Following an explosion at the local steel factory in the town of Mifuse, time has mysteriously stopped and the townsfolk have become cut off from the outside world. In the hope that one day things will return back to normal, the people of Mifuse are forbidden from changing, and for now they remain as they are, essentially locked within a fixed point in time.
Amongst the residents of the town is 14-year-old student, Masamune Kikuiri. Due to the unusual circumstances surrounding him and his friends, Masamune and his school pals spend their days existing in an endless winter, unsure what the future will hold if life never returns to what it once was.
But things begin to change for Masamune when he meets an unusual young girl named Itsumi, and at the same time starts to find himself attracted to classmate, Atsumi. These two girls kick-start a series of events which not only impact Masamune’s life, but could also impact the lives of everyone in Mifuse.
Written and directed by Mari Okada, Maboroshi is a fantasy-romance Japanese anime featuring the vocal talents of Junya Enoki, Reina Ueda, and Misaki Kuno. After being released in Japan back in September 2023, the movie is new to international territories this week and can currently be streamed on Netflix.
Featuring superb animation and an intriguing premise, Maboroshi is a gorgeous film to look at and one which draws in its audience with its enthralling set-up. The idea of a town being frozen in time offers up plenty of scope for some imaginative storytelling, and focusing the narrative around a teenager who is unable to move beyond his adolescent years offers up a good hook.
In fact, Maboroshi is often at its best when it highlights the sheer frustration of the younger townsfolk who are stuck in a rut. Masamune and his peers are growing emotionally, but not physically, and there’s a sense of sadness surrounding their existence as ‘forever teens’ who may not experience adulthood.
This is all interesting stuff and while the movie contains far more than this single story beat, it is here where I found myself most connected to the film. Maboroshi has peaks and troughs, but this is one of the peaks, and I liked it very much.
Where Maboroshi is perhaps a little less successful, and where I was not so hot on the film, was when it came to the general unfolding of the story. While Maboroshi has strong moments, including a heartfelt plot line involving the mysterious Itsumi and an alternate reality, the narrative is a bit jumbled in places, specifically towards the beginning, and I found myself losing a bit of interest here and there.
It takes a little while for everything to fall into place, and during the first 30 minutes things can feel a tad confusing. It all comes together in time, but interest levels may dip for some audiences and it did dip for me.
During some parts of the film my mind did wander on a couple of occasions, and I found myself not always fully engaged. As such, while I liked a great deal of Maboroshi, I was never completely invested in it and this is a shame.
That said, I was dazzled by the animation and this aspect of the film did a great deal of the heavy lifting. Maboroshi sure does shine in the visual department and if nothing else, this makes up for some of the other shortcomings.
On the whole, Maboroshi is a fairly good picture and one where the strengths do outweigh the weaknesses. Yes, the story does become a little messy in places, and the pacing is a tad iffy, but it holds together enough to get from A to B.
The film’s visual aesthetic is worth taking a look at and the concept behind the movie gives it plenty of potential. Not fantastic, but pretty damn good.
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