Summary:
This video was about a boy who loves to imagine. One day, a boy finds a fish that had been left on the sand when the tie was ebbing. He carefully scooped the fish and let her swim in a small puddle. Suddenly, the fish turned into a beautiful mermaid and they enjoyed their time together. The boy brought the mermaid to his house using aquarium, however no matter how much he explained, his parents could not see a mermaid that the boy brought. In his country, imagining freely was not allowed. As a result, the boy was forced not to imagine about the mermaid using numerous experiments. He was followed by the army and police all the time, however towards the end boy felt the limit of the environment he was in. Therefore, he rushed to his house to see the mermaid only to find himself no longer capable of seeing the beautiful mermaid. He could not accept the reality at first, but gradually as he spend his time at a beach where he first met the fish, he got back his ability to imagine freely.
Message:
Imagination is something that can easily controlled by environment that one is surrounded by. In this short film, the boy could not imagine freely due to the environment he was surrounded by. Being forced to believe in something that you do not agree with is very hard to accept at first, but at the same time very effective that you sometimes completely forget what you were believing in before. In my opinion, through "Mermaid", Tezuka was trying to tell how important it is to imagine freely about what one believes in. For a boy, it was a mermaid, but it can be anything from ghosts to destiny. What is most important is that the environment surrounding that one person should not force he or she to be "normal", because "normal" is something that differs depending one each person. Being forced to become "normal" would deny ones character. This should no longer happen, and everyone should be able to imagine freely is the main message I got through this film.
Ending:
This film had a happy ending. The boy was able to overcome the obstacles that he was forced to given, and he became capable of imagining. He chose his own way with mermaid he loves. Ocean is the majority of the earth. Someday somewhere beyond national border he will be able to get to a place where he and his imagination be accepted by people around him.
