We now know what anime director Mamoru Hosoda is doing next! Sort of. I’ll explain.

Hosoda made his mark back in 2000 as the director of Digimon: The Movie (the original, not the version with Funk Soul Brotha in it) and every step since then has been a step up. He made Summer Wars, one of my favorite anime movies — if you haven’t seen it, rectify that ASAP. He made The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, recipient of many accolades including the Japan Academy’s first prize for Best Animation. Most recently he made Belle, his 2021 sci-fi take on the Beauty and the Beast fable.

Sony Pictures is handling the worldwide distribution of Hosoda’s next picture, and today they revealed it’s called Scarlet. They gave us a painfully short, one-sentence description to fill an entire article with: “Scarlet centers on a brave princess who transcends time and space.” That leaves a LOT to speculate on…like is “Scarlet” the name of the princess or is it a reference to the aesthetic of the movie in general, which is very very red?

Someone was able to translate the description below the trailer on YouTube and get a bit more out of it: yes, Scarlet IS the name of the princess. And it seems the space-time transcending she’s done has led her to the Land of the Dead (where everything’s red) so she can avenge the death of her father. The description also implies if Princess Scarlet spends too much time there she’ll fade into nothing and disappear, Bing Bong style, so she must be quick about it!

Sounds like another winner for Hosoda, but some are displeased with the decision to animate it entirely in CG. I get it — the anime style just looks better hand-drawn and probably always will — but it’s his movie and his choice. He hasn’t steered his ship wrong yet.

Scarlet will be released in the US December 12.

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