- Director: Mari Okada
- Year: 2018
Overview
Maquia belongs to a long-lived race of people who spend their days weaving historical events into special cloth. An empire attacks their village to steal their long-life genetics, forcing Maquia to escape into the forest. She finds an orphaned baby boy, names him Ariel, and decides to raise him despite her slow aging. As Ariel grows up, Maquia remains looking like a teenager, which causes social friction and forces them to relocate. Ariel joins the military to find his own identity while Maquia gets captured by the empire. They reunite years later as the empire falls, and Maquia watches Ariel grow old.
Takeaways
Maquia's people weave their long histories into beautiful cloth. The greedy empire attacks them to steal their long lifespans for themselves. Because Maquia doesn't age and Ariel does, their relationship is bittersweet, since she knows she will outlive him. The empire falls apart because you can't force power and long life on people who aren't meant for it. Maquia's acceptance of Ariel's death shows that loving someone means accepting that you will eventually have to say goodbye.