Distributor GKIDS announced it will bring Mirai director Mamoru Hosoda's next film, Belle, to North America next winter.
Known in Japan as Ryu to Sobakasu no Hime (literally translated "The Dragon and the Princess of Freckles,") Belle is the eighth film to be directed by Mamoru Hosoda, best known for his work on critically acclaimed films such as Summer Wars, The Boy and The Beast and the Oscar nominated Mirai. Belle will premier in Japan on July 16, and GKIDS announced via a new trailer that it will distribute the anime in North America next winter with an English dub and a subtitled release with the original Japanese audio.
Mamoru Hosoda began his career at Toei Animation, where he worked as a key animator on shows such as Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon. He rose to prominence as the director of the Digimon Adventure movie, after which he did a brief stint at Studio Ghibli as the originally scheduled director for Howl's Movie Castle. However, Hosoda left the project due to creative differences and has since found success directing his own films.
Much of Hosoda's work, most notably Summer Wars and Digimon, have featured themes exploring the relationship between the real world and the internet. Hosoda continues this theme with Belle, which tells the story of 17-year-old Suzu, a high school student in rural Japan who dreams of becoming a singer but finds herself unable to perform in front of others following her mother's death. Retreating from reality, Suzu joins the virtual reality-based social network "U," where she adopts the persona of the proud and confident diva Belle and ends up becoming a celebrity among U's five billion users. Belle meets a mysterious dragon within this virtual world, and the two embark on a journey that teaches Suzu to embrace who she really is.
Suzu and Belle are both voiced by singer/songwriter Kaho Nakamura, who will also perform on the film's soundtrack. She is joined in the cast by Your Name's Ryo Narita, Wolf Children's Soma Sometani, Japanese drama actress and model Tina Tamashiro and fellow singer Rira Ikuta, who will make her acting debut in this film.
Hosoda's previous film, Mirai, which told the story of a young boy who uses time travel to see his family in a new perspective, was the first non-Studio Ghibli anime to be nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards. The movie was also nominated in the same category at the Golden Globes and the Critics' Choice Awards.
Mirai is currently available for streaming on Netflix.
Source: YouTube
