Studio Chizu has revealed the latest animated movie by Mamoru Hosoda, titled Belle.

Belle follows a 17-year-old high school student named Suzu living in a rural village with her father. For years, she has only been a shadow of herself. One day, Suzu enters “U,” a virtual world of five billion online members, and she becomes Belle, a world-famous singer. Belle soon meets with a mysterious creature with whom she embarks on a journey of adventures and love in their quest of becoming who they truly are.

Speaking with Variety, Hosoda said:

“Belle is the movie that I have always wanted to create and I am only able to make this film a reality because of the culmination of my past works.

I explore romance, action and suspense on the one hand, and deeper themes such as life and death on the other.

I expect this to be a big entertainment spectacle.”

Hosoda is best known for various past anime movies, including 2012’s Wolf Children (which we included in our list of 10 animes that deal with mature themes) and most recently 2018’s Mirai, which premiered at Cannes’s Directors Fortnight in 2018 before earning an Oscar and Golden Globe nomination, as well as winning the Annie Award for best independent animated feature.

Belle is slated to premiere in Japan in summer 2021 to mark Studio Chizu’s 10th anniversary. However, there’s no release date yet for an official international release.

In the meantime, check out the trailer below: