Belle: Beauty and the Beast Anime – A Classic Told Anew

Mamoru Hosoda, who directed greats such as Summer Wars and Mirai, has released another new film this year called “The Dragon and the freckled princess,” more commonly known as Belle. It was animated by the studio Chizu which has animated Mamoru Hosoda’s previous films, such as The Boy and the Beast. The film is directly inspired by the famous fairy tale Beauty and the Beast and its adaptation made by Disney. It received its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and was later localized and shown to English audiences in early 2022. It also became the third highest-grossing film in Japan for 2021, beaten by Evangelion and Detective Conan.

Belle was the third highest grossing film in Japan for 2021.

The film stars Suzu, an outcast who finds a welcoming community on U, a virtual reality platform for people to interact with others. It is a tale that depicts the journey of stardom on the internet and how it can all come crashing down in an instant or sore to such heights that the person loses sight of who they are. Mamoru Hosoda invokes many emotions from the characters and audience with his iconic imagery and surreal animation style. The story’s premise might be the overdone critique of internet culture, but it is executed with such finesse that one can help be awed by it. It also has quite famous voice actors playing the art of the lead roles.

Recap

Our story begins with us seeing Suzu Naito, a typical teenager living in the rural Kochi prefecture, and soon find out that she was once proficient in singing songs with her mother and was alive but had not lost all passion for it. This is because when she was just a child, the river near their hometown flooded, and Suzu’s mother sacrificed herself to save an innocent boy’s life.

The event caused Suzu to hate her mother for abandoning her for a stranger, and as she associated her singing with her mother, she lost all desire to pursue it further. Her relationship with her father deteriorated as she grew up, and they became estranged. She does at least have some friends, like the ever-protecting Shinobu, her childhood friend, Ruka, Kamishin, and her best, Hiro.

Following Hiro’s presentation, she tries out the virtual reality metaverse U and is given a beautiful avatar with freckles on her face due to the process of facial recognition. Her avatar name is Bell which is just her name translated into English. She also finds out that she has regained some of her passion for singing again, and with Hiro, at her side as a manager starts to sing again. Soon she can establish herself as one of the most famous singers in the world and U with thousands enjoying her songs.

She is dubbed Belle by her fans which translates to beautiful in French. But on one occasion at her concert, a beat known as the unbeatable player “The Dragon “arrives. Though he does not cause any destruction, he soon leaves when the so-called vigilante group Justices, led by a self-righteous narcissist Justin, comes on the scene. They declare they will hunt down the Dragon and destroy him as he threatens U’s peace.

Justin lets his plan be known that he wants to reveal The Dragon’s identity publicly. Suzu finds the Dragon to be intestine and proceeds to investigate for any information about him. She finds out that he is a paragon among the children in U as they consider him their hero and protector. She can also find out about Tomo, a weak little boy in the news quite often following his mother’s death.

As Belle continues to search for more information, she finds a mysterious avatar angle that leads her to the hideout of the Dragon, which is a giant castle. As she encounters the Dragon and its helper AI, she finds the Dragon sweet and welcoming. Following this, they grow close to each other. As this is happening in the real world, Suzu’s famous friend Ruka tells her that she loves Kasmishin and with Suzu’s help Ruka confesses her feelings, which Kasmishin reciprocates.

One day Suzu slips up and is captured by Justin to reveal all she knows about the Dragon, but before anything can happen, The Dragons AI saves her. But this leads them directly to the hideout. Justin can destroy it, but the Dragon escapes before Suzu can help. Suzu with Hiro then tries their best to find the identity of the Dragon to warn him. While doing this, they can find a video of a boy singing a song only she sang for the Dragon.

This boy is Tomo, and she soon learns that Tomo and his brother Kei, the Dragon, are being emotionally abused and beaten by their father. As Suzu tries to contact Kei, he does not believe her words. But with the support of her friends, she can unveil her real self to the world in U and begins to sing, which gains Kei’s trust.

But before anything can happen, Kei’s father sees that his children are talking about him online and cuts them off from the web. But all hope is not lost as Suzu’s friends help her discover Kei’s location, which turns out to be Kanagawa. Due to the law needing 48 hours to intervene, Suzu takes it upon herself to protect Kei and Tomo.

So, she rushes to their aid and helps them stay away from their father until the authorities arrive. Soon after, she departs for home, where she meets her father and vows to better her relationship with him. In the ending scene, we show Suzu finally coming to terms with what her mother does and singing with her friends with a smile.

Conclusion

The film is a joy to watch due to the fluid animation and visuals, which change depending on the mood and atmosphere of the scene. Mamoru has done a fantastic job taking a well-known classic and reinvigorating it with modern analogies and narrative while keeping the core of the original theme intact. Suzu’s character development is also fantastic, as we can easily see her become a courageous and selfless person as the film goes on. Her final act of protecting Kei and Tomo, two strangers, is also a testament to how she has grown from the start. Though her courageous Belle’s personality often clashes with the real Suzu in the film, it is resolved in the end as she finally tells her crush about her feelings. It is a must-watch movie for fans of all genres, and it might even be one of Mamoru’s best works to date.