The Boy and the Beast(バケモノの子) Anime Movie Thoughts

   I'm a big fan of Mamoru Hosada(細田 守) and his works such as "Wolf Children" and "Summer Wars". So you should know that i couldn't contain my excitement when the new broke that another of his movies would be getting a North American release. The novel and manga have been release before the movie which didn't happen with Wolf Children and Summer Wars.( Both manga versions were released after their movie counterparts.) Hosada's new movie is titled The Boy and the Beast.
 

"In a world of Beasts, a boy found family."

  My thoughts will be coming from the english dub stand point because I mostly watch Japanese anime with english dub unless i'm watching an anime online. I generally enjoy both and have no problems with either but i know its a big debate in the Otaku world so I won't get into that here. I might make a separate post later on down the road though. Most of Mamoru Hosada's movies are casted well for the Dub versions. I never have too many complaints but sometimes I feel like the younger characters never sound the age they are suppose to be and when they try too hard to make a 20 year old voice actress sound like a 3 year old little girl, you can tell right away. The performance will sound forced like an twenty year ass old women is trying to sound like a cute unknowing three year old. This won.t really a problem in "The Boy and the Beast" but when I first heard Kyuta's voice as young boy, I thought he sounded too old. His voice grew on me as the movie progresses since the overall embodiment of the character is a rough and tough boy who feels he is on his own. The voice for Kumatetsu made the whole film for me. He had everything he needed to be that lazy ass stuck up character who deep down wants to stand for something but doesn't know how to go about doing it. The interaction scenes between both characters had me wondering if the two voice actors had been in the same studio when recording the voices. They have such a youthful chemistry that makes you laugh and realize how much they need each other. Something they don't seem to realize which makes the movie even funnier. Twenty something year old version of Kyuta put great emotion into his parts of the film as a young man who had to rediscover himself. The other voices play their characters respectfully well.  The casting choices help energize the plot even when dealing with the side characters. In the beast world, some of the side beast sound close to guys who would hang out in a bar and drink till their breakfast, lunch, and, dinner is all over the floor. I don't remember a moment where the voice acting took me out of the flow of the film except for what I mentioned above.

  The films plot was different and engaging. You kinda just start and let the film take you along for the ride. The animation aspect was in-depth and alive as you would expect if you have seen Hosoda Mamoru's films. Scenes such as the streets of Tokyo with people moving and looking about give the film a humanistic touch. Even the world of beasts introduces the viewer to a whole new world of fantasy while keeping a realistic touch to the art and foundation of the scenes. Certain special effects that appear in the film are breathtakingly beautiful. Especially the opening sequance  and the final battle toward the end of the film. I was watching  and saying" they out did themselves with the effects this time." They even topped the effects in Summer wars.

   "The Boy and the Beast" left me with a warm heart full of hope for life. Thats the one thing about Japanese anime films that I always love, you always leave the film learning an important lesson about life. There has been more than a few times that i have taken what i have learned from film and applied  it to my life. Life is a learning process and sometimes you lose some then sometimes you win some but everything will be alright as long as you move forward.