Summary
The main character puts
beached fish into a puddle to rescue it. The fish changes her appearance into
an adorable mermaid and they soon get along with each other. He starts to
follow her under the sea. Seashells provide a good playground for them to play,
but a few of them don’t let him go through. All of a sudden he gets arrested. He
is forced to change his thought since then, but it is not an easy thing for him
to do so.
Evaluation
I believe this video was showing the time when
Japanese people were suffering from restrictions. The boy in the video was reflecting
the reality, which they actually wanted to escape from. Many of teenagers did
not get to make love with someone at their disposal because of their parents’
authority or because of the national policy. Also, due to the deprivation of freedom
of expression by the government, his frank comment on his thought caused him to
be tortured, and eventually thrown into jail. I don’t think video ends happily,
however, it allows us, the modern people to realize the pitiful circumstance of
the people living during war to some extent. Children can also see this
suggestive video that seems difficult to be grasped at first. But as a part of the
worldwide famous Tezuka Osamu’s work, Mermaid is worth watching. I could only
find the video which had first three minutes, so if anyone of you got to see
the full part of it, please let me know where I can find it.
Vocabulary
beached
打ち上げられた
escapism現実逃避
