The official website for Mamoru Hosoda's Ryuu to Sobakasu no Hime (Belle) anime film revealed on Wednesday that singer-songwriter Kaho Nakamura will play the protagonist, Suzu, and her U avatar, Belle. Kadokawa posted the second trailer on Thursday, revealing the film's theme song. Ryuu to Sobakasu no Hime premieres in Japan on July 16.

Kaho Nakamura began her career in music in 2012 and had a breakout performance at Fuji Rock Festival in 2016. She founded her own label under Space Shower Music in 2018 and subsequently released her second full-length album, "Ainou." The album peaked at 11th and 26th on the weekly Billboard Japan Download Albums and Hot Albums rankings, respectively, and 64th on the Oricon Weekly Albums ranking.

Nakamura will sing the film's theme song, "U," as Belle. The song was composed by Daiki Tsuneta as millenium parade (Koukaku Kidoutai: SAC_2045).

Actor Koji Yakusho (Bakemono no Ko) will voice Suzu's father. Yakusho won the inaugural "Best Performance" Silver Hugo award at the 56th Chicago International Film Festival for his role in the film Subarashiki Sekai (Under the Open Sky) last year. He previously won the "Best Actor" Silver Hugo for his role in Akai Hashi no Shita no Nurui Mizu (Warm Water Under a Red Bridge) in 2001.

Hosoda is writing and directing Ryuu to Sobakasu no Hime at his and Yuuichirou Saitou's studio, Studio Chizu. Hiroyuki Aoyama (Summer Wars) and Takaaki Yamashita (Bakemono no Ko) are serving as animation directors, with Aoyama also designing characters for scenes set in the real world. Taisei Iwasaki (Kekkai Sensen) is the music director and composer, Jin Kim (Frozen, Big Hero 6) designed the protagonist Belle, and Irish studio Cartoon Saloon directors Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart (Wolfwalkers) are collaborating on the film.

Trailer 2


Source: Comic Natalie