maboroshi

In the midst of modern Japan, a small rural town nestled in the mountains, where time appears to have stood still. Outside forces rarely intrude upon its tranquility, and as the result, its residents lead their lives mainly away from the influences of the rapidly expanding industrialization of Japan. Young Masamune Takahashi, the 17-year-old male protagonist, and his close friends live simple country lives. They spend their days working odd jobs or just exploring the woods surrounding their small town. Masamune's life as a provincial young man with rural values and interests deeply differs from the values influencing younger urban adolescents at the time. However, on one fateful day, this remote town's tranquility crashes to a premature halt. When a violent, industrial blast brings untold fury to the area, resulting from a devastating factory explosion. Nothing would ever be the same again for Masamune and his community after that night. The factory's explosion unleashes a world of horrors and terrifying consequences throughout the small town. Buildings are shredded and derailed. Trees are uprooted and as a result flung across wide expanses. The residents of Masamune's town are forced to frantically try and rescue survivors amid the mangled wreckage of their beloved town. Following the devastating factory explosion, town residents grow irrationally fearful of what's to become of their lives in the days to come. At first, a surreal sense of timelessness floods their world as routine life patterns in this small, idyllic community effectively vanish overnight. The entire town seems to 'freeze' instantly in desperation, resulting in psychological reverberations for the two surviving boys, Masamune and Huisa. For Masamune, this newly desecrated, seemingly timeless world effectively plunges him deeply into a world of anguished curiosity. As well, in Masamune, numerous unsettling questions begin brewing. Several times a day, a curious, older lady reiterates her grim prophetic message to him of the futility and desperate confinement of their situation: that "the darkness eventually leaves you at your core," however, the amount of time required for the entire dark process to unfold completely was impossible for her to disclose. His journey challenges his perception of time, with uncertain time-scales causing hallucinations and memory lapses. Huisa had turned into an overgrown and unruly individual after the accident. He abandoned the human connection that resonated firmly with his cherished relationships in the post-disaster period in Masamune's life. Through this transformation, the chasm between Huisa and Masamune started growing exponentially. His malevolent and wild nature triggers numerous conflicts in their complicated relationships in ensuing attempts to recover and face the reality of this post-disaster town. In numerous cases, locals lose all sense of reason and plunge down perilous roads. Torn and reeling in desperation, few attempt to hold on to reality in the town. No definitive clues have been found to foretell which town residents would start taking the steps to flee their 'frozen time.' To the residents of this suddenly apocalyptic town, destruction and sadness make their quiet, peaceful village life nearly impossible to recover in time. One unusual reality or certainty did persist through these disastrous circumstances: there was an increase in understanding about life, itself, developed among the two young pals, specifically Masamune during such crisis time. This deepens the emotional understanding and concern for the changing situation shared by each of these town's adolescents by knowing the consequences ultimately exacted upon their community. Until the time that Huisa's unruly impulse eventually forced him beyond mortal limits, the town slowly went 'back to time.' Huisa and other victims of the terrible industrial disaster met their final destination at a place where the 'stream of time' became forever inhuman after such inhuman conditions.