Maquia, an orphan girl of the nigh-immortal race of the lorphs, adopts an infant boy named Ariel, and devotes her life to the struggle to protect him, nurture him, and understand what it means to be a mother. Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms, an anime film directed by Mari Okada, has all the trappings of an epic fantasy: a world clinging to the remnants of dying magic, kingdoms vying for power, a quest to rescue a captured princess. Yet all this fades into the background, and the story instead focuses on the relationship between Maquia and Ariel.
At just under two hours long, yet with an epic scope that encompasses Ariel’s growth from a child to man, Maquia is a tight, dense film. Each scene is packed to bursting with emotion and portrays a key moment in Maquia and Ariel’s character development. The story gripped me with every step it took on its way to the bittersweet climax— bittersweet, because despite Maquia’s intense love for Ariel, she cannot keep her with him. He may be her son, but he is no longer her child— he is a man, and she must release him to the world. Although the relationship between Maquia and Ariel is intricate, relatable and hits with an immense emotional impact, the film simply doesn’t have enough time to develop its other subplots as well as I would have liked. The arc of Maquia’s childhood friends Laeria and Krim, lovers torn apart by a terrible fate, works well enough but feels a bit rushed. Upon reaching the conclusion of this subplot in my first viewing, I thought “Well, that would have been an emotionally impactful and thematically pertinent climax, except for the fact that I didn’t put together what was happening until after it was all over.” The second time I watched Maquia, I understood Krim and Laeria’s choices in the end much better, but still wished for a few more scenes showing how they got to that point. Themes Maquia’s repeated question, “What does it mean to be a mother?” forms the thematic core of the film. With Maquia and Ariel, we explore every aspect of the relationship between mother and child: the joys they share, how they hurt and misunderstand each other, how the love between them never dies even as their relationship is forced to change. Maquia is a tour de force of a mother’s journey and all the emotions that are part and parcel of it. Through this film, I gained a greater respect and admiration for my own mother. I hope to convince her to watch it someday, although she doesn’t like anime, so it’s a long shot. The film’s intensely beautiful ending illustrates a profound yet sorrowful truth: that all good things must pass away. Maquia and Ariel’s love is not meant to last forever, at least not in the same form. As a Christian, however, I found more hope in the conclusion than I otherwise would have. For the love between mother and son is but an offshoot of a much deeper love springing from an infinite source. Love like Maquia and Ariel’s finds its fulfillment in God, and in God can be transformed into something unimaginably greater, something fit to last through eternity, reflecting glory upon our Creator. Content Maquia includes a tiny bit of veiled sexual content, including implied rape. In one scene, a woman threatens to kill the baby in her womb. We see some bloody images during the climactic battle and its aftermath. Oh, and there’s a single instance of ‘damn’ (or 何てこった if you’re watching it in Japanese). Conclusion: Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms ranks among my favorite films of all time. Highly recommended for anyone who likes anime, mothers, or just plain good storytelling.
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Progress on Doombear, Rough draft:10%
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"In truth, by leaving, I was seeking only one thing. A journey."
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