The Little Mermaid

The Silver Beatles.

This is an old Hans Christian Andersen, the author of the fairy tales The Little Mermaid and The Princess and the Pea.

Probably died a virgin, but he couldn't keep his hands off himself.

He kept track of his self-love in a diary.

And so with our set of seasonal salutations, we have our first and only comment regarding the summer.

from otaku nate from the otaku nate show and he says to me my favorite anime of the summer and probably my pick for best anime of 2026 is goodbye lara cinema citrus's take on hans christian anderson's classic fairy tale of the little mermaid is a visual feast for the eyes while being equal parts heartwarming and heart-wrenching By the time you read this, the series will likely have concluded and will hopefully end with near universal praise.

Naturally, because Goodbye Lara is a critical darling, that means it won't be winning any anime awards, in North America at least, but that's a discussion for another time.

My honorable mentions also go out to Science Satoru's Double Whammy of Greatness, with both Jadugar and Ghost in the Shell 2026.

Of those three, though, since Goodbye, Laura is your pick, I will say right now that, yeah, it is a beautiful show.

This is Cinema Citrus's 15-year anniversary project as a studio.

Again, puts the fresh spin and a modern twist on The Little Mermaid.

by pretty much it has episode one i'll just say this episode one is basically the quote traditional story of the little mermaid where laura the mermaid has her tragic romance with the prince and if you know the story of the real little mermaid laura vanishes into sea foam at the end only then to be reborn in the modern day and sent back to the surface one more time in order to save her kingdom and her people by maybe finding true love with the human this time.

There's three that are all based on characters named Mary.

There's three that are based on people or characters named Jane, and this one, My Salty Mary, it was like the merging of two stories, The Little Mermaid with pirate Mary Read.

I borrowed it from the library, borrowed book.

[laughs]

And I think, so when I think back, it's just like the combination of all of that.

So I remember the first, yeah, the first time that just, like, I'd, um, the original version of The Little Mermaid read to me, and it was just like, it's got a really sad ending.

I was just, like, going to bed just crying my eyes out.

[laughs]

Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen.

The Little Mermaid.

The sea king had been a widower for many years, and his old mother kept house for him in the palace at the bottom of the sea.

He had six beautiful daughters, and the youngest was the most beautiful of them all.

A large ship with three masts lay becalmed on the water with only one sail set, for not a breeze stirred, and the sailors sat idle on deck or amongst the rigging.

There was music and song on board, and, as darkness came on, a hundred colored lanterns were lighted, as if the flags of all nations waved in the air.

The little mermaid swam close to the cabin windows, and now and then, as the waves lifted her up, she could look in through clear glass windowpanes and see a number of well-dressed people within.

Among them was a young prince, the most beautiful of all, with large black eyes.

and as they advanced spring appeared more lovely with its beautiful flowers very soon they recognized the large town where they lived and the tall steeples of the churches in which the sweet bells were ringing in merry peal as they entered it and found their way to their grandmother's door they went upstairs into the little room where all looked just as it used to do the old clock was going tick-tick and the hands pointing to the time of the day but as they passed through the door into the room they perceived that they were both grown up and become a man and woman the roses out on the roof were in full bloom and peeped in at the window and there stood the little chairs on which they had sat when children and gerda and kay seated themselves each on their own chair and held each other by the hand while the cold empty grandeur of the snow queen's palace vanished from their memories like a painful dream the grandmother sat in god's bright sunshine and read aloud from the bible except ye become as little children ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of god and kay and gerda looked into each other's eyes and all at once understood the words of the old song roses bloom and cease to be but we shall the christ-child see and they both said there grown up ye children at heart and it was summer warm beautiful summer The Snow Queen and Other Stories by Hans Christian Andersen

translated by h b paul the little mermaid far out in the ocean where the water is as blue as the prettiest corn-flower and as clear as crystal it is very very deep so deep indeed that no cable could fathom it many church steeples piled one upon another would not reach from the ground beneath to the surface of the water above there dwell the sea-king and his subjects we must not imagine that there is nothing at the bottom of the sea but bare yellow sand no indeed the most singular flowers and plants grow there the leaves and stems of which are so pliant that the slightest agitation of the water causes them to stir as if they had life fishes both large and small glide between the branches as birds fly among the trees here upon land in the deepest spot of all stands the castle of the sea-king Its walls are built of coral, and the long gothic windows are of the clearest amber.

The roof is formed of shells that open and close as the water flows over them.

Their appearance is very beautiful, for in each lies a glittering pearl which would be fit for the diadem of a queen.

But the sailors could not understand the song.

They took it for the howling of the storm, and these things were never to be beautiful for them, for if the ship sank, the men were drowned, and their dead bodies alone reached the palace of the sea-king.

when the sisters rose arm in arm through the water in this way the youngest sister would stand quite alone looking after them ready to cry only that mermaids have no tears and therefore they suffer more oh were i but fifteen years old said she i know that they shall love the world up there and all the people who live in it at last she reached her fifteenth year well now you are grown up said the old dowager her grandmother so you must let me adorn you like your other sisters and she placed a wreath of white lilies in her hair and every flower-leaf was half a pearl then the old lady ordered eight kind oysters to attach themselves to the tail of the princess to show her high rank but to help me so said the little mermaid bride must suffer pain replied the old lady oh how gladly she would have shaken off all this grandeur and laid aside the heavy wreath the red flowers in her own garden would have suited her much better but she could not help herself so she said farewell and rose as lightly as a bubble to the surface of the water the sun had just set as she raised her head above the waves but the clouds were tinted with crimson and gold and through the glimmering twilight beamed the evening star in all its beauty the sea was calm and the air mild and fresh a large ship with three masts lay becalmed on the water with only one sail set for not a breeze stiffed and the sailors sat idle on deck or amongst the rigging there was music and song on