Master of Japanese animation Mamoru Hosoda spoke years ago about his fascination with the old French fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, and in his seventh feature film, he brought it to the screen — but in an original and thoroughly contemporary way.

He opens up two worlds before us, completely different yet fundamentally connected. The first is a Japanese village, where shy and awkward Suzu lives with the unending grief of her mother's death, which robbed her of her ability to sing and estranged her from her father.

The second is the virtual world "U," which anyone can enter, start over in, and perhaps even change the world through. And it's here that Suzu transforms into Belle, rediscovering her voice, and through her songs full of the most heartfelt emotion, becomes a star of "U." But besides admirers, she also encounters the Beast here — a scarred monster, a brutal, untamed martial arts fighter — and a loner. Together, they set out on a journey of adventure, danger, and love, a journey that will reveal their true selves.

Director and screenplay: Mamoru Hosoda
Lead animator: Hiroyuki Aoyama
Music: Taisei Iwasaki, Ludvig Forssell, Yuta Bando
Starring: Kaho Nakamura, Takeru Satoh, Kōji Yakusho, Lilas Ikuta, Ryō Narita, Shōta Sometani, Tina Tamashiro, Toshiyuki Morikawa, Fuyumi Sakamoto, Kenjiro Tsuda, Mami Koyama, Mamoru Miyano, Michiko Shimizu, Ryoko Moriyama, Sachiyo Nakao, Yoshimi Iwasaki
Production: Yuichiro Saito, Genki Kawamura, Nozomu Takahashi, Toshimi Tanio
Art director: Nobutaka Ike
Country of origin: Japan
Year of production: 2021
Runtime: 122 min.