You know it’s kinda funny. I bitched so much in the Goblin Slayer thread recently about how common it is to see Medieval Fantasy in anime have video game tropes and how much they’re held back by those tropes and here comes an actual Low Fantasy anime that avoids all those pitfalls altogether. This is absolutely what I like to see. It’s a setting that feels so much more immersive to me. Double points for the fact that we even discussed another pitfall of portraying 2000 year old Elves as child-like for moe points: Another pitfall Maquia averts.
Bitching aside, I really like Mari Okada’s approach to Low Fantasy in general. It reminds me of something in the vein of Robin Hobbs work (one of my favourite Fantasy writers). Robin Hobb also puts a strong focus on character relationships as opposed to the epic adventurers more common of the genre, or even the political drama more common to Low Fantasy in general e.g.
A Song of Ice & Fire. Speaking of ASOIAF, I wonder if Okada was inspired by that franchise. The destruction of the Iolf homeland does bear a passing resemblance to the destruction of the Stark House, particularly in the way the focal trio split up and went their own ways and especially in the way Leilia’s situation emulated Sansa Stark’s (with Izor acting as a more simpler and straighter take on Clegane). I also liked the how the fantasy elements/races were a slowly dying element in this world. Reminds me of the
Realm of the Elderlings where the magic in that setting is a largely forgotten art and a shell of its former glory. That said, one thing I didn’t like was how awfully rushed the political element of the setting was. I get that the film format is a limiting factor though.
The film actually started off quite rushed if I’m honest. The beginning could’ve been a lot better fleshed out. Events started happening way too fast and explanations were a bit too “blink and you’ll miss it”. There were so many things I would’ve liked to appreciate better and it wasn’t just events like why the whole Iolf homeland needed getting sacked or what happened to Ariel’s real mother but also some the little cultural elements too. For example it took me a long time to understand that the tapestry that the Iolf weave is their actual form of literature and that’s why they spend all day weaving it. I didn’t click the two and two together until halfway through the film, but it’s such a cool and imaginative element that I wish they gave it a little more focus. There was a cultural element to it as well with the belief in “Hibiol” but I was never able to fully connect with the Hibiol and partings subtext. I think I got, but not enough to resonate. The pointed use of different terminologies was also kinda unnecessary to be honest: Just call them Elves and Dragons. If you don't have time to explain it, use more familiar terms.
But once the first time skip happened it started getting progressively better. The exploration of motherhood and the general difficulty of single parenting was done really well. It’s kinda worth contrasting this to
The Wolf Children which had a different take on the same thing. In The Wolf Children, Hana the mother is basically supermom and it was inspiring to watch her as a result. It was pretty much outside forces beyond her control that conspired to leave her with a bittersweet end. Maquia is a bit more complex: It doesn’t just have an external fantasy element causing issues but the fact that Maquia herself wasn’t perfect either. There was a very real and grounded element of dysfunction to Maquia’s motherhood and her relationship with Ariel (presumably inspired from Okada’s own experiences which she’s detailed
very frankly in her autobiography) and the result was something more low-key tragic than inspiring.
Overall a really good film. There were a few issues and I still don’t rate it as highly as The Wolf Children, but as a huge fan of Medieval Fantasy, this was a great experience.