Originating from Mamoru Oshii's animated short "Project Mermaid," the character "Mermaid" emerges through a metamorphosis sequence where a fish transforms into her form. This transformation employs photographic textures of real Japanese women, mapped onto the animated figure to create a flat, collage-like visual effect viewed from multiple angles.

After her formation, the mermaid navigates an abstract environment of shifting blue and gold hues dotted with symbolic elements. Her journey culminates at a portal explicitly marked "REAL." Upon entering this portal into a photorealistic cityscape, her form instantaneously fractures and disintegrates. This disintegration concludes her narrative existence, embodying her inability to endure within the "real" world. The character functions as a visual metaphor within Oshii's thematic exploration of artificial life confronting reality.