My Mixed Opinions About Mari Okada
If I said that I didn't enjoy Maquia when it came out despite it being a major hit to a lot of people, would that color your experience already? I say that because it's true. I just couldn't find any sort of enjoyment despite the ideas that it was trying to sure. There is a reason, besides some opinions towards people I trust, that I never looked into Whisker Away. I was also a bit nervous about watching this film despite me really being intrigued by this film's concept. So I can say that on some level, I don't think her writing is bad at all, just different.
I really do like a lot of the television series she's involved in. The Wixoss series is something that I genuinely like because it's well written and there are not many things like it. I do think that Mobile Suit Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans has problems, but I think it is a genuinely solid gundam series. I also really like O Maidens in Your Savage Season and Dragon Pilot. Though I think Kiznaiver was a certain disaster and I couldn't get into A Lull in the Sea. I do think she has some good writing ideas and moments, but she is kind of far from flawless. I think sometimes her writing revolving around a magical baby can kind of get tiring. It hurt Maboroshi a little bit.
The Premise of Maboroshi
One night, everything went wrong. A group of boys were hanging out and studying in the main boy, Masamune's room when one boy farted. Then the outside of the steel mill in their town exploded causing their town to be continuously locked in time by magic spirit foxes.The characters in the town are physically stuck in a time loop, but mentally the people are suffering in hopes that the town will have time to move some day. That is why the town tries to keep some sense of normalcy where nothing has changed. Masamune is a bit of a rebel in that he never turns in his dream career sheet in which that is used as a marker to make sure no one has changed.
Of course the story kind of shifts gears a bit when one girl that Masamune may or may not have a crush on (ok, he does) named Mutsumi introduces him into a girl named Itsumi who isn't locked down by the time loop. After that, a lot of different conspiracies start spreading to bring about factions of either getting people to stay where they are or actually work hard to return them back to normal by sending the plot kid/baby back. Itsumi and the reveal of the truth of the town's reality does awaken some chaos and dimension breaking. Some of that revealed another dimension where Masamune and Mutsumi are married. I am skipping over a lot of things, but the town does return to normal eventually because of course it does
Realistic Characters and Trauma
For the most part, every character in this movie is treated like a grounded person for the most part. The horny boys in Masamune's class are realistically horny toward the attractive girls in their class without going into the creepy range of taking it too far during gym. When those same guys want to go somewhere strange and explore different points of where they are without supervision like those kids would be. Considering how the world is locked down and forced to be the same all the time, The student rebellion of doing something different is just another reason why teenagers would push their boundaries in the society they are in.
The adults, for the most part, did the same things they would usually do with the added incentive of the lock down. But Masamune's Mom did her best to put on a brave and strong face to keep the family together despite it being so hard to do the same things every day. The uncle in Masamune's life is working at the steel factory despite there being nothing to do. Plus, this is the one trying to keep our teenagers in the dark. I also believe the cartoon villain in reactions is very realistic in our common world. You should understand why cartoon villains are no longer just cartoon Villains anymore that we can laugh at for being dumb.
Let's talk about the unusual stuff. In an ordinary slice of life anime, the romance between Masamune and Mutsumi would happen naturally. In this case, the ripples that both can see to a dimension where the two are married kind of speed runs it in ways that also cause more complications and friction. Not to mention the magic baby Itsumi who is a toddler that can barely speak above baby speech and isn't affected by the state of the world. So because everything is mostly normal, the plot baby sticks out and sending her back is the answer to solving the situation because of course. Itsumi is necessary to the story and causes some interactions when the characters care for the difficult child. She's unfortunately baked into the story.
This Film's Look at Humanity
This concept of what makes people who they are is something that draws me into films like this. How long can people be forced to live in the same situation before they break? What about feeling pain and being injured from taking large falls? What if people just don't get injured anymore because it just stops. I really wish the film could have explored that a bit more instead of talking to the plot baby all the time because that's the more interesting stuff that would have explored a bit more. It's covered more in a montage near the end. Maybe there are hints about it, but I still don't think a montage is enough,
The other portion of this, caused by people's emotions is something that is intriguing. As in overly emotional people are being taken to be killed off. That is why after the reveal, the town doesn't go completely in a frenzy, though some people were taken away by the spirit foxes. Most people accepted the station they were at because what else are they going to do? Can you imagine a world where people couldn't live without feeling pain or being emotional? That's not human at all. But being human is what ends up saying that the town is stuck. Mainly the breaking emotions of Masamune and Mutsumi falling in love and acting on those emotions.
Quick Wrap Ups
This film was gorgeous. So many wonderful and detailed settings. The town feels lived in with all sorts of detailed environments from this town locked in a dimensional bubble. The opening scene was incredible when the explosion at the steel factory occurred and spirit foxes came out of nowhere and flew around the town. It was incredible. Also, the animation itself was really fluid and full of amazing character animation too. I love the character designs and the general design of the town. The characters in it feel very well written for people we are mostly never going to get names of. But if he did all amazing things all together.
The film itself is good. Most of it really works as an interesting piece of concept like a lot of great pieces of science fiction material. Most of it is handled in really good and believable ways. I do think that the plot baby is a massive hindrance of the story itself because a lot of time is spent on her and she's really annoying. Being plot necessary doesn't make her any better. The rest of the movie around her is some high level material though. Just know what you are getting into and can be prepared. It's a good Mari Okada work.
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