Goodbye, Lara

Once upon a time, a mermaid drunk on love made a forbidden wish and died for it — you'd think that's the end of her story. Classic Little Mermaid stuff, right? Except two hundred years later, she wakes up again — reincarnated in Lake Biwa, Japan, with no idea how the modern world works. That's where Sayonara Lara picks up. Lara is the mermaid in question, and her second chance at life lands her in Shiga Prefecture, where she ends up living with Mari, a local who takes on the thankless job of teaching an ex-mermaid how to be human. Think grocery stores, social cues, probably shoes. The setup is equal parts fish-out-of-water comedy and something genuinely tender, as Lara tries to figure out who she is when the thing that defined her — that doomed love — is centuries behind her. Kinema Citrus is handling production, with character designs from Shiori Tani (Revue Starlight), so expect visuals with real personality. The director, Takushi Koide, actually grew up near Lake Biwa, which gives the setting a grounded, lived-in quality you don't always get with fantasy anime. If you liked the oceanic warmth of Ponyo or the weird emotional magic of Lu Over the Wall, this feels like it's in that same lane — mythical creature learns to be a person, with all the quiet heartbreak that implies. Nagi no Asukara fans should also keep this on their radar. It's an original story, so nobody knows where it's headed, which honestly makes it more exciting.