The fear of flights is a common syndrome. Frequent fliers may not be paying too much heed to pre-flight announcements and safety demonstrations but heaven knows how many of us our petrified when the smiling flight attendant politely points out how are chances of survival may be increased. And if you have recently read Arthur Hailey's 'Airport' or seen the movie, then it would be better to travel on tracks or on the road.

Though the trend has not caught on in India, in many other places in-flight safety lectures and announcements are sometimes flavoured a little with humour and some amount of well meaning teasing. This often helps to lighten up the situation a bit. Here are a few classic examples of flight-wit; it is for you to decide how effective these are.

§ On a Continental Flight with a very “senior” flight attendant crew, the pilot said, “Ladies and gentlemen, we've reached cruising altitude and will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your flight attendants.”

§ “On landing, the stewardess said, “Please be sure to take all of you belongings.

*MY FAVORITE ANIME*

My Bride is a Mermaid

My Bride is a Mermaid is the title of a Japanese manga series written by Tahiko Kimura. The manga was first serialized in 2002 in the Japanese manga magazine Monthly Gangan WING, published by Square Enix. In 2004, a drama CD based on the series was released by Frontier Works. An anime television series adaptation animated by Gonzo and directed by Seiji Kishi aired in Japan on TV Tokyo between April 1 and September 30, 2007, containing twenty-six episodes. An original video animationproject has also been announced.Odex, a Singaporean distributor, released it in English in Singapore as Seto No Hana Yome. The anime was licensed for a North American distribution by Funimation Entertainment and was released in 2010 under the title My Bride is a Mermaid!

Plot

The story of Seto no Hanayome revolves around a young teenage boy named Nagasumi Michishio. One day during his summer vacation at Seto Bay, Nagasumi is saved from drowning by a mermaid, Sun Seto. Under mermaid law, however, either the mermaid whose identity was revealed, or the human who saw the mermaid, must be executed. In an attempt to save both Nagasumi and Sun's lives, Sun's family, which is the head of a mermaid mafia group, reluctantly decides that the two are to be married. Sun's father Gōzaburō is enraged about his daughter's sudden marriage. Between Gōzaburō's constant attempts on his life and the madcap antics of a slew of antagonists, Nagasumi has a hard time transitioning into his new married lifestyle.

Characters

Some mermaid/merman characters are named for star (or planet) names and sea names.

Michishio family

Nagasumi Michishio

Nagasumi is the main character of the story. Nagasumi is likely the only one in his family who has a clear head, apart from his grandmother. When push comes to shove, Nagasumi demonstrates a great deal of inner strength. He decided to face his fears and take on the responsibility of taking care of Sun as his wife, although it doesn't make it easy on him due to almost everyone in the Seto group (except Sun's mother—Ren, and Masa) who are against their union. As the series progresses, however, he truly falls in love with Sun. Sun often uses her Song of Heroes to power Nagasumi up in battle situations, but in the case where Sun is directly threatened he is able to activate the power-up by himself.

Nagasumi's father

Nagasumi's father is always shown as an object of suffering, due to his wife's dying love for him. Whenever his wife shows her interest in Masa, he is shown in a depressed state, like the time she offers Masa her home cooked meal, he is shown coughing on a burger and then subsequently harangued by his boss to get back to work.

Nagasumi's mother

Nagasumi's mother is the easy going type, and has an interest for Masa, which her husband is not particularly happy about. Current events in her life have caused her love towards her husband to gradually die out.

Nagasumi's grandmother

She makes an appearance early in the story and allows Nagasumi to stay at her house during their stay with her.

Seto family

Sun Seto

The female protagonist of the story, Sun is the daughter of the Yakuza Seto Group's boss, Gōzaburō Seto. She is a firm believer in the chivalrous spirit of mermaids, and is devoted to her role as Nagasumi's wife. She is also in love with Nagasumi. Since she has yet to become an adult, Sun is unable to completely maintain her human form, and her legs revert to a tail whenever she comes into contact with water. She often cites the similarity between the Japanese words "ninkyō" (任侠 ^?, chivalry) and "ningyo" (人魚 ^?, mermaid) to stress her adherence to honorable courses of action; in the Funimation release of the anime, her assertion is rephrased as "honor amongst thieves is honor under the seas". When Sun enters chivalry mode cherry blossom petals can be seen in the background. It is later revealed during Lunar and Nagasumi's wedding that if the need arises she can fight very well with a sword and also shows behavior much like a Yakuza member. Her name is related to Seto Inland Sea and is a direct reference to the Sun. She has her own personal body guards but does not use them same way that Lunar does. They only show up on matters involving Lunar’s personal body guards whom they (Sun's body guards) are constantly at war with. Like most mermaids, she has a fear of cats (ailurophobia), but is capable of getting over it on occasion, like when the kitten that lives in Nagasumi's house is in danger of drowning, and she goes to save it.

Gōzaburō Seto

Gōzaburō is the boss of the Seto Group. He dotes on his daughter and hates Nagasumi for, as he sees it, trying to steal her away. By pulling strings at the ministry of education, Gōzaburō, together with many of the Seto Group members, enrolls in the staff of Nagasumi's junior-high school in order to watch over Sun, thus becoming Nagasumi and Sun's homeroom teacher. Even though he is the Yakuzahead of the Seto group as well as a powerfully built man with a formidable attitude, he has an overwhelming fear of cats (or kittens) due to an incident that happened in his childhood (which parodies that of Doraemon's fear of mice, both in its origins and his reaction when seeing the object of his phobia). He fears his wife as she will not hesitate to hand out punishment.

Ren Seto

Ren is Sun's mother. She likes to encourage Sun and Nagasumi, The most feared member of the Seto Group she usually tries to keep her husband and any other Seto Group members in check, often handing out extreme forms of punishment if they step out of line and has the final say on all matters. She also enjoys teasing Nagasumi, whom she thinks to be cute. She transfers with several other members of the Seto Group to Nagasumi's school, becoming the new school nurse. Like her daughter Sun When Ren enters chivalry mode pink flower petals can be seen in the background. Ren on appearance is seen as a kind and gentle person but shows behaviour much like a Yakuza member. Her name is likely a reference to the mythical creature, the Siren.

Seto Group members

Masa

Masa is a member of the Seto Group. He has an afro and always wearing sunglasses. Masa is the one who, through performing CPR, "stole" Nagasumi's first kiss. He also transfers to Nagasumi's school, becoming his math teacher (whose word problems tend to describe to the mathematical aspects of underworld gang operations). There is a running gag of Nagasumi displaying an attraction towards Masa since their 'first kiss' in the first episode. Masa is the only one apart from Sun's mother who doesn't object to the engagement and sometimes even gives advice to Nagasumi. Usually he is portrayed a silent man. However, when he drinks he tends to talk too much and reminisce. He is revealed later in the series to be the long-lost brother of Akeno Shiranui. Masa cares a lot for his sister Akeno Shiranui and is very protective of her often beating up those who are aggressive towards her. Masa is one of the few Merfolk not afraid of cats, explaining that he decided to overcome the fear as a child.

Maki

"Spiral Shell" Maki, despite being only few inches tall, is an assassin working for the Seto Group, as well a devoted friend of Sun. She uses a shell to shoot water balls as fast and powerful bullets and has a seemingly unlimited supply of ammunition. She, like Gōzaburō, dislikes the idea of "losing" Sun to Nagasumi, and will often distract Sun with sweet talk in order to fire her shell gun at Nagasumi. She thinks that Nagasumi and Lunar would be a much better match. She has a fear of cats (ailurophobia), but much to her dismay the cat at the Nagasumi's house has a liking to Maki and is often seen around her when Maki is not with Sun.

Shark Fujishiro

Shark is a member of Seto Group initially summoned by Sun's father during the Michishio family's initial visit to the Seto family home to attack Nagasumi. In human form, he later becomes Nagasumi's P.E. teacher. By his thinking, the sooner Nagasumi dies, the sooner everyone can return home. He often acts on this logic, trying to eat him. According to him, the answer to all problems is by eating the person causing the chaos, be it Sun's or Lunar's fans or a suicide bomber from his own group. he often seen sleeping and unlike Kai Mikawa he has the ability to only transform his head into that of a shark while his legs remain human.

Octopus Nakajima

Nakajima is another member of the Seto Group and is actually an octopus. He too becomes a teacher at Nagasumi's school. Unlike the others, his human form is never shown in the entire anime. Most of the time he appears stuck inside the school due to his huge size. It's also shown that some of his tentacles are missing. Some scenes taking place in the cafeteria will show octopus being fed to the students.