Goodbye, Lara Episode 12 [FINAL] – AngryAnimeBitches Anime Blog

This finale was a roller-coaster of emotions, ranging from horrifying to bittersweet feelings!

I’ll start with the horror bit because god, that was awful to sit through. The first was when Rowan and her sisters even in their slumbers were insisting she kills the one she loves (which goes to highlight even further why Grace really HAD NO CHOICE but to put them to sleep!), and then the second was when Lara was getting crunched on by the fish-dagger that swallowed her whole. God I really wanted to mute the whole thing– it was so unsettling and disturbing to listen to. It gave me the goosebumps. I kept bracing myself for the next crunch because I wasn’t sure if it was finally over or not. Seriously, awful. I don’t want to sit through that again. It was also shocking and horrifying to see the way the freaking fish-dagger impaled Mari to snatch her soul! SHEESH!!! 

The bittersweet part was coming to terms to what she truly wanted. What Lara has always been searching for wasn’t actually true love, but simply a place where she felt she belonged and feel free to be herself. She couldn’t achieve that in the sea with her family. Their hatred for Humans runs too deep. They could never understand her passion and curiosity for the surface. It was something she was constantly scolded for doing, and had to keep it deep within her heart.

After being revived by Grace, she arrives on the surface, but she’s a fish out of water. She has no idea what to begin, she still harbours trauma from her past life that led to her death, but comes along Mari who simply doesn’t care what she is, she just accept Lara for who she is. This girl is so chill, that even when she was warned she’ll die she’s unfazed. Mari had one mission, bring Lara back home. And this is a big reason why Mari played a critical role in helping discover the “light” that Lara was searching for. All this time she has been told she was supposed to “find true love” in an individual, or Prince if you will. But nobody ever thought there was ever the possibility for the light to take form as something else entirely.

Then when everything seems to be crashing down around her, the question “What do you want?” finally comes up. And that’s when Lara had to think deeper about things. She found herself constantly at odds of the expectations others were placing on her, and if she was going to be forced to do it, she didn’t want to hurt anyone (much less the one she loves) and thought the only way out was to take her own life. But she was forced to realize that wasn’t an option when she witnessed the consequences of that with the Fish-Dagger defying her by devouring Mari’s soul. That was the breaking point of which she was completely done with how every she didn’t want to happen was happening, and ended up getting devoured by the dagger herself when she cried out in frustration that she didn’t care if she disappeared. But by getting devoured, Lara was forced to confront the truths in her heart. So forget the noise of others, what did she want? And by acknowledging the truths she bore in her heart was the key to finding the light and saving both herself and Mari. She was thankful that she was given a second shot at life, she was glad she had the opportunity to return to the surface, she still wants to be a part of this world, and she doesn’t need true love to achieve that. All she wants is simple, just being in the same world as Mari. It was recognition of the truth that she became Human. Gone are her scales and fin-ears, her eyes and hair have changed to slightly darker/duller hue, making her unmistakably Human from head to toe. The scars she now bare are also proof of the turbulent path taken to wholeheartedly accepting who she is and who she wants to be, flaws and all. And with that she was able to save Mari.

Now some might say, if that’s not true love then what is? And frankly, I have to agree. While I don’t think of it as romantic love, I do believe this is meant to be left to viewer’s interpretation. Instead, I see this more of a combination of platonic love and self-love. Mari will always be deeply cherished by Lara, and vice versa, but it’s important to note Lara’s true desire is to immerse herself deeply in the culture of the surface. She wants to learn more, satiate her curiosity, discover new lights in different places. She’ll likely come back to visit Mari, after-all, she has promised to make her cake! And there’s no reason to believe she can’t do that now, if not gain more culinary skills in her journey ahead!

Despite the bittersweet finale of Lara and Mari going their separate ways, (hence the title: Goodbye, Lara), and moments of imperfections, it goes without saying this show was phenomenal, and hands down my favourite show of the Summer 2026 Season. I’ll gladly rate this a 9/10 and highly recommend anyone to watch this.Hands down my favourite character is Grace, being the most intriguing character of the show.  It’s just a shame that she had such an anticlimactic death (which factors into the flaws of the show). I also really enjoyed both Lara and Mari as the protagonists. They balanced each other very well with how naive and silly Lara could be as she’s adjusting to the modern day reality of the surface, whereas Mari was a grounded no-nonsense girl, locked in to her ambition of becoming a professional boxer. Yet at the same time, she’s also the kind to be utterly unfazed by the extraordinary. She didn’t think twice to save Grace when she was little, and she didn’t even blink or make a fuss about Lara being a mermaid. She just accepted the reality and move on. Lara was Lara, Grace was Grace and that was it. This is what made these two so much fun to watch together.

Personally I’d love to see Kinema Citrus do more original shows with the classic old school art-style as they did with this one. Not only it was breathtaking, but it was so refreshing to watch! Every bit of animation in this show was stunning attention to detail, especially with all the scenes that took place under the sea.

With that said, my one advice would be to temper your expectations if you’re walking into this thinking it’s about to be a yuri romance– because it’s not. It certainly gives every implication for it, but it doesn’t go beyond recognizing that Mari’s the key reason why Lara was able to fall in love with the surface again. It was more of the case of platonic true love. But as I said earlier, I do feel like they left it up to viewer’s interpretation on whether it’s romantic or platonic love.

Final Verdict: 9/10