maquia when the promised flower blooms myanimelist

Meanwhile, Maquia and Ariel arrive in the city and go into hiding from the royal guards, who are on the look-out for lorphs. This subplot is barely developed, yet it paves the way for the arrival of the angry Krim, who appears on the earthly scene like a war goddess. She is supposed to inject the royal lineage with the seeds of immortality, but at a high price. Getting the worst of the raid on the lorphs is Leilia, who is taken to the invaders’ capital of Mezarte to become the bride of an obnoxious prince. Later they are taken in by a kindly peasant woman who is raising two sons on her own on a farm, giving way to long summer days of freedom and happiness in the lush countryside. She pries the orphan out of the murdered woman’s grip and calls him Ariel. He is tightly clutched in his dead mother’s arms. Though Maquia has been clearly warned never to fall in love, she loses her heart to the infant, whom she finds in a cottage that has been attacked by raiders. Completely alone now, she realizes she can never go home. Maquia’s abduction is terrifyingly rendered aboard a defective dragon that glows red-hot before crashing in a forested land.

Their idyll is soon interrupted by the arrival of an army of fierce mechanical dragons, flown by soldiers under the command of the handsome Izor. In many ways, Maquia seems to represent an every-girl not particularly witty, brave or adventurous like her high-spirited best friend Leilia, who jumps off waterfalls and flies laughing through the air. Far from being Amazons, these ageless beings quietly carry out their mission of weaving the “Hibiol” cloth which measures the passage of time, very much like the Fates weaving their tapestries of human destiny. In a fantasy kingdom filled with Greek columns where only women reside, she lives with other blonde girls under the leadership of the stern Krim. Maquia looks like a little girl with a high-pitched voice, which she will keep throughout the pic as the years roll by. The free-flowing artwork is unmistakably Japanese in its preference for soft pastel colors and deep blue hues, and huge-eyed characters with snub noses.

Maquia when the promised flower blooms myanimelist