Mari Okada

An impressive Mappa production. So far I haven't been too impressed by their work, even though they have a knack for picking out promising franchises. Maboroshi feels like old-school Shinkai, a conceptual fantasy film that doesn't mind slowing down and digging a little deeper. The animation quality is slick, the plot is interesting and even though things get a tad cheesy sometimes, the film always finds its way back. This is a quality anime feature film, I wish there were more of those around these days.

Beautifully animated fantasy anime. The art style is quite unique (not that detailed but refined and lushly animated) and the film wrestles with some interesting themes, but the lore is a little overwrought and the film lacks subtlety. It's definitely worth watching, but there are some small details keeping it from a higher score.