Among the most famous animation directors in the world a leading role is played by the famous Mamoru Hosoda. Recently the maestro is back behind the camera with a new project entitled BELLE. The debut of the film is expected during the course of this year and a first promotional trailer is already available.
The famous filmmaker behind the heartwarming Wolf Children has been working in silence for the past few years on his new film due out in Japan in the summer. The project appears very ambitious since Jin Kim, known for working on the titles of Walt Disney Studio like Frozen and Big Hero 6, he collaborated on the character design of the film. Furthermore, the world of U was invented by an emerging London-based architect and designer, Eric Wong. More, Cartoon Saloon, the Irish animation studio behind Wolfwalkers, helped make the film.
An all-international team for an extremely ambitious feature film. The staff describes the storyline of BELLE as follows: “The protagonist, Suzu, is a 17-year-old who lives in the countryside of Kochi Prefecture with her father, after losing her memory following the death of her mother at a young age. She loves singing with her mother more than anything in the world, but after her mother dies she loses the ability to do so. It wasn’t long before she and her father began to drift away little by little and more and more, until Suzu closed her heart to the rest of the world. The moment Suzu realizes that writing music was her only life purpose, she suddenly discovers a virtual reality known as “U” in which she decides to take the name of Belle. Suzu realizes that the moment she is inside U, as Belle, she is able to sing again. And as she indulges in her music in the virtual world, she quickly becomes a U star. But this surprise won’t last long as, a short time later, a mysterious dragon-shaped creature appears in front of her. “
And you, on the other hand, what do you think of BELLE? Let us know with a comment below. Before saying goodbye, we refer you to our review of Mirai, Mamoru Hosoda’s previous work.