2D or not 2D, that is the question. In his early career, Mamoru Hosoda won over audiences with films like Wolf Children, an anime fairy-tale that’s almost entirely hand-drawn. Since then, the 58-year-old Japanese director has increasingly been using 3D. For example, in 2021’s Belle, a sci-fi fantasy about disappearing into the internet, a young girl’s grounded, real world is depicted through hand-drawn animation, whereas her virtual adventures explode onto the screen through expansive 3DCG.

“Compared with the time when I made Wolf Children, my own thinking on filmmaking has changed, and my approach to CG and spatial design have also evolved considerably,” Hosoda tells Dazed via email. “So I do not think I would make it in exactly the same way. At the same time, the core elements that were essential to that film lie beyond technical innovation. It was a very quiet film that valued the accumulation of tangible time: children growing up, the changing of the seasons, and a mother living on her own while feeling lost.” Hosoda explains that a 2026 version of Wolf Children would still maintain the original film’s everyday quality. “For films like Belle and Scarlet, hybrid techniques can be effective in depicting the expansiveness of another world or psychological fractures.”

Hosoda’s eighth and newest film, Scarlet, is indeed forward-thinking, even if it’s a Shakespeare adaptation set in 16th century Denmark. Written by Hosoda, the action-heavy fantasy-thriller is a reworking of Hamlet but with red-haired Princess Scarlet as the protagonist. In hand-drawn Elsinore, Scarlet seeks vengeance against her uncle, Claudius, for the murder of her father, Amleth. But when Claudius poisons Scarlet, the sword-trained teen enters the Otherworld, a dizzying purgatory that’s animated with modern technology: the epic landscapes are fantastically detailed; the musical numbers have a contemporary touch; and a flying dragon shoots lightning bolts that flash across the frame.

“I believed that a film must have a sense of scale that matches the size of its story,” says Hosoda. “As a basic visual structure, the world in which Scarlet lives in reality is depicted through hand-drawn 2D animation, while the Otherworld is constructed entirely in 3DCG. I approached it less as creating a hybrid form and more with the intention of updating the language of animation itself.” He adds, “The decision to combine 2D and 3D animation was not just for novelty. It was the result of considering how to convey the distinctiveness in emotions and spaces to the audience’s physical senses.”

Hosoda – he was once announced to direct Howl’s Moving Castle before Hayao Miyazaki took over – has long been one of the leading figures in anime. With Mirai, he directed the only non-Studio Ghibli anime to receive an Oscar nomination, while in 2011 he co-founded Studio Chizu, which has released his films from Wolf Children onwards. Across his filmography, he’s specialised in young protagonists, from the time-travelling schoolgirl in The Girl Who Leapt Through Time to the maths geeks of Summer Wars.

“I have a daughter, and the question of how I depict the world she will live in is always one of the fundamental motivations behind my work,” says Hosoda. “There are certainly narrative structures that have unconsciously pushed some people to the margins, and I cannot simply repeat those structures as they are. Both Belle and Scarlet are stories in which the protagonist choose their own path in life. I want to portray female protagonists as people who are hurt, who hesitate, who fail, and yet, still strive to find their own voice. I believe that process is where human reality lies.”

“That is precisely why I wanted her story [Scarlet] to become one in which, through her anger and sorrow, she ultimately chooses how to live.”

While Scarlet’s red hair is symbolic of anger, the director explains that it’s also a reference to Queen Elizabeth I as the “red-haired queen”. On why Scarlet is more than a gender-swapped Hamlet, he says, “By making a young woman the protagonist, I felt the story could foreshadow not only revenge, but also the question of: ‘Whose story do you choose to live your life as?’ Unlike Hamlet, who is burdened with destiny as a king’s son, Scarlet, as a princess, remains vulnerable to having her own voice taken away even while existing inside structures of power. That is precisely why I wanted her story to become one in which, through her anger and sorrow, she ultimately chooses how to live. In that sense, I didn’t necessarily want to defy Shakespeare. Rather, I wanted to bridge his era and the modern age, discovering the essence of Hamlet in a new form.”

It’s perhaps why, then, that Hosoda’s most radical reworking of Hamlet isn’t related to gender but the core theme of revenge. After training herself up like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, Scarlet teams up with a nurse, Hijiri, in the Otherworld to defeat monsters, criminals, and even Rosencrantz and Guildenstern on her quest to track down Claudius. It’s then revealed – look away if you don’t want any spoilers – that her father’s dying wish was that she seeks forgiveness. I thus ask Hosoda why he’s made Scarlet a film about compassion, rather than revenge, a gunky but relatable human emotion that’s ensured Hamlet still resonates in 2026. Isn’t it like a romcom without a happy ending?

“I have a daughter, and the question of how I depict the world she will live in is always one of the fundamental motivations behind my work”

“In my view, Hamlet itself is not only a revenge tragedy, but also a work that gestures toward forgiveness beyond revenge. In real life, even if revenge is achieved, what has been lost does not truly return. Defeating the other person does not suddenly heal everything in that instant. In many cases, the emptiness that remains afterwards can be even greater. To depict revenge without confronting that reality felt somewhat irresponsible in the context of our current times. I believe that the word ‘forgiveness’ is often misunderstood. It does not mean to simply let everything be forgotten, nor does it mean pretending that the other person’s wrongdoing never happened.”

Clarifying that young people should still feel angry where appropriate, Hosoda points out that Scarlet is driven by thoughts of retribution to the point where it imprisons her. “In the world we live in today, cycles of retaliation and conflict seem very difficult to stop, and many people appear to have resigned themselves somewhere along the way to the idea that ‘this is simply human nature’. Everyone wishes for peace, yet conflict does not end. But if there truly is a moment when conflict can stop, perhaps it does not begin with grand slogans or political messages. Perhaps it begins quietly, when each individual realises that their own life matters more than revenge. Scarlet is not the story of a hero who saves the world all at once, but the story of a single girl who chooses to reclaim a life not defined by revenge.”

Scarlet is out in cinemas now