Wow that was so freaking good man! I’m obsessed with the art-style for the character designs. It feels so old-school and I’m here for it! I absolutely love the twists and flairs they added while using the fairy tale of the mermaid as the foundation of the story.
Truth to be told, we didn’t get to learn too much about Lara outside of being thousands of years old, and her great curiosity about Humans. She was always puzzled as to why they are regarded as “Sinful, vile creatures” they should never be in contact with. She showed she did have a stubborn streak, or pursuing after her own interests as she was willing to break the rules of making any contact, let alone even touch things that belongs to those that dwell on the surface, Lara still collected the lost treasures and belongings. She continued to be curious about them. One day, she witnesses a shipwreck, and a boy falls unconscious into the sea. She rescues him despite knowing she’s committing the sacred taboo. Unfortunately she was unable to hide her actions from her father, and was punished to being locked in the cell for one-hundred days.
It’s there where Lara meets her banished Aunt Grace, the witch of the sea. Grace offers her an opportunity, to take the potion she has made that would allow Lara to turn into a Human so she could reunite with the boy. Lara decides to accept the deal, agreeing to the conditions that in turn to ensuring absolute secrecy of the Merfolks, Grace will take away her voice. And off to the surface Lara went. Amazingly, she manages to encounter the boy and he takes her in. The two hit it off and it seems everything is going so perfectly despite lacking a voice… until the day finally arrived when the two were about to declare their love to one another.
The timing couldn’t have been worse for the grotesque transformation of her legs turning back into fins when she and the prince seemed to just about claim their love. However the prince was startled by this, and his defence revealed for the first time the way Human view the Merfolks, echoing the exact same sentiments of claiming they are vile, cursed beings. But because Lara recognized it was her fault for hiding about her true form, she didn’t blame him for it, and acknowledged she was the vile one, and accepts her fate of turning into sea-foam.
Now we don’t know exactly what had happened after she turned into foam and what the dagger that emerged from the light within her did to the prince. In-fact, the light-turned-dagger appeared to have life and mind of its own, blearily waking up to see the loss of its host, and turned its attention to the Prince. Since it faded out before we could get any answers, it’s unclear whether it impaled ended up Prince in retaliation of her demise, or not…
After turning into sea-foam, Lara wakes up in her shell and is surprised to be alive. But she quickly discovers that the place she called home has fallen into ruins, and her family is missing. Through the magic mirrors she learns the hard way why making contact with Humans is considered a sacred taboo. The consequences for doing so are terribly catastrophic, bringing out a great calamity that snuffed out the light the royal family is said to be responsible for. By taking that potion and turning Human, the light disappeared with Lara, and her father had no other choice than to seek aid from his banished sister Grace, the witch whom help set this all into motion in the first place.
Grace did help them, but it wasn’t enough to avoid the repercussion of the curse. So Lara’s father left her one last message for her: She must receive the last light that remains within him. It didn’t matter that she committed the taboo and brought forth the calamity, at the end of the day, she’s still his precious daughter, and still in that moment, he reaffirmed his love for her.
It’s really important to note too, Rowan has been honestly a great father to Lara– at least from what we’ve seen from this episode. Overprotective? Yes, and he certainly had justified reasons for reasons that were never fully explained (the curse, which I do hope they’ll explain more in depth in the future since it was thrown onto us), but he did give her more leeway than most would expect. He knew Lara had been collecting Human’s relics, but he didn’t stop her, he stayed quiet about it. It’s only when she had made contact with a Human and went to the surface did he confront her about it, and punish her by being grounded in a cell for one-hundred days.
I will say though, the witch Grace is rather an intriguing character. She doesn’t appear to be purely evil, nor does she seem to be driven by malice, or power-hungry intentions. Instead, it seems she’s far more driven by the fact she senses Lara bears this unique potential that sets her apart from others. Grace has also made a comment about how Lara ‘Possess the same quality of Her late Majesty’, and even brought up this whole thing about a prophecy regarding the ‘resurrection of the princess’.
Initially this confused me, because I wasn’t sure which princess she was talking about, even more so when Rowan’s responded with saying he has no interest in such, but I think I understand it now. The prophecy of the princess resurrecting is Lara, as she dies in her first life (some point around or after 1792 AD since that’s when she went to the surface), and wakes up thousands of years later to begin her second. In addition to that, Grace had also pointed out at the time that Lara possesses similar power to Rowan, which might be the key reason why she was able to inherit his light.
So if Lara is the one in the prophecy, then what else is there to it that have yet to be revealed? Is it really just Lara’s mission to bring light back to the kingdom that has fallen into ruins?
At this time, Grace gives me the impression she’s trying to witness a miracle of a sort, and it taking action to set things into motion for it. That could also explain why she was disappointed when things were going south for Lara at the moment she and the prince were about to declare their love for one another. Her reaction was one of disappointment, “A tragic heroine, huh? What a dull ending.” Which suggests she’s seeking a different outcome. So when she saw the light within Lara come to life when she was turning into sea-foam, she became excited, she knew they could start again. Most impressively, she seems pleased that Lara even acknowledged that she has nobody else to blame but herself for making the decision to turn Human.
And while it’s definitely too early to say with any certainty, she strikes me as someone who isn’t necessarily an ‘evil villain, but perhaps might be the type who’d be best classified as a “Chaotic Good”. She might have good intentions, but has a twisted way of going about it. The reason why I think this, is because she claims she saved her brother (Rowan) and the rest of their relatives by collecting their light and safeguarding them in their shells before they could vanish. So it could be Grace is willing to play the role of the villainess to set things into motion for the greater good,which not only would add a great twist to the story, but this could also explain this ‘trial’ that she’s sending Lara on! But it’s really too early to say! So take this with a grain of salt!
Another thing Grace had shared with us, were the words a Human once said (which seems to suggest perhaps she has had contact with a Human or more than one in the past). “We’re first born to exist. And then a second time to live.” And you could say the situation that played out was more or less exactly that. Lara merely existed in the first life. First bounded by rules, broke it, but in exchange for the potion to turn into a Human, she had to leave behind her voice. Now in her second life, she’s given the opportunity to be herself, and do whatever it takes to find the light to save her beloved family.
Apart from that, Grace and Lara aren’t the only survivors. It appears Lara’s elder sister Luna (seen wearing the royal ringer given to them at the age of ten) may have been able to successfully escape to the surface, likely with the help of Grace. This is certainly an interesting decision on her part, or perhaps it was the only choice she had when the calamity was befalling them. Luna was never fond of the surface, and as a child, she took their father’s words seriously to the point even making any contact with Human’s belongings is a bad idea. Given how Lara’s choices had brought forth the calamity and their entire family and community suffered for it, and (likely) solitude her sister endured for thousands of years… I can’t imagine their inevitable reunion will be sunshine and roses. It’s going to be messy and very complicated!
But upon her return to the surface, the first one Lara will meet will be Mari Otsu, a boxer. Lara’s about to have a crash landing on her– which definitely would’ve killed her if she weren’t quick enough to put her fish bowl down, and whip on her boxing goals to deflect Lara! This girl is strong! What should be noted however, is that Lara has yet to take the potion, therefore has not transformed into a Human yet. So with her still being a mermaid, it’ll be interesting to see how Mari will react to that!
Overall this premiere was absolutely fantastic. I really missed having this magical old school feeling when watching this. It felt so much like a classic, and the animation was breathtaking. While rewatching some scenes to verify my notes and taking screencaps, I realized that when the scenes are taking place in the sea, not once are any frames still. There’s always the motion of water from hair to fins. It made it so alive. It was such a treat to watch, making this such a great artistic and cinematic choice for Kinema Citrus’s 15th anniversary production!
Goes without saying I’m very excited for this one. I would love to cover this, but I can’t commit to it just yet because I still have a list of other shows I’ve yet to check out, and I need to make sure my injury isn’t relapsing which would affect how many shows I can pick up. As it stands right now, I’m hoping I can cover at least three!
Possibility of Blogging: Moderately High – Will be giving three episodes, while considering my other options + taking onto consideration that inflammation from Tendinitis has been flaring up again this week.
