Summery
A boy fall in love with a mermaid in his daydream while he does not notice that he is in daydream which is not allowed in this country. When he took her home, his parents recognize that and he starts to be brainwashed strictly. After the long brainwashing, he completely realize that she is a fish, and he disappears to the sea with holding it in his hands.
Evaluation
I guess there are two reasons why Tezuka Osamu made and disclosed this movie in the year of 1964. The first reason is that he wanted people to remember how harsh and crazy it was in the war while Japan was in the precious mood because of the Tokyo Olympics. From this aspect, a boy is a symbol of children who were educated during the war. During the war, the government forced them to think one and only way which was to be extremely royal to the emperor and Americans are brutal with no exception. After the war, they realized that they have rights to choose. He might wondered that they still feel precious what the government planed with no suspensions. Similarly, the second reason is to emphasize the importance of imagination. In 1960s, Japanese education changed very much since the government started to make the society meritocratic as the economy grew up. Continuously, because common sense and knowledge became very essential to live in the society, in the upshot, imagination or thinking differently became odd. From this perspective, a boy represents Tezuka Osamu himself who likes to see a daydream so the last scene of this movie shows that he tries to go overseas from this restricted country.
Vocabularies
brainwashing...洗脳
daydream...空想
stereotype...固定観念
