hmm.

when lara wakes up from being betrayed by her prince, she immediately is told to take responsibility for the destruction of her home. there is no comforting, no coddling, no sympathy--that's all for the audience to feel lol. then, she is told "you destroyed this, but you can also fix it."

what's critical to remember here is that, as mentioned before, her core responsibility as a princess of light is to "find true love." to find happiness. the kingdom wasn't destroyed because she broke the rules because that has nothing to do with her "light." the kingdom was destroyed because her "true love" was destroyed.

the destruction of her true love/light is visually represented by the fish-sword that appears over her head as she collapses into sea foam. notably, in the concept trailer, she holds the sword while approaching the sleeping form of the prince. this is likely a reference to the original story, where if she kills the sleeping prince, lara will return as a mermaid and live on with her family. the sword is given to her by her sisters, who sold all of their hair to trade for the sword. despite this sacrifice, she still can't do it. and so, instead, the little mermaid dies and turns to sea foam.

the common thread between the original and goodbye lara is 1) the sword is a tool of betrayal, 2) the sword is tied to the mermaid's relationship to her family. in the original story, the sword was directed against the prince, mermaid decides not to strike, leading to her own destruction, but the continued well being of her family. in goodbye lara, the sword is directed against lara, she is betrayed by the prince, lara is reborn, but her family is destroyed. these parallel plot points suggest a deliberate narrative reversal.

the signs of narrative reversal only strengthen when we consider that the sea witch plays a bit of a meta role in the anime, referring to lara's life with terms like "bad/good ending," "tragic heroine," "prophesy," and so on. other indicators of more meta storytelling include having visual references to not only the original fairy tale, but the disney adaptation as well (girl with bright red hair, recreating the iconic rising out of the water scene not as a moment of freedom, but rather suddenly being brought into a new world).

in addition, i want to point out that, technically, the little mermaid lives on in all versions of the story. the original story presents "turning to sea foam" as a transformation, a rebirth into a "daughter of air," where she will get the chance to live and then pass on to heaven because she was willing to die/despair for her prince who sees her as a friend but not lover. in the disney adaptation, she doesn't die at all and lives happily with the prince and keep a positive relationship with her family. in goodbye lara, she loses her human form, but gets reincarnated as a mermaid and then transforms into a human again, but this time with her voice. (i wonder also if this show will touch on the previous understandings of mermaids as something frightful and evil, as was the case before the popularized the little mermaid han christen andersen tale, and also the case in the historic period when lara fell for the prince, especially since it seems she will meet an older mermaid who fell for a human once, but i digress)

so let's coalesce. the story has elements of narrative-awareness, and seeks to directly contradict the previously established tragic ending to the little mermaid. a key aspect of this is the sword, which reflects both lara's duty to her family, and the threat of betrayal. it's essentially the scythe hanging over her head. furthermore, we know that lara's duty to her family is tied to her ability to find true love. when her feelings of love are destroyed, her family/kingdom is destroyed. when her feelings of love are able to thrive, her family/kingdom will be saved. what this means is that her kingdom cannot return if she approaches "true love" with a mindset of desperation, of waiting for reciprocation, of guilt and trying to prove yourself worthy. because that would mean her true feelings were not healed, that she did not find happiness. if lara just tries to sacrifice herself in an attempt to "repent" for the "sin" of loving a human, that's not true love. that's not going to be helpful in saving her family.

in fact, it might even become detrimental. part of the reason i keep emphasizing that lara's journey to find happiness For Herself is key to experiencing true love is that the "relationship to her famliy/kingdom" is not limited to the mermaid kingdom. the sword's role as a harbringer of doom also apply on land.

in the concept trailer, we the same fish-sword design used when lara is hesistating to kill the prince (aka something that would break her heart) in the weird obelisk thing hovering over the modern town she ends up staying in. i think it wouldn't be a stretch to say that while lara has more support from humans this time around, the stakes are also probably much, much higher. it's not just her home on the line, but also the home of her new family/kingdom. afterall, whether human or mermaid, she is still a princess of light.

i might even go as far as to say that having lara around could be very, very dangerous for the town. like maybe if she gets her heartbroken again, it won't just be the mermaid folk but the entire town that gets destroyed by the fish-sword thing. but this is conjecture.

there's actually even more i want to talk about with the concept trailer and the fish sword. like, for example, when lara approaches the sleeping prince, a very big light begins to erupt from the prince's chest, and then the fish sword opens a drooling mouth to reveal teeth and a meaty tongue, as if salviating at the sight of the light. considering lara is a princess of light, this is very interesting to me. is the fish sword eating up the light/lara's true love???

we also need to consider how the fish sword has been VERY STRONGLY associated with the symbolism for specifically lara's light. This is first apparent in the concept trailer, where Lara's tear (probably from the idea of betraying the boy she loves) is depicted as a sparkling light. this is important because we just keep seeing that damn light associated with the fish sword!!!!

below depicts the direct transition between lara's light, and the fish obelisk thing during one of the more recent trailers for the show.

and to REALLY really drive the point home here's the transition in another trailer where we have the sword lighting up like lara's iconic light, and then immediate cut to lara as a mermaid exposed in front of her love who is pointing a SWORD AT HER.

THAT IS A FACE OF LOVE. AND A FACE OF SURRENDER. when she turns into sea foam, she doesn't even blame the fucking prince!!!!! she says that it's her fault for falling in love with a human in the first place!! but the story so far + even the trailers are basically screaming and wailing and stomping their feet trying to say no no no no NO! YOUR LOVE FOR HUMANS Is NOT THE ISSUE!!!! IT'S NOT EVEN JUST "LOVING THE WRONG PERSON" either. it's simply BELIEVING YOU DESERVE TO HAVE LOVE. it's not just some set-in-stone tragedy! like i truly believe it's not even the fact the prince didn't love her anymore that set her off, it was that she believed her love must have been doomed from the start because of her. You have to choose to pursue happiness. YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE YOUR "TRUE LOVE" that is the kind of choice that the princesses of light need to make.

"well that's just trailers what about the show" actually the text strongly supports this?????? the light-true love-sword association in episode 1 is even more blatant. that transition scene from the princess light to the fish sword? that happens IMMEDIATELY after she starts dissolving into sea foam! literally right after she says "It was me....I was the vile one." and look at the way that light starts from her hEART !!!! and then TRANSFORMS INTO THE FISH SWORD. this is all to say. the "true love" this story is talking about is about whether LARA thinks her love is worthy. it's not about finding "the one" but about making a life FOR YOURSELF, and the finding someone to share it with!!! Idk like it's giving eartha kitt "share my love for me with me" do you get what im saying

furthermore, in another trailer for this series, a little sneak into a climatic moment features the quote "Lara, what was it that you truly wanted?" honestly i kinda think the way this quote is delivered really really suggests home that just "looking for true love" in the traditional "omg yay my prince loves me fr this time!!!!" isekai reincarnation romance is not the goal here. the goal is to not give up on what she truly wanted, even when she has her family's survival on the line. cause like, someone else in her situation might say "what i want doesn't matter, i just need to save my family/kingdom/island" and this story is so so so so strongly saying that's not the so,ution. you can't just sacrifice your way into getting what you want. in fact that could ruin things for everyone around you giant fish sword style

i'm banking on the story's message to be that you are most valuable to your family/community when you choose to pursue your own happiness. instead of drowning in guilt and homesickness and sorrow, she has to keep moving forward. to find someone she can enjoy moving through life with. that's her true love. there's (potentially) a very, VERY powerful message that they have created a set up for here!!!!!!