Maboroshi

by Mari Okada

In the town of Mifuse, time halted following an explosion at the local steelworks. Ever since the blast, bizarre phenomena have filled the sky, and the townspeople discover they can’t leave the area or contact the outside world. The same old radio and TV shows play, as if they are stuck repeating the day of the explosion. Hopeful that things will go back to normal, the town leaders forbid change to avoid any inconsistencies when time begins to flow again.

One day, a teenager named Masamune breaks from the monotony of the usual routine and restrictions when his mysterious classmate Mutsumi brings him into the steel factory’s fifth blast furnace. There, he meets a wild, wolflike girl who cannot speak…and looks startlingly like Mutsumi. The interaction between Masamune and the two girls disrupts the tenuous balance of a world frozen in time.

What future awaits these young people when faced with the unstoppable impulse of love? This is the story from the hit anime movie maboroshi written and directed by Mari Okada!

155 pages, ebook

First published June 13, 2023

About the author

岡田麿里

Reviews

[Reed Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okada's ability to navigate youthful discoveries of emotion and deep feelings shines through, but doing so without a clear plot hinders the overall narrative. Without a cohesive grounding it's tricky to reconcile all the emotions that unfold despite the fact that these blooming emotions are the book's strong point.

[Hikaoru · Rating 2 out of 5]

The way the author describes stuff is vivid.
But as always, I find japanese fiction odd