BELLE, the most anticipated movie of 2021.
On April 2, 2021, STUDIO CHIZU posted the first official trailer for the upcoming blockbuster, “BELLE”. In Japanese, the movie title is called 龍とそばかすの姫 (Ryu To Sobakasu No Hime). The 70-second video (Which is actually 65 seconds…show us more!), gives us a first look into the movie, including detailed animation and beautiful background music used in the movie. In this article, we will explain the basic settings of the movie and the people behind this spectacular animation film.
The basic information about the background story of BELLE
Naito Suzu, a female high school student living in the countryside of Kochi Prefecture, lost her mother in an accident when she was a child and has never been able to sing her favorite songs ever since. One day, Suzu, whose sole purpose is to compose music, accidentally joined “U”, a gigantic cyberspace with more than 5 billion people worldwide, and became a character named “Belle”.
There, Belle (played by Suzu), who was born to sing, drew everyone’s attention by performing her own song as a queen, and finally held a concert, but on the day of the concert, a mysterious dragon suddenly appeared and ruined the concert. But on the day of the concert, a mysterious dragon appeared suddenly and ruined the concert. However, Belle approached the dragon and discovered the secret of her huge wound. The dragon gradually opened up to Belle’s soft voice. At the same time, finding the true identity of the dragon began to be a sensation around the world…
This is the basic plot of the story and is what we currently know about it, as of June 2021. If you would like to know more about upcoming information on the story plot please access the official movie page for BELLE here.
Where is the setting of the movie, BELLE
In the Movie Belle, the protagonist Suzu is set to live in Kochi Prefecture. By analyzing the already published trailer visuals, some people were able to find out specifically where the scene is located in real life. The setting is presumably located near Asao Settlement Bridge over Niyodo River in Kamaida, Kochi Town, Takaoka County, Kochi Prefecture. Niyodo River is popular for its crystal blue water and is called “Niyodo Blue” in Japan. For those who don’t know where Kochi is located, please see the image below.
Who sings the theme song of BELLE?
If you already watched the official trailer published by STUDIO CHIZU, you might be wondering who the singer is behind the beautiful theme song in the clip. Well, from what we know, the singer is Kaho Nakamura, (中村佳穂). The Now 29 years old singer has been chosen for her ability to put in powerful emotions to her music. Since one of the main themes of this movie is about the power of music, and how it connects us, this choice is no surprise.
Other than Kaho Nakamura, we know that the main vocal of YOASOBI, Rira Ikuta is also taking a role in the film. She does the voice for the character “Hiro”, the only character who knows who BELLE really is. Another cast we know is model and actress, Tina Tamashiro, who will be playing the voice for “Ruka”. For more detail about the cast please go and check the video below.
Mamoru Hosoda, Jin Kim and Eric Wong
The director of the movie “BELLE” a.k.a Ryu To Sobakasu No Hime (龍とそばかすの姫) is Mamoru Hosoda. Mamoru’s notable films include “Summer Wars” (2009), “The Girl Who Lept Through Time” (2006), and “Wolf Children” (2012). He is considered as “Post – Miyazaki” (The generation of animation film creators after Hayao Miyazaki) along with Makoto Shinkai. Just by looking at the trailer of BELLE, you can see remnants of “Summer Wars” in the summer vibe with the vast blue sky and a focus on rural Japan.
Along with Mamoru Hosoda, BELLE also brings in Jin Kim and Eric Wong. Jin Kim worked at Walt Disney Animation Studio from 1995 to 2016, and was responsible for the visuals of the characters in movies such as “Frozen” and “Big Hero 6”. BELLE does have some similarities with Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”, with the main character of the Disney movie being Belle, and the setting is about a relationship of a girl and a beast. You can see that the character Belle (played by Suzu) slightly resembles the visual of either Elsa or Anna from Frozen, and that might be explained by the fact of having the same designer.
Eric Wong on the other hand was brought in for the design of “U” the gigantic cyberspace in this film. When Mamoru was searching the internet for the visual idea of what “U” will look like, he found a piece of work that Eric created. Eric teaches architecture in college and is an architect himself. Eric sent Mamoru some visual ideas, and Mamoru liked what he received which led them to work together for the film.
Belle: The release date is July 16th
The release date for this movie at the cinemas is set to July 16th (Friday) in Japan. For countries outside of Japan, it is unclear if there are any plans to air at cinemas overseas at the moment. However, like many other animation films, depending on the box office revenue of this movie in Japan, it may air overseas at cinemas or on online streaming services.
