Belle

There’s a lot crammed into Belle, the dazzling new anime from Mamoru Hosoda. It imagines a not too distant future where people live two lives: one in their humdrum reality, and one in a surreal cyberworld called U, where they hide behind anonymous avatars that are projections of their inner selves. The richer and deeper hidden your personality is, the more different you appear from your digital projection. That’s certainly the case with Suzu. IRL she’s a cripplingly shy teen with freckles and a tragic backstory, which is revealed in heartbreaking flashbacks. In U, she’s the beautiful pop diva Bell, who’s dubbed the more appropriate Belle by users and quickly becomes the most famous singer on the planet.

This social media wish-fulfilment fantasy with a dash of celebrity satire is made even more complex with the introduction of Dragon (aka the Beast), a tortured soul who manifests in this digital plane as a ferocious, bruise-covered monster. Belle has been described as a Beauty and the Beast remake, but it’s more of a mystery movie as Suzu and her pals try to uncover Dragon’s true identity. Romance is confined to the real-life world, which plays out as a tender coming-of-age story.

It’s all a bit epic and discombobulating, and a distinct step backwards in sophistication from Hosoda’s more intimate fantasies Minari and Wolf Children. But the animation is just jaw-dropping enough to keep you hooked in spite of the unwieldy story and the overly complex teen melodrama on screen.