Mamoru Hosoda’s Anime Belle Getting UK Release Watch Trailer

Anime Limited have announced they have picked up the UK rights to Mamoru Hosoda‘s animated feature from Studio Chizu, Belle. Today they tease us with the film’s UK Trailer, visually looks another treat for fans of the filmmaker.

Hosoda filmography seems to be an endless list of ‘classics’ with Mirai, The Boy and the Beast, Wolf Children, Summer Wars, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time some of his most notable. His latest certainly resonates very much with society and us slowly coming out of the worldwide pandemic. Highlighting the after affect of depression and low morale and paranoid cautious to go daily routines of pre-pandemic.

Belle tells the story of a student who is a shell of her previous self enters the virtual world known as ‘U’. In this world she becomes a world famous singer who meets a mysterious creature that challenges her to become who she truly is.

Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart (Wolfwalkers, Song of the Sea, and The Secret of Kells) contributed gorgeous artwork. British architect and designer Eric Wong works with Hosoda on the virtual world with Ludvig Forssell makes his theatrical debut as a composer with the film.

From the celebrated Oscar®-nominated director Mamoru Hosoda and Studio Chizu, creator of Mirai, Wolf Children, Summer Wars, and more, comes a fantastical, yet beautiful and contemporary thematic story of one girl’s growth in the age of social media.

Suzu is a 17-year-old high school student living in a rural village with her father. For years, she has only been a shadow of herself. One day, she enters “U,” a virtual world of 5 billion on the Internet. There, she is not Suzu anymore but Belle, a world-famous singer. She soon meets with a mysterious creature. Together, they embark on a journey of adventures, challenges and love, in their quest to become who they truly are.

The film includes the voice cast of Kaho Nakamura, Kenjirô Tsuda, Mamoru Miyano, Kôji Yakusho, Toshiyuki Morikawa, and Ryô Narita.

Anime Limited haven’t announced a UK or Irish cinema release just yet for Belle. Which is set for a release in Japan on 16th July.