It has been revealed that "Endless Scarlet," the first new animated feature film in about four years from director Hosoda Mamoru, known for his feature films such as "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time," "Summer Wars," and "The Dragon and the Freckled Princess," will be released in Japan on November 21st. It will be distributed worldwide by Toho and Sony Pictures, and it was also announced that following its release in Japan, the film will be released in the US on December 12th. It was also revealed that the theme of the new film will be "revenge," and a teaser visual was released showing the main character, Princess Scarlet, wearing a pure white dress stained with blood. Scarlet holds a sharp sword in her hand and looks out from above a pile of corpses with a sharp expression, accompanied by the copy, "Should I live?"
Director Hosoda is in charge of the original story and screenplay for the new film. The protagonist, Scarlett, is a princess whose father, the king of a certain country, was murdered. After failing to avenge her father, Scarlett wakes up in the madness of the "Land of the Dead." The "Land of the Dead" is a place where if she does not take revenge on her nemesis and reach the "End of the Road," she will become nothing and disappear, and Scarlett embarks on an endless journey of revenge.
A Teaser trailer was also released on YouTube. It shows Princess Scarlett on a journey to exact revenge on her nemesis, and depicts the desert-covered "Land of the Dead," where a dragon also appears. There is also a scene where Scarlett says, "Where am I...?", and her "voice" is revealed.
Director Hosoda commented, "I came up with the idea for this work around March 2022. In 2021, there was the coronavirus pandemic, and it seemed like the world was united in its fight against the coronavirus virus. However, in 2022, just as that was coming to an end, wars broke out all over the world, and it felt like the world had suddenly taken a turn for the worse. Every day we see on the news how what we thought was normal is crumbling. I was shocked to realize that my own life, the world we live in, and the peace we have today are all extremely fragile."
"People all over the world are searching for answers to the question of how we should live in this world that is not peaceful. I don't know whether the answers exist or not, but everyone is desperately searching for answers to how to resolve conflicts and how we can live in peace. I thought that if I were to make a film now, I should make a movie that faces these earnest feelings of everyone, and that's how the idea for 'Endless Scarlet' came to me," he explains.
"When I look at the events happening in the world, I feel that we are in a situation where deep resentment and desires for revenge are born one after another. 'Revenge' leads to 'retaliation'. This cycle never ends. At some point you have to break out of the loop, but it's not something that can be easily broken. If the protagonist in a film is cornered into a situation where he has no choice but to take revenge, or if we were cornered at all, how should we act? Even if we know in our heads that we have to break the loop of 'revenge,' is it emotionally possible to do so? I felt like I was confronted with a challenge. That's why I wanted to create a 'story of revenge.'"
