Mamoru Hasoda’s The Boy and the Beast is his latest epic following Wolf Children. Directed and written by Hasoda, The Boy and the Beast is an coming of age story about a young boy named Ren (later named Kyuta in the beast world), who runs away from home after losing his mother and refusing to accept his adoptive family. Kyuta ends up in the world of beast after encounter the beast Kumatetsu where humans are feared as beings full of darkness. Eventually Kyuta begins to train under Kumatetsu in the art of self defense, and becomes accepted in the beast world, while learning to re-adjust to the human world.

The Boy and the Beast is an 2015 anime film directed and written by Mamoru Hasoda. It is produced by Studio Chizu, and licensed by Funimation. It will be released theatrically in America starting March 4, 2016.

Ren training with Kumatetsu.

Having previously seen some of his work on anime series like Digimon, and seeing the film Summer Wars, I was only seldomly aware of Mamoru Hasoda’s work in the anime industry. Hasoda has had some minor involvement in several anime films and series, but in his latest project The Boy and the Beast the story was written by him, with Hasoda directing as well. The beautiful animation and great script continues Hasoda’s rise in the anime industry.

Kyuta and Kumatetsu’s father/son relationship is greatly explored.

Editor’s Note: Advanced screener was provided by Funimation.

THE GOOD: The coming of age story, The Boy and the Beast is a fun film with some good comedy and some great animation. The action scenes were nicely done, and there’s great character development throughout the film. Ren aging throughout the film and being lost in translation once he makes his way back to the human world (including the reunion of his birth father) were great moments that further showed the changes in Ren’s character since the opening moments of the film.

Mamoru Hasoda creates a great new coming of age film in The Boy and the Beast.

THE BAD: Despite being one of the focal points in the latter half of the film I thought that Ichirohiko didn’t get much spotlight for being Ren’s opposite.

Mamoru Hasoda’s The Boy and the Beast is his latest epic.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: The Boy and the Beast is an fantastic coming of age anime film, about a human boy who grew up surrounded by beasts, while trying to readjust to the human world. The father/son relationship between Ren and Kumatetsu is greatly explored and challenged once Ren reunites with his birth father. Ichirohiko despite being the big bad, got very little spotlight, which was rather unfortunate, as it kind of makes him feel like an bit of an afterthought. Otaku Dome gives The Boy and the Beast an 87 out of 100.