Common Sense Media Review
By JK Sooja
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Confusing anime romance has sex references, language.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Maboroshi
What's the Story?
In MABOROSHI, a town is suddenly frozen in time and space after its steel factory explodes. While the inhabitants stop growing, they still must live out their lives until they figure out what's going on. Meanwhile, two teens find a feral girl hiding in the now-abandoned factory and wonder how she's connected to everything.
Is It Any Good?
This part romance, part mystery, anime drama is incredibly confusing and frustrating. Many questions that arise while watching Maboroshi are never answered or fully explained, and the worldbuilding suffers because of this. Somehow, people in one specific town are trapped in time and space but also get glimpses of the other "reality" through cracks of light that sometimes appear. Further, a feral girl who doesn't speak much and seems to have the intelligence of a 4-year-old is the main clue holding the key to explaining how the town is suspended in time.
Oddly, the main theme throughout is romantic love, which is hard to stomach given the main characters involved are all 14-year-olds, and the stakes of their lives, the town, the adults around them, and indeed, the entire world, seem to rest on whether or not specific characters' romantic love for one another is real or not. The final scenes even put the feral child in question in a wedding gown while the drama ramps up to the conclusion. Also painfully slow, melodramatic, and long, this perplexing drama will make most viewers feel like they are also frozen in time.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about violence in anime dramas. Did any of the violence in Maboroshi surprise you? How so?
What do you think the smoke monsters represent? Why do you think they were spoken of as "wolves"?
Were you satisfied with the ending? Why or why not?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : January 15, 2024
- Cast : Junya Enoki , Reina Ueda , Misaki Kuno , Yukiyo Fujii
- Director : Mari Okada
- Inclusion Information : Asian Movie Actor(s) , Female Movie Actor(s) , Female Movie Writer(s)
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Anime
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic )
- Run time : 111 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : September 18, 2025
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