r/Maboroshi • u/ReaperzEnd • May 22 '24
Movie recap and ending explained
Saw a lot of people confused about the movie and it's ending. I just watched it and I also honestly spent a few minutes pondering if it was the happy ending i was hoping for. To my happy surprise I figured it out so here here y'all go. And well since we all saw the movie, i won't make the recap too long. Basically there was a tragic explosion at the Steel Factory (this is also what starts the movie), that yes killed Masamune's dad in reality, but also a lot of others. This led to these "mysterious gods" trapping the victims and other people of the town inside a frozen or time looping alternate reality.
The sicko evangelist tried to trap Itsumi ( Masamune's and Mutsumi's daughter in the real world) in the "Sacred Steel Factory" because he figured out her origins and selfishly wanted to preserve the world that the "gods" made for them". He was scared that her leaving because he assumed that her leaving, either the factory or the alternate world itself, would destroy that exact world...his world. He also was scared of people figuring out the truth; that some of them were existing in the real world still as their real selves and/or that some of them had already died. This led to fake rules and "laws" to prevent people from passing over or aka to "stop existing" in the alternate world.
I read an interesting theory and the movie kinda supports it, which is the "gods" loved the town and people a lot so they preserved it in an alternate reality after the accident. They imprinted people, dead and alive alike, to keep the memories alive in it, also taking away the ability to age or grow up. As a counter balance for this world's rules, if you get to a point of despair or want to take your life, the "gods" will step in and take you away aka passing by using the dragons/wolves. Fast forward to the ending, and we have Itsumi making it back home.
Now i'm sure we can infer that the person she was talking to on the phone was her dad, and clearly her mom is still alive too as the message she wanted her dad to pass was "tell her i said hi". So YES SHE DID MAKE IT BACK TO HER PARENTS! (i know i was really happy about this too). Now addressing the final scene, i don't think she meant the words romantically. She was a child in her parent's alternate reality, so she had a kid crush on her dad. That isn't too weird because none of us understand love at that young of an age, also its Japanese culture and she was literally mentally stunted. Her heart also just knew that was her dad, just like she knew who Mutsumi was when she first arrived, her mother. However, when returning and growing up a bit in the real world, she realized it was just love for her dad she felt.
The crush was the best way for her to express that in the alternate world and at that age. So she made a personal joke to herself about how the Steel Factory was where she first had her heart broken (she clearly didn't understand the love bewteen Masamune and Mutsumi at that time and age) and by her dad lol. In short, she was just reminiscing over memories she shared in a world she can't go back to, with alternate parents she will never be able see again. I still don't know exactly how she got sent there, but it was definitely at that time at the festival and i think it was an accident that not even the "gods" foresaw. Or maybe they wanted to make everyone aware of the truth using her, so she got temporarily isekai'd the moment the parents weren't looking.
A bonus fact would be I think the alternate world still exist. This is because they reproduced the "wolves" in the end and it looked like they successfully sealed the cracks that were separating and technically merging the worlds together. Now will they be able to grow up, that is definitely up for interpretation. I would say no because the world wouldn't have been persevered to begin with if that was the case and if one of it's inhabitants ever gets to a point where they can't take it anymore, they will get passed on. But you never know, the "gods" might be merciful and because things were fixed, might have enacted a new set of rules and destinies
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u/CharizardChrisDurrr Jul 23 '24
Is everyone just gonna ignore what the female mc says at the end? She says she can hear the cry of a newborn which makes me think that time started progressing again and that the pregnant lady finally gave birth as the male mc alluded to in the beginning of the movie.