Review of Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms (2018) by Dawdlingpoet — 20 Nov 2021

I enjoyed this film as a piece of anime fantasy escapism, in these troubling times. Its got an almost medieval setting to it and thematically it reminded me a little of The Tale of the Princess Kaguya and also of Violet Evergarden, with loneliness being a key theme - that and displacement.

As ever with such an anime film, the quality of the seemingly 2D animation is quite remarkable and I particularly liked the scenes which showed more traditional animation but with a 3D element, such as it seeming as if the camera is swooping through (sometimes quite vibrantly colourful) landscapes. Its quite an engrossing watch in a sense. I appreciate how honest the main character is, to other characters and I'd say the dialogue/script is quite good. It's perhaps a little sentimental for some but I certainly enjoyed it overall - I also liked the music played in the background of some scenes, including harp music. It adds to the overall atmosphere. I enjoyed this film and I would recommend it to others, yes.