On the official website of the upcoming animated film directed by Mamoru Hosoda Toki Wo Kakeru Shoujo, Summer Wars, Bakemono no Ko, Mirai no Mirai and produced by Studio Chizu, Ryuu for Sobakasu no Hime, a new promotional video for the project was published. The video shows a fragment of the main theme song entitled “ U ” and performed by Kaho Nakamura. The feature is scheduled to premiere in Japanese cinemas on July 16th.
Our protagonist, Suzu, is a 17-year-old high school student who lives inside Kochi Prefecture with her father after losing her mother at a young age. She loved singing with her mother more than anything else, but as a result of her death, she can no longer sing. It didn’t take long for her and her father to grow further and further apart, and Suzu closed her heart to the rest of the world.
When Suzu felt that writing music was her sole purpose in life, she discovered the huge online space known as “U”, where she took on her persona, Belle. Another me, another reality, we are no longer limited to one world. Suzu quickly realizes that when she’s inside “U” as her avatar, Belle, she can sing quite naturally. As she continues to showcase her own music in the virtual world, she quickly becomes the rising star of “U”. However, this surprise is short-lived. Suddenly, a mysterious dragon-shaped creature appears before her.
Hosoda serves as the feature film’s director, screenwriter, and script supervisor while crediting the original work. This project intends to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the founding of Studio Chizu.
Studio Chizu’s announcement noted that the film will portray “ an ever-evolving online world ” set in a world called “ U” with five billion registered users. Studio Chizu mentions Mamoru Hosoda’s previous films where virtual concepts played a key role, such as Digimon Adventure: Bokura no War Game and Summer Wars, as similar titles that explore modern society but based on the director’s “recent ideas”, and specifically mentions issues of “ coming of age, family ties, love between parents and children, the friendship that transcends species and the ties between our lives”.
