“The Boy and The Beast” Written and Directed by Mamoru Hosoda [movie trailer]
The primary reason why I am looking forward to this is because Mamoru Hosoda is responsible for two of the more likable animes I have seen in the last decade — “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” and “Summer Wars” — which I felt were really progressive for the Japanese anime industry and for feature animated storytelling in general. Mamoru Hosoda understands the importance of story above all else (and by ‘else’ I mean fan-servicing otakus). “The Boy and The Beast” looks promising:
“The Boy and the Beast” centers on Kyuta, a boy living in Shibuya in modern-day Tokyo, who befriends and becomes the disciple of the lonesome beast Kumatetsu after he finds himself in a supernatural realm.
For anyone interested in getting into anime but is put off by graphic content and/or blatant fan-service, then you should definitely check out some of Mamoru Hosoda’s work — and just FYI, I have hated disliked all the trailers for his films so far, so don’t judge too harshly based on them alone; Mamoru Hosoda is very good.