Maquia – Collector’s Combi Review

5 star beautifully animated, heartwarming tale of love and loss.

Maquia – When the Promised Flower Blooms is written and directed by Mari Okada (The Anthem of the Heart). It is presented here in collector’s packaging, featuring both the original Japanese track with English subtitles and the English dub.

“A lone child meets another lone child. And so they set off into the world.”

Maquia (Xanthe Huynh – Charlotte) is a young orphan girl, and a member of an ancient race called the Iorph. Her people are extremely long lived, living for centuries and are known to the humans as the Clan of the Separated. They live a reclusive but happy existence, weaving the Hibiol, the “cloth of days”. She is assistant to clan chief Racine (Lipica Shah – A Silent Voice), who warns her of becoming attached to outsiders, stating that if she falls in love she will truly be alone.

In an attempt to learn the secret of their longevity, the nearby Kingdom of Mezarte launches an attack on the Iorph settlement. Many of them are killed, Maquia’s best friend Leilia (Cherami Leigh – A Certain Scientific Railgun) is taken as a prize for the son of the King and she herself is snatched up by a berserk Renato (flying lizard type creatures) which flies her away only to crash land and die in a forest.

Lost and alone, she hears cries and stumbles across a drifter settlement which has been attacked by bandits. In the arms of one of the victims is a baby boy, who she decides to take and raise as her own. She calls his Ariel (Eddy Lee – Aria the Natural) and with help of various people they meet along the way they begin to forge their lives together, not easy given that she doesn’t age.

Maquia is a beautifully written story, which deals very nicely with a lot of sensitive issues. The character of Maquia is very interesting, starting out shy and nervous but ultimately forced to find a back bone, when faced with raising a child in a time of war and unrest.

This is a surprising film, darker than I expected and with much more going on than it first appears. The animation is stunning too, with a lot of attention to detail and artful use of light and shade to convey atmosphere. This is a brilliant film and well worth adding to your collection, just be sure to have the tissues at the ready.

“Maybe she is a child. So this time, this time I’ll be a father to her.”

Maquia – When the Promised Flower Blooms is available to order now on Collector’s Combi, Standard DVD and Blu-ray and will be released on 17th June 2019.