Once upon a time there was a Danish princess who was only a few blushing years away from coming of age. She had everything a young princess could possibly want A loving family the respect of the community and the most beautiful singing voice in the entire kingdom A voice that could put even the ancient sirens to shame. But as is normally the case in stories such as these the princess was not satisfied with the luxurious life thats been afforded to her She wanted more and only the very boundaries shed been forbidden from crossing could grant it to her. Disobeying her fathers orders she snuck past them. After a chance encounter with a dying prince she made up her mind that the one thing she needed in life above all things was to live happily ever after by his side. But there was one problem The prince was a human boy like you or I. And the princess was a mermaid. Now before you start telling me that youve heard this story before let me assure you that this is NOT the same classic tale that you grew up with The one that showed you what it knew you wanted to see. Nay this is a much darker version of the story A version thats based on the original Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale. This is not a story of star crossed lovers overcoming the odds to find that elusive ever after that tempts our oldest heroes. Even the princess herself is two years younger than the scarlethaired maiden you remember. This is a story of infatuation of sacrifice and of consequences. Should the princess fail to marry her prince before he winds up in the arms of another she will not be shrunken down into a weed but killed and turned into the very sea foam that reflects the sunlight off of the waves. Will Marina obtain the same happy ending as Ariel or will she find an outcome thats more tragic and bittersweet? Hans Christian Andersons The Little Mermaid Which Ill be referring to by its Japanese title Ningyo Hime from now on for the sake of my fingers Was produced by legendary animation department of the legendary Japanese production studio Toei. While Im a bit ashamed to admit this Ningyo Hime is by far the oldest anime of theirs that Ive seen since they didnt put out the original Dragonball until 11 years later. Because Im not entirely familiar with the animation of the time and because dating must be taken into account the overall look of this particular anime is going to be very difficult to describe but I can probably start by saying that in its time compared to its contemporaries Ningyo Hime was probably seen as being exceptionally good looking. I cant really say whether the animation quality at the time was a result of low budgets or just limited technology. Id like to say it was a matter of budget because of two factors: First Ningyo Hime doesnt look as good as Cyborg 009 which came out seven years priorLooks a hell of a lot better than Speed Racer though. Second theres a lot of restraint in the visual direction as though the people producing it knew they couldnt let their ambitions supersede their resources. I understand that the anime spectrum was a very different place back then in a time when you had maybe twenty to thirty new titles coming out each year as opposed to the several hundreds we get each year now and people had to take their animation with a grain of salt but that doesnt change the fact that Ningyo Hime has aged very poorly. As I said before this film showed a lot of restraint in its visual direction. This is probably its main saving grace in terms of aesthetic. On screen movement is kept to a minimum with most motion relegated to repetitive cycles and closeups during any of the rarer scenes that require more fast precise movement. Thats not to say these techniques arent noticeable but they do help a great deal. What helps even more is that a lot of the backgrounds that the characters move across are shockingly beautiful. When Marina and her dolphin friend Fritz are swimming across the screen its like theyre gliding across a watercolor canvas. When they breach the surface the sense of depth and distance is stunning. The sparkling reflections of the sun and moon off of the waves convey a very lonely yet serene feeling. The color palette is a bit on the dull side but if youre watching the newer releases everything still looks crisp and clear. The use of lighting is also very impressive although you dont really get the full effect outside of scenes taking place out on the ocean above the surface. Of course water is one of the most notoriously difficult things to animate and Ill have to reluctantly admit that the waves here look more like bluegreen claymation than anything else. The character designs are firmly a product of their time a sort of early shoujo aesthetic where the only body parts that dont look anatomically accurate are the characters anime eyes which are still only half as big as what most otaku are used to. The music is also dated but I actually quite enjoy listening to it. Its made up of slow pleasant tunes played through with harps pianos and various wind instruments and the original singer of the few song tracks has a perfect amount of wonder and whimsy in her voice. One thing I kind of have to knock it on is the way this music translated through to the dub. The opening credits song had all of its lyrics removed leaving only the baseline and a few accompanying instruments of what used to be a really pretty song. They actually managed to rewrite the song from Marinas graduation into English but the dub singer just kind of mumbles her way through it rendering it an incomprehensible mess. And speaking of the dub I am at a loss for words which is exactly what I wish they had been. The title role of Marina was played by Canadian voice actress Kirsten Bishopric who was about 20 or 21 when that movie was dubbed and released stateside and she could not act her way out of an uncutplastic soda ring. I know dubbing back in 1987 wasnt on the same playing field that it is today but since it was released on VHS in response to the popularity of the Disney version youd think theyd hire a main actress who doesnt sound like a monotone Scarlet OHara. And her little Dolphin friend is played by no joke the same actresses little brother Thor who sounds like the only directions he was being given were Speak really loudly into the microphone and Sound sad for this scene.They both did go on to have long acting careers fortunately but Kirsten tragically passed in 2014 at the age of 55. The rest of the cast is more or less okay considering the lack of screen time they got but the dude playing the Prince Fjord Ian Finlay somehow has less personality than the guy who played Prince Eric if you can believe it. So I dont normally review anime movies. The last one I looked at was Oblivion Island but I did that mostly in blowbyblow format and in retrospect that review kinda sucked. I was able to talk about that movies ending without actually spoiling it but I dont think Ill be able to do that with Ningyo Hime. Of course the movie is 40 years old and the original story its based on is over 100 years old so spoiling it would be a bit like telling someone how Romeo and Juliet ends They probably already know and if you heard about Ningyo Hime from someone before reading this review then they probably already told you way too much They probably told you that it features the original tragic ending that Andersen himself conceived so many years ago. That still doesnt mean the storys as well known as everything else in the public domain so before I go any further this is my warning: I am going to address the elephant in the room. Marina dies at the end. I wont tell you how it happens or what circumstances led up to it but she does not wind up with the prince and she does not live happily ever after. Yes Japan was killing mermaids long before Hayden Panettiere was around to try and save them. The little mermaid dies which stands in stark contrast to the ending of the Disney version. Ive seen plenty of reviewers talk about this but both movies star an entitled teenage girl who doesnt know how good she has it and wants more out of life. There are arguments against the Disney version stating that Ariel learns nothing but still gets exactly what she wants in the end while the conclusion of the anime is a lot more honest and offers a better life lesson. Ningyo Hime teaches impressionable young children that when you obsess over somebody based on infatuation which youve basically mistaken for love at first sight and are willing to give up on everything you have just to be with them you are most likely heading down the road to disappointment. This is a very good point and it underlines a very important life lesson that kids need to hear. I actually have two problems with it though. The first is that if you look at the central conflict of both movies through a modern lens you can draw the metaphor a little further. Ariel and Marinas conflict is very similar to the issue of gender identity. Notice both of these characters were obsessed with the human world before meeting their princes so its not hard to surmise that they both feel deep down that they were born in a way that they werent meant to be Mermaids who were meant to be human just like men who were meant to be women. When you shine that light on it the plight of both girls begins to feel less selfish and more sympathetic. Sure their lives may be perfect from an outsiders perspective but are they supposed to just bottle up who they truly are and just live a lie for the rest of their lives? Doesnt the movie where the heroine gets to be who she was born to be and love who she wants to love feel so much more powerful now? And my other problem is of course going to lead to some bigger issues. Yes Marina experienced a tragic end that takes the literal interpretation of Ariels conflict to its more logical conclusion but a tragedy doesnt feel deserved unless it was inevitable. It doesnt feel right unless there was one damning flaw the hero possessed that ultimately led to them deserving to lose it all. And I hate to say it but Marinas happy future was brought down by a talking cat. I suppose in some way were supposed to believe that the cat is the sea witch in disguise but that doesnt make any sense. First of all the witch has nothing to gain by sabotaging her client. She already has her voice and she doesnt seem to hate Marina at all. There is no indication that she stands to gain anything tangible or otherwise from the devastation of the royal family. Secondly Shes not portrayed as being evil in this version. Shes shrewd and she controls storms but she seems like more of a force of nature than a villain. No the true villain of this story is a talking cat who hates Marina wants to see her suffer and is able to talk to Fjords parents without either of them saying Holy shit that cat just spoke to us And Im sorry but thats just an example of how badly written this movie is. People complain that the Disney version brought a happy ending into the mix but they also brought quaint little things like pacing intricate plot points and actual characterizations. Much like the cat most of Ningyo Himes meager cast of characters barely get any screentime being introduced to perform a role and than disappearing for the rest of the film. The perfect examples of this would be Fritzs whale uncleNot blood related Im guessing? Hes more of an uncle in a family friend sort of way? and the guy with the weird nose that probably died after Fjords ship went under. Even Marinas Dad and her romantic rival are given bit parts and the Disney version had much more expansive roles for them Marinas sisters fare a little better but theres eight of them and the perform a role that would have been satisfactory had ONE side character performed it. In a well written story people and events that occur to further the plot arent just thrown away after theyve served their purpose. Everything comes back in some way even if its just in reference or a punchline that reveals what happened earlier as being a setup. You cant just resolve an issue by creating a character who can solve it and then dropping them afterwards. Take for example School Rumble There are several sight gags that you think are just going to be forgotten afterwards like Harima accidentally confessing his love to the wrong girl or turning into a monk with an entourage of zoo animals that wound up becoming running gags and important plot points later on. Ningyo Hime is terrible about this and its just as bad about weaving the characters it does have into an intricate plot. There are so many things that happened in Ningyo Hime The wolf attack scene in particular That if you didnt see them you wouldnt notice anything was missing. Im not going to say it was a bad movie but the execution was terrible and it desperately needed to be updated for new audiences. The Disney version did exactly that which is why I really dont mind the very real possibility that it ripped off the anime. Honestly stealing from an existing source isnt such a bad thing if you do something new with it and fix a lot of its problems. Hans Christian Andersens The Little Mermaid is available in several different formats. It was originally released in VHS form and to address another elephant in the room yes the mermaids were all topless in it. Thats not necessarily a bad thing but for a stateside release it did make the G rating a little misleading. A DVD release was eventually put out by UAV Corporation but its so heavily and sloppily edited that it can hardly be considered the same movie. Seriously they just took every appearance of bare breasts or blood and chopped them out of the film regardless of whatever snippet of music or dialogue they were losing. Finally last year Discotek Media released the full film uncut and beautifully restored with a much more appropriate note of Not rated on the back. A twentysix episode TV anime was released in the early nineties but I havent seen it so I have nothing to say. The Disney version is also available Well pretty much everywhere. In its time Ningyo Hime was deservedly a big deal and I wont take that away from it. Its a significant entry in the history of the medium and its probably the most accurate portrayal of Andersens original story that were ever going to see. Its worth checking out at least once but its not worth holding up on a pedestal. Whether youre looking at its story from a literal or metaphorical perspective will determine whether its message is important one about discretion and selfcontrol or a severely outdated one about ignoring your true self for the greater good. If all you want is to see the original dark ending to a story that inspired the Disney classic or even if you just want to see a 14 year old anime girls bare breasts then this movie is for you. As for the rest of us its a significant film that should be experienced but not celebrated. I give Hans Christian Andersens The Little Mermaid a 5/10.