bitchassdarius

I’ve been nursing a pet theory for a while now, and after listening to the post-film screening discussions of my fellow moviegoers while walking out of the theatre, I feel a bit more confident in this theory. You see, we Americans are an untrusting breed, skeptical of anything bigger than the _Individual_. Because, naturally, Americans are __Rugged Individuals__, for better or for worse, and large, organized groups—be it the government, Big Tech, or Costco—only serve to impede and restrict the Freedom of the Individual™. Don’t tread on me, _Big Weed_! This [political paranoia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paranoid_Style_in_American_Politics) has fueled our obsession with dystopias and imagining the worst version of the future in fiction. Hence, our perennial love for cyberpunk. Almost two decades have elapsed since the end of _The Matrix_ trilogy, yet we still crave Keanu Reeves in both a sequel and an entirely separate cyberpunk video game. The criticisms I heard as I walked out of the showing of _Belle_ about the film’s dubious optimism and the squandered opportunity to lambaste the social media age (the phrasing I heard followed along the lines of _“I was expecting a dystopia…”_) only seem appropriate in this context. At _Variety_, David Ehrlich describes Mamoru Hosoda’s latest as [“‘Beauty and the Beast’ Meets ‘The Matrix’”](https://www.indiewire.com/2021/07/belle-review-anime-1234650503/), and while I disagree with the intent of that “just two things” synthesis, it actually demonstrates precisely my thoughts on the film. _In a way_. _Belle_ is no _The Matrix_, and D*sney + cyberpunk seems absurd and oxymoronic in the Western paranoiac environment. Now, just what is my theory? How is that related to all this? Let’s start from the beginning. _Belle_ almost feels like the final entry in a film cycle Hosoda has been working on throughout his career about digital dimensions and their effects on/interactions with their real counterparts. The story centers around Suzu, a plain Jane teenager living out in the sticks of Kōchi, and her secret dual life as Belle, the most famous singer of the virtual world known as “U”. U is sort of like a full dive VR _Second Life_ in which player avatars are somehow based on the player’s physical and mental compositions. It also boasts an international user base that's quite sizeable, so much so that the happenings in U are able to make waves in the real world, which we see in the first sequence. The film opens with a parade reminiscent of the parade from _Ghost in the Shell 2_, except instead of evoking a celestial otherworldliness that prods the boundaries of reality, this scene shows our protagonist as her internet alter ego performing on top of a space whale to an audience that could fill multiple stadiums. No, this isn’t _Hannah Montana_, nor is it the dystopian critique you might expect from such a setup. In contrast to _Digimon_ and _Summer Wars_, _Belle_ elects a more positive approach to online social interaction. ~~~img280(https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Belle_CopyrightedImages_001.jpg) img280(https://media.glamour.com/photos/58d93d4a098528298ebf514b/4:3/w_836,h_627,c_limit/frozen-tangled.jpg)~~~ The virtual world is animated entirely in (quite good) 3D. 3D was a choice obviously made to emphasize the separation of virtual and real, but there’s an added benefit in having two separate styles of animation. Note how much Belle resembles Disney 3D designs like Rapunzel from _Tangled_ and Elsa from _Frozen_ as opposed to more familiar 3D anime designs. Visually distinguishing the two worlds allows for variance in art, specifically in the character design, and Hosoda goes all the way in pursuing the Disney style in the virtual world. Earlier, I mentioned David Ehrlich’s description, and with respect to the “Beauty and the Beast” part, he’s not wrong. In fact, large swaths of the story that develops in U (even entire scenes) are cribbed directly from the Disney version of the French fairy tale. From the names of the characters (obviously Belle = Belle; Ryuu is usually referred to simply as _Beast_; and Justin sounds an awful lot like Gaston…) to the setting (Beast’s grand, decrepit castle is reconstructed in U, replete with a ballroom for the emotional musical scene), the Disney aping is entirely with purpose, as Hosoda does indeed seem to be attempting to fashion his own Disney movie. The question is: Is this a noble pursuit? Enter my theory. Japan is no stranger to cyberpunk, as anime fans are typically well aware. _Ghost in the Shell_, _Serial Experiments Lain_, _Akira_: this genre flourished in the aftermath of the bubble economy and its hyperconsumerism and reflected sentiments of unease and fear common to Lost Decade. But the year is 2021. We have seen more than a decade of Vocaloid and virtual idols, and now, in the age of the VTuber, it seems Japan has shed much of its cultural distrust of the internet. Yes, _Ghost in the Shell_ and _Psycho-Pass_ are franchises that are still kicking; yes, the story of Rorochan_1999 is one that has perplexed and resonated with people worldwide; yes, the Japanese government considered banning TikTok as a potential international security concern. But this may be indicative of a different, less suspicious understanding of technology. Japanese society has been and continues to be exposed to the horrors that can occur in the Information Age. Yet it had already subsumed some of those cyber anxieties long ago, resulting in a culture in which nearly [half a million people livestreamed an anime dragon-girl's graduation from virtual idoldom](https://www.newsdirectory3.com/vtuber-kiryu-coco-writes-a-legend-after-graduation-while-watching-break-through-490000-people-and-break-the-historical-record-4gamers/) and harsh noise legends made [four](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LbVnTE9QPU) [different](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajtuo_Um83A) [albums](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGrjNy46EOc) [with Hatsune Miku](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quEVjWyRbeU). My fellow moviegoers, you were right to point out that Belle’s resolution is “kinda whack.” From the _Crash_(2004)-esque hammy and absurd stare down scene to the epitaph of “You can be anything you want to be” scrawled across the final shot, the final act reeks of insincerity and unrealism completely perpendicular to the tenets of cyberpunk. But that thin veneer of positivity is also a hallmark of Disney movies, and like Disney movies, _Belle_ has many moments of grandeur and swelling emotion that can compete with the best of them, even if you walk away with a bit of a shallow aftertaste. Scenes, like when the main characters virtually interview random U users to learn more about the person behind Ryuu's avatar and are met with very little hostility, come off as slightly strange, not quite right. There are also moments of clarity that acknowledge the downsides of online interaction, like when Belle is met with skepticism and accusations of fraud after her first performance in U, or the scene portraying one of the characters using creepy internet stalker methods to track a U user's physical location (albeit for a good cause). When Hosoda reappropriates Disney, he does it to tell a heartfelt story about people making genuine human connections through the internet. It's a kind of story that's rare in the West, one that would probably be slighted with acerbic cynicism on contact. I can see why _Belle_ would turn some people off. Me? I liked it.

smokedubu

Baited by the beautiful colours and music laid out upon my eyes and ears Walking into the theatres for the first time, I thought this movie was going to be one that told the delicate story of a modern take on Beauty And The Beast with wonderful melodies and aesthetically pleasing anime backgrounds. I was right about the music and the animation but as for the story, I was dead wrong. Belle has a horrible storyline which feels like multiple different stories all just badly stitched together with yarn after a drunk night out. First, a quick TLDR of the story from my perspective. Belle is VR Chat with the entire population of the earth in one server and the cops replaced with Xbox360 Call of Duty Modern Warfare doxxers who threaten to reveal your identity to the rest of the virtual world around you if you do not comply. Now, addressing the main storyline. Belle tells the story of Suzu, a girl who lost her mother and is trying to pursue a dream in music and singing but due to her trauma and anxiety issues, she could never sing. But once the online world is known as 'U' was introduced to her by her friend Hiro, her life changed forever. She could sing and she could be the person that she had always dreamed of being. This would've been one of the top anime movies in 2021 for me if the story was kept simple and straightforward but it, unfortunately, is not. The starting part of the movie introduces all the side characters, Luka, the madonna and queen in Suzu's school, Hiro, Suzu's best friend and social media manager, internet genius and brainiac. Chikami, a canoe loving enthusiast and Shinobu, Suzu's very hot and very quiet childhood friend who had apparently vowed to "protect her" and have Suzu getting the wrong idea of that statement thinking it's a proposal when they were six years old. As charming and great as these characters may seem, it is a sad thing that none of them truly matter to the story in the grand scheme of things. The main 'Beast' in this movie, also known as Ryuu, turns out the be a 14-year-old domestically abused child who had been lashing out his pain and sorrow in U through underground fights, and bouts with the Xbox Doxx Police. All the way up till the second third of the movie, none of the side characters except for Hiro have been properly built up nor established in the movie yet. But as the movie moves forward from this point on it leads into the Beauty and The Beast side of things. Showing a wonderful depiction of the old Disney gem through beautiful animation and wonderfully atmospheric music was amazing and quite simply breathtaking. But we soon realise that the 14-year-old boy behind the beast apparently loves Suzu? Here is how it all went down and what happened. Nearing the end of the movie the whole gang comes together, aka all the side characters are suddenly in an elementary school classroom with a supercomputer VR setup all ready to go. They realise that the 14-year-old boy is being held in Tokyo and Suzu takes it upon herself to travel all the way to Tokyo from one end of Japan to the central area via the train. In a couple of hours, she makes it there and a barrage of huffs and puffs are played as she struggles to find where the boy lives. Eventually, the boy and his younger brother comes out to a street right outside of their home and hug Suzu. As they are sharing this moment under the rain, the boys' father comes out of their home and demands them to return home. However, Suzu stands firm and continues hugging the 14-year-old boy and his brother. The father eventually loses it and in a fit of rage, pulls Suzu by the face and scrapes her cheek. All of a sudden, Suzu stands up and stares into the father's eyes as he raises a fist in the air and screams a couple of times. Somehow someway, Suzu manages to scare the father into scurrying back into his home and then goes straight back to hugging ' The Beast' which mind you, confesses his love to her. Immediately after that, it cuts to a scene of Suzu returning home with a bandage on her face and the whole gang wearing the same exact clothes, welcoming her home. The movie ends with a long shot of the whole group walking home by a river while saying they should practice for the upcoming concert and they should all sing together and out of seemingly nowhere, Shinobu then reinserts himself into the main storyline and says "You don't need me as a guardian for you anymore" and smiles at Suzu. She then looks back into the horizon and starts singing. The End. None of the main issues was addressed, nobody knows what happened to the kid and his brother after that, Shinobu is just apparently okay with the whole situation despite knowing nothing up until this last arc of the movie and it all just feels so rushed and loosely put together. It kills me to know that the only romantic interest or anything grabbing my attention was the adorable love between Luka and Chikami, that scene at the train station where they have a nice talk about whether they love each other to not is the only thing that made me feel like there was some sort of relevant story to follow through with. Final thoughts, this movie was a letdown and my expectations were demolished, trampled into the ground. my disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined.

Dzrian

It's really late and I just want to leave a "not too in depth review" as I am sleepy. If you're wondering whether you should watch it, you definitely should. That is if you could ignore certain aspects that would be considered as not reaching expectations. So if you're able to do so and is a music and arts enthusiast, then it's a must watch. I was lucky enough to get to know about this early on, I can't really read Japanese but the art caught my attention. I quickly found out that there may be big things going on behind the scenes, but I haven't really gone in depth with it. So take this review as something easy enough to understand for an average vieweramd from the eyes of one. I didn't expect to be watching this really late, so I had no expectations. But as someone with connections with musical background, the music blew me away and pulled me closer as it catches my attention. Compared to most animes, it was completely refreshing and rejuvenating. The music is unique and distinct that I was looking forward to it the most throughout the movie. The art is amazing, and the CG or 3D that was mostly used for their virtual world was really great and smooth; really fitting. The plot seems to build up around how this globally used virtual world is capable of letting you live another, "you." It's like a more advanced VRChat but seemingly more open world, and except people being... like people irl instead. You know? Like the usual bystander effect but in addition, these people have a negative and judgmental mindset. Quick to put down others' efforts. This virtual world has their cyber forces. Weirdly enough, there's a weapon that can dox people publicly online, being handled by a guy who is easily able to abuse his powers that is being sponsored by whatever variety of brands. Although the story was interesting, it was lacking. The heroine's mother scarificed herself trying to save a kid, and we mostly get shown hate messages. I'm very sure this is quite the opposite in reality, to an extent. Presently, the heroine has seemingly social issues, although it's not much. She tends to push others away too when asked if something is wrong or bothering her. It's like she wants to deal with it herself. In the virtual world, it's weird how she got obsessed with the dragon guy. Asking, "who are you?" quite repetitively. It's also odd how we get her in one scene with the lady saying, "she's in love," after her moments with the dragon guy in which she seems to be looking happier than usual in behaviour, but her crush is the childhood friend. Now what's actually mostly concerning the ending. So the those kids' father went as far as to make the girl bleed but was then unable to do anything when the girl stares him down with her eyes of domination...courage. I mean courage Rendering those kids' father into a state of mental disorder in which he was only able to shout, fall over, and run away like a little biatch who may have even shit his pants. Then the end, she got back, with her friends, then look at a very beautifully rendered cloud or something. More could have probably been done to the plot but anyways, my favourite parts were especially the music. Who was the singer? Cause damn especially that trembling in her voice when she was going to sing. The voice actors played their part well. Overall, really a good watch. Please pardon my mistakes and lack of effort in this as I'm really sleepy. I have a broken keyboard and have not even went to read through what I wrote, nor am I even willing to so after this. There's probably some double sentences or words and grammatical errors now goodmornight

Juliko25

Unlike most people in the anime fandom, I didn't really get into Mamoru Hosoda's movies until later. But he's certainly been making a name for himself over the past decade and a half. I first started out with Summer Wars, which I liked, and one of my college classes showed The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which I thought was just okay. I also liked Wolf Children, haven't seen Boy and The Beast, and Mirai was okay but its concept doesn't really translate well considering the age of its protagonist. I did see the Digimon movies he directed once upon a time, albeit in the mercilessly censored American dub Digimon The Movie. But Hosoda's 2021 offering, Belle, promised to be his most ambitious movie yet. With character designs by famous Disney animator Jin Kim, and backgrounds done by Cartoon Saloon, the company that made movies such as Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, and Wolfwalkers, there was a lot of buzz and a lot of hype. Having seen it though, this movie really tries, it really tried, but I think its ambition ultimately was its biggest undoing. The story centers on a girl named Suzu, who is still reeling from her mother's death years ago. Her relationship with her father is strained, she isolates herself from her friends, and she can no longer engage in the one passion she has, singing, because it reminds her too much of her mother, who cultivated her love of singing, and thus, trying to sing makes her throw up. But a friend of hers tells her about a virtual computer world called U, where she can take on a customized avatar and be whoever and whatever she wants to be. Entranced, Suzu takes on the persona of a pink-haired songstress named Belle, whose singing is at first criticized and panned, but slowly becomes a viral sensation. But one of her online concerts is interrupted by a strange, monstrous beast avatar, simply called The Beast, who's infamous in U for being a troublemaker. But Belle find herself interested in the Beast and learning more about him. The movie focuses mainly on two things: The world of U, where Belle gets to know the beast and finds herself being targeted by the administrators who want to kill him because of his shenanigans, and Suzu's life in the real world. Honestly, though, U itself is pretty much the source of the movie's biggest problems. How is U even supposed to work? Is it a deep dive simulation similar to VR, or is it like a console video game? Do the people who use U interact with it like you would in a VR game, or do they just sit at their computers? Nothing about U makes any sense at all, and the movie refuses to really go into how U really works, just treating it like a generic fantasy world and having things happen just because the plot demands it. Say what you will about Sword Art Online and all of its issues, but SAO at the very least established that the characters have to sleep and have headgear on to interact with everything within the video games they're playing, because the games in question are deep dive virtual reality games. Belle makes the case that U is a heavily futurized version of the internet, similar to what Summer Wars did with Oz, but because it has the characters connect with U via earbuds, it doesn't explain how the avatars are even supposed to work, or whether the people in real life are interacting with U's environment through their avatars or not. Even Summer Wars, as nonsensical as its premise could be at times, at the very least established that much! Also, U's app icon is literally just the Uber app icon. How lazy can you get? And the movie establishes that AIs apparently exist, but the AI characters in question are little more than the Beast's gatekeepers. But the ridiculousness of U's setting isn't the only problem Belle has. There are times when the movie feels really bloated, like it's trying to do too much at once. We have Suzu's grief over her mother, the mystery of just who the Beast is in real life, U in and of itself, some romance shenanigans between some of Suzu's classmates, the Beast's eventual reveal, and so on. It feels like all of these things are constantly warring with one another, fighting for equal amounts of screen time, and as a result, they all feel half-baked, with the stuff in U suffering the most. The movie is two hours long, but it feels like it needed more time to flesh out all of its subplots and core concepts. This also results in a lot of really strange writing decisions, especially for the ending, that come across as way too cheesy and melodramatic for my liking, almost coming off like a half-baked Hallmark film. Seriously, Belle could have worked better had it cut out at least one or two of these subplots, and it'd be much more streamlined in the process. Finally, let's talk about Justin. He, along with U, is the biggest dark spot on this movie. What even is the point of this character? He's literally nothing more than a Saturday morning cartoon villain whose only purpose is to antagonize the characters for no reason, even though they're doing nothing but minding their own business. Did he really even need to exist? Justin feels like a villain shoved into the movie just for the sake of having a villain, when the movie could have worked so much better without him. He almost feels like a rip-off of Gaston shoved into a Buzz Lightyear costume, and the movie makes absolutely no effort to really develop him as a character beyond his misguided villainy. He serves no purpose other than to cause unnecessary conflict, and the whole movie would have been better off if he were cut out. Alright, that's all the bad stuff. Now let's talk about the good stuff, starting with the usual things Hosoda excels at. Suzu's a decent protagonist who develops nicely throughout the movie, and many of the side characters were actually pretty fun and had genuinely well executed arcs of their own, even if they don't get to do much. I only wish we got to know more about Peggie Sue, one of the U singers who starts off shallow at first but then comes to support Suzu/Belle in her time of need. The animation done by Hosoda's Studio Chizu is still top notch, and the CGI, while not as fluid and textured as, say, Lupin The 1st and Dragon Quest: Your Story, is still fairly solid, and I like that Hosoda limited the CGI to just being used in U. The soundtrack is obviously a banger, as this is a movie very heavy on music, and I did genuinely like all the songs. It's clear that Hosoda and his team really tried to go all out for this one, but I don't think this movie was able to carry the weight of all that ambition it had, as it could have easily been better had it cut out a lot of the more extraneous subplots, expanded on certain characters and how they develop, and streamlined it more. And get rid of Justin. He was just pointless. Sorry Hosoda-san. I really wanted to like this more than I did, and for what it's worth, Belle does have some genuinely good stuff going for it. But it suffers from being too ambitious for its own good, and becoming too bloated as a result.

AnimeDweeb

~~~ #*BELLE* is defined by its simplicity. webm(https://imgur.com/MvNq5Yr.mp4) ~~~

A modern spin on the classic tale *Beauty and the Beast*, Mamoru Hosoda's ambitious new film lives and dies by this trait. Simplicity leads to raw, unfiltered emotion that resonates in several places during the film. Optimism in the movie's message is unmistakable, and the show's uplifting hope for the future earned it a whopping [14-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2021-07-19/mamoru-hosoda-belle-receives-14-minute-standing-ovation-at-cannes/.175215). But whereas simplicity is an asset in some areas, it can be a detriment in others. *BELLE* wears its heart on a sleeve that also contains some biased and questionable ideologies. Paper-thin worldbuilding hinders the movie's unique sci-fi setting from delivering an immersive experience. Underdeveloped sideplots feel like rough drafts rather than fully-realized components of the film. Comically unsubtle scriptwriting and plot holes up the wazoo can significantly reduce *BELLE* 's intended emotional impact. Whether you like or dislike this movie will depend on how you value its simplicity. And I aim to break down the kinds of simple outcomes on offer – the good, the interesting, and the downright hilarious. This unveiling *BELLE* is largely **spoiler-free**, but will occasionally dip into spoiler territory, which will be tagged appropriately. Check out the **Tl;Dr** below if you're short on time. With all that said, 'it's time to log in…'

*** ~~~ #Compared to its Disney counterpart, *BELLE* is a much different beast. webm(https://imgur.com/zoAnByV.mp4) ~~~

The film takes the classic fairytale and asks two key questions: "What if this story was set in the not-so-distant future, and what if there were two Beasts instead of one?" Once upon a time, there was a girl named Suzu who grew up with music in her heart. Tragically, trauma stemming from the loss of her mother in an accident had prevented her from sharing her songs with the world. All that changed when she stumbled upon U, a virtual reality platform with the promise of giving its users "new lives." Based on data and one's physical appearance in the real world, U creates digital avatars that uncover one's hidden strengths. Through her avatar, Belle, Suzu rediscovers her ability to sing. Suzu's compelling music catapults Belle to breakout stardom as one of the biggest personalities on the digital platform. As both an overnight success and an overwhelmed adolescent, the high-schooler decides to pull a [*Hannah Montana*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Montana) and live a double life, hidden from the spotlight. As Belle's mystique in the public eye strengthens her popularity, another unknown figure begins to grow in notoriety. The Dragon, an elusive mixed martial artist in U, has been sending shockwaves for threatening to damage the code with his unmatched strength. After a major altercation interrupts one of her concerts, Belle soon finds herself in the Dragon's hidden castle. Suzu feels compelled to uncover the monstrous façade and connect with the troubled soul who wears it, but time is in short supply. A vigilante faction and the rest of the U community blame the Dragon for ruining Belle's concert and are demanding justice. It's a race against time to discover the Dragon's mysterious origins, and the movie's innovative answers breathe new life into a familiar story. Far from a traditional fairytale, *BELLE* puts together an emotional coming-of-age that's full of hope. *BELLE* follows after the story it's loosely based off by using the "curse" of the Beast as a tool for self-improvement. Just as the Enchantress' curse helps the Prince learn the error of his ways, it's the digital avatars and technology of U that allow our characters to connect with others and grow as people. *BELLE* uses digitization within a triumphant narrative of finding courage in the darkest of times, and its uplifting optimism is difficult to miss (the aforementioned standing ovation at the Cannes comes to mind.) In attempting to introduce new story elements for a new audience, *BELLE* is certainly more enriching than your [typical beat-for-beat reboot of a familiar story](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2771200/)... just not by much. Points for trying, but there is room for improvement. A whole writer's room, to be exact.

~~~ #Hosoda's script is simple, despite its ambitious appearance. webm(https://imgur.com/eTolHxj.mp4) ~~~

*BELLE* doesn't just tell a modern coming-of-age tale about a girl who finds her voice, but also hints at various ideas throughout its runtime. These tangents don't feel fully developed, but instead expose the movie's thematic limitations, leaving the audience with an end product that is neither as compelling or relevant as it could have been. For example, look no further than the fictional digital platform, U. This sci-fi setting is brimming with an excitement that boomers at the Cannes may latch onto, but the same can't be said for younger demographics more familiar with the technology of today. Specifically, the consumers of a widely-popular app, with [an active userbase exceeding a count above a million](https://backlinko.com/tiktok-users). U pretty much amounts to a society run by TikTokkers. God help us all.

~~~ img100%(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/766670782494408744/926501482549878905/TikTok.png) #####*Didn't realize this was gonna be a dystopian nightmare...*~~~

Jokes aside, this comparison isn't going to pivot into some cynical discussion on how TikTok is the bane of modern civilization. But if *BELLE* intends to immerse viewers in a hopeful reimagining of the future, it needs to do a lot more than simply phoning-in a mashup of TikTok and VRChat. Unfortunately, U is poorly designed and only ever explored in areas relevant to the plot. The main detail of relevance concerning U is its use of user biometric data in crafting in-universe avatars. Aside from that, we never learn that much about U, everyone is just… there. I'm not just at a loss for words here; most scenes in U feature its millions of users floating around in streets surrounded by empty skyscrapers. If not for Belle's concerts and celeb-news broadcasts, there is next-to-nothing for people to do. U is a bleak far-cry from the revolutionary social media site it's touted as; even [*The Emoji Movie* 's Textopolis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emoji_Movie) contains worldbuilding features with more ingenuity and depth. The decision to reduce U to the most uninspired of backdrops is made more baffling when you realize that the movie avoids obvious opportunities to explore this setting. A major subplot of *BELLE* is written as a sci-fi mystery, with Suzu conducting an Internet investigation on the Dragon's identity and whereabouts. But all of this takes place in the real world, outside of U! Conducting this cyber-hunt within U would not only help make the environment far more fascinating, but also gives *BELLE* chances to better meet its aim of promoting the wonders of technology. *The goal's wide-open, Hosoda, why won't you shoot?* In order to address this question, let's make one thing clear about how *BELLE* pitches its big message. While the movie is more than happy to *promote* the beneficial relationship we can have with technology, it typically avoids *demonstrating* what that relationship can realistically look like. Now I do appreciate the sections of the show where this isn't the case, such as the frequent depiction of negative/hate comments online, which is a natural consequence of people freely expressing their personal opinions. Furthermore, U's ability to draw out hidden strengths from users gives the movie its big draw of promoting self-expression on the Internet. However, for a movie so seemingly enthusiastic about having an online presence, it seems strangely silent about possible downsides of such public exposure. Throughout the film, topics such as online addiction and [imposter syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome) are hinted at but never explored. The film can't afford to delve into these prevalent subjects and frame technology in any negative context, especially where the main character is involved! Despite attempts at taking more nuanced stances, *BELLE* continuously falls back on its simple mantra: "technology good." This tame claim by the script isn't wrong, but lacks relevance in stating the obvious. *BELLE* is a bark that lacks bite, and its undercooked ideas hinder its effectiveness. Taking the sparse worldbuilding and underdeveloped commentary into account, Hosoda gives off an impression of not fully understanding the digital landscape so heavily praised in his film. If this claim sounds like a bit of a stretch, perhaps a trip down *BELLE* 's strangest rabbit hole can change your mind. Let's analyze the movie's answer to Gaston. In the Disney movie, Gaston is a devious dude in pursuit of Belle's heart, and he eventually incites a mob to slay the Beast. This same mob mentality is retained in Justin, *BELLE* 's take on the narcissistic character. As Justin exposits in one scene, U was programmed by liberal creators to be a digital utopia with no rules. These creators believe the society would be run without exploitation, but not everyone agrees with this reasoning. A chief of vigilante group "The Justices," Justin leads a law enforcement operation to keep U in check. *BELLE* 's update for this character is to turn a hunter into a right-wing authoritarian who sways public opinion against potential threats that the Dragon presents. So what? The first thing worth pointing out is how goofy Justin's portrayal is. *BELLE* seems almost too eager to snuff out and mock Justin' rhetoric of justice. Justin gets roasted by Belle for being a control freak who's just looking for an excuse to flex his power. He has comical dialogue befitting of a dollar-store superhero. He wields a weapon known as "the Power of Justice": a light beam designed to unveil an avatar's biometric data within U, thereby revealing their identity. So yeah, Justin can doxx people. In a movie that's largely celebratory and positive, Hosoda's awkward [anti-establishment](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/anti-establishment) biases stick out like a sore thumb. This cynical caricature is perfectly captured in the silliest scene in the entire movie. The painfully loaded imagery features a shot of Justin ‒ leader of the Justices ‒ aiming a doxxing laser at the Dragon in the name of a "righteous" cause, as a bunch of corporate sponsorships begin flashing behind him:

~~~ img100%(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/766670782494408744/925825917069176932/unknown.png) img100%(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/766670782494408744/925826156601700352/unknown.png) ~~~

So what are we looking to achieve by going on this tangent? While this situation is amusing to me, I'm not exactly comfortable with what Hosoda is pitching here. Justin and the script's vague potshots at the right-wing feels so bizarrely disconnected from the rest of the film. More importantly, this case study shows how *BELLE* yet again drops the ball with regards to worldbuilding and developed story ideas. Making U a functional society with no rules is either wishful thinking or lazy writing; flip a coin. Furthermore, I think it's real rich that Hosoda decided to have an unauthorized vigilante doxx people as part of law enforcement. It's not easy to miss the parallels between the fear of "unveiling" within U and the concerns surrounding data privacy in the present day. Privacy on the Internet is a controversial gray area that isn't fully understood, with individuals, corporations and companies still working towards a healthy compromise. This complex conundrum maybe isn't the best subject to tackle in a teenage YA cartoon, and should be approached with sensible care. Yet, here we see Hosoda chucking shade and all caution to the wind. I obviously don't agree with Justin's actions in the movie, but he is onto something in saying that the current society of U shouldn't work. There's monetary and identity theft at stake in U, so it's only natural that stuff goes wrong at some point. Yeah, governments aren't perfect, but you know what's worse? Anarchy! *BELLE* 's script makes Justin out to be a clown, but becomes the whole circus by ignoring its own issues. Once again, Hosoda fails to demonstrate a coherent understanding of how technology and society work together, and these incoherent sections of propaganda aren't exactly helping his case. "Technology good." "Regulation bad." These two-word claims aren't thoughtful additions to a script, but purposeless fluff that distracts from and discredits the good message *BELLE* intends to leave with its audience. Rather than add to the movie, these simple ideas only take away from it. The worst part about all this? *BELLE* 's script is already struggling enough as is.

~~~ #*BELLE* 's change in scenery is more problematic than picturesque. webm(https://i.imgur.com/w1ws4b9.mp4) ~~~

What distinguishes this adaptation from the fairytales that came before is the lack of screentime between Belle and her monstrous beau. The two characters only meet proper roughly 45 minutes into the movie, and their interactions make up approximately a third of the 2-hour runtime. This is a really big change for a story often revolving around two love interests, and *BELLE* responds by putting more emphasis on Suzu through a brand new arc. For what it's worth, I think the film is commendable for this refreshing approach, and its twist involving the Dragon's identity is a praiseworthy highlight. *BELLE* 's problems don't stem from cutting out the old source material, but from its overall weak attempts at making up the difference. A new component this film introduces is the digital detective search for the Dragon's identity, which comes across as a tacky way to kill time. While Disney's version of events had Belle search for the Beast in order to satisfy her taste for adventure and rescue her dad, there is no such motivation behind Suzu's quest other than random curiosity. Hiro, Suzu's best friend and IT whiz, just spontaneously decides to track down the Dragon, and our befuddled main protagonist simply tags along without any question. This contrived, "zero-shits-given" writing rubs off on the audience; there's a chance viewers too could feel uninterested until the movie's third act. The film frequently hops between various plotlines involving Suzu's adolescence, but ironically feels like it's going nowhere. This middle section of the movie feels like unconnected vignettes rather than a larger story, and the repetitive way these derivative scenes play out do little to hold audience attention. Given the shoddy writing in the lead-up, it's no surprise that *BELLE* 's script truly falls apart as it's forced to ramp up the stakes in the third act.

~~~ img100%(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/766670782494408744/926499604172767353/unknown.png?width=1439&height=600) ~~~

Contrived writing returns with a vengeance, with a whole string of occurrences that make no sense. Allow me to give you a taste of how laughably bad the script gets through a quick example. In one scene, Suzu and newfound friend Ruka are walking to the train station after having a gal's chat over their respective crushes. Earlier, Ruka learned about how Suzu and her love interest Shinobu used to be childhood friends. This is all the context we get for why Ruka suggests meeting up at Suzu's old elementary school for their next hangout. Why a school of all places? Right off the bat, this interaction between two human beings makes no damn sense, but Hosoda's about to make his intentions clear as day. Suzu leaves the train station, only to bump into Shinobu himself, whom our lovestruck protagonist has been dodging for the entire film. Yet again, Suzu runs away from this encounter, and Hiro calls her back to their HQ in order to deal with stuff as Belle. Where is this HQ you ask? Yup, you guessed it. Meanwhile, at the train station, Shinobu finds Ruka and asks if she could guess where Suzu might be headed. And as if Ruka bringing up the elementary school was uncalled for before, she does so again, even though it has nothing to do with what Shinobu wants... except it totally does, because the script couldn't come up with a less hamfisted method of assembling its side characters for the grand finale. And for those who have already seen the movie, let's break down how *BELLE* jumps the shark in its final stretch:

(**Spoiler warning**) ~! Ok, so here's a quick recap of events to jog your memory: the Dragon is Kei, an elder son to a widower who has been abusive to his children since his wife's passing, Suzu discovers the brothers in a live stream, bad dad steps out and threatens his kids with physical violence on camera, Suzu offers to help file a police report, Kei refuses to believe she's Belle and ends the stream, Suzu unveils herself in U and sings a song, Kei trusts Suzu again. Now here's where stuff gets stupid. Just as Kei reveals his address, the father angrily returns and abruptly ends the call. He was tipped off about the live stream by an anonymous party who sent an incriminating clip of him nearly beating the Dragon's disorientated younger brother. Riddle me this: who sent the clip? See, the movie kindly left us with a watch count of active viewers of the stream, and it was set to 1 right up until the main ordeal ended. That 1 comes from Suzu's crew at HQ, meaning that the only people who could have sent the blackmail are either Hiro or the brothers themselves (the 3 viewers who randomly hopped on the live stream are bait; they only showed up after the abuse happened and couldn't have clipped the incident.) Hiro definitely could have pulled it off, had her tech wizardry didn't get conveniently nerfed in this section of the movie. A girl who was once able to hack CCTV footage suddenly forgets how to track down IP addresses, and it takes a lucky series of clues for Suzu's crew to narrow down Kei's home. But for the sake of argument, let's assume Hiro really did send the blackmail evidence. After locating Kei's prefecture, the gang calls child's services, only to learn that a search warrant would be conducted roughly 48 hours after the call. This rule does exist in Japan, but only in the event that insufficient evidence is presented. I'd wager that a recorded video of a father nearly beating the shit out of his two kids (one of whom appears to be disabled/incoherent) would be reasonable grounds for an investigation. If Hiro made the clip, why didn't she just send it to these cops? Furthermore, if she did manage to send it to Kei's dad, then why didn't she also dig up their residence, sparing Suzu several hours of wandering around a suburb in the rain? It's safe to say that Hiro isn't the culprit, so perhaps Kei is to blame? Well of course not, because why in hell would kids choose that point in time to blackmail their dad while trapped in their own home? It's not in their interest to troll their loved one, given that that individual happens to be an abuser who nearly beat them up. No one we know could have sent the clip. LITERAL MOVIE MAGIC. The clumsy contrivances still don't stop there. Why did the aunties jump at the earliest opportunity to drive Suzu from the old school in one scene, before leaving her to face a dangerous stranger on her own in the next, defying all common sense? What does Kei mean when he says he "took a stand" against his father? Why does Kei's parenting situation go unresolved, while our characters stroll along the riverside in sing-song fashion? All unanswered questions, but at least I solved one mystery - I figured out why I don't give two shits about this travesty. !~ (**End of spoilers**)

Admittedly, I did have some fun pointing out these plot holes, but I'm quite certain that fun at the movie's expense wasn't exactly what Hosoda was going for. And let's be clear, the third act does contain some great dramatic moments. It's just a shame that the steps taken to reach these story beats feel so forced and even disingenuous at times. When viewing these unnatural pieces of writing side-by-side, it becomes more and more difficult to ignore the fakeness of it all. As is the case with the other bits of simplistic writing we've examined, these mistakes are unwelcome distractions that threaten to drag *BELLE* down into comical mediocrity.

~~~ img100%(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/766670782494408744/926497950954315786/unknown.png) ~~~

Before we end this breakdown, let's touch on a side of *BELLE* that I *did* enjoy: the presentation. Hosoda's traditional animated visuals occasionally correlate with the whimsy of classic Disney films, but rarely wow me from a directorial standpoint. I'm more of a fan of the film's depiction of U. The use of CGI and colorful character designs enables *BELLE* to indulge in a spectacular visual look. Certain scenes in the movie feel like fantastical scenes reminiscent of Ghibli films mixed with a modern coat of paint, and the results are pretty exciting stuff. If there's one aspect that *BELLE* gets absolutely right, it's the music. Wow. One thing I hate about movies featuring singers or pop idols is that you usually just have to take the author's word for it; the songs rarely live up to hype. But when I hear Belle's songs, I'm completely sold on her celebrity status. [Kaho Nakamura](https://anilist.co/staff/230040/Kaho-Nakamura)'s VA debut is pretty adequate from a purely acting POV, but it's her showstopping musical performance that decisively knocks it out of the concert park. [Her emotive vocals](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGuSxKigXSs) capture the vulnerability of Suzu's character perfectly, and the 4 tracks she sings are all gorgeous tunes I've had on loop whilst penning this review. [Taisei Iwasaki](https://anilist.co/staff/119402/Taisei-Iwasaki) is the main man behind an anime OST I'd consider to be my personal favorite in 2021. *BELLE* 's insert songs are by far the best parts of the film, and make for earnest reprieves from the many flaws mentioned here. In closing, let's return to the topic that opened this review: simplicity. Perhaps breaking down a simple show in such a pedantic manner ranks among some of the snobbiest things I've done as an amateur anime commentator. But for the record, I'm not here to merely dunk on a script for not meeting some higher intellectual standard. Simplicity can be beneficial, and allows a story's message to best reach the people that need to hear it. I don't hate simplicity; I hate mistakes. And *BELLE* is unfortunately riddled with many. Having a script that's easily understood should not come at the expense of common sense or unrefined ideas. The shilling of sweet sentiments shouldn't come at the cost of a coherent script. As an audience member, I shouldn't have to worry about plotlines that don't go anywhere, or whether the show really is attempting to sell me on some pro-anarchist propaganda. The problem is that I *have* , and the show's inability to present coherent messages is what allows room for these potentially-unintended inferences to occur. These poor writing practices are not only undesirable on their own, but also affect the aspects *BELLE* gets right. Even the genuine message of finding oneself in the digital age feels disingenuous and artificial (intelligence, not so much) when viewed alongside the film's many contrivances. Neglect of the script's logic lessens the impact of its emotion, because the latter starts resembling a soulless product too - something fake being shoved down your throat, no questions asked. *BELLE* is a movie with good intentions, but it's far from a good movie. And that's simply disappointing.

*** ~~~ #**Tl;Dr**: webm(https://imgur.com/JBSQGZj.mp4) ~~~

*BELLE* is brimming with both optimism and bad ideas. At its core, this endearing coming-of-age imbues an old fairy tale with excitement for the future. A celebration of technology and the self, *BELLE* 's best moments ooze triumph. That being said, even the film's brightest sections are hampered by a contrived screenplay. Expect unfinished ideas and plot holes to dampen the movie experience. By means of omission and forced writing, *BELLE* creates an experience that's really distracting. Thankfully, imaginative CGI visuals and amazing music ensure that the movie isn't a complete catastrophe. *BELLE* can be appreciated as a thoughtless mish-mash of generic feel-good vibes, although I'd recommend just watching clips of the insert songs elsewhere online. Either way, being disconnected from Hosoda's simplistic writing is likely necessary for maximum enjoyment. **4/10**~

*** ~~~ img100%(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/766670782494408744/926497302586220604/unknown.png) ~~~

Hey, thanks for reading! Before I leave you, here's a no-context clip of *BELLE* that got cut from one of my drafts. [Cringe comedy at its gnarly finest, you can thank me later](https://i.imgur.com/sobvviH.mp4). If you happen to like my verbose rants, feel free to check out my other [reviews](https://anilist.co/user/An1meDweeb/reviews) for seasons past and present. I also frequently post writeups under my list updates, so definitely take a peek if you'd like to see me mald over anime as they hit the airwaves, peace~

Shaomander

The Modern Retelling of Beauty and the Beast youtube(https://youtu.be/izIycj3j4Ow) __Summary:__ The first hour of this movie is basically a modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast. The main protagonist, Suzu, has a traumatic upbringing with not many friends or family to lean upon for help. To cope with her loneliness, she uses her virtual alter ego, Belle, in the movie's equivalent of the internet, to sing and become an ideal version of herself. After becoming a viral sensation, she gains more confidence in herself in school and everyday life. Just as things are finally turning around for Suzu, she encounters a beast/minotaur-like avatar called "Dragon". Suzu feels compelled to help this beast despite everyone on the internet becoming an echo chamber of hatred towards Dragon. However, Dragon does not want her sympathy nor her help. Will Suzu be able to stop the internet pitchforks from symbolically killing Dragon? Who is behind his avatar? __My Opinion:__ This movie is a quite a mixed bag. There are some gorgeous set pieces that just makes you want to use as your desktop wallpaper. The clever use of CG to create this futuristic virtual world is beautiful to look at. Howeversome scenes look like they're rotoscoped and reused like 8 times. Maybe this was to save on budget? The songs she sings didn't grab me at first but towards the end I started to love them. The music is phenomenal. The entire soundtrack is on Spotify, I highly recommend people to check that out. img720(https://i.imgur.com/1BompJ6.png) Then there is the extremely convoluted story of a girl trying to help a stranger over the internet while overcoming her own shortcomings. There is potential of a good movie here, but it is filled with plot holes and questionable decisions that drag the movie down a few pegs. The movie introduces relationships and more side characters but never expands upon them. What happened with Suzu's relationships with her father? Why was the love interest between Shinobu and Suzu completely dropped? Why is the internet police just doxing people without any repercussions? There is a decent movie by the halfway mark but after that, the movie just goes completely off the rails into fantasy. img720(https://i.imgur.com/0Pt0rYi.jpg) Conclusion: Belle is an ambitious movie that gets your foot in the door with its gorgeous visuals, excellent music, but by end of the experience it does not live up to the expectations you expect out of a Mamoru Hosoda movie. The Girl Who Lept Through Time, Wolf Children and even Summer Wars is a better time than this below average movie. Thankfully the music and visuals were stunning because the story is a completely failure.

Freemanslavoca

I like Mamoru Hosoda. His films have always been a treat to interact with and watch. Regardless of whatever controversial claims he made about the anime industry before his movie release, I was still extremely excited to see Belle and thought the premise sounded foppish yet interesting at the same time. This was actually the first anime movie that I have gone to see at the movie theatre right at its release in American theatres. After I left theatre though, I can easily say that this is Hosoda's worse film he's released which is really disappointing. I shall go over the positives and negatives I saw and then wrap this review up with my final scores. Also, this is my first review so any feedback will be much appreciated. Positives: First off, I would like to speak on the art and animation from the movie. This is easily my favorite-looking Hosoda film. The green landscape where Suzu lives is a joy to look at, and all the characters offer a lot of emotion in their animation and the colors Hosoda uses to blend all his scenes together make this film look amazing. The virtual world known as "U" is very vibrant and the viewer really gets the impression that the world is full of life and is busy through its art. The 3-D animation is also serviceable. Sometimes I felt that Belle's animations were quite lackluster and didn't quite fit the scene at hand. Two scenes were the opening where Belle was singing on the whale and her arms moments were very lethargic and didn't match the passion of the song. The second scene I am speaking on is when Belle is getting interrogated by one of the Justice members, she is sitting in a chair with an upset expression during their whole exchange. This is one time where a character's facial emotions don't react to what is being said and I would've loved to see Belle be more expressive in this scene besides having the same face for almost a minute while important information is being given. Still, the animation and art are top-notch in this movie are well worth my praise. Another part of the movie that I will give huge praise for is the music/sound. Each song Belle sings is filled with passion and gives a lot of meaning behind the scene they are attached to. This goes for both the English and Japanese versions. The lyrics beat, and vocals are all a treat and were the first thing I went back to after watching the movie. If you are not going to see the movie, I would still highly recommend listening to the soundtrack because it is really worth your time. Speaking of the English version, I also saw this movie with an English dub. Now I will state right now that I do not like English dubs and try to avoid them whenever possible because the voice acting is important to me. However, the theatre I went to see it at only had English dubs when I pre-ordered the tickets so I had to compromise. I can say now though, that Belle has a fairly respectable English dub, dare I even say that it was good. Each voice fit the character they played and the emotion was conveyed well (except for Shinobu who sounded bored for the entire movie). Those were feelings toward the music/sound, easily my favorite part of the movie. For my last part of the positives, I believe this may be somewhat taken as hot takes. I actually liked Suzu's character throughout the film. I believe that her journey from a self-proclaimed nobody to somebody and her getting over her mother's death was the best story/character-focused part of the film. There are other aspects of her character that aren't well developed and hold her back from being a top anime film character, but that's for the negatives. Finally, here are some final things that I thoroughly enjoyed in the film and I'll quickly go over them. The representation of the internet is well-done throughout the whole movie. I like how as soon as Belle sings her first song, there is a mix of both positives and negatives comments about her and the viewer gets to see them front and center. This happens throughout the entire movie and it really adds some commentary on both the positives and negatives of the internet and its effects on people behind the screen. I like the first scene where we get introduced to each central character and how it presents them, even though you don't learn anything else from them in the whole movie (in other words they are one-dimensional static characters besides Suzu somewhat). I liked trying to figure out who the beast was. I like how the film was trying to misguide viewers even though people who know about writing like me would see how Hosoda was intentionally trying to mislead the viewer; it was still an exciting part of the film though. I also love the interaction between Ruka and Shinjirou when they learn that they both like each other. It was very charming and wasn't overplayed. I also love Ruka throughout the entire movie, she was really a cute character. The climax of the movie was really powerful to me as well. Like any other Hosoda film, the powerful moments really have an impact and Belle is no different. The beginning scene of watching Suzu and her mom bond was detailed and gave us a lot of information on why Suzu is how she is in the present. Watching Suzu unveil herself and have the confidence and sing proudly again to the people of "U" was really emotional and a great moment for Suzu and the movie. This was easily my favorite scene of the entire movie and while it didn't make up for its flaws, I'm glad it had a scene like this that I really enjoyed. So, I think that's it for the positives, now let's move on to the negatives. Negatives: Let's go over the worst part of the film, the story. Oh boy, where do I even start? Well, first off, the pacing is really a mixed bag. Some scenes, like the two I used at the end of my positives, are well-paced, but a lot of scenes are either too fast or too slow. For example, when Belle becomes a singing sensation in a matter of minutes and it is not done well at all. As soon as Belle enters the world of "U", she starts singing for no real reason. Citizens listen to her and have mixed opinions, then we learn that Suzu's friend Hiroka planned this all along. Like what?? Before this point though, the film was going really well. To put it shortly, there are plotholes, relationships and scenes are undeveloped, and a lot of the scenes are put together weirdly. Like it's not coherent and the movie feels like some scenes are jumbled together. The relationship between Belle and the Beast is really underdeveloped and therefore while the dancing scene is nice to look at, it has no emotional weight because it feels like two strangers dancing instead of a heartfelt dance in the original Beaty and the Beast because the relationship is actually developed in the original. Even the little servants of the Beast are so unimportant in this film while in the original they were really charming. I'm not saying that Belle has to follow the original though, but they put these things into the movie so I will critique them. The second mightily underdeveloped relationship in the film is Kei (I think that's his name lol) and how he was the beast. I would like to give myself props by saying he was one of my options for who the beast was and my reasoning was just because she looked mad and had hair covering one of his eyes lmao. Anyway, his perspective of family abuse while a good idea was not developed and built up to, so it all feels quite bland, to be honest. It obviously feels terrible because no one likes family abuse, but it could've been a really emotional part of the film if it was handled carefully. There is a lot more that I can pick out from this film and critique, but I'm sure that you probably understand how I feel. The worst part to me is that there are really good ideas here and it could've been something amazing, but the ideas weren't really handled with care. I can't help but think that the pandemic interrupted the progression of making this movie. Remember how earlier in my review I said that all characters are one-dimensional? Yeah, that stands pretty strong. Each character can be described in two words and I'm not exaggerating at all. Now let's talk about my issues with Suzu as the main character. Before, I said I liked her and said she wasn't a terrible main character and that I actually liked aspects of her and what she brought to the story. However, with the convoluted script, there are some aspects of her that I have to call out. One is her relationship with her father. We get the idea very early on that it is very awkward between her and her father because of her mother's death. I have to say I think it's a little overplayed, but I can't say for sure. This was a part of her character that I was excited to see develop, but it gets very little screen-time compared to the rest of the events. While it is nice to see Suzu accept her father's dinner request at the end, it just isn't as impactful as it should be. Hosoda also has to try and force the idea that Suzu is a nobody, he doesn't show this to us naturally. This is my main issue really, it is shown that Suzu isn't very confident and is still living through the pain of her mother's death, but Hosoda has to tell us and sell the idea that Suzu is a nobody instead of showing us. Again, it is a mixed bag. That really is through all the negatives I have. Final Thoughts: The negatives really fall heavily on the important parts of a movie and that's why he really holds this film from being extraordinary. I think this showed us the flaws Hosoda has though. Now, I know a lot of people are turned off from Hosoda and aren't being fans of him anymore, but I can't do the same. Hosoda has shown that he is a talented director and that he has the potential to make a classic. If he can fix up these flaws and really think about what he wants to do going forward, I think he will succeed. Regardless, I will still look forward to his next movie and even though I had a lot of negatives, I still liked the movie a little. Would I rewatch it? I mean if it came out on a subscription service I own, then I might rewatch it to see what I missed. Belle was a bad movie to me and one of Hosoda's worst in his filmography. There are things to like in Mamoru Hosoda's Belle, but it is weighed down by the aforementioned negatives. Final Scores: Story: 3 Art: 7 Sound: 8 Character: 3 Enjoyment: 6 Overall: 4

MatchaMilk

I'll be speaking about the movie and I'll be covering the content, so if__ you're spoiler sensitive at any degree I suggest coming back to my review after watching the movie__ :] ____ I have been waiting for Belle to release since June 2021 when I saw a 30 second trailer for it. The visuals had me excited and the faint angelic voice latched me on. After seeing it pop up on social media, after forgetting about it for the time in-between I decided to watch it and see how it went. I watched the updated trailer that was dubbed in English and I could tell that this was going to be an emotional roller coaster. I have yet to see another Studio Chizu movie other than this one, but I do plan on watching the others, so my review is going to be solely off of the movie alone. The most obvious factor to tackle first are the visuals. I feel as though the movie showcases how far Studio Chizu has come from its production in the early 2000s. The mix of CGI, 2D animation, and several other mediums presents how much Studio Chizu has almost experimented with the film. The landscape of the virtual world, as overwhelming as it is, is so expansive. The colour choices set the mood, and show a big contrast as to what Suzu's ordinary life looks like - constant and a little mundane. In terms of the music, I'm a very emotional listener. The passion in Belle's voice both in sub and dub are so clear and consistent. As quoted in the movie, "it really feels like she's singing for me." The instrumentals were fitting, and the vocals do play a big part in carrying the movie. The songs are memorable and hold so much weight to who Suzu is as a person, one that seems to be vocalizing the solutions to her own problems to other people. Now to tackle the story, which really started turning people away. Firstly, The Dragon, or 'The Beast'. I was so excited to see how this character was expanded, and I was more than pleased to see how they contributed to Suzu as a character. The whole Beauty and the Beast trope felt more like a reference than it being the whole drive for the show. The Beast is another person who has closed themselves off from the world to shoulder a burden that not even their family is able to heal it, (given the father is the reason). But 'The Beast' brought out the healing that Suzu needed to direct to herself. She was there, encouraging him to talk about his struggles as he's never done that with anyone. He shuts people out by being distant, to the point aggressive. Suzu is not aggressive with people in her life, but she puts herself at arm's length even if people are willing to be there for her. I believe that this is a turning point for her character because chasing The Beast's identity almost seemed like she was chasing after her younger self that needed someone. That's why she went to Tokyo by herself, because even if everyone was supporting her, they were only supporting Belle in her journey to save Kei. Her resistance against Kei and Tomo's abusive father was heartwrenching. But Suzu's assertive stature felt so fulfilling to see. At the beginning of the movie we see her writing a letter to her mom asking her why she left her, asking her if the child was more important than Suzu. But defending Kei and Tomo put Suzu in her mother's shoes, which she came to realize during the end sequence. Even on the train ride to Tokyo her father steers her in the direction of an epiphany by pointing out that she needs to be there for her younger self, letting it heal, and realizing that she's become the person she is BECAUSE of her mother. She teaches Kei how to trust people again when they really want to help, and thus she learns through helping another person. When Kei confesses by saying I love you I was honestly relieved they didn't kiss. They set Suzu up to be with Shinobu so I'm glad they stayed true to that. I see Kei's professed love as a sign of him changing and letting someone into his life after the lack of change out of his abuse experience, and for thanking Suzu at a very emotional degree. I also want to talk about Shinobu since I brought him up. I also love their development. I love how they didn't just become a couple right after coming back from Tokyo and being unveiled. That felt like such a big step into both of their lives. He grew up seeing Suzu so closed in from other people, protecting herself from everybody. I feel like Shinobu was a real world reminder to Suzu that she can confide in other people. Shinobu let go of a big obligation in their friendship so that they could move onto being proper friends. If they were to actually get together, Suzu still encased in her social distance and Shinobu being placed as the 'guardian' would've sprouted an unhealthy relationship. At least now that Suzu can properly walk forward while working on herself more, they could have the potential to get together. The classmates felt like a breath of fresh air. I know the movie should be focused on her but I love how there's moments where we get to see pieces of them, and see how they influence Suzu by the end of the day. Luka is set up as the 'model' but in reality she still has that 'secret' that makes her human (Crushing on Chikami). A beauty with problems who had been opening up to Suzu about her love interest gives more encouragement for Suzu to start talking to people. She even opens up to her about Shinobu which I really appreciate. The girl-on-girl support is always great to see, especially with Peggie Sues' addition to this topic! A very minor but impactful detail, that ordinary people can still be as beautiful, just as beautiful people can still have the same problems as ordinary people do. Belle is not a love story. It's about growth and self-actualization. Suzu finds parts of her throughout the movie, one of which is her voice again. I love that she felt comfortable singing again, and that the out-of-body experience brought her into this perspective, "This is what you're capable of Suzu. You can heal, and become this version of you in real life outside of U." That vision tied the film together when she was unveiled. Her performance is unforgettable visually, audibly, and how the movie built up to it. I know a lot of people don't really like the 'reddit' mod character but I felt like he was necessary for story drive and weirdly enough, to remind us that the internet still has those people who try to make justice out of it. After all, we got haters, people who instigate, and supporters in the large crowds of comments in U. Everyone is entitled to their opinion on how they feel about Belle, as some of its aspects can't reach everybody. This review may come off a little biased as I've watched Belle at a point in my life where I can emotionally relate to the depth of this movie, or I could be looking into the movie too much HAHA. I think Belle did wonderfully with the amount of time it has. If I ever wanted to get to know the other characters and their outcomes more I feel like it'd be fitting to see them in short films or in OVAs. An ending that leaves the viewers wondering "What're they gonna do next?" felt fitting for the film. Suzu's growth starts as fast as it ends. I really recommend this movie to those who love music, heavy visuals, or those who are looking for a tear-jerking story that involves growth and healing :)

RamiTheAnimeMan

~~~This review is on the Japanese animated film “Belle”, directed by Mamoru Hosoda. The movie is a modern “re-telling” of its namesake film, the “Beauty and the Beast”. ~~~ “Belle” explores the risks associated with online personalities, including “hate” comments and how to deal with them. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, the film sheds light onto child abuse, mental trauma, online bullying, and depression. In many parts of the world today, including the West, these topics are cast aside and considered taboo. I appreciate what the movie attempts to show; however, the writers could have done a better job with character development and perhaps reconsidered the entire boy Beast dilemma. The protagonist, Suzu Naito is a high school student living in a rural village. As a child, Suzu loved music and would sing with her mother nearly every day. In her early adolescent years, Suzu’s mother tragically lost her life. Despite her love for singing, the memories associated with music brought Suzu immense sadness and pain. It became nearly impossible for Naito to sing, without experiencing mental and physical anguish, to the point of vomiting. This emotional block, which disallowed Suzu from singing continued until high school. The introduction to the virtual world, “U”, by her friend Hiro, gave rise to the avatar Belle, an altar-persona that allowed Suzu to pursue her passion for music and singing. Belle quickly rose to stardom, becoming an international and viral sensation. During an online concert, a mysterious creature, known as the Beast interrupted Suzu’s performance. His strength was undoubtedly great, as he repels the virtual officers who attempt to apprehend him. Suzu’s curiosity brings her closer to the Beast as she tries to understand the reason behind his immense power and anger. From the get-go, this movie instantly captured my attention, from the stunning visuals, to the creative world building, and the outstanding voice actors, this movie did not disappoint. If you are someone with a musical or art background, you will highly appreciate this film. The music evokes a multitude of emotions, and is reflective of the heroine's disposition and frame of mind. When faced with conflict, uncertainty, and doubt, Suzu’s song is sad, yet refreshing and rejuvenating at the same time. Both the English voice actor of Belle, Kylie McNeil, and the Japanese voice actor, Kaho Nakamaru did a tremendous job. You can listen to “Belle” on Spotify – at the time of writing, it currently has 762.4k monthly listeners. The conflict and eventual resolution of Naito’s singing inhibition spurs the movie onwards. Naito’s alter-identity, Belle acknowledges her pain and grief, and evokes these emotions through song. After a period of self-realization and support from those around her, Naito decides that she must reveal her “true” identity. This “unmasking”, from virtual to real highlights Naito’s psychological growth as well as hints at a positive and long-term recovery. The introduction of the Beast, and his erratic behaviour and actions gave the main plot an added dilemma. One that placed Naito in a position that ultimately helped encourage her to expose her real self to the world. In spite of this success, the Beast did not help progress the main plot, nor did he aid in the development of the side characters who already lacked insufficient screentime. Rather than focus on a new character, one whose backstory is complicated and unrelated to the main story, the relationships and interactions between Suzu and the side characters should have been more delved out and intertwined within the main plot. The side characters, particularly Watanabe and her crush, canoe boy (Chikami) gave great comedic relief and was refreshing to say the least. Unfortunately, neither Watanabe or her crush were at all relevant to the main storyline. Suzu’s childhood crush, Shinobu is the typical strong and quiet type who somehow knows everything, but runs around the entire film doing absolutely nothing. Shinobu is quite possibly the most useless character in the entire film. Unfortunately, the identity of the Beast and his backstory is confusing and makes little sense. The Beast was a young boy, no older then 14 years of age. Throughout the film, there were various instances wherein Belle and the Beast shared intimate and romantic moments with one another. Finding out that the Beast was a 14-year-old boy, whilst Belle is 18 left me feeling slightly disturbed, if not a little uncomfortable. To make matters worse, it was inferred multiple times in the film that Naito and Shinobu had feelings for one another. At the time of this reveal, the film was nearly finished, and yet, it felt as if a new film had just taken its place. The dilemma of the childhood abuse and its tragic consequences on the Beast/boy and his younger sibling were delt with by the teenage Naito. Naito, no more than 18 years of age travelled alone to the location of the boy, fully knowing that his father could physically harm or assault her. And yet, Naito’s friends and father allowed and even encouraged her actions. At the cost of a few hard hits from the father, Naito protects the two young boys. In the end, the father runs away in fear of Suzu and the boy Beast confesses his love to his heroine. Honestly, I do not have the slightest idea as to what the father became so scared of. Perhaps, Naito unconsciously triggered her conquerors haki (One Piece reference). There are many more points that I could bring up that also did not make any sense at all. Such as the issue of the Beast boy and his brother. What exactly happened after that conflict with Suzu and the abusive father? Also, how does the virtual headset used by “U” players really work? At one point, it was assumed that the individual had to be in an unconscious sleeping state, similar to that of SAO. However, that preconception was quickly abolished during one of Suzu’s online concerts where she is fully awake and standing, yet somehow is still completely immersed within the game. This movie obviously has faults, as does any movie, however, despite its flaws, the music alone is enough to justify its high ratings. A good movie, or animation that can be viewed by all ages and equally appreciated is rare to say the least.

ProstConst

A confused disaster of a movie, with no thought given towards the implications of its characterizations or its blatant, baseless plagiarism. There is no discernable purpose to adding in a shot-by-shot remake of Disney's Beauty and the Beast in the middle of this film. It provides no commentary or new recontextualization (simply making it take place in a digital world is not enough, every single shot in this sequence has the exact same meaning here in terms of establishing a romance that it did in the original film). This does not function as an homage or an fresh retelling, it is hamfisted exploitation of familiarity to lazily make the audience more comfortable with the work without using it's own devices. This sort of plagiarism reflects the notion that the filmmakers are innately deserving of interest without appropriately earning it, which parallels the film's thematic shortcomings as well. Thematically Belle comes to represent the negative flip-side of Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon a Time. Where Evangelion 3.0+1.0 deconstructs what people tend to think is important when crippled by insecurity and points instead towards living in a productive way that rewards both you and the people around you, Belle represents the exploitation of arbitrary preconception as a way towards propping up notions of the importance of oneself over others. (i.e. Thinking you're the main character of reality and your problems are more important than others, therefore living with the intent of propping up these selfish delusions rather than treating others with equal respect as a fellow individual.) Every element of Belle props up the protagonist as the most important person in the universe. She has a backstory that is easily taken as tragic so her problems are immediately given paramount importance over others. Her "true self" in the virtual world is a beautiful goddess, while everyone else is represented as cartoonish caricatures. Everyone who opposes her is an irrational, irredeemable villain to be defeated. This is the fundamental root of human evil. The notion that you are more important than other people, that your place in the universe is of greater significance, is what causes someone to harm, assault, or kill someone else when they have become characterized as the enemy to what is of cosmic importance (you, not them). It causes you to make the environment uninhabitable for others, it causes you to live your life with paramount concern for your own immediate gratification rather than towards improving circumstances for yourself and others. _In a World of U For the Praise of U_

gonwearsacroptop

My opinions on Belle. I watched this movie about a week after it became available to me as it didn't release where i'm from as early as it did in japan. It stars a young high school girl, "Suzu" who used to sing with her mother but she had sadly passed away. This had a big impact on her as music was a of alot of importance to her and her mother. But then her friend introduces her to an app where she can be whoever she wants and do what ever she wants, she takes on the fake name Bell. i had heard alot about this movie before watching but had to wait a while for it to be available which was annoying. It was definitely not what i thought it was about, i did not read the summary of the plot as i like to go into things blind sometimes. the poster and promotional videos were very good and it looks promising. i would describe this movie as the movie "ready player one" mixed with "beauty and the beast". the ending or what seemed to be the twist was in a way, a very good twist but also didn't excite me as much as i thought it would. Spoilers ahead > ~!I think her attempting to save children from an abusive and unhappy home was not the direction i thought it was going but i ended up sympathising for those two children. The guy she has a crush on figuring out it was her surprised me more than that twist, whatever happened at the end between them is beyond me.!~ The main character, Suzu, was a very nice character and i rooted for her throughout the movie. She's very likeable although she had no clear goal till near the end, her situation definitely made me want to live in a world like that (as did ready player one).her design was simple but her design as belle was even better, it really showed the clear difference between the two personas she had, in U she was more confident and inquisitive because she was more confident due to no one knowing who she was and getting praise for her talents whereas in her real life she was more shy and kept to herself, although some of these traits crossed over too. Her determination to reach her goal in the last half of the movie was very admirable. the art style reminded me of the other works that Studio Chizu has made such as movies like "The girl who leapt through time", "Mirai" and "Wolf children", all of which i have seen and i also think are very nice movies! some of the scenes with 3D animation were really clean which i have to applaud Studio Chizu for as some 3D animation works are not as well done. I've also seen 3D animation be used to draw the line to differentiate between simulation and reality in movies such as "HELLO WORLD" by the studio "Graphinica". I rated this movie a 75/100 as it was not one of my favourites but was absolutely a must watch for anyone who likes dystopian movies. Ive never watched a movie like this before, but if i'm honest it could have been much batter if the ending of the movie wasn't based on what happened in the last 20 minutes but rather the whole course of the movie. Sure there was some teasers as to the ending and twist but i thought it wasn't done in the best way.

zowee

God, this movie. I came across this movie when I was scrolling through Tiktok, where it was super hyped and made to be the next Big Anime Movie™. The one audio clip that was all over my FYP was when the English VA said the "I can finally sing again?" phrase and sang the thing, both done with so much emotion that that phrase was stuck in my head for an annoying amount of time. So the voice acting was great, the animation in the poster seemed great, the plot was meh, but I was excited! I was hyped! I could not wait! ...I should have waited! To quote my mother who watched this movie with me, "What a big waste of time." All this movie turned out to be was a huge let down and a complete cringefest, filled with irritating moments where I was so tempted to turn off my computer and go take a long nap. It was a dizzying experience with confusing plot and pacing that was simultaneously fast and slow. Unfortunately, I made it through so I will make this everyone's problem. Just a disclaimer, I am not in any way, shape, or form a film critic. I just have many, MANY thoughts about this movie and I thought I should share them before I pop. For a quick recap, let me run through the main plot of the movie, in my own words. This story starts with this girl, Suzu, who was super into songwriting as a child. She had a nice family and all, until there was a flood of some sort and mumsies died rescuing some child. Suzu got really depressed and couldn’t sing after that, until a thing called “U” was invented by “The Voices”. “U” is an online VR thingy, where people get their biometrics connected to an avatar and apparently can exist online and “start anew”. Suzu goes online and realises that oh wow, she can sing again, way to go, her! She becomes famous and has a concert at some sphere shaped theatre. The concert is interrupted by some criminal (because apparently there are criminals in the weird VR place) being chased by some cops (because apparently the walmart version of the Justice League exists in the weird VR place) led by some bozo who has a superiority complex and gets highs off “arresting” people in the weird VR place with his ??? (because apparently he has some weird laser beam that can “unveil” people, i.e. reveal your true identity to everyone in the weird VR place really how is this legal). Suzu's IRL best friend attempts to help her find the Beast’s IRL identity because screw this stranger’s privacy and the morality and legality of this situation, we need to know who this weird online person is! Shit happens, Suzu, as Belle, finds the castle where Beast, the criminal, is hiding and attempts to befriend him, completely disregarding everything anyone has ever said about stranger danger. More stuff happens, the cops prove that VR imitates life, and abuse more of their power so they can find out who this Beast guy is. Belle is saved by Beast, I am screaming at her to mind her own damn business because who knows? What if Beast is a 60 year old musty crusty old man who wants to groom her or some pedophillic shit like that, she ignores me, finds out Beast is some 14 year old kid named Kei who’s being abused by his dad and does some singing thing where she “unveils” herself to prove to Beast that… IDK what she proves to Beast but the Beast finally admits that he and his younger brother are being abused and their father cut off the livestream just as he is about to reveal his address and location TO A BUNCH OF STRANGERS. Suzu’s bestie does some next level spy shit and they find Kei’s neighbourhood. Suzu goes to the neighbourhood by herself to do something?? Sing at their dad until he turns over a new leaf or something?? She meets Beast and his younger brother, and protects them from their dad by staring at him until he runs away like a coward and there you go! The end! That’s it, we can all go home now! Let’s start with why this is confusing - the irritating number of plotlines! We start off being introduced to Suzu’s trauma as her mother left her motherless to rescue some poor kid. Watching this, I thought, this idea of whether the mother was in the right or in the wrong would be interesting to explore. It could have been considered selfish for her to abandon her six year old daughter, even if it was to rescue another girl. It’s true that it might as well have been suicide. Why didn’t she let emergency services handle it? Then, maybe, they could introduce that the mother worked as emergency services so she felt some sort of compulsion to rescue the girl and- No. They never mention the mother again, except once at the end of the movie, to revisit her trauma and show how she’s overcome it, but other than those measly few seconds, nothing. Ok, nevermind. Obviously, the poor girl’s traumatised! Let’s get her and her dad therapy! How does her dad cope with the loss of his wife? Where even was he when the floods occurred? What if he was also part of the emergency services? Maybe, he could have been called away to help in another area that was also affected by the flood, and by the time he got back, his wife was dead, his child traumatised and motherless, and his life was in shambles! Oh, the tragedy, when he’s wracked with guilt over the fact that maybe he should have stayed, maybe then his wife would have been alive, his daughter not as emotionally dista- Oh wait, he only gets like two minutes of screentime in total. Guess we’ll never see the relationship between him and his daughter. Let’s ignore this! Let’s think about one of the more interesting characters in this movie, Shinobu (his name forever remembered as ‘Hey, he has the same name as the butterfly girl in Demon Slayer!). He said he’d protect her when they were six? Aww, childhood friends to lovers, one of my favourite tropes! I really hope this relationship goes somewhere! I really really hope the Beast won’t ruin their relationship (the Beast had better not be him, that’d be way too predictable) cause I think they’d be really cute together. The statement about him not needing to be her guardian is kinda weird though I hope they clear that up… and Nope. The side characters have a better love story than them. I won’t even get into the child abuse thing at the end that they didn’t wrap up. I will ignore the countless side characters who honestly are anything but important. Why do the choir ladies need to be there? Luka (remembered as ‘Hey, that one character from Miraculous Ladybug’ and ‘Where did she get that saxophone from?’) and Kamishin (I just remember his name, he’s iconic and I love him), as much as I love them, are completely irrelevant. Why bring in so many characters if they don’t serve a purpose, except to confuse viewers? A huge number of plotlines only make a viewer more distracted, leaving them with thoughts of ‘Are you going to elaborate?’. Not a good thing to have. Next, my issues with “U”! “U” is free for anyone of any age, race, religion, gender, sexuality, whatever to use. What is its purpose? Is it like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook? Why do people use it? Who knows, who cares! All we need to know is that this is a place where people can float around in little queues to do god knows what until Belle comes to sing her pretty little heart out! Okay, to be fair, we do see a bit of how a profile page of ”U” looks like, and apparently you can post things? I have no idea how that works and I do not want to get into it. Anyways, there are no restrictions here, unless you are ugly and you beat people up, because apparently there are “martial art arenas” in the weird VR place where you can beat people up, where you can beat PEOPLE THAT ARE POTENTIALLY CHILDREN up. Was that clear enough? Should I reiterate? __THERE ARE CHILDREN IN THIS PLACE. THIS PLACE THAT HAS NO RESTRICTIONS FOR WHO AND WHERE MINORS CAN INTERACT WITH, WHICH IS A VERY VERY _VERY_ BAD IDEA. __ ARE THEY JUST GOING TO LET GROWN ADULTS BEAT CHILDREN UP? SHOW THEM PORN OR SOMETHING? GET GROOMED AND TRAFFICKED BY ADULTS??? THEN GET INTERROGATED BY SOME KNOCK OFF ALL MIGHT FROM MHA AND THREATENED TO GET DOXXED?????? I’m telling you, this shit has to be some form of illegal. But zowee, you say, this is a kids show! Don’t think so deeply into this! Fine. Let’s not think of HOW THIS SHIT SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN. Let's instead look through some of the many questions that I desperately need answered about "U", just off the top of my head. How does “U” work? Do you have to buy some special earphones to make this thing work? How do you get into this world thingy? How does it not crash? What would happen to you if you are in it and it crashes? How did the Voices make this? Why did they make this? Why are there building thingies in there? Do people do things there? If Beast gets a castle, does that mean that everyone gets a castle? Can a pet go into “U”? Can you not change your avatar once you first set it? What the absolute hell are the whales and where do they come from? Do they have to practice for Belle's concerts or are they just really good at freestyling in sync? What were those glowy chest thingies coming out of everyone at the scene towards the end with everyone singing? The questions are endless! Now, let’s complain about the characters, but like really briefly! First, Suzu. Either she’s singing or she’s crying, nothing else. I do wish that they had done more character development other than her getting over her trauma (even then, that was done quite shallowly and in the spur of the moment and all). I would have liked to know more about why she was so interested in getting to know the Beast and finding out his identity and I refuse to accept curiosity as an answer. She's a pretty boring main character. Boo. Kei is… definitely something. An aspiring slam poet, maybe. I would have liked to know more about his background. Where did his mother go? Where did he learn how to fight and apparently win against people who could have been professionals online? How did he get his castle with all his little AIs? Is something special about that one “Angel” AI? And why did he keep telling Belle not to look at him? I get that it could have been a reference to the OG Beauty and the Beast but I find it so ill-fitting. We weren’t given any reasons as to why he acted like that? And why did the children view him as a hero? Was there something they saw in a scary hunchbacked monster in their little under-developed minds that caused them to think of underground fighting as a thing a hero does? Anyway, methinks this kid has a hell load of attachment issues! Get him therapy! Justin is a stupid name for a stupid person with a stupid hero complex. I sincerely believe that if this were real and this Justin guy tried to form his little knock off power rangers squad, he’d get bullied so hard off the website. He’d get doxxed, his twitter exposed, his mother prank called, his life in shambles. All of this over him trying to play at being some hero and everyone finding that super cringe because goddamn, everytime I see this guy appear on screen, I immediately feel like crying. He and his Scooby Squad would get bullied by teenagers, cancelled so hard, they’d fall off the face of the Earth. That is all for the complaining about the characters, cause everyone else’s role was so minor, they might as well not be in the show. In conclusion, I don't hate this movie, I really don't. Do I think it could be better? Of course. Do I think the ending was disappointing? Hell yea. Do I absolutely detest the shitty CGI used? Goddamn, I do. But, as someone who watches Ghibli movies solely for the soundtrack and just really appreciates music in general, the music in this show was absolutely gorgeous. Each song was wonderful to hear and I found myself willing to risk my Spotify Wrapped to play this soundtrack on repeat. As mentioned at the start, the voice acting was brilliant and I really love Suzu's unique voice. The animation, when it wasn't CGI, was smooth and Belle's outfits were so cute! Some scenes, especially the one where everyone sang together for Belle, gave me goosebumps. This movie, though convoluted and annoying, is worth a watch.

writer4life724

~~~__Beauty Over Plot: A Review of _Belle___~~~ Full disclosure: I love Mamoru Hosoda's filmography as a general principle. From _Wolf Children_ to _Summer Wars_, he brings to light stories of hardship and community that I don't always get from other creators. And his artwork is often candy to the eyes, bright and cheery with lithe figures to contrast some of the harsher realities in his stories. So when I heard he was releasing his ninth movie, I was eager for its American release so I could see his work again. Unfortunately, this is his weakest film for me, jamming together three very different storylines into one feature film. I will give props to Mr. Hosoda's artwork, as it once again is a breathtaking ride for audiences to witness. From the 2D landscapes to the 3D character models, there is a wonder in every frame, even in the darker moments. The music also adds to the feel of the film; even if you're not a fan of pop ballads, each song is composed well enough to impact viewers, especially the first and final tracks. There's plenty to see and hear to keep audiences entertained. But that's close to where my compliments end for Mr. Hosoda's film. My biggest drive as a viewer is character and story development; sadly, this film didn't deliver—minor spoilers for the first 30 minutes of the film. For instance, Suzu is shown singing in front of a digital audience, but there's no transition into realizing she can do this in light of her past trauma. She appears in U and then...sings. No overcoming her trauma, no moment of sickness for a moment before regaining her composure, nothing. She only has an issue singing when others 1) know who she is and 2) when she tries to sing in front of real people. Why? There's no deeper investigation into this phenomenon, it just happens, and the movie races forward without explanation. Many of my issues stem from these plot conveniences. More major spoilers under the tag, but if you don't mind them or have watched the movie before, feel free to take a peek.~! How does Shinobu know that Suzu is Bell? Who made the AI for Kei, and how can they interact with users in U? Who is Justin, and why did his sponsors suddenly leave him during the final concert? How did the choir ladies know who Suzu was? In fact, how did Hiroka find out and then become Suzu's producer? Why didn't Kei's dad continue to assault Suzu since he had no trouble hurting her for at least thirty seconds before crumbling? Why was Suzu's heart glowing, and everyone else's was too? And where the hell did that whale come from at the end?!~ Overall, the plot is a complete mess with little cause-and-effect to showcase how one event naturally progresses to the next. It feels like one of my ADHD-addled fever dreams, which isn't a good thing in this instance. To briefly interject, I believe this film had three distinct ideas in Mamoru Hosoda's mind before combining them into one. It makes a lot more sense if you break it down into three separate storylines. One is a rags-to-riches story that deals with being true to yourself, not a false version of yourself (see what _Jem: The Movie_ attempted to do and failed). Another is a story of dealing with trauma and building a community when you're struggling to work through said trauma (see Hosoda's other movie, _Summer Wars_, for a better variation of this theme). Then there's the 90's _Beauty and the Beast_ adaptation because this is not an adaptation of the original _La Belle et La Beat_ but Disney's work. Even a few moments almost copy the 90's movie beat for beat with no subtlety. I believe if Hosoda cut these three ideas apart, he could've made three short films instead of this one clunky plot. I could even see the _Beauty and the Beast_ adaptation working with the idea of self-love to heal from past trauma, but the third aspect doesn't mesh well. These needed to be separate stories, but it feels like Hosoda didn't flesh out how they could've been a cohesive story. This movie needed some more writing drafts before being animated, at least to me. TL;DR: this movie has lots of beautiful artwork and good music, but no single heart to tie everything together. This film feels like several disparate plotlines shoved together with little coherence and understanding of the overall story arc. If you're looking for spectacle but are willing to turn off your brain, you'll probably still enjoy this film. Otherwise, I recommend watching Hosoda's other movies, _Summer Wars_ or _Wolf Children_, for similar story beats told better, in my opinion.

Nuree

BELLE focuses on the struggle with oneself and society. Tackling on the issue that it's okay to be vulnerable. Not much of it had to with your usual romance. It's an adaption of Beauty and the Beast, set on the modern era where virtual world is part of everyday lives. There's similarities with Disney's Beauty and the Beast in terms of Belle being an idealistic outsider, a shunned and misunderstood beast, and a "villain" blinded by his own self-serving justice. This adaption was made to be relevant to the era's existence of digital world and identities. They decided to tell a story that vulnerability is important even in the environment where self-construction and masked identities are highly encouraged. Masks and guarded self only makes it harder to trust and have authentic connection. It only makes us more misunderstood and even more distant. Meanwhile, vulnerability and love allows us and others to go through our built up walls and beliefs, without being highly judgmental, which the world has enough of. So far, it has a good lesson. It was confusing at first with how it was portrayed, but it made sense after thinking about it. I think it can be portrayed better. Some things were lacking in terms of how some things came to be, but it was still worth to watch. It has similar vibe to Disney and Pixar, and can be considered musical. --- #__ ⚠️Spoiler Alert. Watch Belle before proceeding.__ __PERCEIVED IDENTITY__ Suzu, our female protagonist, was introduced as aloof and bashful girl who grew up with a loving mother. During a vacation, her mother left young Suzu's side in an attempt to save a drowning child. While the child was saved, the mother unfortunately did not make it back. This begets to her beliefs that her own identity is someone who is "less important". >"Why did mom left me, (and put herself in danger) for another child?" -Suzu Growing up, and throughout the story, Suzu always seems to avoid confrontation, whether this be a conversation with her dad, or her childhood friend.  She would struggle to get along with people when it involves singing (example: choir, karaoke) as it would remind her of the accident and her "less worthy self". After all, she always sang with her mother. When her dad would ask if she would like dinner, she would refuse perhaps because she didn't want to her dad to waste food on her. Then when it comes to her childhood friend, she thought ("I'm not the girl you knew in elementary school, you don't have to look after me anymore"). She prolly believes that she was not worth the attention. In comparison to her identity in the virtual world though, she finds it easier to sing as she was under the concept of a blank state identity. Cutting ties to the flaws and perceived weaknesses of her identity in the real world. Unfortunately, when her childhood friend knew she was the great Belle, she finds it hard to accept it. She's back to the idea that she is not worth it (despite being a global phenomenon in the virtual world.) However, this belief was challenged when she started to look after the Beast. __LOVE and EMPATHY__ When there was a media outroar on the identity of Beast. There are two sides that contrast each other. One is the adults, and the other side are the kids and teenagers. The adults were more judgmental and less merciful toward the "criminal", while the younger ones were more sympathetic. The adults make comments that the beast in real life is a murderer, or a corrupt person who evade taxes. As for the younger ones, they see beast as someone to be pitied and shown sympathy on. ("The adults are bullying the Beast!") Real world or virtual, there are pity, curses, assumptions and judgements. It's easier to throw these especially if the surrounding is an echo chamber. As such, showing empathy for the beast, the minority, and the misunderstood is a double-edged sword. Despite that, Belle makes a difference by going through the action of actually reaching out for the beast in attempt to change and understand him. The empathy that Belle tries to extend to the Beast, allowed Belle (Suzu) to see through rumors and break through the walls. It's thanks to Belle (Suzu), that the truth came out that Beast turns out to be a teenager who tries his best to protect his angel (younger brother). Both of these brothers were under an abusive father. While the virtual world sees beast as someone, who brings disorder in the virtual world, to the teenager (beast himself), it was his way of venting or having control.   This doesn't mean that Belle agrees that of beast's disorders and "chaos". Belle just wants to understand and listen. "Who are you?", "What are those bruises?" In the end, she's not burning down and throwing assumptions as other "adults" out there, nor she tries to run away like a "child" when the beast instills fear on her. Rather, she's building bridges with empathy and vulnerability as her strength.  Another case of love is Suzu's dad, her childhood friend, friend, and her choir group. They were extremely patient with her. Despite all her avoidance tendencies, dad still keeps giving fruits, childhood friend still kept on asking how she is doing, choir still try to encourage her to sing. The way Beast used to avoid Belle (Suzu), is also the way Suzu avoids the people around her in real life. Suzu wanted to somehow change Beast, but the people around her knew that __you can't change people__. but you change yourself. Perhaps this is why all the loving people around Suzu could do was wait for her to be ready, and still love her for who she is. Suzu, fogged by her own perceived worthlessness missed these small gestures of love. Only when she tried to wish for the Beast to open up, which the people around her has been waiting long ago from her to do, she started to realize that it's okay to be vulnerable to those who love you. ~~~Dad to Suzu ("You can tell me anything.")~~~ __VULNERABILITY IS CONTAGIOUS__ >"Contagious Vulnerability is authentic human connection." Thinking about it, It was kind of foolish to go out for someone you didn't even know. However as Beast and Belle (Suzu) have same experience of losing their mother. Perhaps Belle found it easier to empathize. In the process, and with the slight push from her childhood friend, she overcame her hardened walls and finally opened up. She became similar to her mom in a sense that they go out they way for someone they didn't know, even if that is sacrificial. Perhaps this experience has also made her understood her mother's actions back then as well.  Someone famed on the internet who once sees Belle (Suzu) as rival or enemy, also now views her as respected friend when they realized that she was no real life celebrity but a young "nobody" girl like themselves. Jealously was turned into admiration. Her childhood friend's overprotection or guardian role, also ended when Suzu grew up into a mature person who no longer tries to run away from things. As a result, her childhood friend appears more like himself, and his walls are down after the some kind of internal promise with himself to protect  "crybaby" Suzu finds it place no more. At first, I didn't know why the abusive father run away in the end. It could be that Suzu's unwavering courage reminds him of her wife. Not sure how she died, but he could have felt guilty. --- # Technical Art and music composition is great. The real world feels grounded, while the virtual world feels "digital". Some designs in the virtual world may not be realistic and practical (It also looks like a motherboard), but this could be their decision in making the visual world have more distinct separation from reality. I'm not a fan of the justices' suit of "superhero". The suit may be that way since the justice team wasn't meant to be an official police force made by the creators of that world. Instead they were made by users coming together. It's possible that those were their character designs to highlight how badly they wanted to be seen as "superheroes" in the eyes of the public. The lack luster of humanoid avatars at the start was a little disappointing, wish there were more humanoid characters but it gets better at the end. Transition-wise, sometimes its confusing as if the characters just teleported to a certain spot, but it's tolerable. --- Overall, it could be better in terms of world building, design choice and story arrangements, as some parts felt forced and incomplete for the sake of pushing a certain message in such a short amount of time, but it's still worth a try for its beautiful lesson, art aesthetic and music compositions. BELLE Soundtrack: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1m9ZvxLFfX9avls54a0y40__

Goldiizz

img(https://i.imgur.com/FCI9dpT.gif) I really wanted to do a review for this anime as soon as I finished it, because I actually have quite a lot to talk about (and I guess that this time, it won’t be a short review either…) This review will be spoiler free until the last part, but as the things I wanted to talk about revolve around the spoiler, I don’t think the review will be really interesting without that (so if you haven’t seen the anime and don’t want to get spoiled, you can still read until the spoiler part, but you’ll miss the main part of the review) img(https://i.imgur.com/32OtNk4.gif)

~STORY~

At first, I thought the story would be extremely cliché and would just simply follow the same development and construction of many other stories like that, especially since it is based on Beauty and the Beast. But I was really glad to see that not only it avoided some way too obvious plot twists and added stuff that I didn’t expect to see (more on this in the spoiler part). While based on Beauty and the Beast, it’s not really a Romance anime (don’t even have the Romance genre) and it’s probably the main reason behind it. So yeah, I was expecting a soppy romance anime, but it was not the case (there are still some romance vibes, but in the end, it doesn’t revolve around that). img(https://i.imgur.com/v5yZOff.gif) Though there is one major part of the story that I didn’t find really good: Suzu’s mother’s death (don’t worry, this isn’t a spoiler as it’s something that happened before the story, is shown in the first 10 min and is in the summary of the anime). First of all, I didn’t understand what was the big deal and hurry about that kid being stuck on the island… Why was this so dangerous that they couldn’t simply wait for a rescue squad or something? And ok, maybe the flow of the river was strong (and I’ll be honest, it didn’t look strong enough to kill an adult with a life jacket)… But that’s all… There wasn’t any storm, the kid wasn’t hurt or anything. I get that hearing them crying was probably really annoying, but that wasn’t enough to be reckless. img(https://i.imgur.com/QQHEpYS.gif) Another part about this that bothered me was the reaction of everybody about her death. I get that abandoning your own child to save one you don’t even know isn’t what logic would want… But she died trying to save someone ffs! Don’t start trash talking her like she was just a stupid, worthless person, especially in front of her child! From time to time, I read some reviews where people are complaining about some characters' reactions being weird and that they don’t make sense, and occasionally, while I at least partially agree, it’s indeed something that would happen in Japan (because Japanese can think really weirdly sometimes). I really hope that this isn’t the case here and their reactions wouldn’t be the norm anywhere. img(https://i.imgur.com/R9G0VK1.gif) Now, two little things (that are connected) that I want to quickly talk about (but won’t elaborate too much because they weren't really in my “consented disbelief” range, but they were not important enough for me to not make a fuss about). The first being the impact the game has on the world. Like every single person knows it. Even a professional sports player has to make a public video to clarify that he’s not involved in some events taking place in it, a group of old ladies from a small countryside village is playing it, etc. No game could be so omnipresent in our world, no matter how good they are (and especially when they are basically some kind of VR Chat). The second one is, you can’t go in a VR world with just earplugs. That’s it. I don’t have to explain more than this because it’s so logical that I don’t even see why they did it. img(https://i.imgur.com/jzxEoIq.gif) A new issue that didn’t hit me at first was the moderation of the game. Why are some random players allowed to moderate the game and reveal private info about people? And if you tell me that those are official mods, the game should really hire better people who don’t let their pride and personal feeling dictate how they moderate the game. But to be honest, I don’t think they really are mods. Mainly because they actually need to play the game and battle the players to do their stuff (real mods would have access to some commands), the other players really seem to consider them as just players and because they have sponsors (they really are sponsors of the players, not the game). But in this case, it’s even weirder that some regular players have access to that kind of power without the dev doing anything. img(https://i.imgur.com/D9MFRdz.gif) And finally, one other element that I kind of felt was coming from nowhere is Suzu’s obsession with Ryuu. He just interrupted one of her concerts and then she absolutely wants to know everything about him… Why? Not because she’s mad or anything, she just wants to meet and get to know him. It really felt like it came out of nowhere… With all of those issues I talked about, you probably think this story is bad, and I’ll be honest with you… At this point I don’t even know anymore. When I started writing this review, I only had the ones about Suzu’s mother in mind. So for me, the story had more pros than cons. But the more I wrote it, the more issues came to my mind… Though I still liked the anime… Making this review really confused me, but I would say that the story is a kind of story that while is full of issues, can still be pleasing depending on how you watch it. img(https://i.imgur.com/3PhrKSm.gif)

~VISUALS~

The first part of the visual I want to talk about is the CGI, which is… Correct? Maybe… I don’t know… At first I didn’t really like it, but I got used to it quickly so I guess it’s ok (still far from being one of the best I ever saw, but there are a lot that are way worse). Aside from the quality, the CGI is actually relevant as it is only used in the virtual world, which is CGI in the lore so it makes sense (it makes even more sense that if there were no CGI at all). img(https://i.imgur.com/TxZ7lBx.gif) Nonetheless, it still has some really good visuals. The backgrounds and sceneries were pretty good, the overall chara-design too, and some scenes had some actually exceptionally good moments. img(https://i.imgur.com/SbiOJM9.gif) The drawn part was pretty good, nothing to complain about. They aren’t especially mind blowing either though. I’ll be honest, both the animation and the chara-design are just what they need to be. I don’t really want to say “average” because it sounds bad, but they are fine, nothing more. img(https://i.imgur.com/pnRUeLL.gif)

~CHARACTERS~

I’ll only talk about the two main ones. At first, I wanted to write about all of the ones that have a decent influence on the story, but as there are some that I either already indirectly said what I wanted to say about them (like Justin when I was talking about the moderation in the game). Some I want to talk about, but in the spoiler part or some for whom I don’t really have any constructive comment on to be honest. In the end, I removed them to keep the review as short as possible. I still had trouble finding spoiler-free stuff that I never mention anywhere to say about them, but to be honest, not having a part where I talk about the characters felt empty. Suzu Naitou img(https://i.imgur.com/1n41uxy.gif) During the story, Suzu will try to heal her trauma caused by her mother's death with the game and her relation with Ryuu. What I like about it is that I personally felt it made sense. The separation between games and reality can help people with stuff (such as a phobia or trauma) as it’s not real and once they took that first step, doing it in real life became easier. But still… As I mentioned earlier, I absolutely don’t understand where her obsession about Ryuu came from, especially how it instantly went to the extent it is. She didn’t even know his existence and just after a few seconds she would legit risk her life to get to know him (and yeah, I said that she will use this relation to heal her, but there was no way she could have known how things would turn out right off the bat) Ryuu img(https://i.imgur.com/20kyqbU.gif) ~~You can also call him xXDarkDragonLordXx~~ The other main character of the story. As the story revolves around his identity, I can’t really speak about it until the spoiler part. I think he’s a good representation of the anime. In himself, he isn’t really a great character, but what the story does around him and with some tweaks, he isn’t actually bad.

~AUDIO~

I’ve got to say, [the songs](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3wetNHBkxccZRSsYv1vw-ToZW75I9KNl) are simply amazing! Aside from that… I don’t have much to say to be honest… I didn’t really notice anything special about the VAs, so I think they weren’t especially good nor especially bad (and from what I read, both sub and dub are about the same quality). So yeah… This part was only made to talk about the music, but they are really good. img(https://i.imgur.com/bQbjybg.gif) Kind of feels weird to have a whole section that basically just says “the OST is good”, but I really don’t have anything else… I don’t know if it’s because I loved the songs so much that it overshadowed every other aspect, or if everything else was just normal.

~SPOILERS~

Honestly, I didn’t think I would be able to write this much about the anime without the spoilers, but now, let’s get right into it. The first thing that would have made me facepalm really hard if it came true (and that I was expecting to) was if Ryuu was actually Shinobu and both him and Suzu would end up developing their feelings through the game. That would have been way too overused and kind of lame. I was really glad that wasn’t the case. It may seem a bit anticlimactic that Kei was so irrelevant before we learn who he was, but I still think it’s better that way (it would have been too cliché if it was one of the main characters). To continue with Ryuu, one thing that seems weird is how he lets off steam in the game. I don’t want to say it doesn’t make sense, because games can help people unwind, but Kei doesn’t look like the type of kid that will randomly assault people in-game because of his family issue. He would be too busy trying to help his brother, I think (especially when he’s just wandering in his castle without any goal). Also, why his bruises IRL are causing tattoos on his in-game cape? And why does he get some in the middle of the game? Was his father beating him while he was playing? If yes, why would he keep playing? img(https://i.imgur.com/Ga3OB0f.gif) The second thing I really liked was that Ruka, the pretty, nice and popular girl is actually nice. In a lot of anime, those characters are just manipulative and egocentric people that are just playing friendly. So I was pleased to see that she was genuinely nice. It’s really a small thing, but it mattered to me. I also really appreciate that she wasn’t in love with Shinobu. A “beautiful and popular couple” would have lacked originality. Instead, she’s in love with Kamishin, the goofy and unpopular one (and the “confession”, if we can really call this like that, was really well made and funny). img(https://i.imgur.com/1ogpZzC.gif) Now, let’s talk about the ending itself. I saw a lot of critics talking about it as that it was bad, mainly because we don’t know what happened afterward to Kei and his brother. But personally, I don’t really feel like we needed more. They were probably just taken by some child support service and still kept contact with Suzu. I know it could have been good to see it, but I didn’t really feel like it was mandatory. There is also the fact that we don’t have anything about Suzu and her feelings for Shinobu. But for that it’s quite simple, it’s not the point of the story (once again, this isn’t a Romance anime). So if we shouldn’t care, why is it in the anime you ask? Well… Hmm… Well, you see… I don’t really know. It has its importance in the story, for example, all the story regarding Ruka, but none of this was really important in the end. So maybe I’d say it was for some world building and maybe to make us think he was Ryuu… Maybe… img(https://i.imgur.com/BdLPEfb.gif)

~CONCLUSION~

One thing I don’t really like when talking about this anime is to get people's expectations too high (though, if you read the review and not simply skipped to the conclusion, that should be good). Because one thing that probably made me really like this anime is that I didn’t expect anything and I thought it would be way too cliché. But if I had watched it expecting an amazing anime that cleverly avoids every cliché, I would have most definitely been disappointed… Especially since as I’m writing this review, I’m starting to notice that there seems to be more downsides than upsides… So in the end, do I recommend this movie? The more I look into it, the more its defaults are apparent, but at the same time, it still had some qualities and it tried to change some overused plot points. So I would say yes. You should watch it for what it did well and what it tried to do, but you should really have low expectations. img(https://i.imgur.com/b2BW1v4.gif)

TheAnimeBingeWatcher

In a sense, Belle feels like the movie that Mamoru Hosoda has been building up to his entire life. Looking back at his work, Hosoda is primarily obsessed with three themes that appear time and time again in his movies. 1: Fairy tales (Wolf Children, Boy and the Beast). 2: Sci-fi, particularly time travel and cyberspace (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars). 3: How those fantastical elements intersect with naturalistic, real-life stories of family and coming of age (Literally all those previous films). Those three themes permeate Hosoda’s filmography, but they’ve never all intersected at once… until now. Here, at last, we have a near-future sci-fi yarn that uses cyberspace to re-imagine a classic Disney fairy tale as the backdrop of a classic teenage coming-of-age story involving complicated family matters. All of the director’s fixations have finally been married in a single package, the definitive example of everything that inspires his creative process. It’s just a shame the end result is such a disaster. Okay, “disaster” is probably too harsh. Belle is far from the worst film ever made, and in the rare moments where everything clicks together, it’s damn near perfect. But my god, this movie is a _mess._ It’s at least three different stories fighting for attention at once, never coming together in the way they’re so clearly trying to, continuously pushing each other out of focus so no one thread is ever developed enough to matter. It jumps back and forth between ideas with minimal justification. It switches its emotional core at least twice without properly resolving what came before. And when it tries to tie everything together for the climax, it runs into yet more problems that transform what should have been a barn-burner ugly cry masterpiece of a finale into a confused and troubled message that doesn’t seem to know what it’s saying and might even end up saying some unintentionally _really_ shitty things. I have liked and loved so much of Hosoda’s work, but this is unquestionably the worst thing he’s ever put out. Our story, as you can probably guess from the name, is a take on Beauty and the Beast. Well, sort of. It actually starts with our protagonist Suzu joining the new cyberspace world U, a place I can only describe as VR Chat on all the steroids ever. It’s basically an entirely new virtual world that’s supplanted or fully integrated all other forms of social media, so the entire digital world uses it as a community hub. And if you’re already thinking this sounds suspiciously like the premise of Summer Wars, well, yeah. Hosoda likes his motifs, what can I say? _Anyway,_ the reason Suzu is drawn to U is because it’s an outlet for her to rediscover her love of singing. Singing was something that she shared with her mother, but after her mother died saving someone else’s kid from a flood, Suzu sunk into a depression that basically crippled her ability to sink without descending into a mess of emotions. The real world has become a listless place for her, a place where her connections to other people- including her father, who god bless him is trying his best to carry on- fray and fade more and more every day. But in the virtual world, hidden safely behind an anonymous, much-prettier-than-her-real-face avatar? Suddenly, she’s able to connect with those emotions again and sing unchained by her trauma. And thanks to a lucky video of her performances going viral, she suddenly finds herself possibly the most famous person in the digital frontier, a mega-diva whose songs inspire millions without anyone knowing who she really is. Everyone flocks to hear her sing, she’s beloved and over-scrutinized by everyone… while in real life she’s still an emotionally stunted teenage girl trying to reconnect with what it means to find happiness in life. It’s at this point in my plot summary that a lot of you are probably asking, “Okay, but where does the whole Beauty and the Beast thing come in? Because that seems like an awful lot of setup for an entirely different movie that doesn’t leave much room for that Disney homage I was promised.” And… yeah. Yeah. This is what I mean about Belle feeling like multiple stories fighting for attention. After speedrunning the mom-death-to-digital-superstar plotline I mentioned above with liberal use of montage, the Beast literally comes crashing through the wall of one of Belle’s concerts, and she decided to take an interest in the bestial avatar pursued by justice-seeking mobs because… well, pretty much because. It literally feels like the story’s been hijacked and yanked down an entirely different path than the one it was setting up. And from then on, the plot just never comes together, it bounces back and forth between Suzu’s teen-melodrama struggles in the real world and full-on Disney homage in the digital world, but there’s almost nothing tying them together until the finale. The two sides of Suzu’s journey feel so disconnected they might as well be separate movies. And sometimes it feels like not even Hosoda understood these two stories were supposed to be part of the same movie. Suzu literally has two romantic subplots running simultaneously, one in the real world with her childhood friend and one in the digital world with the beast, and never once does it acknowledge the fact that she’s pining after two guys at once. It’s like she entirely forgets the other guy exists as soon as she leaves his world behind and goes right back to devoting all her attention to the other dude. This is literally the easiest conflict generator you can come up with in a YA story, and Belle can’t even do that right. And because of this disconnect, both sides of the story are left feeling painfully skin-deep and skeletal. We don’t even get to hear Suzu sing once before her mom dies, so the attempts to wring drama out of her re-finding her voice in U feel like development for a conflict we never even set up. This should be _the_ driving force of the movie’s emotional core, but because the setup is so rushed en route to aping Disney, huge parts of it feel like an afterthought. And the cyberspace side of things is somehow even worse. I don’t ask for exhaustive realism in my speculative sci-fi, especially one that’s literally based on a fairy tale, but I could write a whole separate essay on how U’s world makes no goddamn sense as anything beyond paper-thin allegory. It seems to exist as a perfect libertarian utopia where everyone has true freedom and everyone gets along perfectly, which is so laughably Not How Real Life Works I have to wonder if Hosoda’s actually, like, spent time on the internet at all. The closest it comes to doing something clever with the concept is re-imagining the Gaston figure trying to kill the beast as essentially a moral police doxxer who goes around trying to unmask “dangerous” users’ public identities while spouting the rhetoric of self-righteous justice to justify his hate campaign. But even that is shamefully under-utilized because of how fragmented the narrative is. Actually, that’s a lie, the best part of the whole cyberspace side of things is a brief moment where Belle’s exploding popularity is showcased by people remixing her songs into different musical styles like electro-swing and hard rock. As someone who’s consumed his fair share of Megalovania jazz covers, I had to laugh at how accurate that was to the online experience. But it’s in the Beauty and the Beast re-creation itself where Belle’s biggest ambitions and failures lie. Because of how little reason we’re given for Suzu to care about the Beast, every scene she has with him, recreating or paying homage to the most famous beats from the original Disney movie, feels hollow. It’s not until we reach the final act and finally discover the Beast’s identity in the real world that it becomes clear what this whole enterprise is even about. And good _god,_ it is a can of worms. I won’t spoil anything, but the final act is where Belle finally starts trying to pull all its disparate threads together, connecting Suzu’s emotional trauma to what the Beast is suffering and dropping in some uncomfortably real portrayals of familial abuse and the difficulties our world has responding to it. It’s the moment the fairy tale crashes into reality, where the larger-than-life emotions become a vessel to channel something real and raw and powerful… and it ends up Disney-fying the issue to such an extent it honestly feels kind of insulting. You _cannot_ treat real, grounded abuse the same way you treat a fairy tale about a monstrous being learning to love again. You _cannot_ wave a magic wand over something this potent and pretend that makes everything okay. Hosoda used to be so good at marrying the grounded and fantastical sides of his stories, but ever since Wolf Children he’s just been getting worse and worse at it. You were a pro at this, man, what happened? Look, I don’t hate Belle. If I’m honest, I don’t even dislike it. It’s a wildly ambitious movie trying to do so much at once, and it’s so earnest about it I want to root for it on principle. If nothing else, it’s certainly a gorgeous-looking movie, and the entirely-CG portrayal of the digital world marks another strong step forward for gorgeous and artistic CG anime. Belle’s avatar in particular does a freakishly good job of capturing the precise feel and movement of modern day Disney Princess design; you could slot her into Frozen and she wouldn’t feel out of place. But when the best, most fully realized scene in your movie is a romantic confession between two minor side characters with almost no impact on the main plot (I’m not even kidding, that scene is fucking wonderful), something has clearly gone wrong. But despite trying to say so much at once, it just isn’t well constructed enough to properly say anything at all. And unless Hosoda pulls himself out of this slump very soon, we may sadly have to come to terms with the fact that his days as a certified master are behind him.