In a town where time stands still and you cannot change for fear of angering the Sacred Machine (Gods), one boy’s emotions cause a huge stir and disturbance. His reality is collapsing all around him, but this might be for the greater good. The ending of Maboroshi is full of big existential questions about love and the nature of reality, and a few plot holes and many underdeveloped storylines make it a little confusing.
In a world where you cannot change, in hopes that things will turn back to normal, everyone lives the same mundane, unfulfilling life. Masamune turns the world on its head as we watch him on his journey of self-discovery and self-belief.
Halfway through the film it’s revealed that the town is in an alternate reality, created from the Gods. People begin to see a reality they crave and want so badly which puts them into a depression as they believe they are not real, and their feelings aren’t real.
Masamune falls in love and truly believes his feelings are real. However, it’s Itsumi’s emotions that affect the town.
How does Maboroshi end?
Towards the end, the characters realize that Itsumi must be returned to reality to hopefully restore peace. A dramatic train ride and monologue about love get her back home safely and the town is finally back to normal.
The final scenes are of a young girl/woman going for a walk around the old, abandoned steel factory, and whilst playing in there, she states that this is the place where her heart was first broken. We assume this is an older Itsumi, and she seems happy and peaceful. Is this another reality?
What happened to the town?
There was a factory fire which looks to have cursed the town to stand still and never change. It mirrors horrors that have happened such as the Chornobyl fires and the Covid-19 outbreak — times when people were stopped and confined. The people in the town cannot leave, people outside cannot enter, and everyone has to remain the same.
They all believe they must get forgiveness from the sacred machine for things to be restored. This then changes to a sacred wolf when they see a wolf-like shadow come through the cracks in the sky and take a girl’s life. Then the fate of the town is down to one girl who shouldn’t be there as she’s from an alternate reality.
Once Itsumi returns to her reality, this town can thrive once again. The explosion did still happen, as we see towards the end, the girl walking through the rubble of the explosion.
Who is Itsumi?
The little weird wolf girl we are introduced to at the beginning turns out to be a girl who was a stowaway on a train from another reality. Instead of returning her, the higher powers at the factory took her as a gift from the Gods and kept her hidden. They realized that her emotions affected what happened in their reality and therefore they kept her locked away, so she’d never feel anything and nothing would change.
Itsumi falls for Masamune and this causes the town to crack, and the plan is to send Itsumi back to reality on the train. It turns out, she is Masamune’s future daughter in another reality — strange but we’ll roll with it.
The only thing I couldn’t grasp was why she’s been able to grow up physically but not mentally in this alternate reality. This felt strange and slightly ridiculous, they could have just let her grow up mentally and given her character stronger dialogue, which could have driven the story along — more quickly, too.
Does love conquer all?
There are little flirtations and sexual hints throughout the film. Masamune is trying to understand and feel love — being confused about all the girls around him.
He falls for his classmate Atsumi and confesses his love for her in a romantic spectacle on the floor in the snow. When they kiss, the sky shatters, and huge cracks appear throughout the town as Itsumi is watching and her heart begins to “hurt”.
She doesn’t realize it’s her father, but is she in love with him? It’s slightly odd to wrap my head around, but her emotions are rattled and that’s the main thing.
Once Itsumi is back through the tunnel, peace and reality are restored to the town. A piece of paper reads “We are alive” and there are scenes of people enjoying the sun, enjoying living for the first time in a long while.
So, in a way, yes, love does conquer all, as it was the strong emotions of love and affection that caused everyone to make the choices that they did, ultimately restoring reality.
What did you think of the ending of Maboroshi? Comment below.
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