The reserved, lonely Suzu lives in an idyllic countryside, where the bus line, following this summer, will soon be discontinued. Apart from school, where few take notice of her, U is her outlet to the outside world. The brainy, cynical Hiro (voiced by Ikura) is her best friend, her only friend. When she was a child, Suzu’s mother died while trying to save a stranded girl from a raging river. As a result, the now 17-year-old struggles to sing in public and is distant from her father. Only on U, where she becomes the radiant Belle, the platform’s most popular star, can she find the strength to sing.
We soon discover how Suzu is playing a role. See, every avatar on this body-sharing app is created from each user’s unique biometric information. When Suzu created her profile she uploaded a group picture that included Ruka (voiced by Tina Tamashiro), the most popular and attractive girl at her school, making Belle in her image.
Hosoda, in the early going of “Belle,” includes “Beauty and the Beast” references in simple ways. Suzu’s online popularity rises until a bruised, caped creature named The Dragon, followed by a cadre of authorities known as the Justices, barrels through her U concert. The justices, a band of muscular bullies dressed like superheroes, want to unveil The Dragon’s true identity because of the way he fights, seemingly punching opponents in the U’s Martial Arts Hall out of rage rather than sport. Sensing an inner-hurt that’s fueling him, Suzu becomes enamored with Dragon, and puts herself in direct opposition to the Justices.
“Belle” wraps the classic myth in familiar tropes concerning teenagers navigating high school crushes: Suzu’s childhood friend, the handsome and popular Shinobu (voiced by Ryô Narita), for instance, is one such flame whose warmth always seems just out of reach (it doesn’t help that he nauseatingly sees himself as her protector when she doesn’t need one). Any commentary the film tries to give about online culture never rises above the common: The internet exists for some as a therapeutic repository for healing pain and loss, and a toxic landscape for gripes and bullies.
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