AcidRavy

I'm a massive fan of Studio Chizu first and foremost and have been since I was 11. I'd heard about a movie called Summer Wars from the youtuber Akidearest, the way she talked about it seemed so raw to me and when she showed OZ I knew I had to watch it at least once. 

The world of OZ is something that I'd absolutely spend hours and hours just exploring, the bizarre look of pretty much everything was something I'd never seen in anime before. Summer wars is one of my favorite movies ever and lead to me watching every Chizu movie I could get my hands on.

When Belle was first announced I lost my fucking mind, the trailer was so beautiful and the vocals had me saving the trailer to my daily playlist. Music has always been something very special to me, it let me feel things that would shake me to my core and make me feel like I was flying. I was 100% that one weird kid that had those massive computer lab headphones with them 24/7 even though I didn't own a phone or music player, being diagnosed with ADHD when I was still in elementary school meant weekly visits to the psychiatrist and consistently changing meds. I felt empty and alone, all my energy and joy where gone in the day and by night I felt trapped behind my meds. Music was the only thing that made me feel something. 

Avoiding spoilers for Belle was hard, I knew that if I spoiled myself that I'd regret it so I waited till an official English release, it was me, my sister and our parents in a completely empty screening of Belle and I was so excited, I left feeling confused and embarrassed. 

The first thing I noticed was how weird the pacing was, I was convinced that there was an error by a tired employee or a part timer but it kept happening, the sudden jumps left me questioning things more then what the movie actually solves.  

What's Suzu's relationship with her dad? What happened to the child her mother saved? Why can't she sing anymore? How the hell did Suzu become friends with Hiroka? How does Hiroka know so much about U to the point she can make custom outfits for Suzu to wear despite the fact U doesn't let you customize avatars? Who the hell are the voices and why don't they do anything throughout the entire movie? Why do brands sponsor the protectors of U and what do they get from it? Why do people even give a shit about the beast, all he did was win a lot and crash a concert that is literally free? What the fuck happens to you when you log into U, it says that it transfers basically everything to U when you join so wouldn't you just pass out? How does Suzu manage running at full sprint and somehow singing and dancing at the same time? 

Belle plays out like a public school book, half its pages are ripped out and someone drew shitty flames and skulls with the fattest sharpie they could find for a cool paper airplane. I feel like belle was 100% rushed and probably switched management multiple times because the movie never keeps the same flow for more then 3 minutes. I'm honestly shocked by how inconsistent the movie was. 

Sadly the characters suffer and very similar fate, feeling like a broken music box that keeps resetting itself. The best we get in terms of personality and development is from the half baked rival who only has around 2 minutes of screen time, she goes from hating Belle to giving like half a shit about her. Suzu is so fucking annoying and I feel like she was supposed to be the quirky shy girl who lives a double life but ended up being a obnoxious, selfish, stupid, character that I wanted to see get hit by a car.

The beast is a whole different can of beans that I really can't convey my feelings for no matter how hard and long I think about it, he's the kind of character you'd expect to see in a school girls wattpad self insert fic that involves MHA, RWBY and MCYT in a confusing and edgy mess. 

The best friend was my favorite till the later half where all she does is yell and bitch about Belle this and Belle that, the love interest aka short stack felt so 2d that he feels more like a background character then the main love interest and his reactions are almost comical in how flat they are. Pretty girl and Crocs man are pretty decent characters because they don't give a single shit about the main plot till the last 20 minutes and have normal reactions to things, the pretty girl is chill and seems to really care about other's feelings and she has decent taste in men unlike every other girl in this movie, why did they add the random detail that the best friend has a thing for the local walking fossil and do absolutely nothing with it I'm still confused over that choice. Anyways crocs dude is the typical loud and stupid dude bro that is extremely dense or looks into things way too much, I like stupid so he gets a gold star

The animation is pretty decent with some of the U scenes looking really nice like the rose dress and her performance after getting unmasked, the lighting felt and looked decent and the special effects for clothing and the background really made it feel alive. The lip syncing is janky and tends to be a word or two behind unless you're taking about the parts where they literally didn't animate her mouth moving at all. It's clear that U had a very strong focus on big, bright and over the top but that's one of its greatest flaws, the big moments are filled with contrasting effects and makes it hard to look at sometimes or hard to understand what they want you to look at. I noticed that the film seems to drop in frame rate at times and I genuinely have no clue if that was intentional or not but it's very interesting once you notice it.

Finally, the music 

OMFG I LOVE IT IM NOT EVEN JOKING WHEN I SAY IVE LISTENED TO LEND ME YOUR VOICE AND U OVER 50 TIMES. 

The voice actress for Belle is one of the only saving graces in this film, her performance is absolutely filling with passion and care that you can hear in the music of Belle. I have no idea why but her performance fills me with confidence and energy, the way she sings feels so beautiful and raw that I can't help but give massive props to not only her but the staff behind the instrument because holy shit did they pop off. The performance feels less like a song made for a movie but someone who spent hours writing, producing, testing and fine tuning something they truly cared for .

im low key jealous over the rose dress cuz like the bitch slayed