Anderusen dôwa ningyo-hime
Tags: fantasy

Plot synopsis:
The movie opens in live action Denmark. The narrator talks about Hans Christian Andersen and his authorship of the original story. After a brief shot of a live action ocean and the opening title card (with a mermaid song in the background), the scene dissolves to 2D hand-drawn anime.
Princess Marina, who lives in the undersea kingdom with her father, grandmother, and five older sisters, is playing with her best friend Fritz, a dolphin. On her way home, the Sea Witch conjures a powerful storm. Marina's sisters berate her for being late, reminding her that their grandmother won't give her the pearl hair-pin that signifies adulthood unless she is responsible. Marina and her sisters are then summoned to their father and grandmother and are told to go to bed early because of the storm.
The following day, Marina's sisters go to the surface. Marina is curious, but she is forbidden to go because she has not yet come of age. While exploring a ship destroyed by the storm, she discovers a statue of a human boy. Deciding she is ready to see the world above, she and Fritz sneak away to the surface with the help of Fritz's uncle, Duke the whale. There, she sees the handsome young prince from the statue on a ship.
Suddenly, another storm arises and throws the prince into the sea. Marina saves him and brings him to shore, leaving him there to be found. A raven-haired young woman arrives and cares for him. Marina and Fritz then return home to the palace. Marina's father scolds her, but her grandmother tells the king of the rescue. The next morning, Marina joins her sisters and receives her pearl hair-pin.
Determined to see the prince again, Marina obtains a potion from the Sea Witch which allows her to exchange her tail and her beautiful voice in order to become human. She is warned that if the prince marries another, she will die and turn into sea foam the next morning. Marina drinks the potion and is transformed.
The following morning, she is discovered by the prince on the shore. Marina lives with the prince for one month and they become very close. One day, Fritz visits and informs Marina that if she needs him, she can signal him by raising her pearl hair-pin.
The prince takes Marina horse-back riding the next morning. While riding, the prince's jealous cat Jemmy pounces on Marina's horse, spooking the horse into throwing Marina off. Marina is surrounded and chased by a pack of wolves. The prince comes to her rescue and kills the wolves, enraging Jemmy who then vows to get rid of Marina.
The prince tells her that his parents want him to marry a foreign princess, but he wants to marry the girl who saved his life. Since he cannot find her, he wishes to marry Marina. Jemmy reports the conversation to his parents, and the queen suspects that Marina has bewitched her son.
When the ship arrives carrying the princess his parents intend for him, the prince's father orders Marina's arrest for treason. The next morning, the prince meets the foreign princess and recognizes her as the same raven-haired girl who had supposedly saved him. The prince and princess are soon married.
Heartbroken, Marina summons Fritz so she can say goodbye. Fritz vows to find a way to save her. Marina's sisters, having given their hair to the Sea Witch, give her a magic knife. Her sisters tell her that if she stabs the prince through the heart, she will turn into a mermaid again. Marina accepts the knife. With dawn only minutes away, Marina sneaks into the prince's room but finds that she cannot bring herself to kill him. Marina kisses him goodbye as he sleeps.
As she throws the knife into the sea, the reflection wakes the prince. He rushes onto the deck, calling after her, but she jumps before he can reach her. As he calls her name one last time, he sees that she has left behind her pearl hair-pin and a scale from her tail. As the sun rises, Marina's body slowly turns to foam and ascends into the sky. The prince suddenly realizes that Marina was the girl who had saved his life. He grieves her death as Marina's spirit goes on to Heaven for her self-sacrifice, while a devastated Fritz calls out her name.

Review: I've been searching for the original "The Little Mermaid" movie for years.
Of course, the Disney version has the happy ending where the heroine is rewarded for rescuing her prince...of course she falls in love and he follows suit quickly after...of course there is no third party, disregarding Ursula's attempt to distract Eric.In the real "Little Mermaid", we have a mermaid named Marina who has also fallen in love with a human.
She gives it all up to be with a man she has seen and saved...her life as she knows it, just to find love.
If he does not, she will die and become part of the ocean.Throughout the movie, you think that Marina will get her man, but another woman comes into the picture...she has sidetracked Marina's true love and he falls in love with her.
The catch: Marina must stab her love while he is sleeping.The most poignant part of the movie is watching her hover over the bed...
Even though the last time I've seen this movie was ten years ago, I still remember the big eyes of a Japanamation character first narrowing, then accepting defeat.
I don't care how old you are, (and ignore how horrible my description of this movie may be) but if you're not at least a little teary at this scene, you've got problems.Anybody who has seen the Disney "The Little Mermaid" must see this.
I saw this Anime version of Little Mermaid when I was 8 or 9 years old, long before Disney got there happy little hands on it.
I believe the original version of this movie gets across a poignant message about sacrifice, love and loss.
(If you read the story, there is much more to it than that, but as far as the movie goes, that is the message I saw in it.)I was very disappointed in Disney's version at first.
Ariel/Marina was not supposed to be able to talk, never mind being able to sing, and she was supposed to have pain when she walked....part of her sacrifice to be with the prince she had fallen in love with.
And then, being a Disney version, she gets the prince in the end.
However, life does not always end "Happily Ever After" as Disney would have children believe.
I think our overindulged children of today would be better off knowing that you don't always get what you want and that there is such a thing as sacrifice.
In the end, I still love the original Anime version of it better.
So, I was pretty mad at this movie, but then I read the Hans Christian Andersen story years later, when I'd experienced my own first love and loss.
I gained a new appreciation for this movie, as it depicts a desperate love, and this mermaid is willing to give up everything to be close to him.
no such luck so far as it is quite a rare film.The thing that makes this film so different to the Disney version is the fact that it depicts the true story of the Little Mermaid.
Disney didn't perfect the Little Mermaid story they told one version of it.
If you grew up on bouncy, sanitized Disney videos and slick animation and not written fairy tales, this film may not be your cup of tea.
Unlike Disney's happily-ever-after version, this one fairly faithfully recreates the fairy tale written by Hans Christian Anderson.
Yes, inevitably, a little of the 70s creep into the artwork but that's not necessarily a bad thing since it gives this film a unique look and feel (which wasn't meant to be anime as we know it now).
In the early to mid 70s, it aired on TV every Christmas along with other animated shorts like The Selfish Giant and The Happy Prince (two more tearjerkers).
On the other hand, if you loved the fairy tale (or if you enjoyed The Selfish Giant or The Happy Prince animated shorts) then give this a try..
I do really like Disney's version, but in a different way..
True to the original story, sad but graceful and beautiful.
This is a very sad and beautiful tale, the way Hans Christian Andersen has intended it to be.
Even more sad than this though is that mass audience now knows only the dumbed down Disney version, which actually is a clear case of plagiarism.
Definitely not Disney, haunting, true to the original story.
I'm sorry if you saw this as a small child and are forever traumatized but your review is very incomplete, not to mention the you speak of things that were never in the movie including saying that the prince "marries another prostitute" the mermaid drowns herself, and that there is beheading in the film.
The movie is definitely for older children, I saw it as a little girl when I was five and loved it, however it is important to realize that the end is very tragic.
Understand that anime tends to be very different from Disney.It is not the happy, fictionalized fiction you would see in Disney's Little Mermaid or Aladdin.
There was something about this movie that I loved as a little girl, and still do.
This is my favorite movie out of all of the Little Mermaid's I have seen because it is the closest to the real story.
I have been searching and searching for days to try and find this particular version of the Little Mermaid to buy.
That was about the time that I saw this particular version, so I was just wondering if it was re-released or something like that.
I first saw this movie when I was a little girl.
When I eventually saw Disney's version I was kinda disappointed, but also understood that they couldn't make it the same as the original.
I love Hans Christian Andersen's story, it is charming and beautiful with memorable characters.
I love the Disney film as well and prefer it just by a small margin, but I find this one just as beautiful and poignant if not more so.While the animation is not the best there is, it is still quite nice with fluid backgrounds, pretty colours and well drawn characters.
The music is tender and gives the film its heart, while the writing is wonderfully poetic and the story still has its magic and tenderness with well-explored themes of love and loss.The characters are engaging still.
Marina is a great protagonist and a beautiful one too, while the Prince, King, Fritz and the Witch are well done too and all the characters are very well voiced in both the original and dubbed versions.
Oh, and the ending has me in floods of tears every time I watch it.This anime version of The Little Mermaid isn't completely perfect, some of the sound is a little hazy and the lip synching is occasionally sloppy, but overall it is wonderful.
This movie will teach him and our future children that not everything in life is perfect, and that love is a very important thing.
The scenery is lovely, the palace is a little less extravagant than the one in the Disney version, but at least this company didn't put a picture of a dildo stuck into the castle on the cover.
The people who made this movie were a lot more professional than the ones who made the Disney version.
Hans Christian Anderson would be proud of this movie, whereas the Disney version probably made him turn over in his grave.
We have a copy on video but it is a little warn out and has some sound and picture glitches, nothing big but still we would like a perfect one and we copied the entire movie onto the computer so we can get some still shots..
I'm not being corny--this is an actual line from the film, straight from the Sea Witch (her sister Sand Witch was on vacation) to goofball princess Marina.There should be a special section in video stores for Brutal Truth Fairy Tales.
That is, Marina, our little mermaid, dies at the end.
Well, I can't help thinking that kids expecting Disney magic would be a little horrified by this version.
But if you're an anime fan and you'd like to see the mermaid thing a little more like it was originally written, you probably would enjoy wasting 1.5 hours with this..
"There is no other Little Mermaid besides Disney!"  We got into a huge arguement right there in the store :)  So I rent the Disney version....I had a bunch of friends over and I remember standing up at the end saying "No!
Sure the Disney movie is fun and has lots of great songs to sing along to...my little girl loves dancing to it.
We loved the disney version of "the little mermaid".
Disney makes movies with happy endings.
Someone gave us this older version of the movie, and we watched it.
I used to look forward to the summers as a kid when I'd visit my Dad and rent this movie.I so looked forward to seeing a big screen version with Disney came out with it's take on the film.
I sorely disappointed because it was only vaguely similar to the 1973 version.Thank god this movie actually has some realistic concepts like: "There isn't always a happy ending", and "You don't always get what you want".
I'd rather my two little girls learn those lessons than think the world will be nothing but singing animals and happy endings..
I, myself, was also exposed to the movie at a young age, but unlike the person in the comment above, I fell in love with the story.
Now, you can think what you want, but the blood, violence, nudity, dying, it makes the story, and it is a story that has touched my heart, much more than any cheesy Disney tale, which is why I am so distraught that my VHS has broke on me after all these years.
When I first saw this film, back in 1989(?) I thought it was the Disney version.
Even though it was a "children's film" it had a mature feel that was unlike anything Disney could HOPE to achieve.
This movie was great I literally cried at the end when Marina turned to foam.
And when she gave up her voice someone she loved who was forced to marry someone he thought saved him but she didn't it was all Marina.
Marina is sweet and I think more people should be like her if everyone was the world would be a better place!.
Which makes the movie more impacting.This movie came out in 1975, years before Disney's little mermaid, and is the best of the two in my opinion.
Television version of The Little Mermaid is better than the movie.
I found this version of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" to be on of the best.
This story is about the little mermaid told in the original form of Hans Christian Andersen's tale.
In his story the little mermaid did not live happily ever after with the prince and she doesn't in this version either.
When I first saw this anime as a child I cried my eyes out but even now many years later I can still appreciate that this film does not cater to the "Happily Ever After" cheesiness that most people have come to expect..
I would like my children to experience this movie in its original form as Hans Christianson Anderson meant it to be told.Like other comments I've read, I too was disappointed with the Disney version of this tale, but not surprised.To all of you who loved Marina and Fritz over Ariel and Sebastein, you will love The Last Unicorn...then again, you may have already seen it way back when..
It is a great version of Hans Christian Tale..
Marina is a beautiful and sweet mermaid, I love how they draw her because she's very cute.
Many people don't like the drawings and animation, but it was a 70s movie and for me it looks great.
I know that they show nudity in this film and is not for children, is for young adults and all that appreciate anime classics.
This movie makes me cry because it gives so much impact and a beautiful message of love.The people that don't like this film, definitely don't appreciate old anime and didn't know that the real true story has a sad ending.
I came across this version of the Hans Christian Anderson tale by chance, which was when I caught part of it playing on a T.V. in a dentist's office.
It definitely set itself apart from Disney's version in some ways, especially towards the end.
Since I haven't read the original, I found out the ending of that and this anime rendition are different from Disney's take.
Anderson's version and this remake are not for the faint of heart, even if it may be better than Disney's as far as the ending goes in that it mirrors it's faithfulness to the initial, as that has been pointed out by other reviewers on here.
Gorgeous anime but I prefer the Disney Version.
I'm sure all of us go with the Disney version because of its romantic happy ending and getting a nice kick out of it afterwards.
However, the realistic version as you see in this movie where it has a heartbreaking ending and you probably start crying.
I grew up on Disney films like most people, considering I'm only 14 now.
I absolutely fell in love with the movie.
Obviously the animation isn't as stunning as Disney's, but i's still beautiful in it's own way.
But Marina was everything I'd imagined a mermaid to be, she was sweet and beautiful in a way that wasn't in your face like Ariel always was IMO.
The Prince was just like I imagined, the sea witch was actually scary (indeed she was) and Fritz was an adorable character (he seemed more like a friend, than a companion like the Disney film).
I pity the Prince in this movie, when he realized that Marina was the girl who saved him, I can only imagine how bitter his life must have become.
This movie showed me what true love really is: Willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for love, and it also reminded me that not everyone gets the happy ending.
It made me think unlike Disney's version, and it spurred a new found interest in fairy tales again (the originals) and led me to find some other beautiful retelling's of this story (The Russian one from the 60's was good too).
When Hans Chirstian Andersen wrote the "Little Mermaid" he felt proud of himself he connected his life into the Little Mermaid's life ever since the emotional story has been release there had a series of countless version of the tale.One of those was a feature animated movie directly from Japan from Toei, ANDASEN DOWA NINGYO-HIME (The Mermaid princess-or-Little Mermaid) tells you the story of a young mermaid princess who soon to fall deeply in love with a human prince in order to be with the prince she must make a horrible deal with the sea witch to become a human girl in order to do that she must give up her voice and her family as well.
Once she got up to land she stays with the prince thinking he will be with her forever but soon to find out there are plans for him to marry another princess which he feels is the girl who saved his life.
The next morning will bring the mermaid's death she did had a chance to live but it will lead up to kill the prince but the power of love is too strong she knows once she turns into foam she'll be happy as long as the prince is happy.The Little Mermaid give a strong impact when The Walt Disney Company release the film in 1989 with a more happy tone to it.
There very little versions that stay true to the original tale one of them was a another animated feature in Russia which had a much more darker tone but this one how ever will remain a special place in my heart with the idea of giving up anything you got for love.
One of the best version of the Andersen fairy tale ever presented..
The ending is absolutely heart-wrenching, watching her little friend jumping out of the see over and over again calling out her name as she turns into the sea foam.
Original title "The Mermaid Princess" Hans Christian Anderson.
Maybe from western fairy tales like the little mermaid.Lunare.
This was the best mermaid movie I have seen, although the animation, not the greatest!
This was the absolute original story about the Little Mermaid.
The Disney Version has a happy ending, and this one does too!
I loved this film soo much more than I did the Disney version.
I'm glad I'm not the only one looking for the version of this Little Mermaid, I loved it ever since I saw it when I was about 6...that must probably explain a lot with my views on true love!
I liked the Disney version, but this one is for those who understood The Little Mermaid, why she had to do what she did...I'm not making sense here now lol Why do I have to fill up 10 lines anyway to get approval?!?!
All I wanted to say was I loved this film!
Where the later Disney version is bright, bold and perky, this Little Mermaid is slightly dark, mysterious and rich with beauty.
I saw this movie as a young child, and loved every scene.
(And isn't Marina a much more fitting name for a marine-dwelling mermaid than the Disney counterpart?)You want to hate the girl that the prince marries.