{"id":749222,"date":"2026-10-17T21:50:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T18:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/on-goodbye-lara-and-all-of-its-queerness\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T21:50:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T18:50:26","slug":"on-goodbye-lara-and-all-of-its-queerness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/on-goodbye-lara-and-all-of-its-queerness\/","title":{"rendered":"On Goodbye, Lara and All of Its Queerness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There are a lot of elements that make <\/span>Goodbye, Lara<\/span><\/i> the standout anime<\/a> of the Summer 2026 season. It utilizes more analog methods of 2D animation, swimming against the tide of the past few years. It\u2019s saturated with detail, both in its visual and narrative storytelling. Its central focus is on the relationship between two girls. And its ending is quite peculiar, opening itself up to a wave of interpretations. <\/span>Goodbye, Lara<\/span><\/i> took me on an emotional ride, and as I reached its startling conclusion, I was left with the intense urge to make sense of it all, especially with its exploration of queerness.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Since she was born, the red-haired and curiosity-filled mermaid Lara has been told she\u2019s the next in her family\u2019s lineage to possess the light power needed to keep her kingdom afloat. All she needs to do to trigger this light is find true love \u2014 but when she seeks it from the humans above water, her family vehemently opposes it. So goes the little mermaid\u2019s story: she sacrifices her voice to her witch aunt Grace for a chance to reach the surface, falls in love with a human prince, gets betrayed by him, dissolves into sea foam\u2026and then wakes 200 years later. In her absence, Lara\u2019s kingdom has gone dark, and Grace has put her family into temporary slumber to keep them alive. Now, Grace offers Lara one more chance to find love and save her kingdom \u2014 and when Lara takes it, she\u2019s launched back into the human world, in 2026 Shiga prefecture, and right into high schooler Mari Otsu\u2019s life.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a9Kinema Citrus\/Goodbye Lara PARTNERS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Though <\/span>Goodbye, Lara<\/span><\/i> is an original anime, it\u2019s one that came with a lot of expectations, especially with wanting a defined romance between the two main leads. The backstory behind<\/span> Hans Christian Andersen\u2019s original <\/span>The Little Mermaid<\/span><\/i>, as well as director <\/span>Takushi Koide<\/b>\u2019s previous lesbian-coded projects, definitely set the stage for these expectations. I can\u2019t deny my own anticipation for this outcome after witnessing Lara and Mari\u2019s hysterically silly meet-cute in episode 1.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But it became pretty clear to me halfway through the show that it wasn\u2019t going to pan out like a typical coming-of-age romance. Mainly because \u2014 and this is something I wish were different \u2014 there just wasn\u2019t enough time spent with Mari in the middle chunk of the show. Mari gets a strong introduction as the first human who meets Lara where she is, as she is. She\u2019s diligent in working toward her goals as a boxer, and though her nonchalance may stem from her loneliness after her mother\u2019s passing, it\u2019s also her own way of motivating people to listen to their inner voice instead of relying on an outside opinion. She\u2019s the piece that locks in the climax of this show \u2014 but in episodes 4 to 7, her presence in Lara\u2019s life isn\u2019t as much of a central focus as I\u2019d hoped.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a9Kinema Citrus\/Goodbye Lara PARTNERS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For Lara\u2019s personal development, this choice makes sense, but knowing how special the show paints her and Mari\u2019s relationship, it\u2019s a bit disapp<\/a>ointing that we don\u2019t see more of their interactions.<\/span> Mari\u2019s still there for the adventure, but with that adventure being Lara\u2019s coming-of-human tale, there isn\u2019t much of a joint struggle that bonds them more than they already are. In those middle episodes, Lara is taking in all she can about modern human conventions, from chatting with Mari\u2019s classmate about school and romance to getting a big-girl job at a bakery. These expectations around romance, education, and financial stability are unfamiliar to her, but they are commonplace to Mari, as well as to us as viewers. With the anime\u2019s limited runtime, it would\u2019ve been nice to consolidate some of Lara\u2019s exploration of these societal norms to make room for innovative moments of discovery for <\/span>both<\/span><\/i> main girls. Whether those moments led to a romantic outcome or not, I think that would have<\/span> made the climax of this show have a more resounding impact.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This is not to say that their relationship as it is, and this story as a whole, isn\u2019t queer. Lara\u2019s titanic fish blade of desire emerges from Lake Biwa right after she hears Mari say she likes people like Lara! As the potion begins to wear off and her heart flails to find an answer with Luca, Lara repeatedly envisions Mari when she thinks of the answer to her desires! Though it\u2019s not defined as explicitly romantic, the love that Lara finds with Mari is deeper than that she\u2019s experienced with anyone else, and it would be willful ignorance to brush past all the deliberate moments where the anime paints Mari, and the world she welcomes her into, as Lara\u2019s true love.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a9Kinema Citrus\/Goodbye Lara PARTNERS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The queerest part of this show, in both meanings of the word, is its ending. I can\u2019t say when I first watched the last five minutes of episode 12 that I understood it, or even liked it. It felt extremely jarring to end with Lara leaving Shiga prefecture behind, when just a bit earlier in the episode, she defines what true love means to her for the first time <\/span>because<\/span><\/i> of all she\u2019s experienced there. And the leave feels definitive; she tells Mari and Luca that she\u2019s not coming back anytime soon, uncertain about her reason for leaving but unwavering in her decision to do so. Why make such a decisive departure?\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Then again, there\u2019s something to be said for how real that feeling is: finally figuring out who you are, but not knowing what to do now that you have. Lara has felt immense pressure her entire life to find love, not only to continue her family line but to keep her entire kingdom afloat. Even when she finds an ally in Grace and takes the potion to become human, true love is a condition she must achieve to \u201cearn\u201d her desired form. Now, she\u2019s found her answer to love, and the urgency is gone. But<\/span> to her family, the path she sought to find love, this beautiful bright light that moves her, still isn\u2019t the correct one \u2014 and, as she tells Lisa before departing, she\u2019s put the duty on herself to prove to them that it is.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the fact that Lara\u2019s love did <\/span>kill<\/span><\/i> Mari, even if she was able to resurrect her in the end.<\/span> That\u2019s a heavy burden in itself, to witness yourself hurt the most beautiful thing in your life. With all that\u2019s transpired, Lara must sense that there are still more answers for her to discover, both about how to take on this new life and how to do so without hurting people in the process. Lara\u2019s departure, to me, is an action that follows the same line of thought as her conversation with Grace in episode 3: <\/span>I realized I can\u2019t just depend on others forever. I don\u2019t want to cause any more trouble for anyone, especially Mari<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a9Kinema Citrus\/Goodbye Lara PARTNERS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I don\u2019t know if Lara made the right choice in leaving \u2014 but I do understand that sometimes you do what you feel you need to do in that moment, whatever it is, to come to terms with the path you\u2019ve embraced. Regardless of how things progressed between the main leads, the ending of <\/span>Goodbye, Lara<\/span><\/i>\u00a0reads as a queer allegory to me, because even once you discover your truest self, you still have to face the world with it \u2014 and the world Lara lives in, the world <\/span>we<\/span><\/i> live in, is not always kind to these self-discoveries.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Still, all is not doomed. Just as the anime starts by asking what happens after the conclusion of the original Andersen tale, I believe the creative team wanted to end <\/span>Goodbye, Lara<\/span><\/i> without tying up loose ends to give Lara\u2019s story another breath, another possible \u201cafter.\u201d Grace tells Lara that they are born twice: once to exist, and the second time to live. What will it look like for Lara, who\u2019s spent all this time fighting to exist, to now live? It\u2019s a gamble to part by asking the question without answering it, and I think the staff is brave for following through with this open-ended farewell.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a9Kinema Citrus\/Goodbye Lara PARTNERS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now that the rumination on the last five minutes are all said and done \u2014 I had such a lovely time watching every moment of this show. For one, it\u2019s impossible to tear your eyes away from the vibrant art style, championed by Koide and character designer <\/span>Shiori Tani<\/b> who hoped to <\/span>revitalize the anime scene<\/span> with the bold colors and line work of the past.<\/span> Not only does this exuberant palette make the anime a visual feast, but it also pairs well with the story itself, hearkening back to earlier renditions of <\/span>The Little Mermaid<\/span><\/i> and capturing all the light Lara brims with.<\/span> It\u2019s always a treat when the artistic direction of an anime aligns with the narrative it aestheticizes.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On top of all these scenes is the glorious score, composed by <\/span>yuma yamaguchi<\/b>. The orchestra flits up and down its arpeggios in \u201cL A R A\u201d before crashing again and again, like waves against the shore. Bows anxiously squeak across the strings in \u201ctide harmonics,\u201d flickering in and out like the unstable light inside of Lara.<\/span> The <\/span>la <\/span><\/i>vocalizations repeat Lara\u2019s name throughout the soundtrack, sprinkling in that fairy-tale whimsy while also compounding pressure with its persistence, mimicking the expectations the world has on Lara to discover who she is. The soundtrack does a phenomenal job of propelling tension and also sitting with it, whisking our emotions just as much as the characters onscreen do.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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