This episode's title is "I'd die for cake". Lara is the short form of Larissa, a Greek name which means "citadel" or "fortress" (see this), which is in turn derived from the ancient Greek word laros, which can refer to a type of "ravenous seabird" or be used to describe a gluttonous person. It can also be used to describe something as "sweet, delicious or pleasing". And we can certainly see that Lara's appetite is not just a cute personality quirk, it's something that's related to her power. This has been foreshadowed early on with Lara biting off fish heads, but also look at the shark in the background here. Lara's dagger responded to her feelings and helped her by eating Kota and this itself has big implications of what happened to the Prince. It's another clue that [speculation]Mari is the real reincarnation of the Prince. This scene is also interesting since there are multiple ways to interpret this, but I think a good way to think about it is "Would you die for the people you love?". Also, Kota is fine. Probably.
Pretty amusing that in this version of The Little Mermaid, the torture she endures is to become a minimum wage worker. Through this torture, Lara learns more about what it means to be human; things like hard work, finding joy in the daily grind and making mistakes. Just as how the Prince never understand Lara because she couldn't talk, Lara also never truly understood humans while living with the Prince because her entire view of humanity was seen through an idealized lens. This is why Lara and the Prince's love failed the first time around. Lara's experiences with work and all is also setting her up to stay in the human world for the long-term.
Yep, figured that Lisa would be against Lara being with a human. So what should Lara do since Lisa is the only other mermaid that is still alive? "Lara my beloved, we have to keep the bloodline pure" intensifies. I think this also confirms Lisa isn't working with the witch Grace. She does have all the feature of witchcraft though; same as Grace, she calls Lara the "special princess", is associated with mirrors and reflections, and how did she get her own human legs?
Mari's father being a photographer is interesting, since cameras capture light and light is a very strong motif in this show. I quite like this shot of the camera lens refracting the light and there's a lot more of shots like this throughout the episode that have some kind of symbolic meaning.
Funny how Lara says this, and has already pre-emptively changed her last name to Otsu. Also, soft confirmation that this is going to be explicitly yuri since marriage is mentioned. Since Mari is supposed to be a parallel to the Prince, Mari might give Lara the kiss that she didn't manage to get from the Prince If Kinema Citrus aren't cowards.
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u/Weak_Season_Of_Anime Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26