Nanao's Mother

* Manga
* Anime

## Name

**Nanao’s Mother** (七生の母, *Nanao no haha*) is a major character of Mermaid Saga, appearing the story “The Last Face”.

## Biography

She was married to the president of a company and was so doted to her only son Nanao who once offered her a red mirror with his allowance, that she accompanies to school and back home and doesn’t let him play with his friends. 25 years ago, as she was divorcing, Nanao was willing to go with his father for he feared her overprotectiveness, but she’d rather have him die with her than lose him to her husband so took him to the storehouse of their house where she got mermaid flesh that’s been in her family for generations knowing it only as a poison that would kill them both, and ate it first then tried to make him eat it, but she only got the right side of her face scarred and became immortal while Nanao could spit the flesh out which left a scar on his left shoulder and made him vomit blood and was found by her grandmother who took him to be treated, thus she eventually lost him.

Followingly, her life became a hell as she was forced to live with her disfigured face, hardly able go outside, having to cover her scarred face with bandages, and the pain caused by the scar becoming worst as years pass, and she couldn’t die as much as she wanted to. She’d witness from afar Nanao growing up, getting married and having a child whom she’d then kidnap 8 years ago as he had just turned two, naming him Nanao as well and would raise him as her own son. She shortly after that found the dead body of a woman washed ashore and after taking her face switched it with her own to hide away the scar, making her look like a different person, which also made the pain vanish.

She’d live in the same house with her mother and her grandson who believed his grandmother to be his mother and his great-grandmother to be his grandmother, and planning at some point to feed him mermaid flesh to also make him immortal, ground mermaid’s flesh into powder and had him eat it since he started elementary school whenever he’d get hurt under the claim that it’s medicine, believing it would build up his tolerance and make his immortality successful.

She meets Yuta and Mana as they bring Nanao back home after he escaped from his father who together with the help of his grandmother tried to recover his own son and save him from her, and warned her mother not to interfere again. The next day, she receives a call from her real son who asks her to meet him to which she agrees and puts her original face back covered with bandages in the storehouse. She goes to meet her real son at a cliff above town at sunset and as he asks for his son back, she pushes him over the edge then stabs Yuta who was spying on them and opposed her, then returns home. She finds Mana with Nanao in the storehouse, and attacks her but only succeeds in injuring her and driving the two out. Before Nanao could get mermaid ash for Mana who however didn’t need it, she cut off her original face and put her non-scarred one back onto herself then went to tell Nanao to stay in his room so she can go back to deal with Mana but is confronted by her real son whom Yuta saved. After revealing everything she did, she gets Nanao to come to her in the storehouse, and decides to feed him mermaid flesh. However, as she was about to make him eat it, the scar eventually manifests on her face, driving her to tears guessing it could mean she’d have to replace her face every time the scar together with its pain comes back, which prompts Nanao to try comforting her by agreeing to eat the flesh, although she suddenly became reluctant to it thinking it could result badly like with her own son but didn’t have the strength to stop him though he is stopped by Mana who makes him spit it and Yuta who manages to break inside says she should have been the one to stop him to which she answers that she’s not strong. As the sun rises, she gives both her red mirror and the boy back to her real son then leaves. Shortly thereafter, people speak of a fire in a warehouse in which the body of a woman was found, hinting she killed herself as Nanao hasn’t seen her again.

## Trivia

* Her seiyū also provided the voices of Ten's Mother of Urusei Yatsura, Yuko of Maison Ikkoku, and Yōkihi from Ranma ½, and Suijin of InuYasha.