Underplayed Gems

Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid (1975)

Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid poster
Original title
アンデルセン童話 にんぎょ姫
Directed by
Tomoharu Katsumata, Tim Reid
Genre
fantasy anime and manga, cinematic fairy tale, drama anime and manga, Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Country
Japan
Runtime
1h 08m
Rated
NR
Rating
6.6 of 10 from 63 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A young mermaid princess named Marina dreams of living on land after falling in love with a human prince. She makes a dangerous bargain with a sea witch to become human, but the cost is her voice and the threat of a tragic fate. Her dolphin friend Fritz stays by her side as she navigates the human world.

tragicmelancholicdreamlikeromanticbittersweetvisually lushslow-burnpoignantwhimsical

What happens

Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid (アンデルセン童話 人魚姫, Anderusen Dōwa: Ningyo-hime; lit. 'Andersen's Fairy Tales: Princess Mermaid') is a 1975 Japanese anime film directed by Tomoharu Katsumata, based on Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 fairy tale "The Little Mermaid". Animated by Toei Animation, this film is close to Andersen's story, notably in its preservation of the original and tragic ending. The two main protagonists are the youngest daughter of the royal family, Marina, and her best friend Fritz, an Atlantic dolphin calf. In Japan, the film was shown in the Toei Manga Matsuri (Toei Cartoon Festival) on 21 March 1975. The film was later released in the United States, dubbed into English by G. G. Communications, Inc. and Prima Film, Inc., in 1979, under the title: Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid (Andersen's name would be correctly spelled in subsequent releases). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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