Where did ours come from? others i live before internet? “There used to be only one reality,” says director Mamoru Hosoda. His new movie, Bel, is about how the internet introduced the possibility of multiple selves, into multiple worlds. Released in the US on Friday, Bel follows Suzu Knight as she struggles with her newfound fame as a pop star in the virtual world of U. Online, notes Hosoda, “people can explore other possibilities. They can have an alter ego and live more freely.” Which, when she’s Bell, is exactly what Suzu does.
In U’s sprawling digital cityscape, Suzu is surprised by her appearance as a Bell, shiny, pink-haired lighthouse. U’s technology automatically generates avatars based on users’ biometric information. In Suzu, who gave up singing after her mother’s death, U sees the ability to be great. An attractive idea is that an enigmatic virtual world created by anonymous sages can rediscover an ordinary girl as an idol. And it only works because Bel deals more with emotional truths than technological ones.
Hosoda, who also directs Peace, children wolves and Summer wars, has taken the internet as the subject of its anime films since 2002 Digiman: The movie. His obsession with the virtual as a place where our other selves appear fits in well with one of the most dominant contemporary genres of anime: isekai. Best embodied in 2012 Art for swords online, isekai describes the characters’ transitions to and rebirths in other worlds, especially virtual ones, where they self-actualize. “When I look at other directors dealing with the subject of the Internet, it tends to be somewhat negative, like anti-utopia,” Hosoda said. “But I always look at the internet as something for the younger generation to explore and create new worlds. To this day, I still have this attitude towards the Internet. So it’s always been optimistic. “
Watching Bel, it is easy to be absorbed in this optimism. It is visually stunning, both with its rural landscapes and with a digital metropolis full of breathtaking pixels. Sometimes Hosada’s film is even a little overwhelming to watch. The debut of Bell’s diva makes her ride a huge flying whale, petals and confetti fill the sky. In her first concert, she appears as the door of a tall crystal chandelier that explodes into a brilliant underwater constellation. At several points in the film, Hosoda magically turns major events into animations with higher stakes that depict their true emotional impact – like a gossip war into a high-difficulty board strategy game. Hosoda walks these fascinating scenes well, highlighting them with comfortable, lo-fi snippets of Suzu’s rural life.
In fact, BelThe most fascinating moments happen in the analog world (including perhaps the best scene of love confessions in the anime, ever). Suzu’s transitions to and from school, across the same bridge and on the same train, are where we learn more about who she is and not in U. That’s when we first hear her tense voice sing, we see the pine her childhood friend. Much of the development of her character in the virtual world feels separate from the development of her IRL. Suzu isolates herself from family, community, potential friends and love interests until all are brought together through Belle, a metaphor for Suzu that everyone already adored – not a diva, but just a country girl who loves to sing.
In contrast, Suzu in U immediately feels full and complete comfort in its new role as an international pop sensation. She sings, dances, exchanges clothes with the balance of Ariana Grande. And she decides that she is uniquely prepared to retrieve the Beast, another player considered ungodly terrifying. Where is this bold new Suzu in the real world?
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Jumping between IRL and U, each with different plots and love interests, Bel is like two or three different movies. Of these, his virtual world is the weakest. Stretching to cover so many topics, places and things, Bel looks only at the surface of the most exciting ideas – especially his message about the potential for empathy and human connection online.
Hosoda tells WIRED that he “doesn’t have a specific virtual world to model U”. In fact, a London architect, not a game designer, helped him design it. U is completely unlimited, with no clear purpose, design principles or topology. In addition, it is completely unmoderated, with self-appointed police officers who have somehow acquired the technology to dock avatars at will. And while we know that users have access to U using headphone technology that touches the “part of the brain that controls vision,” according to Hosada, it’s impossible to know throughout the film when the characters come in and out of U and under what circumstances they go there.