Synopsis
In the isolated rural town of Mifuse, time has ground to a halt. Following an explosion at the local steel mill, the residents find themselves trapped in a strange stasis, cut off from the outside world. With a powerful local figure quickly branding the event as divine punishment, the community adopts a set of superstitions meant to maintain the fragile order of their circumstances until things return to normal. For middle schooler Masamune Kikuiri and the other youths of Mifuse, the prospect of returning to the real world has faded into a mere illusion. Their senses have grown dull, and years have passed without any signs of aging. Masamune feels he has grown accustomed to his own insecurities and hollow existence. But one day, his classmate Mutsumi Sagami leads him to the steel mill's fifth furnace, where she reveals a wild young girl resembling a wolf. This meeting becomes the catalyst that casts a light of change, dispelling the shadows that have come to define Mifuse's reality.
Background
Alice to Therese no Maboroshi Koujou won the Best Animated Film Award at the 78th Mainichi Film Awards in 2024. The film also won the Kabuku Award at the second Niigata International Animation Film Festival.