is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshitaka Ushiki. The series was serialized in Houbunsha's seinen manga magazine Manga Time Kirara Forward from 2008 to 2020. An anime television series by J.C.Staff which aired in 2011.
Plot Yumeji Fujiwara is a young male student like any other who, after an event that occurred 10 years previously, gained the power to see the aura of other people's dreams, and the ability to predict what kind of dream they will have next. Since then, he has started to have strange dreams of cats following him for an unknown reason. The boss of the cat army, John Doe, tells him that his body is needed to access the real world. One day, a mysterious girl fell on top of him as he was returning home from his errands. This girl, named Merry Nightmare, is a , searching for a way to return to her world. Yumeji decides to help her, and a gate to the world of dreams opens again, this time in full daylight. She appears in the daydream world looking for an answer on how to get back to her world. Meanwhile, an evil dream demon named Pharos Hercules is leading other dream demons to make humans into their vessels to raise an army, killing those that oppose him which causes humans to lose sight of their goals and ambitions. Yumeji eventually becomes Merry's partner, using his ability to scout out dream demons so Merry can hunt them.
After Hercules' downfall, Merry's quest to return to the dream world continues. In the meantime, a mysterious boy named Kyou Shiragi transfers to Yumeji's class, where dream demons are suddenly manifesting; as a result of their losses, they cause humans to accomplish their goals instead of destroying them. With dream demons seen by previous vessels, Yumeji and Merry now must investigate this unusual phenomenon and restore balance. It is revealed that Yumeji and Merry met 10 years previously when an incident occurred in the dream world. During the school cultural festival, a powerful dream demon in the form of Kyou and his minions attempts to disturb the balance of both worlds. The pair and their companions fought together to send the adversaries back through the doorway, repairing it, and everything the dream demons have touched becomes undone. Knowing they will forget each other, Merry bids Yumeji farewell with a kiss. Sometime later, Yumeji and his friends still remember Merry and others by heart, and Yumeji started writing a book based on their recounted adventures.
Characters Main characters
A dream demon from the dreamworld, who allegedly came into the real world 10 years ago without any memory. Unlike the other dream demons, she does not need to possess a human to enter the real world, as she has her own body. Searching for a door to return to the dream world, she falls onto Yumeji one day, who wants to help her find her way back home. At first reluctant, when a daydream occurs and she saves Yumeji's life, she accepts his help. Merry can break the daydreams to get back into the real world. When Yumeji got supposedly stabbed by Hercules she remarks that she "doesn't need a world without Yumeji anymore". She also reacted the worst out of everyone by displaying the violent strength of her Gate Keeper power, showing how much he means to her. She cannot eat spicy food or drink carbonated soda, but she loves doughnuts above everything and likes video games a lot. She currently works at the Tachibana restaurant. Merry's distinct features include horizontal slit-shaped pupils similar to that of sheep and a scar on her right arm, in the same place where Yumeji used to have his. Her name is derived from the rhyme "Mary had a little lamb". Her other name, given by Yumeji is , while her real other name is because she has the dream demon in charge of guarding the gate between dream and reality. Merry possesses a keychain that, when it touches a dream demon, forces the dream demon back to the dream world without harming the vessel's dream. The keychain has been shown to have its key detach and summon the Gate itself. Merry finally recovers her full strength when touching a hero's mask belonging to Yumeji ten years previously. She and Yumeji shared a body to seek excitement in the real world until an accident with Isana in a playground scarred their arms and forcibly separated them. Once the truth is finally revealed in Merry's irresponsibility she and kid Yumeji were caught in collusion against Rem who threw them in a vortex sending them to the real world from distance losing all memory of the events but promising to find each other. As the door between the real and dream world is fixed, Merry consoles Yumeji on how their meeting became an adventure in a story, even though she claims that all humanity will forget the existence of dream demons, Yumeji strongly suggests that he'll do his best to remember, and Merry surprises him with a kiss, before disappearing back home.
Yumeji has the ability to look at a colored aura of people and then be able to predict what dreams they are going to have. Though his normal predictions are hazy at best, he can clearly identify when someone is destined to have a nightmare. When he looks in the mirror with that ability, he sees the colors for nightmares, and indeed, in the opening episode, he has a recurring nightmare where he is being hunted down by a gang of cats.Dream Eater Merry, episode 1 He is a lazy, yet strong-willed and determined person with a heart of gold, who is always ready to help others. He is also a member of a writing club at his high school and is a big fan of the superhero called Guricho. Information about his family and past is unknown, but it has been said that his parents are away due to work, and is currently under the care of Isana's family until they get back. He had a scar in the same place as one Merry has on her arm, although this is not alluded to in the anime. Yumeji also has the ability to use what he calls "Lucid Gadget"; his right eye changes into the pupil of previous dream demons and he is able to mimic their signature abilities. It has recently been revealed that Yumeji is not fully human and has the same energy source as Hercules, which is why he is immortal in the dream world. In Kyou's arc, Yumeji gains a newfound ability "vessel transfer" that allows him to temporarily acquire a dream demon from another to make use of their aspects but gets a case of insomnia as the cost of energy. Yumeji and Merry have known each other before when they were children. 10 years ago, a kid Yumeji somehow found himself in the dream world meeting Merry. As he comes to visit her daily she notices a key had been misplaced in the stockpile collection that accesses the labyrinth doors. To ease her frustration, Yumeji ventures into the dream world her in circles running into the same odd door. Violently the law of opening someone else's door, the right arms of Yumeji and the newly born Rem got swapped, making Yumeji ineffective to other dream demons. He and Merry then fell into a vortex back in the real world with no memory of the events. Yumeji and Kyou eventually have their dormant arms returned when fighting a decisive battle at the dream world's gateway. Before becoming a normal human again, Yumeji uses the last of his powers to share doughnuts with Merry when they part ways. He aspires to write a novel based on his lost memories of dream demons, titled "Yumekui Merry."
Isana is Yumeji's childhood friend, whom Yumeji has been living with for a while. Daughter of the cook of a restaurant in the city, she is a kind and quite shy girl who works with her father. Yumeji saved her as she was about to fall from a playground when she was young. She also commented once that she had a feeling that she had met Merry before but shook the idea off as her imagination. She is in love with Yumeji and asks Merry what kind of feelings she has for him. Her dream is to be an artist. When first seeing Merry, Isana speculates that Merry and Yumeji somehow resemble each other. After being targeted by Legion, Yumeji and Merry tell her the truth about dream demons. Confused that Kyou claims he saved Isana from falling in her youth (technically he meant Yumeji's right arm that he currently possesses), she comes to a realization that as children it was actually both Yumeji and Merry who saved her before upon showing they share the same scar on the arms. On their date on Christmas Eve, with covert encouragement from Merry, Isana tries to confess her love to Yumeji but is interrupted. Yumeji tells Isana that he likes her and asks her to illustrate his novel, to which she happily agrees.
Yui is a young girl whom Yumeji meets in a supermarket. She goes to an all-girls school. She has a strong interest in collecting dolls and keychains, particularly unique-looking ones, and she is a terrible cook. She is always determined to help others however she can, and has a habit of wanting to be acknowledged as a superior. It is this trait that leads her to become the voluntary vessel of another dream demon, Engi Threepiece, after she decides to help her. Yui has a sister-like relationship with Engi, soothing her whenever she feels her deep sadness towards losing her older sister. It is shown Yui works part-time assisting her grandfather, who is a doctor when Yumeji went to have his ankle healed. She also seems to have shown affection towards Yumeji when they first met. Regardless of everyone's memories alternated Yui remains friends with Yumeji, Isana, and others.
Engi is an angel-like dream demon with an aggressive manner yet very apologetic. Her daydream is a field of prairies that contains a moon. She can multiply swords and launch them towards her enemies. She wants to avenge her older sister, Patti, who was tricked into going to the real world and ended up being killed there. Engi thus asked Yui's help to become her vessel in order to search for Pharaos Hercules, whom she believes is responsible for Patti's death. Although she can only physically appear during daydreams, she can possess Yui's body in order to speak with others. When Engi first encounters Merry thinking she was a threat Yumeji defends her. Later after settling their differences, Engi and Yui join forces with Yumeji and Merry in their battles with dream demons. Due to Engi's fuzzy purple collar, she is often nicknamed "Nasu-onna" (meaning "Eggplant-lady") by Merry. Upon Hercules' defeat, Engi recommends Merry to send her back home instead she orders Engi to remain in the human world until the true foe, Rem, is vanquished. Engi soon learns to manifest her sword and powers while possessing Yui's body. Once the war at school was resolved, Engi bids farewell to her "little big sister", Yui. Her name, Threepiece is an allusion to the story about good things to see during your first dream during the new year. First is Mount Fuji, second is a hawk, and the third is eggplant. "Engi" means Pratītyasamutpāda, which is also the origin of her sister's name.