Katharina von Keller
Emma (voice)
Overview
The lives of teenagers Emma, Cleo and Rikki are forever changed when a magical, forbidden island gives them the power to turn into mermaids.
Seasons
- Status
- Canceled
- Seasons
- 2 seasons
- Episodes
- 26 episodes
- First aired
- Jun 1, 2015
Cast
Reviews
2 min readUnder the waves, over the heads
I put on H2O: Mermaid Adventures ready to tune out. Kids' mermaid television usually slides past and leaves a salt ring on your attention. This one is smaller, and more stubborn.
It will not puff itself into a quest. It will not preach with a tail. Too much of this genre is noise or a sermon.
The series declines both, and I stayed.
Emma, Cleo, and Rikki find a magical island and come back able to become mermaids. Cheap setup. Restraint is what saves it.
No overlord. No countdown to the end of the ocean. Episodes stay local.
A chase through coral tunnels. A misunderstanding between friends. The grind of hiding a secret from people on land.
It trusts a young audience to care about small trouble. Kids' TV rarely offers that trust.
The pictures are unassuming, almost retro. Underwater rooms sit in soft blue and green, a watercolor wash that lets the sea act like a character instead of wallpaper. Not the dense CGI of Moana.
Audience Opinions
Audience 4.1/10
"A niche animated kids' series with modest appeal, held back by unremarkable execution."
Viewers describe *H2O: Mermaid Adventures* as a lightweight, family-friendly animated series aimed at younger audiences. While its premise and colorful animation provide some charm, the show struggles to stand out, with feedback highlighting a lack of depth in storytelling and character development. latestnetflix.com's take is that the rating reflects its mixed reception, leaning toward disappointment among those expecting more engaging content.
What viewers praise
- Colorful animation The visual style is bright and appealing for younger viewers.
- Family-friendly themes The series is suitable for kids and offers harmless, lighthearted entertainment.
Common complaints
- Weak storytelling The plot and character arcs feel shallow and uninspired, failing to engage older audiences.
- Low replay value Many find the series forgettable and unlikely to warrant repeat viewings.
- Mixed reception The low rating suggests it did not meet expectations for most viewers.
Recommended for
Young children Fans of light animation Parents seeking safe content
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsMIPCOM listed 52 half-hours. Netflix posted 26.
latestnetflix.com's read is that At Cannes in October 2014, Animation Magazine's MIPCOM roundup put H2O Mermaid Adventures on the Les Cartooneurs Associes and Fantasia Animation slate as a 52 x 26 2D series, distributed by ZDF Enterprises, aimed at girls, inspired by Jonathan M.Shiff's live-action H2O: Just Add Water. 
What landed on Netflix eight months later was half that buy. Wikipedia logs two drops of 13 episodes each, 22 May 2015 then 15 July 2015. ZDF Studios still catalogs the title as 26 x 26 and as a Netflix Original coproduced with ZDF, ZDF Enterprises, and France Televisions. Nobody published a kill memo for the missing 26. The market sheet just shrank. ,
The names stayed. The map did not.
Shiff's live-action shot the Gold Coast. The cartoon parks Emma, Cleo, and Rikki in Dolphin City. Bernie the hermit crab talks. ZDF's episode copy also names Zita the eel, Teddy the turtle, Sue the manta, and Carlotta the jellyfish. Denis Olivieri produced. Nicole Keeb and Arne Lohmann are listed as executive producers. Tian Xiao Zhang directed. Writers are Eric-Paul Marais, Delphine Dubos, and Franck Soullard. Mediatoon files a 2014 production year, English and French versions, and France as the country of record. Wikipedia also tags Germany, China, Canada, and Australia. , ,
English Netflix credits Sonja Ball, Holly Gauthier-Frankel, and Thor Bishopric. Wikipedia assigns Gauthier-Frankel to Rikki, Eleanor Noble to Emma, Sonja Ball to Cleo, Daniel Brochu to Lewis, and Bruce Dinsmore to Bernie. That is the Montreal session. German listings still float Katharina von Keller, Patrick Bach, and Sonja Stein. Treat those as the dub, not the English face of the show. ,
Claire Holt, Phoebe Tonkin, and Indiana Evans did not return as voices. Mako: Island of Secrets stayed live-action. The cartoon is the cousin that kept Mako Island and added a talking crab.
ZDF kept selling mermaids after Netflix stopped dropping episodes.
In November 2016, Animation Magazine reported ZDFE.junior heading into Asia TV Forum with H2O - Mermaid Adventures as a newly launched 26 x 26 spin-off of the live-action series that had aired in over 160 territories, including Nickelodeon in the US, aimed at kids 6-10, with merchandising ready. Peter Lang, then VP, said the company was looking for licensing partners for its mermaid brands. GMA in the Philippines bought live-action H2O and Mako Mermaids, not the cartoon. The toon was the catalog lead that week, not the sale.
Netflix still lists title 80025553 as TV-Y7, two seasons. TMDB files tv/77020. The last half-hour is "Trapped," 15 July 2015. There is no sourced third-season order. If a merch deal closed in Asia after ATF, the English trades did not print the buyer. , ,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
Series
Similar Series
Related series ranked by rating and popularity.
