When Hiroka is explaining to Suzu the reason Belle is so successful, she mentions how U’s body-sharing technology draws out the user’s hidden strengths. That does explain why Suzu can sing normally in U when she wouldn’t be able to sing in real life due to her trauma. That, however, doesn’t explain why Suzu’s avatar Belle looks like Ruka, the most pretty and popular girl at Suzu’s school. When we think about how Suzu created her profile for U, however, it starts to make sense. This is because what picture did Suzu uses when she was selecting her facial profile…that is right, the picture of school girls including Ruka right next to Suzu. And since U has to create an aesthetically beautiful avatar to draw a new user in, it naturally used Ruka’s beauty as the basis. It should, however, be noted that U’s philosophy is about how “you can live as another you” and not “you can become someone else”. That is why it needs to take something from Suzu’s appearance, but what? She is not really beautiful or noticeable except…her freckles. That is why with Ruka’s beauty and Suzu’s freckles, Belle is created.
There's two shower thoughts involving Angel.
First, why did Dragon throw the virtual fight with Angel? Because not only are they brothers, but Dragon (Kei) would never think about beating up Tomo when he tries so hard to protect him from their father.
Second, the reveal that Angel is but a child fan does offer how him being Bell's first follower gained her new followers. It's possible he rallied the other children members of U to follow Belle, setting off a domino effect where other people listened too.
This may be slightly jossed, as an eagle-eye will notice that Belle's second follower happens to be Hiroka's avatar. If anything, this hints that she might've taken Belle's publicity into her own hands.
The scene where every girl at Suzu's school practically goes to war over the rumor she asked out Shinobu may seem like it doesn't belong in the story besides from giving the movie a funny moment. But it may be foreshadowing that whatever conflict the story has in store, it's nothing Suzu can't smooth over (at least with her Unveiling herself and her song).
Building on this, remember how U is supposed to enhance the user's potential to the fullest? This could foreshadow that Suzu has major diplomacy skills. With nothing but a song, she was able to make all of U forget their hatred of the Dragon.
Fridge-Heartwarming: why did "Gales of Song" appeal to Angel particularly? Because in real life, Tomo and Kei also lost their mother. It's possible this song spoke to the two brothers, both its beauty and its sadness.
Unwittingly, "Lend me your Voice" was (unbeknownst to Suzu) one big "Not So Different" Remark to Dragon, as she summed up what it's like to push other people away out of grief for somebody close who died.
The Beast-archetype having an abusive father does indeed act as a nice stand-in for the part in the story where the Beast starts dying from Beauty's absence. Just like the deadline in the classic story, between Justin hunting for the Dragon and the father's violent attitude, Suzu indeed has a deadline to reunite with her beast before it's too late.
The singing group tells Suzu she should use her voice to be happy, and when she asks them what that means, they struggle to come up with an answer. The reveal that they were all friends of her late mother indicates that their intentions were to nurture her gift despite her grief and trauma, and that singing again will be one of the few things that will help her move on. They likely don't say as much to avoid triggering their late friend's daughter, or to avoid Suzu giving a Freudian Excuse Denial and possibly leaving the group.
Kei and Tomo’s father may be a proverbial "beast", but if you consider the very likely idea that he is suffering from his wife’s passing, can you really blame him if he wants to take it out on someone…like his only sons?
Yes? (Child) abuse is still abuse, even when the abuser has also been traumatized in some way. It honestly makes him less sympathetic, as treating his wife's children, whom she gave birth to and are thus all that remains of her in the world, like that highlights his utter hypocrisy.
I'd like to add that Kei's father never expresses grief for his deceased wife. He mentions it during some sort of interview when he's obviously trying to put on a good face, but that's it. We don't see him at her grave, for instance. Nor does he break down sobbing in private, saying that he doesn't know how to be a good father and he wishes their mom was still alive because she was a better parent. He does nothing of the sort. Ever. He yells at Tomo for singing quietly to himself, and he goes on about "rules" and how he's the rule-maker in this house and if the kids don't like that they should just leave. There's no direct evidence that his wife's death has affected him at all.
Adding onto that, one possible reason why the father doesn't seem to be affected by his wife's death: remember that we never find out what or who killed Kei and Tomo's mother in the first place...
Kei's father apparently acts like a Foil to his elder son. The father may seem congenial in public, yet he instinctively vents his rage onto his two sons for minor transgressions. Meanwhile, you have the Dragon who may seem frightening and bestial, but he makes an effort to not hurt those closest to him, and even protectsthem. To paraphrase a certain inventor's daughter, the Dragon is no monster, his own father is.
This may be unintentional, but Peggy Sue (the blue-haired U celebrity) seems to act as a stand-in for Beauty's sisters: haughty, vain, jealous of Belle for her success. But just as "Beauty and the Beast" is ever a surprise, she also acts as a foil to them: when she sees Belle at her lowest, she connects with her instead of gloating over her Unveiling, and it prompts her to be the bigger person and lift Belle up. She's meant to be a version of the sisters with a redemption arc.
Why is it that Kei doubts Suzu is Belle (even when she Unveils herself) until she hugs him during the climax? Because it unwittingly adheres to a theme: you can only connect with someone on-line so much, but it can never replace human contact.
The hug itself is also irrefutable proof that she is who she claims to be. The unveiling online could have been faked in a number of ways, but the way she hugs him is very emotionally intimate and personal: It’s not something that can easily be faked.
Hiroka liking her significantly older teacher may seem put into the movie for laughs, but it actually fits in with the movie's Central Theme about how love is strange. Suzu's singing class acquaintance tells an anecdote about how she studied abroad in high school and formed a beautiful friendship with a younger student. Suzu herself learns that Dragon (whose grown fond of her) is actually a boy three years younger than her.
The Dragon having bruises primarily on his back was a big clue from the start he came from an abusive home life. When fighting, one's opponents often fight from the front. What kind of fighter has attackers from the back? A fighter trying to protect someone.
When one thinks about the "Ideal Housewife" with the baby avatar on U, it dawns on one that U also makes one's avatar based on their mental age. It's rather appropriate that Suzu and Kai's avatars (Belle and the Dragon) make them look older than they really are, as both prematurely aged from their respective hardships.
Everyone Suzu and Hiroka suspect of being the Dragon unwittingly fit the classic theme of "Beauty and the Beast": things aren't always what they seem.
Jellinek puts on a façade of a suffering artist and grieving boyfriend who could be the Dragon trying to work through their grief. But instead, it turns out his girlfriend is very much alive and he spun lies about her passing to get more attention.
The "Ideal Housewife" comes off as an elegant wife and mother with a loving family. But not only does Hiroka deduce she's actually alone and single, it turns out she has a baby avatar on U, reflecting her lack thereof emotional maturity that clashes with her polite front.
The baseball player is two-fold, appearing as both the perfect athlete and a man with a shady past. He later shows to the public he is neither shady nor perfect, as he's really hiding surgery scars that reveal he used to be The Littlest Cancer Patient.
Heck, even the true identity of Dragon (Kei) fits in with the theme. Their father tries to keep up an image to the public that he and his children are rather happy despite the loss of his wife and their mother. But just behind closed doors, there hides a violent home life, the one that lead to Kei becoming the Dragon.
There's something symbolic about the ending portion of "Swarms of Song". It sounds pretty much the same, outside of the techno/pop music mood. But notably, it leaves out the last few lyrics of "Gales of Song" ("Gales of Song, please stay by my side, Winds of Love, breathe into my life"). Fittingly, it reflects that in glorifying Belle, Suzu's new-found image has glossed over her vulnerability.
Kei's father horribly beats his own sons, but hesitates to hit Suzu. Abusers often feel that they own their children and thus are entitled to hurt them in any way they please, but don't extend this to children not their own. It also might be the dawning realization that while he's managed to escape punishment for abusing his sons thus far, he has just visibly injured a young girl, which guarantees an immediate police response.
Kei is known in U as a master fighter. He probably got that way because he dearly wants to just beat up his father, but he can't physically do that because he's so young, so instead he just channels his aggression into U.
Gales of Song's last line is "Lift me high/I'll be me." The last we see of Bell/Suzu in U is her lifted in the sky of U in her true schoolgirl/doxxed form.
Towards the end of the dance, when Dragon suddenly fell to the ground and started convulsing as his markings glowed, was it a panic attack from all the abuse, or was he in the midst of protecting his brother from abuse once more?
Most likely the latter option, as in addition to his already present markings flashing, new markings were also appearing on his cape.
In that case, it certainly explains why (out of all the people who beat Dragon in a fight) he lost from "getting distracted". He wasn't distracted: he was preoccupied with his father beating him up. It certainly adds insult to injury that even in the fighting rings in U, Kei can't escape that there's always someone bigger than him beating him up.
It's very likely that Kei was actively being beaten while acting as Tomo's shield - at that same scene is a blink-and-miss-it shot of Angel (Tomo's Avatar) laying on the ground unmoving, very much like he does later while Suzu watches his stream showing Kei get between him and their father's anger.
It's bad enough the Dragon is mocked by U members as Kei for being abused. Imagine how much worse it would've been if Justin had ever been successful at Unveiling Dragon in front of 5 billion judgemental eyes that would never have comprehended what he goes through.
When you put his dad in the mix, you realize being discovered by 5 billion people would be the least of Kei's problems. Bear in mind his father prides himself on the façade of having the perfect little family. If he were to find out his son was secretly rebelling as a virtual renegade, no doubt he would beat his son within an inch of his life out of furious shame. Or worse still, he probably won't even stop at the inch...
And if he doesn't kill Kei first, there's someone else to consider: hundreds (if not thousands) of past opponents who lost to the Dragon at fighting tournaments. They'll all want a piece of Kei once he's been Unveiled. And who's to say they'll all have the moral fiber not to beat up on a 14 year old boy?
While sponsors who initially backed this movie’s villain named Justin are not explored further, the implication is quite dire when you think about them. This is because U presumably follows our real world’s policy to keep users’ privacy, but these sponsors have the power that “unveil” the privacy. This parallels with how corporates in real life often violate users' privacy for their own benefits.
There's something sobering about Hiroka explaining that your avatar on U is meant to bring out your best quality. Does that mean you're stuck with an unattractive avatar if your greatest strength is something bad or pathetic? Sure we can assume the Dragon can live with it. But one has to wonder if it sits well with other members of U, like that woman who has a baby avatar.
The ending has a happy tone, with Suzu having finally regained her confidence. But what happened to Kei and Tomo?? Sure, Suzu scared their dad off once, but does that mean she's permanently solved the problem? Won't Kei and Tomo have to go back to their house sooner or later, seeing as they have nowhere else to go? Isn't their dad still living there? Isn't it highly likely that he'll return to his abusive ways before long, especially considering that Suzu is no longer there in Real Life to stand up to him? It sure looks as if the problem hasn't actually been solved, especially considering Kei's earlier speech about how people have talked to his father before but it hasn't changed anything.
