Up where they walk, up where they run, up where the little mermaid finally gets a refreshing, promising retelling.
Goodbye, Lara is Kinema Citrus’s 15th anniversary animation project, using The Little Mermaid as its base before slowly twisting it into something a lot more bitter than you expect.
We all know the story at this point. Mermaid falls in love with a prince, gives up her voice, becomes human, prince falls in love with someone else, and she turns into foam. Goodbye, Lara starts there, then immediately starts shifting these narrative building blocks around in ways that feel small at first, but end up changing everything once it all starts coming together.
Warning: spoilers ahead, swim with caution
In Kinema Citrus's version of the fairytale, Lara's prior characterisation starts off in a similar way to the original mermaid princess who's bored of life underwater. It's not explicitly stated or shown why Lara was born vastly indifferent to her surroundings, but it is evident that life as a mermaid princess is something she doesn't particularly find enjoyable.
Her world changes as a child when she ends up discovering an abandoned wooden doll in the seabed, which kicks off her fascination with humanity. As the episode progresses, her curiosity only deepens, leading to that fateful encounter with the human prince.
Goodbye, Lara is positioning itself as more than just a romance
The usual expectation would be some variation of romance or rivalry, but Goodbye, Lara moves away from that centuries-established structure fairly quickly. Instead of introducing another character to compete for the prince’s attention, the story keeps Lara at the centre of the relationship in a more direct way.
The sea witch in this version is also not framed in the usual way. Grace the sea witch is an outcast, exiled by the Sea King, Rowan, for her magical abilities and her power to prophecy. She is also Lara’s aunt, which already shifts the dynamic away from something purely antagonistic.
At the beginning of the anime, Grace has already observed that Lara has a destiny different from others. What she sees in her is still unclear, but her reaction suggests Lara is important to whatever story she is trying to find. Grace is established as someone looking for a story that doesn’t bore her, and while she is the one who facilitates Lara’s transformation by stoking her curiosity and giving her the potion that turns her human, she doesn’t come across as actively malicious.
She feels more like someone observing the situation unfold, even if she is still the one setting things in motion.
The prince, however, becomes the point where the story fully breaks from the familiar structure.
When Lara begins to revert back into her mermaid form, the prince reacts by drawing his sword and calling her appearance repulsive. There is no misunderstanding or hesitation in the moment. It is an immediate rejection, and it effectively ends Lara’s understanding of what the relationship was. From there, the story does not continue in the direction she expects.
When she awakens, her home is already in ruins. The mermaid kingdom is in decline, and her family has left in search of a new place to live. It is also implied that Lara’s transformation has triggered a wider curse.
At that point, the focus shifts away from romance entirely. Instead, the story starts to deal more directly with different forms of love–familial relationships, sibling bonds, and parental ties–and how they fracture under loss and regret. Lara’s situation is less about achieving a desired outcome, and more about dealing with consequences that have already spread beyond her control.
Grace the sea witch later offers her a trial that may allow her to restore what was lost, which sets up the next part of the story as something closer to a journey into an unfamiliar world, rather than just a continuation of a love story.
Kinema Citrus's love letter to animation
But at the heart of this anime is Kinema Citrus’s love and dedication to the craft. The animation is fluid, vibrant, and full of life.
It’s incredibly smooth, dynamic, and creative, with a clear homage to the classic '90s shoujo style. That style gives the episode a strong sense of emotional nostalgia and warmth, which reinforces the themes already being set up in the first episode.
The colour work feels almost like a nod to Technicolor, adding to that same nostalgic pull the visuals are going for. There’s also a kind of whimsical visual clutter that occasionally feels reminiscent of Studio Ghibli, especially in the way backgrounds and movement are layered together without feeling restrained. It's nothing short of cinematic.
Watching the episode for the first time, as someone who’s seen far too much anime over the years, I felt a bit caught off guard by how emotional I became. It brought back that same kind of youthful wonder–like the first time I watched anime on a beat-up CRT in my childhood. That sense of wonder, and how overwhelming the joy of watching anime back then. That last scene, where Lara flies across the sky atop a powerful jet of water akin to a shooting star, gave me chills.
I just hope Kinema Citrus keeps up with that standard they've set, because to me, the animation was absolutely perfect.
Should you watch Goodbye, Lara?
The simple answer is: yes. Definitely. Please give this anime a chance.
The first episode may have only started to scratch the surface of Kinema Citrus's retelling of the classic fairytale, but the way they've laid out the foundation is strong and immediately piques your interest. I mean, what’s a better way to end the first episode than a Japanese middle schooler putting on boxing gloves to try and stop Lara from crashing down mid-air?
The ending scene itself already establishes what you can expect: this is a story that won't only leave you with heartache, but it's gearing up to be just more than that. And I'm already wanting for more.