#Mamoru Hosoda’s BELLE Movie Gets 30-Second Trailer

BELLE, the upcoming anime movie from Wolf Children and the Oscar-nominated Mirai‘s Mamoru Hosada, has received a new 30-second teaser trailer. 

Titled Ryuu to Sobakasu no Hime (The Dragon and the Freckled Princess) in Japanese, the movie was first announced in December 2020 and is scheduled to release in summer 2021 in Japan. Hosoda, who also directed The Boy and the Beast, Summer Wars, and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, is credited as the screenwriter and original creator in addition to being the director. Studio Chizu is in charge of animation production.

The Studio Chizu website describes the story as:

Our protagonist, Suzu, is a 17-year old high school girl, who lives in the countryside of Kochi Prefecture with her father, after losing her mother at a young age.

She loves singing with her mother more than anything else, but as a result of her mother’s death was no longer able to sing.

It wasn’t long before she and her father grew more and more distant from each other, and Suzu closed her heart to the rest of the world.

When Suzu felt that writing music was her only purpose left in life, she then discovers the massive online space known as “U,” where she takes on her persona, Belle.

Another me.
Another reality.
We are no longer limited to a single world.

Suzu quickly realizes that when she is inside “U” as her avatar, Belle, she can sing quite naturally. As she continues to showcase her own music in the virtual world, she fast becomes the rising star of “U.”

Nonetheless, that surprise is short-lived. Suddenly, a mysterious dragon-shaped creature appears before her…