The love between a parent and their child comes in different shapes and sizes. Often times you can never tell how big that love is, depending on how the relationship between them changes as the parent and child get older. To add onto that, it hurts knowing that you will one day have to let that child go to find their own life and happiness and maybe even start a family of their own, but to never forget that as everything changes and the years roll on that you love them and you a proud of them no matter what.
However, as the world changes and things change as well as people come and go, you remain the same and the grief you carry becomes harder to manage as you move forward.
However, as the world changes and things change as well as people come and go, you remain the same and the grief you carry becomes harder to manage as you move forward.
Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms is what I can best describe as an emotional and heart-wrenching story of what it means to be a parent, how powerful and raw love can be when it’s expressed between mother and child and the unfortunate and devastating hardships they have to experience with each other as the world around them gradually changes. But what matters more is how strong that bond can be as everything changes.
Set in a rich fantasy setting that all but feels like the magic from it is slowly fading away, the story focuses on Maquia. A young, orphaned girl descended from a blonde-haired humanoid species known as “The Iorph” who live far removed from the land of humans and spend most of their days weaving Hibiol, a special cloth serves as a written chronicle of the passing of time. However The Lorph age much slower than humans and by appearance they could pass as 15 year old teenagers and can live for thousands of years.
Much of life in the land of the Iorph seems quiet and Maquia, after feeling lonely having never experienced parental love growing up as an orphan, is warned by her elder 'If You Fall in Love, You Will Truly Become Alone'. However the land is quickly invaded by the neighbouring kingdom of Mezarte in the hopes of obtaining Iorph blood to help the kingdom’s bloodline so heirs can be born and their longevity can remain, armed soldiers mounted on the backs of flying dragons called Renato storm the village. In the midst of all the chaos and kidnapping Leilia – A friend of Maquia, one of the Renato succumbs to the disease known as “Red Eye” and goes berserk and tangled up in the Hibiol Maquia is able to escape the chaos that her village has fallen to.
Waking up, far away from her village now being ransacked, the dragon dead and far away from her own people, Maquia is alone. Just as she’s about to take her own life upon falling into sheer despair at the loss of her people, she happens upon an ambushed caravan and inside – a new-born baby boy, held tightly in the arms of its recently killed mother. Refusing to let the child die she pries it from the hands of the corpse and decides to raise it as her own son, now calling Ariel and from that the story unfolds.
As a film Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms is a tear-jerker in every possible way. Aside from beautifully setting up the world and the characters that occupy it, the story of watching Maquia who at the start felt loneliness having never experienced any kind of parental love now become a parent to Ariel who she’s found and it becomes both beautiful and at the same time tragic. Watching Maquia raise her adopted offspring and watching as the years go by, from baby to child as well as teenager we can see that love shift and as it’s heart-warming on one side when Ariel reaches adolescence the love gradually strains and nothing feels quite like as it used to be and makes watching this film even harder, especially knowing that as Maquia is trying her hardest to be a mother, she knows that Ariel will die long before she does.
But as emotional as the story of Maquia & Ariel is, it’s not quite the main focus. On the surface we are watch an immortal looking after a baby who eventually will experience mortality in their own way when the time comes, behind the scenes we are watching the world change and grow. Empires rise and fall, the dragons slowly face extinction to the Red Eye Disease, the Iorph plot to regain what’s become of their race and as all of that is going on we watch as Leila, who was captured to bear children for the Mezarte royal lineage in hopes of getting Iorph's immortality and prolong the empire's power, become a prisoner where at the start of the film we saw her as free-spirited and longing to fly and be rebellious and it’s worse when an empire is so desperate to expand their bloodline exploit another life in doing that.
So this is a story that flip-flops back and forth while never becoming boring in the slightest and you really feel something for the characters that are going through such anguish, not only do you want to see Maquia do her best to be not only a good mother to Ariel but to see Ariel protect his adopted mother and do what he can to forge his own path on top of just watching Leila’s story unravel. But while this story moves along it’s the cast that really help make it possible, from its main ones to the supporting ones that shift how this story goes.
Production for this film can’t be acknowledged and appreciated enough without talking about it’s director/writer - Mari Okada.
As a director this is her debut, but as a screenwriter Okada has been a powerhouse since the tail end of the 1990’s all the way through the 2000’s right up to present day. Writing for such series as Hamtaro, Basilisk, Black Butler, Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine etc. she’s managed to build a career telling stories of emotional dramas about relationships between children and their parents. As her first movie writing AND directing it feels like her career’s been leading up to this moment to tell a powerful and emotionally driven story of this trope in a high fantasy setting while also seeing that story unravel through the years and while not in the same vein feels just close enough to be on the same level similar as another movie of this ilk – Highlander.
But whereas Highlander was about fighting until one remained, surviving as an immortal in a world that doesn’t stop changing and evolving watching as people live and die through the changing centuries. Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms focuses on the concept of immortality seen through the eyes of a young mother who never had a mother raise a child to the best of her abilities knowing full well that the child will die and she will remain the same – a 15 year old girl in world that collapses and rises through it’s changing technology which in this world appears heavily industrial shows just how quickly something like magic has little involvement anymore.
Production on this film carried out by Studio P.A. Works (Angel Beats!, Sakura Quest as well as animating the cutscenes from the Professor Layton game series) is quite beautiful both on a grand and more enclosed level. The world of Maquia which appears to be medieval influenced leaning into a Game of Thrones”- style setting whereupon dragons and warring kingdoms are this film’s way of dealing the fantasy genre is incredible to look at with maybe a few rough patches here and there in the animation but as a whole it’s gorgeous to look at. From its architecture and how we go from grand and shining kingdoms and castles to more sleepy looking and dirt soaked villages and towns and even look into the world’s woodland areas and wildlife really want this film to show you what’s going on and what’s taking part in it all while as peaceful as it is watching people live out their lives little villages there’s a war going on miles away. The character design work by Akihiko Yoshida (Final Fantasy) feels like this films strongest selling point. Yoshida does a wonderful job of designing characters that range full grown adults to timid, young girls and even children there’s nothing about the designs that feel unnatural or out of place because watching this film and seeing Maquia raise her baby to feeding it, teaching it to walk even so much as trying to teach it to talk in motion is seriously some of the most rewarding aspects of this film and Yoshida not only designed to characters to appear “adorable” but he designed them in a way to make the audience really feel an emotional bond as you watch them grow throughout the story.
The audio of this film is just rewarding as the rest of it. The score by Kenji Kawai (Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor, Ranma ½, Maison Ikkoku etc.) not only manages to convey a series of upbeat and dramatic bursts of energy when the fights occur, but it manages to show some really intimate and sincere moments of downtime for the main characters. When the emotional moments of this story are in full effect the score does whatever it can run alongside those moments and remind you that the drama and the story this movie tells hit you when you least expect it.
The English dub handled by NYAV Post is surprisingly good and well put together for the most part. Xanthe Huynh as Maquia sounds painfully shy but does a good job of showing that sadness in her voice when playing Maquia and not only that she is wonderful at being able to show raw emotion during this films more powerful moments as well as being able to be assertive when being a mother. For Ariel and watching him grow from infant to adult you have Barnaby Lafayette (child), Ryan Shanahan (teen) & Eddy Lee (adult) at the helm and hearing as all three voice actors do an incredible job of playing Ariel as he grows up through the years. Lafayette sounds as simple and as “wide-eyed” and carefree as a child ought to sound, Shanahan sounds angst-ridden while also showing reigned in and withdrawn emotion for Ariel as the character is starting to show distance between him and Maquia and finally Lee is able to portray the character of Ariel as an adult with as much pride and determination and give a performance that’s so heartfelt towards the end that really earns that emotion this film shows off. Cherami Leigh as Leilia through the duration of this story does a splendid job of being full of energy and enthusiasm showing off the character’s determination to fly while also being able to portray deep levels of sadness and sheer anger during the film’s look at the character. But Kevin T. Collins (who serves as this film’s voice director) brings what he always brings to a role on this level when playing the character of Krim, the character’s quest from freeing his people from the hands of corruption and greed becomes more of a dangerous obsession and you watch as a character that appeared as quite welcoming and supportive grow cold and ruthless even downright murderous so much so that his quest to save Leilia gradually becomes that of obsession and possession. Kevin T. Collins having played Griffith in more famous titles such as Berserk in the past is no stranger to making you feel disgusted for the character and his actions to a slight tint of empathy knowing full well what that character has gone through to end up where they are.
Additional talents like Allegra Clark, Marc Thompson, H.D. Quinn, Mike Pollock, Wayne Grayson etc. do their jobs really well and what they bring to this movie isn’t wasted and they manage to leave a solid impression on the supporting cast that this film provides.
Overall Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms is a great film but it manages to tug really hard on your heartstrings while also showing you a really powerful and bittersweet tale of an immortal girl for forms a parental attachment with an mortal boy, knowing full well that she will outlive him and everyone else that she encounters. But in the end it’s absolutely worth the risk and even though some of the emotional scenes come across as Heavy-Handed you can really feel Okada was trying to convey what happens when a parent and child grow through the years but get distant as the child becomes older, you feel that emotion and when the characters cry you will cry as well. Beautifully told and carefully thought out, the life of a parent is never easy even if that parent begins to doubt their role as one.
Highly recommended – because by the end of it you will be sitting in a puddle of your own tears.
Highly recommended – because by the end of it you will be sitting in a puddle of your own tears.
Sami Sadek is a lifelong Transformers and Anime fan, and can often be found propping up bars or appearing in the background of Auto Assembly vids. He has also talks on Youtube, Tweets on Twitter, doodles on Deviantart and is a regular co-host on this very site's Cyberritz. He has never had a swordfight atop a church whilst a crow watches. Honest.
Sami Sadek is a lifelong Transformers and Anime fan, and can often be found propping up bars or appearing in the background of Auto Assembly vids. He has also talks on Youtube, Tweets on Twitter, doodles on Deviantart and is a regular co-host on this very site's Cyberritz. He has never had a swordfight atop a church whilst a crow watches. Honest.
