YMMV / Belle (2021)

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• Accidental Aesop:
  • Actions speak louder than words, especially when it comes to the internet. On one hand, there are the countless times Kei heard people comment on U that they would "help" deal with his and Tomo's abusive father, only for virtually nothing to happen. On the other hand, Suzu goes above and beyond to prove her sincerity by risking her identity for their sake, and travels all the way to Tokyo to find them.
  • Being a hero is not a fool's errand; there are risks, sacrifices and perils to saving another life. Suzu's mother did save a little girl from rising water, but at the cost of her life and her daughter's well-being. Meanwhile, Suzu went out of her way to protect Kei and Tomo from their father, but not without getting her face scratched something nasty.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Did Justin's sponsors pull away from him because they thought it was low of him to Unveil a celebrity and innocent student or are they being Lawful Neutrals who are disappointed that Justin's way of keeping U in check didn't work?
  • Is Kei and Tomo’s father just a monster or is abuse his own way of dealing with his wife’s death? Or is there a third option, where his mishandling of grief has turned him into a true monster?
    • Further complicating things is his reaction to nearly striking Suzu. Is it just a case of hypocrisy where he's willing to draw the line at striking a teenager when he has no problems beating his children? Or did the realization that he was willing to beat up a random teenage girl finally cause it to sink in that his rage was a problem he had to deal with and not something he could just hoist onto his children? It's also up in the air whether his reaction is actually a case of Even Evil Has Standards, or if he was simply stunned that his attempts to scare Suzu into submission by threatening to hit her completely failed, or even if it was simply Pragmatic Villainy, as beating up Suzu could get him in trouble if she and her family pressed charges.
• Award Snub: Unlike Mirai of the Future, Belle was shut out from the Animated Feature nominations for the major western film awards (Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTA). However, Belle has received five Annie Awards nominations.
• Awesome Music: Practically every song from Belle is downright beautiful, made all the more impressive by the fact that the emotions are perfectly conveyed in not just the original Japanese but also in their English and French localized versions. Special mention goes to "Gales of Song" for its powerful portrayal of Suzu's continued mourning over her mother's passing and "A Million Miles Away" and its reprise for managing to fit both Suzu's desperation to reach out to Kei and the triumph of gaining the support of not just Kei but nearly everyone in U after she Unveils herself to the public.
• Audience-Alienating Ending: Several viewers thought this about the movie's ending, in which Kei, Tomo and their dad’s ultimate fates were not physically resolved.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • For taking the law into his hands and lording over those he can't control, Justin pays dearly for his desire to cruelly Unveil the Dragon when instead, he's forced by Belle to Unveil her instead. What quickly follows is not only Suzu being lauded despite being Unveiled, but also Justin losing his sponsors left and right.
  • After having to watch Kei and Tomo's father shouting at his two sons and even physically abusing them, to the point where Kei has several bruises on his back that he got from shielding his younger brother from being harmed as well, there is an immense satisfaction in seeing Suzu not only protecting both boys from his abuse but standing up to him, not flinching even once at his attempts to scare her with his raised fist and angry roars, and starting the man down with a Death Glare that makes him cower in fear of her.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Kei's brother Tomo shows very little emotion on his face and tends to stare blankly into space; he also has mannerisms such as talking quietly, singing Belle's love song out loud to himself and moving his arms to the side, which viewers frequently note as signs of neurodivergence. However, it could also a byproduct of trauma from his abusive home life.
• Ending Fatigue: The beautiful and climactic "A Million Miles Away" sequence feels like a literal showstopper that appears to be bringing everything in the story close to resolution....and then Kei and Tomo's father finds out that his abuse of his sons had livestreamed on the internet, leading to him re-entering the room and threatening the boys with even harsher punishment. From here the movie goes into a second climax which, while somewhat shorter than the previous climax, makes the story feel like it's dragging unnecessarily longer just so "Belle" and "the Beast" can have a face to face, in-person meeting. And then it is further dragged out with Suzu returning home, which just causes all the plotlines to remain suspended in the air - feeling out of place due to it happening after a Book Ends scene repeating the opening narration.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Namely Suzu’s friends, like Ruka, the adult choir and Kamishin.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: Suzu has apparently restored Kei and Tomo’s self-confidence, but no mention is given as to what happened to them afterwards or if their dad or living situation improved for the better.
  • What's more, one can only wonder if Justin losing his sponsors is really enough to keep him from hunting down and exposing the Dragon, assuming Kei ever wants to return to U.
• Fanfic Fuel: There are a number of open threads that can be explored when the movie finishes, for example:
  • What happens next for Suzu and all of her friends? Does she resume her career as Belle and continue singing in U? Does she pursue a deeper relationship with one of her two potential Love Interests? Does Justin come back for some kind of revenge?
  • How did Kei reach his decision to create the Dragon as his U avatar? How did he progress through his many battles against fighters across the globe? How did he manage to generate a hidden refuge guarded by several AI friends?
  • What kind of lives did Suzu's mother and her music school friends lead together before her untimely death?
  • How did Suzu's father cope with the loss of his wife and a daughter that has nearly sealed herself away from the world?
  • Will Kei and Tomo’s father go to prison in disgrace, or will he make up for his abusive behavior and get professional help? Even so, what will happen to the boys if the former comes true?
• Hollywood Homely: Suzu is portrayed as a rather plain and mousy high school student, though nobody really refers to her as such except for Hiroka when she feels deprecating. That said, she seems to have no trouble attracting attention from her peers when she wants to and even has the most sought-after boy in the school as a potential Love Interest.
• Hype Backlash: With the sheer amount of critical acclaim the movie has gotten, it would be inevitable that dissenting opinions would arise to highlight its under-realized story elements, such as the lack of resolution to Kei and Tomo's family situation and the series of events that leads Suzu to discovering Kei's identity as The Dragon arguably stretching plausibility. There are also people pointing out it's just Summer Wars done once again, but with entire effort put into cool visuals, rather than characters or even resolving the story itself.
• It's Short, So It Sucks!: While Belle's songs are gorgeous, most of them are very short. "Lend Me Your Voice" is the longest at five minutes. The others' vocal segments are completed within two or three, with the rest of their track times being instrumental.
• Jerkass Woobie: Depending on how one looks at him, Kei and Tomo’s father. The abuse he puts his children through is inexcusable, but it seems to be a result of him being unable to properly handle his grief over his wife's death coupled with the stress of raising two sons, who don't always act picture-perfect, on his own.
• Nightmare Fuel: The all-too-real abusive father Kei and Tomo deal with. He may come across as a friendly family man who loves his sons. But in real life, his actions and mannerisms are uncannily cruel, choleric and frightening. And when he catches on that his children have exposed his abusive nature on the Internet, he bears down upon the camera, glowers at it and cuts off our heroes' only connection to them. But it only gets worse, as during the climax, he tries to yank Suzu away from his sons, tearing a chunk of her cheek off in the process!
  • The thought of what Tomo and Kei’s future might have been like had they stayed with their father also counts. Had their dad continued his tyranny over their lives, these boys would've have most likely ended up mentally broken to the point beyond repair.
  • The bruises on Dragon's back take on an unsettling level when one realizes that those aren't just bruises: they are bruises UPON bruises.
  • During Kei's rant about how Suzu's help means nothing, when he gets to the climax of his rants, Suzu can recollect the Dragon snarling at her. It's as though in an epiphany sort of way, the Dragon (through Kei's viciousness and untapped anger) is coming to life before Suzu's eyes, and she's recognizing him all too well.
  • And last, but not least, the particularly cruel case of Department of Child Disservices. It's not that Kei and Tomo, and some of the people who tried to intervene (including Suzu's choir group) don't want to help. They are literally prevented by law from acting, despite an urgent need to do so, so the abuse can go unchecked and, at best, can be addressed days after the fact. The worst part? That's an actual, real-life issue in Japan.
• Older Than They Think: This is hardly the first time that the Beast in a version of this particular fairy tale has been portrayed as a mythological reptile, even if in this case it is a virtual avatar. A Russian version has the Beast as a three-headed winged snake and a Polish version from Krakow as a basilisk.
• Superlative Dubbing: Millennium Parade and the film's other musicians traveled to New York City to be involved in the English localization. As a result, the English lyrics are fantastic, even catchy. But special credit must go to Kylie McNeill. Despite Belle being one of the most demanding roles in anime history, and despite McNeill being a stage actress who had never voice acted before, her powerful voice and performance proved to be such a match for Kaho Nakamura that many listeners have trouble telling them apart.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Many viewers who go into the film expecting it to lean harder into ideas of consciousness and identity are disappointed to find it's more of a romantic story with a vague science fiction backdrop. While identity is certainly a theme, it's more Downplayed than in a film like, say, Ghost in the Shell. The heavy similarities to the Disney adaptation of Beauty and the Beast further hurts this case.
  • Some viewers felt that the plot was an epic set-up to a resolution that never quite happened. Sure, Suzu confronted Kei's dad and regained her confidence... but then what? Did Kei and Tomo ever escape from that abusive situation? Did Suzu keep in touch with them? The film doesn't say.
• The Woobie:
  • Kei and Tomo not only lost their mother but were forced to endure their father's physical and emotional abuse in the aftermath. And when Kei attempted to reach out online for anyone to help them, he was only met with useless platitudes at best or outright derision at worst. And then Kei's attempts to cope through his identity as the Dragon results in him being unjustly hunted down by Justin and his posse.
  • Suzu is a withdrawn high school student, who is traumatized by her mother's death when she was a child, to the point that she can't sing in public without having panic attacks (she uses her virtual avatar, Belle, as a coping mechanism to properly sing). And she never understood the real reason behind her mother's death until the climax.

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