Maquia, una historia de amor eterno

I saw this movie during its limited theatre release in Australia. Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms is the directorial debut by Mari Okada. She also wrote the film. The writing, voice acting and animation is great. The main characters Maquia and Erial are realistic and convey the relationships between Children and their parents. The film also explores themes of motherhood. The film however is dragged down by some of the side characters and several flashback scenes which I thought were unnecessary. Overall I thought this was a great movie and it was only held back by some minor flaws.

I ended up finding this on a random anime website and thought the art style was pretty so I decided to look it up. I barely read anything about the movie though since I didn't want spoilers, so I went in pretty much blind tonight watching this. Because I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone else looking to watch this, I won't go into too much detail. I just felt the need to review this as soon as I finished watching because I was in tears the entire time!! This movie has such a bittersweet ending, but at the same time closes the story off in such a perfect way (again, don't want to spoil, so I won't say why/how). Please just watch this for yourself! Everything's amazing about this: the plot, the pacing, the artstyle, the music, the character development. I wish this was hyped up just as much as Your Name or A Silent Voice because if I hadn't found this movie on that website, I would've never had the chance to watch this. Again, please watch this if you have the chance. You won't regret it!!!! I'm editing this because I just found out this was Mari Okada's directorial debut??? BLESS THIS WOMAN.

This is a high fantasy film set among a people with very long lifespans. At the beginning of the movie, the Elder tells Maquia that if she ever meets someone from the outside, she must never fall in love, otherwise she will learn true pain. (Due to the difference in lifespan)

It pretty much seems like a set up for a tale of forbidden romance. She will probably meet a man from the outside. Instead, after their home is attacked (and presumably destroyed), she escapes and finds a baby whose parents were killed. She takes the baby in and decides to raise it. The movie is about her struggle trying to be a mother. Eventually, as her adopted son out-ages her, it creates heartbreaking friction between them.

It was a different choice from the movie to focus on a parent-child relationship in this context. Sure, a star crossed romance would have been Romantically tragic, but shifting the focus to a story where you have a child and you know you are going to outlive the child by a lot ... that is its own kind of heartbreak that we don't often see be the heart of such stories.

Plot: a very beautiful story. It has a lot of deep messages and scenes. And there is also that magic that only Japanese can manage this well... Probably it would makes you cry (like I did).

Animation: perfect, smooth.

Drawings: particular, they have their fingerprints and it is a very good one.

Soundtrack: another very good thing. It is very enjoyable and pleasing.

Conclusions: an amazing, deep work that I can surely recommend to everyone. Especially for moms or who have doubts about being one.

If anime as a genre brings to mind fanservice, childish boob-humour and a bizarre obsession with characters that have a single emotion they express every time they open their mouths, then leave it to this film to add some variety to the pallet.

While anime has examples of all styles and genres of film housed within its animated shelves, there aren't a lot of films that bring a serious tone, thoughtful plays on philosophy and stunning animation, while avoiding the cliche's of anime. This is one of them.

Beginning strong, the film immediately sets out gorgeous visuals with a high-key pallet and beautifully envisioned world. The attention to detail in architecture and environments will encourage the use of the pause button, while the complexity of background animation is at such a level that the sheer number of moving characters approaches that of a live action film. This level of work is rarely seen in animation and is worth applause on its own, not to mention the beautifully coordinated combat late in the film.

Characters are written to be fairly simple, but in complex circumstances. This dedication to simplicity, at times, struggles to progress the characters despite time moving fairly quickly at times. Ariel, in particular, is barely developed in spite of the story's scope containing his entire life. Other characters are deeply wounded by their circumstances and have decisions to make regarding the road they will follow afterward. At times these wounds are gut wrenching but sadly aren't utilized to their fullest extent in developing the characters involved.

If watching the english subtitled version, there are some things lost in translation, that could result in some confusion. The jumps in time are also not the easiest to follow, which doesn't help the pacing. In the end, however, they successfully blend a heart-felt story of love and maturity and family together with a fantastical setting with hints of deep lore and history that satisfies on a higher level than the vast majority of big-budget films being released in current days. The animation is spectacular, the story is thought-provoking and the world is entrancing.