Discover the Classic Inspiring Scarlet’s Latest Anime by a Top Japanese Director!

What’s It About?

Scarlet, a medieval princess skilled in sword fighting, embarks on a dangerous journey to avenge her father’s death. Her mission fails, and severely wounded, she finds herself in another realm, the Land of the Dead. There, she meets a young idealist from our time, who not only helps her heal but also shows her that a world free of bitterness and anger is possible. Confronted with her father’s murderer, Scarlet faces her greatest challenge: to break the cycle of hatred and find new meaning in her life by overcoming her desire for revenge.

Hamlet It Be

Matching the master Hayao Miyazaki is no small feat, and with the global success of “Your Name,” Makoto Shinkai has perhaps surpassed him in terms of mainstream recognition. However, every new film by Mamoru Hosoda is still a major event. This is especially true since it’s his first release in over four years following “Belle,” which reimagined the tale of “Beauty and the Beast” against a backdrop of virtual worlds, cyberbullying, and domestic violence.

Hosoda, known for “Summer Wars,” “The Boy and the Beast,” and “Wolf Children,” has not been heard from in quite some time, but that’s understandable: after appearing at the last Venice Film Festival, where the lucky few first saw it in September, “Scarlet and Eternity” is arguably his most ambitious film, blending life and death while intersecting various eras within a singular world. The heroine, a medieval Danish princess adept with the sword, is poisoned while seeking to avenge her father’s execution.

The story starts with a distinctly Shakespearean flavor—hardly coincidental since the script draws from the monumental “Hamlet,” adopting elements of its plot (but with a female protagonist), starting in the kingdom of Denmark, and even borrowing names like Claudius, the treacherous uncle of the heroine whose father is named… Amhlet. At this point, it’s clearly intentional, yet “Scarlet and Eternity” is not just an animated adaptation, as it draws from multiple sources.

For this feature, which he wrote himself, Hosoda revealed he was inspired as much by history (notably Joan of Arc and Elizabeth I) as by literature (“Hamlet,” but also “The Divine Comedy,” “Paradise Lost,” “Dune,” and “The Little Prince,” elements of which appear in the desert-like realm of the dead and the encounters the heroine experiences) and films such as “Princess Mononoke” or “The Lion King”… which also referenced “Hamlet.”

A Revised Take on The Lion King?

Should we then see this film as a response to Disney’s “The Lion King,” much like “Belle” was to “Beauty and the Beast”? It’s very likely, even though it’s just one aspect of a very rich film. In its themes (though ultimately, it juxtaposes life and death, vengeance and love, in straightforward terms), its eras, its inspirations, and even its animation textures—neither strictly 2D nor CGI Hollywood style—this idea carries through.

So much so that it’s hard to fully convey the richness of the experience offered by Mamoru Hosoda with “Scarlet and Eternity,” an animated film that might require multiple viewings to fully appreciate all its intricacies, but through which he reminds us why he is one of the most significant Japanese directors today.

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