Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid (アンデルセン童話 にんぎょ姫, Anderusen dōwa ningyo hime?, lit. "Andersen's Fairy Tales: Princess Mermaid") is a Japanese anime film based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, released in 1975 by Toei Animation. The movie is similar to the original tragic story written by Andersen, unlike the happily resolved Disney version. The protagonist is the youngest daughter of the royal Merman family, Marina, and her best friend is Fritz, a baby dolphin. This film was released in the US in 1978 by Starmaker Entertainment.

It is also purported to be available on R1 DVD, released by UAV Corporation under the name "The Little Mermaid: Based on Hans Christian Andersen's Classic Tale" [dubious – discuss]. The cover art looks nothing like Starmaker cover art or the film animation style. However, multiple reviewers on Amazon.com state that the actual film on the DVD is the same as the Starmaker release. The customer images aside from the cover art also depict images from the original 1975 Toei film. The UAV version is not to be confused with the GoodTimes Entertainment/Golden Films version.

Source: Wikipedia