One of the legendary directors in animation, Mamoru Hosoda received a 14-minute standing ovation at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival for his film Belle. Produced by Studio Chizu, the full title of the film is Belle: The Dragon and Freckled Princess. The film premiered at Cannes, where it received a phenomenal response. It was released in Japan on July 16th 2021.
Belle opened at #1 at the Japanese Box Office, dethroning The Live-action film Tokyo Revengers. The anime series for the title aired with 14 episodes. With very positive reviews and announcements of further projects, Tokyo Revengers Season 2 is suspected to be in the works already. The series has a rating of 8.25/10 on My Anime List and 8.6/10 on IMDb.
The Tokyo Revengers Live-Action film had opened at the top of the Japanese Box office. With over 500,000 tickets sold, the film made over $6 million in its first 3 days! Tsutomu Hanabusa was the director of the film.
The original schedule for the film suggests that the actual release slate for the film was October 2020, but like most productions in the past two years, the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic brought in unfortunate delays for the Tokyo Revengers Live-Action Film.
Belle 2021 Trailer
Belle Voice Cast
The voice cast for this stunning film is another great ensemble of talented individuals. Here are the voices behind the characters in Belle!
- Kaho Nakamura as Suzu/ Belle
- Takeru Satoh as The Dragon
- Kōji Yakusho as Suzu’s Father
- Lilas Ikuta as Hiroka Betsuyaku
- Ryō Narita as Shinobu Hisatake
- Shōta Sometani as Shinjiro Chikami
- Tina Tamashiro as Ruka Watanabe
- Toshiyuki Morikawa as Justian
- Fuyumi Sakamoto as Okumoto
- Kenjiro Tsuda as Jelinek
- Mami Koyama as Swan
- Mamoru Miyano as Muitarō Hitokawa / Tokoraemaru
- Michiko Shimizu as Kita
- Ryoko Moriyama as Yoshitani
- Sachiyo Nakao as Hatanaka
- Yoshimi Iwasaki as Nakai
- Sumi Shimamoto as Suzu’s Mother
With its immense success, Belle now seems to be at the top of recent Japanese releases. It sold more than 600,000 tickets grossing over $8 million! Hosoda has numerous critically acclaimed films to his name including The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, The Boy and the Beast, Summer Wars and Mirai.
Belle is a sci-fi fantasy film with visuals and a story to behold. This film is a must-watch for lovers of anime movies. Stay tuned for more about your favourite titles and do let us know more about all that you are watching!
