EXPLANATORY NOTE

I came across Marine Boy whilst searching for a teenaged superhero to hang a story on (having decided that Robin was just too cliché). Apparently, Marine Boy was the first Japanese-made colour anime series to be shown on western television - back in the sixties if my sources are correct.

Marine Boy is set in a future when mankind has begun to colonise the seas in a major way. In order to keep the world's oceans safe and to provide a measure of deep sea law and order, an organization called Ocean Patrol has been created (sort of like Seaquest DSV, only made thirty years earlier). Marine Boy lives on Ocean Base, which is part submarine, part pioneer colony, part plot device; which was developed by (and is commanded by) his father, Dr Mariner.

Naturally, Ocean Base is beset by perils both natural and man-made, and Marine Boy (who has no first name in the original series) acts as a sort of special agent to combat them. To do so, he is aided by several gadgets invented by Ocean Base's resident absent-minded genius, Professor Fumble. These include a wetsuit made of a new and extremely tough (yet flexible) material; boots with miniature jets built into the heels, enabling him to propel himself through the water at remarkable speeds; a boomerang which functions underwater and delivers a powerful electric shock to the unwary; and, most importantly, oxy-gum, which enables our hero to breathe quite normally underwater. For unexplained reasons, Marine Boy is the only one issued with these rather useful devices.

Many well-known laws of physics are conveniently ignored. Yes, I know.

Marine Boy patrols the seven seas in a sort of scout submarine called PC-1, crewed by Messrs Bullton and Piper, who are a bit like two stooges wondering where the third one has got to.

In the TV series, Marine Boy also as a pet dolphin called Splasher (who never needs to go up for air, despite being a mammal), and his best friend is a young mermaid called Neptina, who is permanently topless, but whose long hair always manages to conceal this fact. I have edited out Splasher and Neptina.

If you want to know more about the original anime, various clips are available on YouTube, and the original episodes are available on DVD, though I've not checked these out.

But what really decided me to use this character was the fact that it enabled me to use a punning title. Er, Yaoi does rhyme with Boy, doesn't it? I've only ever seen it written down.

IMPORTANT

This story is Yaoi. It contains exactly what you'd expect from Yaoi, so if that bothers you, don't read it. However, it's not the sort of story where the protagonists have sex by the bottom of page two and the author runs out of ideas (or gets bored) half-way down page three. It has a plot. A plot with more holes than a piece of Swiss cheese, but a plot nevertheless. This means that whole chapters will pass without anyone having an orgasm. Again, this might not be for you.

If there's anyone still reading, I hope you enjoy.

COVER

The cover was adapted (with the artist's permission) from a piece by Bowen12a, an extremely talented guy whose work at Deviantart is well worth checking out. I particularly recommend his serial The Pink Panda, which can be laugh out loud funny.