Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
oanimeheitorofc
A animação é lindíssima, fazendo um uso muito bem pensado de cores. A composição das cenas, costuma ser deslumbrante, e a fluidez, nem se fala. A história, apesar de simples, é muito bem montadinha. Os eventos ocorrem de forma bem orgânica. Ela começa num ápice de eventos intensos e rápidos para depois trazer um ritmo leve e contemplativo.
Os dramas geralmente são trabalhados de formas sutis, as vezes melosas, mas muito eficientes. Eles nutrem os personagens de carisma e camadas, motivando você a continuar assistindo por se envolver com eles profundamente.
Isso além de retratar o cotidiano de forma muito divertida, trazendo dinâmicas simples, até identificáveis, mas, cativantes. Para mim, foi a maior surpresa no mundo dos animes em 2026!
Apenas considero que de fato, a reta final é um…
Read at the sourcePlutomi
Fantastic series that shoots itself in the foot right near the end and leaves you wishing there was atleast another episode or two to properly wrap up the finale. I feel Lara's relationship with her family was not as well explored as I would've liked, as well as her relationship with Luka introduced mid-season being brushed over faster than I would've liked.
Personally, I found the most enjoyable element the Slice Of Life. Definitely worth a watch, but there's a disconnect between the last episode and what you will have watched previously that might feel a tad jarring - although the animation is gorgeous throughout.
Around 8-9 throughout and a 7ish for the finale sequence
Read at the sourceHanushOfLeipa
One of the most emotional modern anime I've seen in ages. It's a spin on a classic fairy tale, but somehow maintains loads of originality. Everything about it is so high quality, and you can seriously feel how passionate the crew was just from watching it. This is a show that truly cared about itself and it's themes.
I seriously cannot praise this show enough. I won't go too far into detail, because I feel it's really worth experiencing without knowing what to expect, but every episode somehow manages to be more heart wrenching than the last.
Every single character, even the ones that show up for one episode, are all so memorable. Every design, every voice, the world, the music, there's just so much personality put into everything here. It's like the spirit of 90s anime took over when th…
Read at the sourceFanfic-Demon
[ES]
Pienso que fue un buen anime en general con un comienzo increíble y algún que otro tropiezo entre medias. El final se pudo haber ejecutado mejor o incluso requerir de un 13vo capítulo. Tiene un hermoso apartado visual que me recuerda un poco a los años 80s/90s y un buen OP que me causa cierta alegría cada vez que lo escucho.
[ENG]
I think it was a good anime in general with an incredible start and some other stumbling between. The end could have been better executed or even required a 13th chapter. It has a beautiful visual section that reminds me a little of the 80s/90s and a good OP that causes me some joy every time I hear it
Read at the sourceastersatnoon
Goodbye Lara is a beautiful little seasonal, set for the summer season all about hope. And boy oh boy did I have hopes too large for this show.
To preface this, I do believe goodbye Lara is fantastic - in theory - but falls short in execution - the main reason being the 12 episode time constraint that squeezes this show so much it deflates and leave you unsatisfied.
TBH if this show had more episodes, I'm sure it could have been so well executed that it could be considered 'anime of the year', and that was the thought I had before witnessing the horror show that was the ending of ep 11, knowing the far too large chunk of meat episode 12 failed to digest.
The main conflict in the show is Lara, herself, her identity and her relationships, and most importantly of all, her fate!
Goodbye Lara,…
Read at the sourceohterrytorres
If there’s a short bored person who keeps a memento of a family member who left them behind, and lives with their father and grandparent and a pet, and has their life turned upside down when a strange person with weird colored hair comes to their small city, and there’s a giant monolith looming over the city that’s getting more threatening over time as the relationship between the two develops, and then once they reach an understanding one of them up and leaves the other, whose life goes back to normal but with a renewed sense of purpose...
Honey, that’s not Goodbye Lara, that’s FLCL.
I see people saying this would have been better if it were longer. No. Go the FLCL route and make this 4 to 8 episodes. Trim the family (like all the sisters who don’t do anything), trim the part time job s…
Read at the sourcemarioink508
Completed - 9.80
LIVE FOR LOVE, NOT FOR THE LAWS.
Goodbye, Lara might be the closest thing to a modern fairy tale masterpiece, and easily my Summer 2026 Anime of the Season. What sets it apart is the refreshing lens through which it approaches slice-of-life romance—occasionally echoing familiar genre tropes, though never relying on the genre's cliches, instead discovering something newly enchanting within its own fantasy—and its world keeps its spell unbroken from the first episode to the last. On the surface, Goodbye, Lara is conceptually inspired by The Little Mermaid fairy tale—the spark that sets everything in motion—however, Anna Kawahara reworks it into something darker, yet just as serene, reimagined for a modern Japanese setting. Nothing about this experience seems rushed; right…
Read at the sourceBrotherCoa
I heard a lot of good things about this anime while it was airing, and then I heard all the wrong things about it's ending. So now that I finally have some free time I had finished the anime in a few days and... I got Mass Effect 3 flashbacks. Those who were there in 2013 should know what I am talking about. I will explain more in it in the story part of review but for now all you have to know is that that majority of people are agreeing that the show is amazing up to the last 6 minutes. Which is a shame as this is supposed to be "Little Mermaid" the japanese version and it works so well that it is a shame how it will be remembered...
Animation and music: truly great. Animation felt like I was watching future length movie and not standard anime series. It is fluent and full of colors and…
Read at the sourcereallysillycat
Gorgeously animated and beautiful story with some twists and turns that flesh out and modernize this fairy tale about love in sometimes surprising ways and mostly for the better.
The first thing that stands out about this show is the visuals, the hand drawn animation and really beautiful shot compositions make this one of the best looking shows I've seen in the last year. There isn't a moment that doesn't look absolutely amazing, from the bright and glamorous mermaid kingdom to the dark portrayals of the witch and human world. The background art, the characters and lighting look simply gorgeous in every shot.
The story is a very enjoyable exploration of love itself, and explores that topic very effectively through its fish out of water (hehe) protagonist looking for her "true love" and n…
Read at the sourcesss999
Yuri (girls romance)
I was really disappointed by the ending of this show. The marketing only labeled it as a standard 'Romance' and 'Fantasy,' so I expected a traditional story about a boy and a girl. Instead, the creators used the romance tag as a trick to hide a Yuri plotline.
For me personally, I believe that men and women were naturally created for one another, and I prefer watching stories that reflect that traditional bond. I felt misled because the tags didn't accurately warn viewers about the direction of the romance. If you are looking for a standard male-female love story, I highly recommend skipping this one."
So, I really hate this type of anime and manga. I hate the mindset of people who say, “Romance is romance—it can be between two boys or two girls.” I just don’t under…
Read at the source2Rosenblue
Edit: It's ironic that there are people offended by my review yet there is a review where someone expressed disliking this series mainly because the main character was in a yuri-like relationship. I stand by what I said and I won't change my mind on the matter. I find it weird how some people complain about No.6's shounen-ai elements and Gnosia's romantic subtext/undertones yet are defensive of this series. For years people complained that No.6 has BL undertones and two kiss scenes between male characters but now this same community wants to defend one of the worst anime of the year. Good luck with that "trend hoppers". Lmao
Disclosure/warning:
I will try my best not to spoil the series too much but please be aware that there will be some minor spoilers as my review continues.
Unlike maj…
Read at the sourceTRIDIUM
Yuri fans, don't do it. I'm telling you. Just don't.
I'm writing this review as someone who's opinion of a show heavily relies on the ending.
The first 11 episodes are amazing. Art direction is beautiful, it's genuinely the best looking show of this year. I love the soundtrack and it elevates a lot of the emotional moments. All the characters are super charming and just generally oozes with personality.
Unfortunately, the ending is terrible. Truly awful. I won't spoil it but there are several decisions made that I'm just genuinely confused by.
Not only does the last episode suck, it makes the rest of the series feel pointless.
If you're not a romance fan or don't really care about that stuff, then you might get something out of the show. Like I said, everything leading up to the e…
Read at the sourceP_F_V
High production value, exquisitely directed modern fairy tale, an easy recommendation… but not quite everything I wanted it to be?
I have no complaints about the visuals. From beginning to end, it’s colorful and evocative. No expense spared. The lights of summer glow in every shot, from the heavy middays, to the radiant twilights, to the gentle streetlights after dark, only muted in the depths of the deep from whence Lara came. The teardrops and bits of foam linger on the screen, still in motion.
Lara is adorable, of course, running around town with her bright red braid and her reattached tongue. Her quest to self-actualize is starts with the classic fish-out-of-water tropes, but then progresses to the harder questions as the plot progresses. Her arc is a bit slow, but the characters she…
Read at the sourceLesbean
I haven't logged into this site in 3 years, and I decided to do so solely to rate this anime poorly. This was shaping up to be one of my favorite shows of all time - art, storyline, characters were all fantastic, like Ghibli meets Ikuhara - but the ending completely destroyed everything it had spent 12 episodes carefully building up. I genuinely can't believe how botched the final 5 minutes were, my God! Did someone else write the ending specifically? Someone who hates GL and the show's audience? I'm still in disbelief.
I think it's worth watching if you're willing to turn it off 75% through the final episode and make up your own ending, but if you're like me and still have nightmares about the ending of Wonder Egg Priority, I wouldn't waste your time on this slop.
Read at the sourceACertainSilhou
We can't have anything. I am sick of relationships between women not being developed properly or sidelined for a male lead. People don't take our love seriously and see it as a silly game you will grow out of. If this was a yaoi or a BL then I know that Mari and Lara would've kissed and it would be so clear to the audience that they are together but because they're women no one cares.
I am so disappointed by whatever it is I have just seen. I had hopes up to about episode 10 of this anime, thinking we may finally get a yuri love story that is clear to the viewer that the characters are together. Then episode 11 came out and still no yuri. Then episode 12 dropped and it all turned out to be for nothing. We were promised a yuri anime that wasn't generic yet we were served one of the most ge…
Read at the sourceYoshit92
Trop Kawai-desu JAPAN.
Joke on the side, there were any studies who showed that japanese animes had a better impact on childwood than disney movies, and this is clearly the proof of that. This is a readaptation of the original story of little mermaid but with a more interesting approach on the loving thematic. I find the research of ID of Lara very nice to follow.
Best quality : visual. I love the old school style who gives much charme for the characters. And the anime installs his scenes in a cinematographic frame who makes any impacting scenes. There are also any good idea of realisation the meeting punch of Marin in the first ep.
Bref, I recommend this anime who will make spend a good moment
Read at the sourceAndrewapps
Story: 3
Characters: 5
Animation: 7.5
Sound: 7
Enjoyment: 3
Overall: 5.1/10
P.S. - Watched with Amp.
Notes: A Ghibli film in practically all regards, with style over substance and magical wonder over properly explaining the world, and love/friendship fixes all problems and hatred/ugly emotions are the source of all strife/evil. Frankly, it's just not my cup of tea. Just like practically all Ghibli films, I was simply... whelmed. It was fine. Mediocre. Consumable. Yet entirely unmemorable, and that is a far bigger insult than being good or bad, in my opinion. Good shows stick with me forever, bad shows entertain me via watching a metaphorical train wreck occur, but mediocre shows just... exist. I will surely go through my list one day in the future, or come across it randomly on a forum o…
Read at the sourceOGKriss88
My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. (felt so betrayed we had to leave our first review)
Biggest set up for absolutely nothing to happen. The animation was amazing, but the storyline revolved around Lara finding true love only for her to not love anyone in the end (or at least not say or show that she does). Luca was the most correct about Lara's personality, she's just unpredictable to be unpredictable. No reason behind her final actions whatsoever. Wasted 6 hrs of our lives to be sincerely disappointed at the resolution.
ONLY REDEEMING PLOT IS GRACE'S (although Lara not completing her arc results in Grace not having a resolution either but let's ignore that lol)
Read at the sourceNaruzx
Sayonara Lara is visually striking. Very Ghibli-coded, with a great reimagining of The Little Mermaid. I loved the art direction, the music, and the whole fairytale atmosphere. There’s something so charming about watching Lara slowly adjust to the human world and get attached to the life she finds there.
What I loved most was how the idea of “true love” keeps changing throughout the story. Lara starts out thinking she needs to find it to survive, but the more time she spends with Mari and the Otsu family, the less important that idea becomes. I especially liked how meaningful her bond with Mari becomes without being defined by romance. Even when Lara tries to figure out what a “prince” actually is by watching Himeka and Ōji, it fits perfectly with what she’s trying to understand. She’s bas…
Read at the sourcePanda_Roll
Goodbye Lara is retelling of the little mermaid (Original story, not Disney movie) Only deconstructed.
The tale is done, the mermaid turned to seafoam. So now lets resurrect her and try again in modern day Japan.
The interesting thing about the show is how faithful it is to the original story, using a lot of the details and elements in it, but telling it's own story instead of the well known one.
Mermaids live for 300 years, so the new story takes place exactly 300 years later.
The Mermaid's sister get her a magical dagger to pierce the prince's heart to save herself, to return to the sea. Bring back the dagger and have it do exactly that but in a different way and so on.
The 90s - early 2000s art style is very charming.
Animation smooth
Characters endearing and they act like r…
Read at the source
