Madama Butterfly opens with two cartoon characters, on appearing to look like a Ken doll, another a rag doll, in a wide open, peaceful place, making mad passionate love to each other. They lay together for a short while then the male picks up and leaves, giving the female his hat, promising his safe return and devoted heart.
As she waits and waits, the sky, a reflection of her hope, heart and desire grows dark and gloomy, also representing the change in time. We see a strange animation of a fish, trapped in a fishbowl, glass finally breaking and swimming free, this represents the woman's birth to their child.
The evolution of time is shown once again through the growth of the child until one day, the woman sees a ship vessel with her lover in the distance.
Her heart leaps in expectation and longing but as the night carries on and she sees the vessel, lit with much excitement and festivity, this is the first sign of foreshadowed rejection.
Finally the next day, her long lost lover arrives....with Barbie and ten other kids in tow of a beautiful convertible. She waits, arms outstretched but the man rips the child away, in the process, breaking the chord, presumably the umbilical chord, connected from mother o child symbolizing Madam Butterfly's very own life and last hope.
From this point on we see her downfall; escaping to the dark, first peeling off her face, then entire body, showcasing a bare skeleton, this is all that's left. She then begins to chop off her individual body parts one by one, symbolizing, that every part of her is broken. The screen goes dark as her body rots away and what's left is carried off by the wind, only to form a butterfly, which then appears on a fresh new body, perhaps in Heaven.
THe cartoon version is very different from other adaptions but the animations and power of the music still detail the vivid heartbreak and breakdown of wretched love and lost hope rotting away the soul.
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