Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Let’s talk about Mamoru Hosoda. As much I praise Miyazaki on this show I also have to give Hosoda credit as well. He’s made a lot of great films these last few years that have been creative, touching, and a joy to watch. Such as his latest film The Boy and The Beast. Coming out in 2015 and under the production of Studio Chizu, The Boy and The Beast can be seen as Japan’s answer to The Jungle Book as it centers around a boy who goes to live with talking animals. The film received a lot of praise both in Japan and outside of Japan and arguing being one if not the best film to come from Japan in 2015 and today we’re gonna look at it. And since it’s been a while we’re looking at the dub version today. Let’s take a look at The Boy and The Beast.
The movie begins with a narration about the Beast Kingdom (home of the furries). The lord of the kingdom has announced his retirement in order to be reincarnated as a god (instead of having people bow down to me as a king they will bow down to me as a god) and names two successors to be the next Beast King. The first is Iozen voiced by Sean Hennigan (Gol D. Roger from One Piece) a very popular beast among beast with two sons and the other is Kumatetsu voiced by John Swasey (Shinigami from Soul Eater) who was considered an amazing fighter whose skills rival that of Iozen but was a rather gruff and tough individual who often kept to himself and didn’t have any apprentices. We then cut to the human world and meet our other main character Ren voiced by Luci Christian (Nami from One Piece. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say they got the cast of One Piece to voice all these characters. Not that I’m complaining because they’re all pretty good voice actors) a boy who has run away to Shibuya. His mom died in a traffic accident and his dad is nowhere to be found since the parents got divorced. Not wanting to move in with his relatives he choose to run away and live on his own (yeah living out in the streets is much better than living in a house full of food, electric, water, indoor plumbing, and a bed. Seriously kid, you be better off staying at a Motel 6. That is how bad your situation is). As he sits down in the streets complaining about how much he hates everyone (a little goth I see) Kumatetsu and his friend a shapeshifter named Tatara voiced by Ian Sinclair (Brook from One Piece) see Ren and Tatara jokingly makes the suggestion that Kumatetsu should make him his apprentice which Kumatetsu takes seriously and offers to train the boy (who surprisingly isn’t all that shocked to see a talking bear in front of him. I be scared out of my freakin’ mind but then again Japan is used to strange anomalies so I’m sure something like this is normal to them). At first Ren opposes this and just wants to left alone (kid, a talking bear is offering to train you, take it) but curiosity gets the best of him and he follows Kumatetsu back to the Beast Kingdom (it’s a lot like the Spirit World from Spirited Away only more rural. Sort of like Eurasia) leaving behind his darkness as well (which I’m sure won’t come back to harm him). He tries to get back to Shibuya but finds that he can’t leave and starts to panic (scene here: //youtu.be/BugzHg8zxpQ) where he gets caught by some wolves but gets rescued by a pig monk in training named Hyakushubo who tries to take him back to the human world but gets stopped by Kumatetsu who takes Ren in as his apprentice and gives him the name Kyuta since he refuses to tell Kumatetsu his name (your name is Tobi *whips*).
As you would imagine the two don’t get along all that well. One is a stubborn bear (he’s stubborn than the average bear) and the other is a stubborn child (they’re perfect for each other). Kyuta runs away (might be time to invest in a tracking device for that kid. Just saying) but gets caught by one of Iozen’s men where Iozen is quite shocked to see a human child in their world and tells Kumatetsu to send him back since bringing him here could put everyone in danger because of his darkness (have you seen Norm of the North? That could be us next). This leads to a fist fight between the two since the king forbids the usage of swords (than why carry them around?) where Kumatetsu loses in an embarrassing fashion (scene here: //youtu.be/RL-jmLp7Tng, too much showing off not enough fighting). The fight continues where they expand their muscles using the kaioken from DBZ (hey another disciple of King Kai) where it seems like Kumatetsu has the upper hand but the crowd begins to cheer for Iozen (geez this guy is more over than Danial Bryan and CM Punk after his infamous pipebomb) and he manages to turn the tide back in his favor. Kumatetsu gets back up and continues to fight where Kyuta begins to cheer for him (fight Kuma fight! Fight Kuma fight) and this is enough to distract Kumatetsu and put him down for the count. The lord of the beast comes in (who is a rabbit) to stop the fight saying this will not count as the fight for succession because he hasn’t decided what god he wants to be yet and allows Kumatetsu to keep Kyuta (now if you’ll excuse me, I have a tea party to get to and a bald hunter to annoy with a duck). After the fight Kyuta recognizes Kumatetsu’s strength and agrees to become his apprentice, so the next day they begin training with Kyuta not really understanding Kumatetsu’s methods (scene here: //youtu.be/goRQ1w2sj9A).
Kumatetsu disappears for a few days after the first training session so Kyuta does what any apprentice should do in the absence of their master, clean the house, do the laundry, and cook meals (Yume: I see you eying us over there. You want to say something come over and say it). We also see him get picked on by the other kids (no shock there) but he also sees how Iozen takes his job seriously while Kumatetsu doesn’t and Kyuta makes this known to him personally (you’re a bad teach and you should feel bad). Seeing how their training isn’t going so well the lord of beasts comes in and gives Kumatetsu letters allowing him to meet the lords of every land and he wants him to take Kyuta on a journey of knowledge with him. They go to see all the lords asking the question what is true strength (what is love?)? After meeting all of them Kumatetsu learns nothing while Kyuta found everything they said interesting and came to the conclusion that true strength can be multiple things (who’s the master and student again?). After their journey of knowledge Kyuta takes advice from his deceased mom (he’s lost it) and decides to start mimicking Kumatetsu in order to learn (scene here: //youtu.be/mXwoPcOORvY). The training works as Kyuta keeps this up for days until it finally gets to the point that he’s been mimicking Kumatetsu so much he can predict his movements (and flow with them like water). He finally puts his skills to the test and actually best Kumatetsu in a match where this leads to them working out a deal where Kyuta will teach Kumatetsu how to predict his opponent’s moves and in return Kumatetsu teaches him how to use a sword and throw a punch and kick (left hook).
Years go by and Kyuta has gotten bigger, stronger, faster and now has the voice of Eric Vale (Sanji from One Piece). Pretty soon Kumatetsu has people lining up to be his disciple and now that Kyuta is an adult he wants to go off and train on his own which is something Kumatetsu won’t allow. This leads to a fight between the two where Kyuta somehow returns to the human world (you’ve missed a lot kid. People use Twitter on a daily basis, people argue about pointless things over the internet, Pokémon got turned into a controversial app, and we got these people in the world called bronies who for reasons beyond my understanding are obsessed with ponies). He meets a girl named Kaede voiced by Bryn Apprill who he saves from some bullies and she offers to teach him how to read since he has trouble reading the kanji. The two develop a friendship with Kyuta leaving and going to the human world on a regular basis (and nobody questioning this) and Kaede convinces him to take entrance exams for college which they’ll allow however he’ll need his parent’s permission and thanks to the educational system he knows where his dad is. He goes to his place but he’s not there but they meet on the street and embrace in a loving hug (wow, he’s not an asshole. That’s new). After Kumatetsu finds one of his books he demands an explanation so Kyuta tells him he’s going to human school and going to live with his actual father (geez Kyuta I didn’t know you were a bear hunter cause you just shot Kumatetsu). He returns to the human world but becomes unsure of what he wants to do and during this time he reunites with his darkness (//youtu.be/kqYUsr_Ueh4, I have been waiting for months to use this). He now wonders what he is (the next beast kid? I’d watched it) but he gets calmed down by Kaede and returns to the Beast Kingdom where he finds out the date has been set for Kumatetsu and Iozen’s fight to decide the next lord of beast where he decides he’s going to be reincarnated as the god of decisiveness (get it?). Kyuta and Jiromaru (one of Iozen’s kids) decide to go together and cheer on each other’s masters and Ichirohiko (Iozen’s other child who’s the nonaggressive type) assaults Kyuta as he leaves the mansion (woah the nonaggressive one attacks Kyuta. Very unexpected) and we see he too has the darkness inside of him (I’ve got a bad feeling about this).
The day of the match arrives where Kumatetsu still sad about Kyuta leaving (still recovery from those rifle rounds) can’t concentrate on the fight and goes down for the 10 count (and stays down for about 32 seconds. I swear, I counted. He stayed down for 32 seconds he should have lost this match) until Kyuta makes his way to the front of the stands where the two argue with each other and Kumatetsu gets back up and fights where master and apprentice fight together (mentally) and Kumatetsu does the thunderous Kuma Punch (next to the One Punch and the Falcon Punch the deadliest punch ever) and puts Iozen down for the 10 count. Just as Kumatetsu celebrates his victory he gets stabbed in the stomach by Ichirohiko whose gone mad and won’t stand for Kumatetsu winning (someone’s trying to compensate for something). It turns out Ichirohiko is human just like Kyuta. Years ago, Iozen went to the human world, found Ichirohiko abandoned as a baby and adopted him as his own raising him to believe he was a beast (ha! Not in the least). Because of this, Ichirohiko kept growing up with doubts in his mind on who he truly was and his doubts finally manifested into the darkness which has consumed him. Kyuta almost gives into the darkness and tries to kill Ichirohiko but stops himself allowing Ichirohiko to escape. Kumatetsu is still alive but barely and Kyuta decides to go off and face Ichirohiko himself not out of a revenge (yeah that’s more of an Afro Samurai thing and you guys are a long ways from there) but instead to save him. He heads back to Shibuya (a showdown in Shibuya. Booyah) where he meets up with Kaede (why would you endanger her life?) and gets attacked by Ichirohiko in broad nighttime. The two fight but Ichirohiko is too OP and Kyuta retreats with Kaede (leave woman. I know you love him but leave). Ichirohiko changes into a whale and begins hunting him down (get it? Because Kaede was teaching Kyuta how to read Moby Dick during one of their study sessions and Ichirohiko saw the book they dropped). Kyuta decides the only way to defeat him is to absorb him into his body and then kill himself along with him (we could do that or do the sensible thing and wait for a deus ex machina). Just as Kyuta is absorbing Ichirohiko, Kumatetsu arrives in the form of a sword (what the fuck?). Since he became lord of the beast he has the right to reincarnate himself so he chose to reincarnate himself as a sword to help Kyuta win and become the light that outshines his darkness. They fuse together and slay the darkness within Ichirohiko saving his life. After that things wrap up nicely. Kyuta decides to return to the human world, live with his dad and attend college (and do a few Kaedes. I can get behind that).
Final Thoughts
And that was The Boy and The Beast. Overall, it’s a very good film. I like the relationship between Kyuta and Kumatetsu. It’s a stereotypical relationship but it’s done in a good way. I like how when you really get down to it they’re both two lonely guys afraid to open themselves up to other people but through their interactions with each other they develop a bond with each other that you can’t help but love seeing. I also like that they didn’t make Kyuta’s dad an asshole like they always do with divorced parents. Usually the dad is a deadbeat alcoholic who cares nothing for their child but here, the dad is actually a good person who cares about Kyuta and was worried about him for years. The relationship between Kyuta and Kaede was also good. I like how it’s just a boy and girl being good friends with each other and nothing else. The animation is good. The backgrounds especially are amazing to look at just for how realistic they are however there isn’t much detail on a lot of background characters and the music is amazing and matches up perfectly with what’s going in the film.
If I had to name the faults of this film it comes down to two things. The first one is we never really get a chance to explore the Beast Kingdom. We don’t know how it came to be, how it works, or even what their relationship is with the human world. It’s clear they don’t like humans but why? What happened in the past to cause a rift between them and humans? The final fault is the story. Probably Hosoda’s biggest weakness is writing the story. He writes good characters and settings but his stories usually fall apart at the end and that’s what happens here. The first and second act are good but the third act with Ichirohiko is where the film falls apart for me. The stuff with Ichirohiko really comes out of left field. We really didn’t spend that much time with him so we never got the chance to know him all that much making his outburst and sudden reveal shocking yes but underwhelming as well. Another nitpick I have with the film is that they never go much in depth about the darkness. Like, why did Kyuta’s darkness leave him when he went to the Beast Kingdom? We never get an explanation for this it just happens. Also, what’s up with Kyuta seeing his dead mom? Does the Beast Kingdom give you the powers to see the spirits of those they really love or is Kyuta just crazy and imagining all of this to cope with the death of his mom?
Final Score
The Boy and The Beast earns a well-deserved final score of 7.5/10. Besides the few faults and nitpicks I mentioned earlier the film is still good and one that I really enjoyed. Some have called this film Hosoda’s weakest film to date but no I think his weakest film has been the Digimon movies. You can sense a lot of passion and creativity with this film more so than the Digimon movies. This film won’t give you the feels like Wolf Children or The Girl Who Leapt Through Time but you’ll still find it enjoyable to watch for its two main characters and their relationship. Hosoda has been a little quiet as of a lately so here’s hoping he’s going to announce a new project sometime this year as I really wanna see what he does next. Until then, thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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