Alice to Therese no Maboroshi Koujou

In the small rural town of Mifuse, time has crawled to a standstill. After an explosion at the city's steel mill, the townspeople realize they are trapped in a mysterious stasis—cutting them off from the rest of the world. With a local elite quick to declare the situation a punishment from God, the community adopts a variety of superstitions to preserve the delicate balance of their circumstances until normalcy is restored.

For middle school student Masamune Kikuiri and the other young people of Mifuse, returning to the real world has become nothing more than an illusion. Their senses have gone numb, and it has been years since they have shown any signs of aging. Masamune feels like he has become accustomed to his insecurities and empty existence. However, one day, his classmate Mutsumi Sagami guides him to the fifth furnace of the steel mill, where she shows him a feral young girl who resembles a wolf. This encounter proves to be the impetus in casting a light of change that dispels the shadows that have become Mifuse's reality.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Sagami, Mutsumi Main

Ueda, Reina Japanese

Kikuiri, Masamune Main

Enoki, Junya Japanese

Itsumi Main

Kuno, Misaki Japanese

Sagami, Mamoru Supporting

Satou, Setsuji Japanese

Sasakura, Daisuke Supporting

Yashiro, Taku Japanese

Hara, Hina Supporting

Kawase, Maki Japanese

Nitta, Atsushi Supporting

Hatanaka, Tasuku Japanese

Kikuiri, Tokimune Supporting

Hayashi, Kento Japanese

Kikuiri, Misato Supporting

Yukinari, Toa Japanese

Kikuiri, Akimune Supporting

Seto, Kouji Japanese

Kimura, Makoto Producer

Ootsuka, Manabu Producer, Planning

Noda, Fuko Producer

Kitsunai, Ryota Producer

Reviews

Jan 13, 2025

ggultra2764

Recommended

Maboroshi involves the residents of a small Japanese town being trapped in a mysterious stasis following an explosion at their local steel mill. Trapped in this stasis for years and becoming emotionally numb, the residents accept their circumstances as some sort of divine punishment for their actions that they must atone for before they can return to reality. However, the town’s younger residents come to find this existence an empty one with their inability to grow into adulthood. One of these residents, middle schooler Masamune Kikuiri, encounters a feral young girl within the steel mill that reignites his hope and purpose, coming to believe she ... may be the key to sorting things out with the stasis his town is trapped in.

Maboroshi’s biggest strength comes from exploring how the town residents are affected by their present circumstances. The stagnancy coming from being trapped in the stasis field for years have made them feel internally dead and resigned to living in their same everyday circumstances without any significant change affecting them. This gets explored through focusing on how each of the different town residents are coping with their circumstances from our lead character Masamune to the cult leader-like influence that steel plant worker Mamoru Sagami has on the residents. The presence of feral girl Itsumi brings a significant change to the everyday happenings of the town, something that the residents have varying degrees of acceptance to dependent on their circumstances. This makes up both exploring the film’s main themes of making the best of your situation and change for the better instead of resigning to despair, as well as the developments that the characters undergo as they interact with Itsumi and learn more of the mysteries surrounding the stasis they are in. The focus on exploring these themes and developments offer it engaging drama and character exploration.

On the other hand, my thoughts are a bit mixed on the circumstances involving the stasis that the characters are trapped in. The film isn’t too clear on the nature and causes surrounding it, offering some vague ideas on what these may be involve. It does have some rules to it consistently applied as it is affected by the developments of the town residents and the stasis field undergoing its own changes as the film progresses. Granted, this element of the story is meant to tie in with the film’s themes and is effectively incorporated into them for the most part. But there are still some hiccups with it if you choose to nitpick the finer details of Maboroshi.

Visually, this is an impressive-looking film with the great amount of detail put into the interior and outside shots of houses and the local steel mill. The more supernatural elements of Maboroshi related to the stasis field make for the highlight of the film’s animation with their surreal nature and looking visually pleasing, most notable of which include the cracks of the stasis field continuing to manifest in the sky and wolf-shaped smoke formations moving about to remove characters no longer conforming to the stagnancy of their isolated lives if they experience any extreme emotions.

In short, Maboroshi is an engaging supernatural drama film in experimenting with its idea exploring its characters trapped in a world of stasis and undergoing varying degrees of development when those circumstances change. This, combined with its nicely-animated visuals, makes it worth checking out, even with some of the hiccups involving the nature of the stasis field serving as the major source of conflict in the film.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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May 15, 2024

MapleRose

Mixed Feelings

The music, art, and animation for this movie are great! The plot is intriguing with a hint of mystery, which makes you want to keep watching to see what happens next. I like the way the story is told, revealing little details a bit at a time. There is a moment midway through that makes you go "oh", when you start to realize what is happening/has happened to this town.

However, once you figure out the mystery (or when you get to the part where it solves it for you), that's kind of where the good part of the plot ended. Everything after the reveal, including ... the resolution, becomes messy, and actually kind of infuriating at times...

The characters themselves are not that interesting. The main male lead is kind of generic and boring, and the way their relationships unfolded felt rushed. I feel like the director wanted the viewer to feel emotional, but I just felt nothing (except maybe some frustration?)

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jul 31, 2024

dplgngr811

Not Recommended

TL;DR: This is probably one of the most stupid ass half-baked movies to ever exist, period. Do not watch it if you value your time and if you have expectations just because it is MAPPA's work.

Let's keep it short. I watched the trailer when it released and was very excited. I didn't know anything about who the studio or the people making it were. I was just genuinely excited just by looking at the trailer. Then later I realized that it was MAPPA's work and was happy that it's going to be a masterpiece and OH BOY.

It's shit. It's fucked up.

The only good things ... about this movie are the art, the animation and the music. Nothing else.
The characters are shit. The plot is shit. I have never watched a movie in my entire life where you have so many hate-able characters. The girls are just so annoying and frustrating. They do these stupid things and I'm like "WHY?????". The only somewhat likeable character is the male MC and even he lets you down at certain moments. I sat there watching this movie till the end in dire hopes that at least the conclusion will be good, and they royally fucked it up. And that's when I lost it.

So, yea. Bad plot. Messed up pacing. Fucked up characters. No explanations. Zero ending. Don't watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Alice to Therese no Maboroshi Koujou Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) deguy - Sep 25, 2023	59 replies	by vert_z »» Jan 22, 4:07 AM
	Who is Alice and Therese? Lephiz69 - Jan 16, 2024	9 replies	by rikkaheh »» Dec 21, 2024 8:46 AM
	Who are "Alice" and "Therese"? PaninaManina - Sep 21, 2024	3 replies	by rikkaheh »» Dec 21, 2024 8:19 AM
	can someone explain this to me chee_tah - Oct 9, 2024	7 replies	by Kylvius »» Dec 8, 2024 10:03 AM
	I have so many questions after watching it. RealNath - Jan 15, 2024	22 replies	by SuryaCoeg »» Aug 15, 2024 2:59 AM