Many of us know the story of The Little Mermaid; a mermaid princess rescues and falls in love with a human prince, is given human legs by a sea witch in exchange for her voice, and is turned into sea foam after failing to win the prince's heart. If you're confused by that last part, it might be because you only know of Disney's version of The Little Mermaid, which has a significantly happier ending; the original Hans Christian Andersen story ends in a way that many may consider a tragedy - one where the little mermaid is unable to find true love with her prince. There are plenty of fish in the sea, however, so wouldn't it be nice for the little mermaid to have been given a second chance at love? "Sayonara Lara" - an original anime that is Kinema Citrus's most recent project - uses that second chance to explore love in a few different ways and tells a compelling story in the process.
Sayonara Lara, known in English as "Goodbye, Lara", begins in 1777, when mermaid princess Lara is born. Even as a child, she is fascinated by humans, and fifteen years later, she even rescues one from drowning. She is soon approached by the sea witch Grace, who gives her a potion that turns her into a human in exchange for her voice; once she is human, Lara is able to meet her prince. In the end, however, she is unable to truly be with him and vanishes into sea foam. It's a familiar story up until this point, but the story doesn't end there in this anime. You see, Lara wakes up in Lake Biwa over 200 years later to find that because of her failure, her kingdom's light is fading, and her family has been put into a deep slumber. To save her kingdom and her family, Lara undergoes a trial from Grace where she must find true love with a human.
Love is an important theme for Sayonara Lara. Love between family members, love between friends, unrequited love.... Different kinds of love, really. There are even some queer undertones involving Lara and the first human she meets during her second time on land, Mari Otsu; I'm not sure if I fully bought the way their relationship went for reasons I'll explain later, yet I did like their bond quite a bit. There are also good lessons to be taught here, like how you can't rush love or that your feelings for someone may not be romantic, even if you try to convince yourself they are. I don't know how I can really describe it, but Lara's journey is quite heartwarming yet heartbreaking at the same time; there are elements of tragedy to it, yet one may consider the ending of the anime to be happier than the original fairy tale.
Lara herself may not be the most fascinating character out there, but she's a strong protagonist who went through a believable journey throughout the series. I thought Mari was a relatively cool character, too, especially at the beginning and ending of the anime. However, around the halfway point, Mari doesn't receive as much focus as the anime shifts towards the relationship between Lara and another character named Luca; her own relationship with Lara isn't developed as much during that time, which is what makes it hard for me to fully buy the direction their relationship went. Luca is definitely an important character for exploring the anime's themes, though, so it's hard to say that his inclusion was detrimental; plus, he's an amusing character in his own way. The two most fascinating characters in Sayonara Lara have got to be Grace and Lisa; although I had difficulties fully understanding their motivations until late into the series, their backstories make them both very sympathetic.
I don't think there's a single Kinema Citrus production I've seen with bad animation, even though I don't really like every anime they've worked on - looking at you, Kuma Miko - and it's no different with Sayonara Lara. In fact, the folks at Kinema Citrus went out of their way to give Sayonara Lara a unique-compared-to-their-other-anime look that may remind one of some old-school shoujo manga; with that and some genuinely breathtaking animation sequences in mind, I can't say I have any complaints about the animation. (I also find the choice in Lara's character design to have a scar on her tongue to be a nice bit of attention to detail.) Sayonara Lara is fantastic sound-wise, too; all of the voice actors did pretty good jobs at their roles. That includes Nana Kawaishi, Mari's voice actress, who hasn't had a named role until now; I also think that it's cool that she's actually from Shiga Prefecture, where the anime primarily takes place. The opening and ending themes - "Sayonara Lara" by Ikimongakari and "Hearts Glow" by Hana Hope, respectively - are both beautiful songs that fit the mood of the anime perfectly.
I may have had as hard of a time conveying what makes Sayonara Lara so good as anyone might have finding their own true love, but I can say that I highly recommend it to those who want a new take on The Little Mermaid. I also want to say to those who are looking for love to not give up; it's a hard road, but eventually, love may come for you. In the meantime, perhaps Sayonara Lara will be an anime that you will come to love, too.
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