Across 200 Years, a Mermaid Princess Returns to Lake Biwa
In July 2026, a slightly strange, tender-textured original anime began: "Goodbye, Lara." It is produced by Kinema Citrus—the studio behind "Made in Abyss" and "Revue Starlight"—and stands as the studio’s 15th-anniversary work. The concept, too, originates from Kinema Citrus, with direction by Takushi Koide, who honed his craft there. In a summer 2026 lineup crowded with adaptations, a fully original title alone makes you sit up straighter.
The story is rooted in Andersen’s "The Little Mermaid." Born as the sixth daughter of the sea king Rowan, Lara once dissolved into foam after a forbidden love for a human. Some 200 years later, she inexplicably revives in present-day Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture, and lands in the home of Mari Otsu, a high-school girl boxer. From the tragedy of sea "foam" to lakeside daily life. The moment the setting shifts to the freshwater of Lake Biwa, it is clear this work has no intention of scoring the classic fairy tale straight—and that intent naturally echoes through the music’s design.
"Music: yuma yamaguchi"—A Score the Director Visited a Home to Build
The score is handled by composer yuma yamaguchi. It is not yet a widely known name, but this very casting is, I’d argue, the work’s key listening point. According to reports, director Koide himself went as far as visiting yamaguchi’s home, hammering out the music down to the tonality (key) of each cue. A director frequenting a musician’s workspace to grip every single note is not something you see often in mass-produced TV anime. That alone suggests how central sound is to carrying this story.
The tragedy of the mermaid princess, the weight of 200 years, and the calm, faintly lonely air of a lakeside like Lake Biwa. To make these coexist, the choice of tonality and the delicate handling of motifs matter more than pushing with flashy orchestration. The anecdote that the director weighed in "down to the key" feels like proof of exactly that—an attempt to paint, in music, the space between major and minor, the contrast of light on the water’s surface and memory sunk to its bed. Following the broadcast while tracking how the same mermaid motif modulates scene by scene looks set to be a pleasure unique to this show.
Ikimonogakari, Hana Hope, and the Score EP Unlocked in July
The theme-song roster is lavish, too. The opening is Ikimonogakari’s new track "Goodbye, Lara," written and composed by Yoshiki Mizuno and arranged by Seiji Kameda—a golden pairing. This tie-up, sharing the work’s title outright, finally revealed its full form in the credited OP video released on July 13. The ending is Hana Hope’s "Hearts Glow," arranged by David Baron, another border-crossing configuration.
What delights soundtrack fans is that the score EP was released digitally almost simultaneously with the broadcast start, with a complete original soundtrack to follow on September 30 (music production by KADOKAWA). In other words, that one cue you notice while watching now can be checked on streaming the same day. How does yamaguchi’s score—reportedly refined from the tonality up—stand as "sound itself," severed from the visuals? Preview with the EP, then check your answers with the full album in September. As a summer pick that invites exactly that mode of listening, "Goodbye, Lara" is well worth keeping on your radar.
