English Dub Review: maboroshi

Overview:

An explosion at a steel factory causes the town of Mifuse to change forever.

Our Take:

Masamue Kikuiri is a 14-year-old boy who lives in the small town of Mifuse. He is studying with his friends one night when a mysterious explosion occurs at the steel factory. After that, the town is frozen in time. Days go by, but it always remains winter and nobody ever ages. Nobody is able to leave the town, nor are they allowed to make any changes They have to live their same life each day in the hopes that normalcy will return to them one day.

Masamune follows his classmate, Mutsumi Sagami, to the factory one day. He meets a girl who doesn’t know many words and he says she acts like a wolf cub. He calls the girl Itsumi and it turns out that she plays a key role in what is happening to the town.

The movie mainly follows Masamune as he tries to learn more about Itsumi and about what’s going on in the town. Meanwhile, people are disappearing. It’s not fully clear as to why, but it’s presumed to be because their feelings change. For example, one character disappears after revealing her feelings for another and a different character disappears after having a specific dream the night before.

Like I said before, Itsumi plays a key role and Mutsumi’s father is the reason she’s even a factor. The man is crazy and he believes Itsumi will be what makes everything better. At least, that’s the story that gets told to everyone. Itsumi’s true role is later revealed and it’s pretty interesting.

There is also a romantic subplot in this film. Personally, I wish this would be the movie’s main focus. The movie still handles it well. The main relationship in the movie anyway. The side one is negligible, but it still gives a sweet scene.

The visuals in this movie are stunning. That’s not surprising though, since MAPPA is the studio behind this project. The animation is fluid, the backgrounds are breathtaking, and the character designs really pop. It’s an interesting design choice to make them seem like their cheeks are always blushing. I don’t mind it though. In fact, I like it. I think it makes them stand out.

The music also stands out a lot to me. It’s all so beautiful and really helps create a wonderful atmosphere. I can’t decide if it’s a bigger standout than the visuals. It doesn’t really matter because they work together to set the tone for the film.

I like the three main characters and there are some supporting characters that stand out to me as well. Mutsumi’s father and Masamune’s uncle are prime examples. I wouldn’t call any of these characters groundbreaking or outstanding, but they’re solid. It would be nice if some of the side characters got a little more attention, but there’s only so much screen time.

I like aspects of the story, but my biggest problem with the movie is how inconsistent it is. I don’t understanding everything that’s happening all the time. The people disappearing is never fully explained. It’s explained what happens when they disappear, but not exactly why they do. Plus, the pacing is all over the place. The movie feels like it’s trying to focus on too many aspects of the story at once and doesn’t know which one to stick with at any given time. There are a lot of scenes that I feel like aren’t given enough time to develop, which hurts their impact.

The story’s execution is messy, but I still understand the message. People are only as trapped as they feel and it’s up to us to get out of the world we don’t like. I think it’s a strong and relatable message, especially with recent world events. It might not be the most consistent story, but it still resonates with me a bit. overall, I do think this is an enjoyable movie. It could be something greater if the story was a little more focused, but it still gets the job done.