Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms

Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms is a 2018 anime film, written by Mari Okada.

Separated from the world of ordinary men, the long-lived Iolph spend their days weaving cloth, and weaving their histories and emotions into their personal "hibiol" cloths. Then the outside world comes to force them to join it. Maquia is separated from the other Iolph, finds a newborn baby orphaned in a bandit attack, and (despite being only 15 years old herself) names him Erial and resolves to raise him as her own. Thus begins a story that explores the question "what happens when a small group of people have vastly longer lifespans than everyone else?"

This is a character-driven small-scale fantasy-style speculative-fiction story; the plot is nearly incidental.

The movie runs 115 minutes. As of late-July 2018, it had a 100% "fresh" rating with 20 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

Story Tropes

 * Country of Hats: The Iolph are long-lived weavers.
 * Go Out with a Smile: On his deathbed, Erial smiles when Maquia takes his hand.
 * I Will Definitely Protect You: Maquia's promise to the infant Erial, and Erial's promise to Maquia once he becomes an adult.
 * Mayfly-December Romance: Played with in that the love is parental rather than romantic, otherwise played straight.

Creation Tropes

 * Names to Know in Anime:
 * Mari Okada wrote the story and screenplay, and makes her directorial debut.
 * The soundtrack was composed by Kenji Kawai.
 * Miyu Irino plays Erial.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": The North American theatrical release's subtitles spell Erial's name "Ariel".
 * Write What You Know: Mari Okada's own mother was a young single mother.