MAPPA, The king of modern anime is back with an original anime film but the story is convoluted and lacks impact.

Ultimately, Maboroshi emerges as one giant, lumbering metaphor for the trials and tribulations of adolescence, devoid of subtlety and likely to exasperate older viewers who have long outgrown such trivial insecurities.

The storyline is a little more convoluted than it needs to be and the film is a little longer than it needs to be, but that image of a life that just continues so drearily and endlessly without any change is quite chilling.

Also painfully slow, melodramatic, and long, this perplexing drama will make most viewers feel like they are also frozen in time.