who purchased him. He had been suffering from spiritual riots for a while and required soothing from a mermaid. The two clumsily try to work with each other despite the MC's lack of knowledge on a mermaid's strengths and their lack of communication ability. Prompting a rather fluffy slow burn intermixed with lots of worldbuilding.

The focus is on the relationship between the MC and ML at first, with the MC working hard to bridge the communication gap and the ML doing his best to be an understanding and doting "Master" turned Potential Mate. The tone of the story is light overall! I started to lose interest by the end, I don't think it was handled very well. But I liked the beginning arcs a lot and will highly recommend it for that reason! The TL is also pretty good. Better in the beginning, kinda needs editing by the end.

CHARACTERS: 6.5/10

The characters of the novel are plenty charming. Nothing too complex though. This isn't about psychology and doesn't really involve heavy character development. Anyway, they're likable, and that's enough for most people~

An Jin (MC)

Our MC is definitely a bit of a Mary Sue (or a lot of one, by the end), his character is a bit inconsistent at times too, but I still thought he was very cute in the beginning, and his hard work was respectable.

Norman (ML)

Typical gong~ He's the stoic and overbearing type, with a strong propensity towards doting when he catches feelings LOLOL

ROMANCE: 6.5/10

I found the development of the romance very interesting initially because of their language gap. Things go a bit haywire midway, and the chemistry is disrupted, so idk if I like the rest of the progression, but anyway, the initial development is worth the read.

SETTING: 9/10

I like the setting of the novel the most! It's very similar to the Sentinel & Guide concept, where the Sentinel depends on the Guide in order to be spiritually healthy. However, the fact that one is a mermaid and the other is human brought a new twist to the whole dynamic! I actually wished this could have been developed more carefully, or just that the novel was a little bit more slow paced so I could enjoy the unique setting more (big sigh), but it's not meant to be IG.

PLOT: 7.5/10

Plot starts off relatively strong with the development of the main CP, suffers a bit at the end, but one cannot say that the ending was not satisfying, the author did indeed tie off most of the loose ends, even if it was a bit too quickly and clumsily.

RATING: 3.69/5

Worth the read if you're looking for something fun and casual. It's really nothing too complex. There are not many ups and downs, no real angst either. Just shallow drama as the two work out their feelings. <<less
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dday0425
dday0425 rated it
December 12, 2021
Status: Completed
4.5/5*

This story is very sweet. Of course, with its focus on romance, the MC and ML are straight-up OP, and the achievements come fast without an obstacle (which, in fact, can already be predetermined from their high statuses).

There's no antagonist, no emotional entanglement, just them developing from clueless bachelors into a lovey-dovey couple and the MC's journey from being a mere pet to becoming the No.1 mermaid in the interstellar world.

... more>> So, if you like light-hearted romantic stories with reasonable settings, this novel might be the one for you.

Personally, I was more interested in mermaid interactions; they're so cute and fun. It's a pity the author didn't write more about them and chose to rather focus on the romance and the OP-ness of the MC.

I still rate it highly nonetheless. It is a good novel for light reading, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. <<less
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Rio-mouse
Rio-mouse rated it
December 2, 2021
Status: Completed
this story I guess is not for me.

It is a novel not to think about it too much, if you like this guy I recommend it, if the details kill you, stay away from this story or persevere to chapter 38.

the negative points that I find in the novel are with the protagonist, the rest of the novel is good for a quick reading

... more>>
Spoiler

An Ji's character has many inconsistencies, the character that should bring up more development is the flattest in the novel, I can't believe it comes from a post-apocalyptic world, it's a plush ball from the beginning, while other stories from Survivors seek to be fit to survive the e a salty fish since I came to the interstellar era, I can justify a little naivety for his life before the apocalypse, but as a survivor long after I do not understand how I easily trust the doctor from the beginning, His docility to act like a poodle because I am a pet is uncomfortable but again I can justify it in my mind that he just wants to live and have a good time, but the more I read I can only see the configuration of virg*n Mary in the boy, if so, the better they would have given him the previous identity of a world with powers but had a terminal illness and end, instead of giving him a survivor configuration and f*cking the character by putting ole hairy and pink, luckily they didn't add a glamorous personality to it or this would be complete shit, how to say I am a boy but as I am the uke I must feminize myself or be weak, naive and docile.

I also find the configuration of mermaids annoying, they have a language, they are wild, but they are aware of themselves and they are sociable, having all that I do not understand why they do not have a tribe or something like that, and above all I do not understand why they are easily taken as pets, this simply bothered me from the start, the worst part for me was when they mentioned mating.

Then, they solved the problem of the mermaids, but it was very fast and so simple that you feel that they did not take advantage of the plot, obviously the greatest problem of the novel is the congruence between the characters and their experiences, having arguments to develop the story in a more exciting only justify the plot holes in the most fruitful way, that left me very unsatisfied, mermaids have their own language, so they will have a bad memory and with that nobody will notice (?), bad memory? Is it something genetic, the MC must be important, let's make him the mermaid king even though he was born of unknown genetic material, why is he king? because the plot needs it...

So I can continue, I think that not many people will take these things seriously but I like coherent details even when they are simple plots, so I only vent my suffering for a novel so good in plot it was wasted like this, I enjoyed the arguments, but the MC took away the charm of the novel and the resolutions were not satisfactory

[collapse]

I understand that the author tries to sell the story as cute or cute but for me they are like nails on the blackboard.

I'll leave it here because it only stresses me to read it and look justify it, instead of relaxing and enjoying the story

So, I swallow my words, the person who recommended the novel to me told me that I gave up just before the good, and he's right, I gave him another chance after sleeping and clearing up, after chapter 38 the reading is more interesting and varied, I'm still having trouble with the An Ji setup, but it's tolerable

I decided to finish the novel before commenting again, it is a decent story, there is not much development in the characters, but for a reading it happens, the ideas of the novel are good but with poor execution, the plot holes that were the More interesting they solved them in a very simple way that took power away from the potential they had, the MC left much to be desired and the ML is the same as the others, the premise of the story is good but I only recommend it if you like simple stories and without much development <<less
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Mc43
Mc43
January 26, 2025
Status: Completed
I thought it was sweet. I would give it a 3.5/5. I didn't go into it with super high expectations, so I wasn't disappointed. It doesn't have great writing and I got a little bored towards the end, but I still enjoyed it overall. Of course I also have the usual little complaints (that I have with most BL) like the shou being referred to in female terms such as empress, overly jealous and possessive ML, etc. But I think it's totally fine for a cute story where you don't... more>> focus on analyzing everything. The translation isn't terrible but it's not great. A lot of the sentences don't actually make sense, but you can still get the general meaning most of the time.

Something that threw me off a bit though was that (unless I'm forgetting someone) there's not a single female character in the entire story. And there's a lot of characters, so that's pretty weird. From my understanding, the mermaids have different genders than humans so that makes sense I guess. But among the humans, why is there no women? Not a single scientist, doctor, mermaid owner, or military personnel is female. Idk, I just found that quite strange. <<less
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FYalimar
FYalimar rated it
August 11, 2024
Status: <font style=
An Jin is true... s*upid! He was s*upid in his previous world that's why he died and is still s*upid in this world. It is obvious that he has obtained several golden fingers and can do more but he is extremely shy and cowardly and does not use them. She is the character who has been given all the necessary information to advance the plot, where the mermaids come from, what is happening with her and the humans, etc. She also has the title of the mermaid king and can... more>> represent all the mermaids in the world. interstellar, in addition to having a direct deal with the emperor of the empire, he could directly negotiate with the emperor for a fair deal for the mermaids, he has enough chips in his hand, not to mention that the emperor's life directly depends on him, but that He does it instead, he decides to start a live broadcast, he decides to hide everything, he decides to pretend that everything he knows was just a dream 👈 this is literal!!! He is also extremely naive, kind, innocent, etc., all the cute adjectives in the world apply to him, He also has to speak in a tender and silly way, puffing out his cheeks when he gets angry and insulting like children, saying things like "the bad people", "the bad ones" 🙄🙄🙄

Another problem that this novel has is that the chapters are too long, seriously it is too long for the amount of important content conveyed in each chapter, which is not much, the author can spend an entire chapter describing how delicious the food was, and how they cooked it and so on, she can also talk for several paragraphs about the clothes they bought or how An Jin had a hard time putting on a skirt that hugged her body, I'm not lying, they spent almost half a chapter on those things and the rest were nonsense, it would be good if the chapters were short or moderate, but they are very very long, so you can imagine how tedious it was to read, I honestly don't know what the author wanted with all that, maybe write a slow romance story? Whatever it was, it bored me because I wanted to see what happened with the mystery of the mermaids and if things would be solved, since An Jin doesn't help make that happen, so the slow pace bothered me quite a bit...

Of course, the title is very accurate "I was raised after being a mermaid" because that's what it's all about, parenting and love, everything else is not very well defined... 🤷‍♀️ <<less
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starcake
starcake rated it
June 2, 2024
Status: Completed
3.5 stars: Transmigrated healer-mermaid MC shou x aloof military general emperor gong in the interstellar age. Translation was good, story ranged from predictable-decent to predictable-eye-rolling. If you enjoy pampering/raising novels, this has a good deal of that, and a dash of food focus as well.

The slightly different take is that mermaids are aggressive/suspicious creatures with only 7 days of memory at best (which means that although they are sapient and have some natural instincts and inherent knowledge, they can't speak human language and are limited in what they can learn/retain),... more>> whose singing can heal psychic riots because no interstellar story is complete without being blessed with the suck of psychic powers that can power mecha and destroy hostile aliens/the zerg but also degrade your sanity as well as lifespan. Mermaids are rare and produced only by a strict breeding industry, and can only belong to/heal one person, so they're regularly auctioned off for astronomical prices depending on their grade, with solid-colored mermaids (i.e. hair, eyes, and scales are all the same color) being so rare as to be unprecedented and having the highest grade of healing.

Our MC An Jin transmigrates from the zombie apocalypse as many MCs are wont to do, into the body of a solid-colored mermaid conveniently just going up for auction, and is bought by the gong, Norman, who is not only the greatest military general ever but also the emperor of pretty much the entire galaxy.

Norman is the typical calm/aloof ML who, while not cold, does not appear to have many emotions except to be reservedly fond of and then reservedly super in love with the shou—which is to say, he just doesn't really show much emotion except via his eyes, which could function as strobe lights at a rave considering how often they "flash with laughter/smiles/warmth". He is also a man who has absolutely no qualms about abusing his position, power, and authority as both an SSS-level military general and the emperor to censor anything he doesn't like on the starnet, fill said starnet with propaganda to sway public opinion as convenient to his relationship with the shou, and create false identities for himself to break the very laws his empire created to protect mermaids because he was blacklisted after a violent incident with his former mermaid and wasn't legally allowed to buy another (but don't worry, it was both an accident and also justified!).

But okay, I'm aware I'm quibbling on this token background detail that gets tossed at us as the reason for why he had to make a fake persona in order to buy another mermaid, and the reasons for it and the clearing-up of it later on are both s*upid, but whatever.

All that aside, Norman is otherwise a generic gong bent on raising his cute pet mermaid before he realizes An Jin has human-level intelligence, then treats him as a child, then as a teenager (and the text frequently refers to An Jin as a "teenager" from Norman's POV...), and then somewhat creepily moves on to seeing him as a love interest. That escalation felt like it happened kind of quickly considering how long he knew An Jin (not sure how long, seemed like a couple months at most, and for a span of that he thought An Jin was little more than a smart animal, then thought he was the mental equivalent of a toddler), and I don't know if I'm creeped out or respect that he wanted An Jin to become a legal adult and educate him on romance so that An Jin could choose Norman of his own volition (keeping in mind that An Jin lives in isolation in the palace and only interacts rarely with a few other people), and when I say I don't know, I mean I'm definitely more creeped out, even if I know the whole "raising" thing is a thing for these kinds of novels. After they get together, Norman does little else but pamper his little waifu even more.

As much as I just said I was creeped out, Norman was otherwise an okayish-to-sometimes-pretty-decent male lead. Although occasionally overprotective, and questionable in his job as emperor, he did put a lot of thought and effort into An Jin's wellbeing, education, and independence, helped An Jin do a lot of things that he wanted, and largely ensured his freedom. He wasn't controlling or deliberately isolating, didn't take steps to force An Jin to be with him or otherwise manipulate him, and wasn't jealous/manipulative in the gross way often depicted as romantic in danmei.

I appreciated that Norman had an actual friend side character, the glorious Admiral Mu Chen, who exists mostly as comic relief and to give Norman someone to talk to, and is the owner of Norman's former mermaid, Little Silver. I liked Mu Chen more than Norman, frankly, although his own romance in the latter end of the novel was gunning for cute but was drawn out too long and disappointingly felt a bit boring and also frustrating, kind of like eating a cookie a crumb at a time and not even being able to eat the whole thing in the end.

As for our protagonist An Jin, he's there. He's very happy to be the Best Pet Ever initially, because hey he went from surviving the zombie apocalypse to a world where everything he needs or wants is given to him by his attractive and powerful new owner, so he might as well be a really good pet to him. I don't know that he had much personality beyond "earnest shou" as he was pretty one-dimensional like Norman, but his behavior didn't annoy me.

Naturally though An Jin is still a Mary Sue, being not only the Only Pure-Colored Mermaid in Existence, but also the only one with human intelligence and memory and ability to speak human language (due to transmigrating), and also when he transmigrated he brought his spiritual water abilities with him and so he's the only one in the universe with magic water powers, and also—

Spoiler

—when he hits mermaid maturity, he turns out to be the literal King of the Mermaids that all mermaids instinctively love and respect and worship. Because that's a thing. It definitely didn't have me rolling my eyes so hard they spun like turbocharged airplane propellers.

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The whole intelligence and memory thing is a part of the plot beyond him just being a special snowflake, as much of the later part of the novel deals with the origins of the mermaids and An Jin's relationship with other mermaids in general—not that there's much depth to any of those relationships except for Little Silver, who is probably the best mermaid in the story being impetuous and convinced of his own awesomeness and determined to teach the apparently timid An Jin how to intimidate two-legged beasts/humans.

Beyond that, there is, of course, a whole lot of talk and issues around food because, yep, you guessed it, the interstellar people live off nutrient solutions and don't know the taste of real food anymore except what they can eat virtually in the online world. In this version of the interstellar, it's because all food (and plants... and people...) have "impurities" that taste bitter/bad and degrade psychic abilities, for reasons whose origins are sort of kind of explained near the end and aren't really important because it's a plot device. Processing food into nutrient solutions removes most of the impurities, although no explanation is given for how this is actually accomplished. But hey, I find this plot device stuff to be slightly more plausible than the common generic reason that "food in the future just tastes so bland that nobody eats it and everyone has forgotten how to cook".

An Jin discovers that he can purify food with his water ability as well as his mermaid-healing-singing, and so there's typical foodie stuff about him eating a whole lot of delicious food and later on purifying food for others to eat, and what do you know, pure food can restore/purify mental energy almost as much as mermaid singing, and this does come into play later on for bigger plot stuff that still seems dumb to me for many reasons, but okay, at least it tried to follow its own logic even if I don't believe things would go nearly that smoothly or be that easy.

The story did end up feeling like it dragged on after a while, as it attempted to have plot but basically amounted to "everyone loves An Jin and An Jin is so cool look at what miraculous things he can do he can solve every problem in the universe", but as bad as that sounds, it wasn't as blatant and incredibly annoying as other stories I've read (looking at you, I'm Not Human). In this story, it ended up just being a little boring after a while.

Rated this 3.5 star as a 4 star rather than a 3 because eh, it was decent enough and despite all my complaints I was entertained enough to keep reading and finish it. It was decent enough to rate better than merely okay, but not high enough to unconditionally qualify as good. <<less
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bookybookworm
bookybookworm rated it
September 16, 2023
Status: c41
i know that an jin is an adult from the apocalypse but THIS FEELS LIKE g*ooming?? in norman's point of view an an is a normal teenage mermaid AND HE'S LIKE "oh i'll teach him about love so he can accept my feelings" and in the live he basically claimed an an. an an has no power to refuse basically.

if I was him I would kick the sh*t out of norman cos he's trying to groom me, and also IF I WAS A FIGHTER FROM POST APOCALYPSE I wouldnt be... more>> as innocent as an an...... I would be like "wait a f*ckin minute this guy buys me and treats me with common human decency, treats me like a child, why the f*ck should I be grateful to him"

idk what happens in the later parts of the novel but I would be so angry w humans as well, seems like they basically created a new mermaid species to be dumb and have no freedom, and made them work for the humans. viva la revolution <<less
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Kassandra
Kassandra rated it
July 8, 2023
Status: --
It was actually great, I like the premise of the novel so much. It's like the pre-mermaid coexistence with the humans. It was before all the things started, its right from the beginning. I really like it because most of the mermaid/humans novels that I saw is after the beginning. There's already order, rules, and procedures on how they do things.

On the contrary to the settings, I don't like the characters that much. As like some of reviews said, the MC doesn't really resemble someone who experience the apocalypse. He's... more>> too gentle, and humane. And whenever his other qualities are revealed, (him being smart and all) other characters, even passersby characters will suddenly said along the lines of, "his majesty is so gentle", "who wouldn't like a gentle and well-behaved mermaid?", etc. It's engraving and reverting back the readers on how gentle the MC is. And I don't think MC really deserves to be the mermaid king because he's wayyy more partial to humans. I mean– I don't blame him because he's originally a human before he became a mermaid but at least he should put the mermaid's interest first, not humans.

Spoiler

You can see it in the middle of the novel, when mermaid couple wants to escape to the sea but he doesn't want them to leave the humans.

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Most of his decisions is just because he became the mermaid king. If he was an ordinary mermaid, would he have the pressure to bear the responsibility of saving other mermaids? Probably not, he may even help humans.

Spoiler

Where have you even f*cking seen a ruler that doesn't live in their own kingdom? This. Novel's. F*cking. MC.

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The ML, on the other hand, he's really restrictive and too possessive to MC. I feel like he's hindering the MC's personal development. It's like MC is a child that he needed to follow anywhere. Even when he knew MC only treated the other mermaids as friends, he's just, "no" and gets jealous every f*cking time. And what's with this double standard? On the human side, they call MC their queen and the ML their king. On the mermaids side though, they call MC their king while they call ML "your majesty". Like wtf, can we stop being f*cking stereotype that the weaker one in the relationship will be called a female title? It's not appropriate, you know. I really hate it when this situation happen in a BL/yaoi/shounen ai novel.

The other mermaid characters though, I love them! They're really just so cute and their behavior is funny too. They're so pure. They need to be protected.

Ah, my final rating is 1.5/5. I really can't bear it na. It's becoming worse as it comes to an end. I didn't even register a thing about the side couple because I don't really like it. <<less
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