[Review] Hotarubi no Mori e

"Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light"

Story

Hotarubi no Mori tell the story of a six-year-old girl named Hotaru Takegawa, who gets lost in a forest inhabited by a yamagami, or mountain spirit, as well as yōkai (strange apparitions from Japanese folklore). She is found by a mask-wearing, human-like entity named Gin, who informs Hotaru that he will disappear forever if he is touched by a human. Gin then leads Hotaru out of the forest. Hotaru returns to visit Gin in the forest over the next few days and they become friends despite the limitations on their interactions. Although at summer's end she must leave Gin to return to the city and her studies, Hotaru promises to return to visit him every summer holiday. As the years go by, Gin hardly ages while Hotaru physically matures and grows closer to his apparent age. Upon reaching adolescence, Hotaru begins to struggle with their budding romance and their uncertain future together, while Gin wishes he could touch and hold the young woman that Hotaru has become. When Hotaru reaches high school, Gin takes her on a date to a festival in the forest hosted by the spirits. The night ends in tragedy when Gin mistakenly touches a young boy who sneaked into the spirit festival, though before he disappears, he and Hotaru embrace and confess their love for one another.

Gin

Gin's parents abandoned him in the forest when he was just born. He was wailing in the forest, attracting the attention of the Yokais that lived there. When the forest lord (Yamagami) place a mask on baby Gin, he would stop crying. Seeing that Gin was a harmless soul, the Moutain God decided to save his life by casting a spell on Gin that would maintain his body and that he would age a quarter slower than a normal human would. However the spell comes with a cost- whenever Gin comes into physical contact with humans, the spell would obliterate, causing his body to disappear.

Hotaru Takegawa

While visiting her Uncle's house during Summer, Hotaru got lost in the forest of the Mountain God. Alone and afraid, she started crying, attracting Gin who was a spirit living in the forest. Hotaru learnt that Gin was a spirit that cannot be touched by human, if not, he’ll disappear. Even though Gin was a spirit, Hotaru showed no fear towards him.

Year after year, they both spent summer time together happily. Gin watches her grow up. Hotaru also get dressed into her school uniform each time she moved up grades to show Gin. At one point, Hotaru realizes that she was starting to like Gin, and starting to grow to his height.

Gin starting disappear

The first and last hug....

I stumbled upon this anime by pure coincidence while I was searching for something similar to Mushishi. Since it had only one episode, I thought to myself: I will give it a go. Needless to say, I was not dissapointed. It is truly great, but extremely sad. I cried like a baby during the last 10-15 minutes. Seriously, it is devastating. From my point of view at least. It is about love that can never become reality because even the slightest touch by a human will make him disappear. The story is simple, the characters are well thought out, but it is really so sad. Being so close together, yet so far apart. Is is a story so bitter-sweet it really made me appreciate life more...


-by Lyn-