Director Mamoru Hosoda on the 10th Anniversary of Studio Chizu and BELLE │ The Present and Future of Anime Studios (Special Edition)

The Link Found through All of the Movies

ーーSince you brought up The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars, I have to ask you what influence your past works had on BELLE?

Films have a continuity to them. If you consider what makes a movie interesting and what you can do to make a kind of movie that you never have before, then the themes link with one another.

BELLE certainly links back to my films, back from The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

It’s linked to Summer Wars through the theme of the internet.

I changed the shape of what was expressed. For example, I’m usually always thinking about how I can express the family problems or the process of growth for children or young people.

Wolf Children is also quite similar to BELLE.A wolfman and a woman fall in love, which is like Beauty and the Beast. It’s what happens after “happily ever after” (laughs).

The English title of Bakemono no Ko is The Boy and the Beast, which is the same kind of title as Beauty and the Beast (laughs).

Therefore, there is a link between all of my films in a way. From the start, I intended to make a modern-day version of Beauty and the Beast, so it's a love story, and I've done that in the past, too (laughs). Indeed, Beauty and the Beast was a huge influence.

ーーWell, Beauty and the Beast is your roots as a director.

Yeah. Of course, there are many other works that I consider to be my roots, including The Spirit of the Beehive, The Seven Samurai, and Ashita no Joe 2.

Many different motifs have been embedded in me, so I have to consider what kind of movie I would make.

Even so, my movies are made in my style. BELLE also has the plot point of two boys around one girl, just like The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

There are also scenes where characters walk along the riverbank. BELLE takes place in Kochi Prefecture, and there is a big river where the characters go to and from school called Kagami River. Towns with rivers are the perfect spots for movies. They’re very picturesque.

You can’t really find such scenery in Tokyo. For The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, we went all the way to Tokyo’s Arakawa Ward to get such a shot. A lot of the rivers in Tokyo run through a deep ditch.

I like Sai River in Kanazawa and Kamo River in Kyoto. It’s nice to walk along the river with someone in your youth.

That’s also the reason I chose Kagami River in Kochi. The town was an excellent backdrop to tell a story about youth.

I Have the Most Fun When I Make Movies

ーーStudio Chizu, your animation studio, has been around for ten years now. Do you have any reflections on what you’ve done so far?

What’s good about Studio Chizu is that it is autonomous. In general, we’re not a studio that takes orders from outside companies.

Our style is planning movies even though no one asked us to. We have everyone present their case and work together to become one and make the film.

At the start, we wonder what we should make, but we pay respect to movies for what they are. If we didn’t have this style, Wolf Children and Mirai never would have been made.

Our anime movies are released during the summer holidays, yet Wolf Children depicts a widower and her children, which you wouldn’t think we could do (laughs).

ーーThat’s true (laughs)!

Isn’t it? (laughs) That usually wouldn’t be allowed. We could make that movie because a lot of people went to see Summer Wars. Hearing about the plot, you’d think that it wouldn’t go through (laughs). However, we’re a studio that makes these kinds of movies.

I believe that there are still a lot of movies that haven’t been made into animated movies.

Tales of planetary destruction and catastrophe make anime such a joy to watch, but some stories that aren't like that haven't been told yet.

Many people wondered what the purpose of animating The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was. It only screened in one theater, so it was often said that it didn’t make any money and that it would be my final film.

But if there was no The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, then there would be no Summer Wars, so I think of it as a challenge. There might be a failure, and then we can't do the next project, but that is the nature of film. Even when the film is made, a State of Emergency may be declared.

ーーThese past two years have been rough for movies.

Movies generally take on risk. Even so, there are interesting things that occur, so we can face the challenge of making something new. That is what Studio Chizu is all about.

ーーAs both a fan and on a personal level, I want you to remain an active director for the rest of your life. What do you want to do, though?

I don’t know if I’ll be making films for the rest of my life. It’s fun - making movies is the most fun. It’s kind of boring when it’s completed.

I've experienced the fun parts and the excruciating parts of making movies, but I haven't yet discovered what movies are quite yet. I think it's great to study and make a good movie.

It's essential to have the opportunity to experiment. It’s useless to just chase after some quick money. It's boring just to make money.

If I’m able to express many different things in my work, then those who make movies after me, as well as those who watch them, will be able to experience a variety of emotions when watching them.

ーーI think the fans will like that.

Thank you for saying that. It gives me courage. I'm always thinking about what kind of challenges I want to take on, but there are times when I think, "who actually wants this?”

This time I had the strong desire to make something related to Beauty and the Beast, but I don’t know if others want that.

Even with that in the back of my mind, as I was making the film, I couldn’t help but think that if the film was made well, then there was meaning in doing it.

[Interview by Haruka Ishibashi]

アニメ映画『竜とそばかすの姫』作品情報

2021年7月16日（金）全国東宝系にて公開

ストーリー

自然豊かな高知の村に住む17歳の女子高校生・すずは、幼い頃に母を事故で亡くし、父と二人暮らし。母と一緒に歌うことが何よりも大好きだったすずは、その死をきっかけに歌うことができなくなっていた。曲を作ることだけが生きる糧となっていたある日、親友に誘われ、全世界で50億人以上が集うインターネット上の仮想世界＜U（ユー）＞に参加することに。

＜U＞では、「As（アズ）」と呼ばれる自分の分身を作り、まったく別の人生を生きることができる。歌えないはずのすずだったが、「ベル」と名付けたAsとしては自然と歌うことができた。ベルの歌は瞬く間に話題となり、歌姫として世界中の人気者になっていく。

数億のAsが集うベルの大規模コンサートの日。突如、轟音とともにベルの前に現れたのは、「竜」と呼ばれる謎の存在だった。乱暴で傲慢な竜によりコンサートは無茶苦茶に。そんな竜が抱える大きな傷の秘密を知りたいと近づくベル。一方、竜もまた、ベルの優しい歌声に少しずつ心を開いていく。

やがて世界中で巻き起こる、竜の正体探し（アンベイル）。＜U＞の秩序を乱すものとして、正義を名乗るAｓたちは竜を執拗に追いかけ始める。＜U＞と現実世界の双方で誹謗中傷があふれ、竜を二つの世界から排除しようという動きが加速する中、ベルは竜を探し出しその心を救いたいと願うが――。

現実世界の片隅に生きるすずの声は、たった一人の「誰か」に届くのか。二つの世界がひとつになる時、奇跡が生まれる。

もうひとつの現実。もうひとりの自分。もう、ひとりじゃない。

スタッフ

■監督・脚本・原作：細田守
1967年、富山県出身。1991年に東映動画（現・東映アニメーション）へ入社し、アニメーターを経て演出（監督）になる。1999年に『劇場版デジモンアドベンチャー』で映画監督としてデビューを果たす。

その後、フリーとなり、『時をかける少女』(06)、『サマーウォーズ』(09)を監督し、国内外で注目を集める。11年、プロデューサーの齋藤優一郎と共に、自身のアニメーション映画制作会社「スタジオ地図」を設立し、『おおかみこどもの雨と雪』(12)、『バケモノの子』(15)でともに監督・脚本・原作を手がけた。

最新作『未来のミライ』（監督・脚本・原作）は第71回カンヌ国際映画祭・監督週間に選出され、第91回米国アカデミー賞の長編アニメーション映画賞や第76回ゴールデングローブ賞のアニメーション映画賞にノミネートされ、第46回アニー賞では最優秀インディペンデント・アニメーション映画賞を受賞した。

■企画・制作：スタジオ地図
■製作幹事：スタジオ地図有限責任事業組合（LLP）・日本テレビ放送網 共同幹事

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