Ryu to sobakasu no hime: Stunning anime from the creator behind “Summer Wars” and “The Girl Who Jumped Through Time “
Film plot and background
Breathtaking anime from the creator behind “Summer Wars” and “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time”
17-year-old schoolgirl Suzu Naito is scarred by a traumatic childhood event in which her mother died in a selfless act. Since then, the schoolgirl has increasingly withdrawn into her own world, stopped singing from then on and didn’t even let her father get close to her. When her best friend convinces her to sign up for the virtual world “U”, as five million others have done before, her world changes.
In “U” she builds the avatar Belle, outwardly beautiful and covered in freckles. Under the protection of anonymity, she can develop freely and finally begins to sing again. Her spontaneous performances in the virtual world soon make her a star. Everyone wants to know who is hiding behind this voice.
But when an eerily powerful being interrupts one of her virtual concerts and captures her, she is less concerned about saving herself than she is about looking behind the real being, whom everyone only calls “Dragon”. Just like her, she suspects that the person behind this avatar is keeping a secret.
The beautiful trailer shows the world of “Belle”:
“Belle” – background, cinema release
After premiering at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, where the film screened out of competition, “Belle” went on to become the third highest-grossing Japanese film of 2021 after its theatrical release in Japan.
The director and creator behind the impressive story is Mamoru Hosoda, who is already the talk of the town with films such as “The Girl Who Jumped Through Time”, “Summer Wars” and, at the latest, the Oscar nomination for “Mirai – The Girl from the Future”.
The original Japanese title “Ryu to Sobakasu no Hime” translates roughly as “The Dragon and the Princess with Freckles”.
