1. Summary
This animation is about a boy whose life changed by saving a small fish, which then turned into a mermaid. He played music and went swimming with her, and decided to bring her to his house. After putting her into a big fish tank, he introduced her to his parents, but what they saw was the fish, not the mermaid. People thought he was having a weird imagination, so he was sent to the police. Many experiments were done to the boy, but nothing could make him forget about the mermaid he met. He escaped from the prison and ran back to his house, but what he saw in the fish tank was the fish he saved in the beginning. The boy brought the fish back to the beach and let it go. Finally, the police found him, but did not capture him since he started going into the water.
2. Ending
In the end of the animation, the boy releases the fish into the ocean and he also goes into the ocean. The fish turned into the mermaid and started swimming again, but the boy did not appear on the screen. Not being accepted by the society made him suffer and commit suicide after releasing the fish. The mermaid made his life enjoyable, so even if the police did many experiments on him, he was not able to forget her for a very long time. She was a very important person to him, and being forced to forget her made him to think that death is better than forgetting her. Therefore, he chose to commit suicide in order to escape from the society and to live together with her.
3. Message
Osamu Tezuka wanted to change the typical Japanese idea of 'everyone needs to be same' through this animation. The boy saw the fish as a mermaid, but everyone else saw her as a fish. Since he was the only one who had a different opinion, all of the people, including his parents became his enemy. Just by having a distinct thought made him the target of discrimination and lead him to feel isolated. The creator wanted the society to know that being unique is not a bad thing, and that we all should accept and understand different opinions. There is no need for all people to have the same thought and follow the same path.
