Scarlet

NOW IN THEATERS! Director Mamoru Hosoda swings for the fences with Scarlet, an epic fantasy built around a single emotional theme and a whole lot of momentum. It drops you into a mythic journey with clear stakes, strange rules, and a heroine who doesn’t have the luxury of slowing down.

Princess Scarlet (Mana Ashida) is a sword-wielding princess who finds herself in the Otherworld — a sort of purgatory. In flashback, we learn that when Princess Scarlet was young, she witnessed her father, King Amlet (Masachika Ichimura), being publicly executed by her uncle Claudius (Kōji Yakusho), now king after his coup. Her sole purpose in life is to avenge her father’s death. After years of training, Princess Scarlet is ready to make her move. While her uncle is napping after a feast, Scarlet approaches with a dagger in hand, only to realize she’s been poisoned and dies. Now she is in the Otherworld.

The rules of the Otherworld are simple: survive, kill or be killed. The goal is to reach the Infinite Land, which is essentially heaven. But if you die in the Otherworld, you vanish into nothingness. Also, there is no time in the Otherworld, so people arrive from all periods of human history. Finding a caravan of travelers, Scarlet helps protect them from bandits. Here she meets Hijiri (Masaki Okada), a medic from the present day. He uses his medical skills to keep people alive. Hijiri decides that he will accompany Scarlet as she hunts down the men who executed her father and, ultimately, her uncle, Claudius.

“Hijiri decides that he will accompany Scarlet as she hunts down the men who executed her father…”

To be honest, I’m still a bit lost on anime. Scarlet feels like an epic tale about a very small and simple idea. That idea is a spoiler, but it’s the main theme. We then go on this grand Frodo Baggins-type adventure, which fills its long, almost two-hour runtime. The problem with Scarlet, specifically, is that once the theme is revealed at the halfway point, I figured out where the story is going, and now the film has to catch up to me. The story almost feels like a faith film as it touches on a subject no one wants to hear. It’s a commentary on war and the endless cycle of one battle after another.

The animation and characters are the reason to see this. The animation is this seamless blend of photorealistic images and traditional anime characters. It’s beautiful to behold, even the dark, evil stuff. The fights and action are perfect, putting Disney to shame. It flows like an Asian ballet. There are epic, awe-inspiring moments and small emotional moments between Scarlet and Hijiri as their character arcs unfold.

Scarlet is at its best when it is simply moving and letting the visuals, the fights, and the bond between Scarlet and Hijiri do the heavy lifting. Even when the destination feels obvious, the ride is so gorgeously constructed that it’s hard not to admire how confidently Hosoda brings it home.