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Originally Posted by seiki
I recently saw ponyo(Gake no ue no ponyo). It was pretty good but seemed a rip of the little mermaid. But I don't know which came first. I did enjoy the animation though.
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The Little Mermaid story is a lot older than either movie. It's an old Danish story from around 1830.
The story is similar to Disney's version. A mermaid falls in love with a prince she saved from a storm. And the only way for a mermaid to get a soul (to go to heaven) is to marry a human. She gets a potion from the sea witch to get legs, but loses her voice (and her ability to sing enchanting songs to win over a human). If she fails, then she dies and turns into sea foam. And so the prince falls in love with a princess and not the mermaid. As she accepts her death, her sisters get a magic knife from the sea witch that the little mermaid could use to kill the prince and become a mermaid again. But as she was about to, she couldn't. She throws herself into the sea and turns into sea foam. But, instead, she turns into an air spirit due to her pure longing to have a soul. With good deeds, she can earn a soul and go to heaven.
Not quite the happy story Disney gave, is it? lol I haven't seen Ponyo yet, so I can't compare to that. But if it is similar, it's from the same roots.