Details PG // 112 mins // Out now Director Masaaki Yuasa Screenwriters Reiko Yoshida, Masaaki Yuasa Cast Kanon Tani, Shôta Shimoda, Shin’ichi Shinohara, Akira Emoto, Minako Kotobuki, Soma Saito Distributor Anime Limited
The latest film from Japanese director Masaaki Yuasa, Lu Over The Wall, is an ace new entry in the small but strong pool of animation centred around mermaid or fish-people, alongside Disney’s The Little Mermaid and Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo. Following his parents’ separation, glum teenager Kai lives in his father’s home in a rural fishing town. This town is one where interests in music and dancing are largely discouraged in the young folk. This is less a Footloose situation, though, and more an apparent precaution based around local superstition: mermaids, seen as deadly, are believed to be drawn…