Mermaid Fortune-telling!
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The following is a translation of the Mermaid Fortune-telling that was included as part of a special fortune-telling book, that was a furoku item for the April 2004 issue of Nakayoshi. It is the same fortune-telling system that Hanon used to tell her, Lucia's, and Rina's fortunes in chapter 08 of the manga.
This fortune-telling system is based on what day of the week you were born on. It goes like this:
Monday: Pink Mermaid
Tuesday: Yellow Mermaid
Wednesday: Aquamarine Mermaid
Thursday: Deep Blue Mermaid
Friday: Purple Mermaid
Saturday: Green Mermaid
Sunday: Orange Mermaid
For example, I was born on December 17th, 1982. That happened to be a Friday, so I am a purple mermaid. The Nakayoshi fortune-telling book gives further examples. Lucia was born on July 3rd, 1989, which was a Monday. Hence, she is a pink mermaid. Hanon was born on May 24th, 1989, which was a Wednesday. Hence, she is an aquamarine mermaid. Rina was born on September 2nd, 1989, which was a Saturday... You get the idea.
But how can you tell which day YOU were born on?
There are several methods. One, check a calendar from your birth year. This site has calendars from the sixteenth century to the thirtieth century available online. Two, ask your parents - they might remember! The Nakayoshi fortune-telling book also came with a rather complicated page, covered in numbered grids, that would help you determine the day of the week that you were born on. However, I see no point in reproducing that page here, especially since there are easier ways to find your birthdate online.
So, once you've figured out which day of the week that you were born on, and which color mermaid you are, you can click the links below to find out your love fortune.
Pink | Yellow | Aquamarine | Deep Blue
Purple | Green | Orange
CAVEAT! This fortune-telling system is designed for GIRLS ONLY! It really isn't supposed to work for guys. So guys, you can go ahead and get your love fortune told anyway, but the results will probably only make you laugh.
PS!! Updated, new versions of the fortune-telling system (with new fortunes for each color mermaid!) have been published a couple times since I originally posted this translation. These revisions include:
- An interactive fortune-telling game on the Nakayoshi homepage (more specifically, here, in case you can't read the Japanese link menus).
- An insert with the September 2004 issue of Nakayoshi.
- A special section in the back of volume 05 of the manga.
However, I have neither the time nor the energy to translate the new fortunes printed therein. My apologies. But for now, however, y'all will just have to content yourselves with the slightly-outdated fortunes linked above.
PPS! Del Rey's English edition of volume 05 of the manga includes a translation of the "newest" (read: NOT the same as the fortunes that I've translated above) fortune-telling system. So you can go ahead and enjoy even more mermaid fortune-telling in English. And before someone can send me an angry email about this (oops, too late!): YES, the fortunes published in the back of volume 05 are completely different from the fortunes in the furoku booklet that I've translated above. So if you notice that the fortunes on this website and the fortunes printed in the Del Rey manga are completely different... That's because they're supposed to be. It's not because either I or Del Rey suck at translation or anything. It's because the two fortune-telling systems were completely different in the original Japanese.