Mari Okada's Maboroshi Anime Film Wins Niigata International Animated Film Festival's Kabuku Award

On the final day of the Niigata International Animated Film Festival, an award and closing ceremony was held to celebrate the films entered into competition over the past week, with the judges making their selection and announcing the winners on Wednesday night in Japan. Mari Okada's latest film Maboroshi was awarded the festival's KABUKU Award , which the festival committee describes below: The KABUKU Award is given to a work that is not constrained by conventional values, but challenges and creates something novel and innovative. KABUKU is an old Japanese verb, from which the word Kabuki is derived. The award derives from the term ‘kabuki-mono’, which was used around the 16th century (the Samurai period) to refer to those who dressed or acted in flamboyant ways that deviated from the norm. Director Mari Okada after accepting the award (Image via Comic Natalie ) This award marks the second for the film since its Japanese release in September 2023, also winning the 2023 Mainichi Film Award for Best Animation . Alongside Okada who wrote and directed the film, Tadashi Hiramatsu acted as assistant director, with Yuriko Ishii as character designer and chief animation director, Kazuki Higashiji as art director and Masaru Yokoyama as the music composer. MAPPA handled animation production. The film is currently available on Netflix , who describes the movie: This is the story of those armed with an unstoppable urge to fall in love who struggle for a future in a world where change is forbidden. The urge to fall in love will destroy the world. Fourteen-year-old Masamune lives in a town where the flow of time has stopped after an explosion at a steel factory seals off all avenues of escape. In hopes that everything will someday return to normal, the town makes a rule that nothing must be changed, and Masamune spends his days in depression. One day, his intriguing and enigmatic classmate Mutsumi leads him into a blast furnace at the steel factory. There, he finds Itsumi, a girl who cannot speak and acts like a wild wolf. Masamune's encounter with these two girls begins eroding the balance of the world. What future awaits the unstoppable urge to fall in love? Sources : Comic Natalie , NIAFF Official Site

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