Review of The Boy and the Beast (2015) by Jiatian N — 07 Apr 2016

A boy, a bear, and their story. Sounds familiar? Yes, of course. The Boy and The Beast (Bakemono no Ko), directed by Mamoru Hosoda, can be described as the Japanese reimagining of the western classic, The Jungle Book, with a mix of The Karate Kid.

The story focuses on the 2 main characters, the boy (Kyuta/Ren) and the beast (Kumatetsu). After losing his mother, Kyuta ran away from his relatives, wandered thru Shibuya all alone and stumbled upon a parallel world, Juntengai (a world filled with anthropomorphic animals, who talk and act like humans).

In that world, he met Kumatetsu, who is looking for an apprentice (as instructed by the grandmaster). The Boy and The Beast is a beautifully crafted Japanese animation film. The arts are all hand drawn with a blend of CGI animation (at the climax).

The characters are drawn using simple yet clean line. Contrast to the elegant background painted with watercolour. Let's further look into the 2 characters. First Part (when Kyuta was 9): Kumatetsu is definitely a hard-to-be-with character (one of his apprentice runs away after half a day and according to Tatara (Kumatetsu's monkey-like friend), no one wants to be his apprentice) Why? Because he is irresponsible, self-centred (do not understand others, only pays attention to himself.

One of the reason why he always lost in his fight), easily loose his temper over small things (always seen yelling) and also quite a child himself. He is probably the worst master ever, unable to teach/explain well.

Furthermore, he is unable to accept criticism, this can be shown when Kyuta expresses his opinion, by comparing him with the popular Iozen (the other potential successor for the next grandmaster candidate).

However, there exists a good side in him too, he is persistence (he tries his best to defeat Iozen even when no one cheered for him), and this is probably one of the reason Kyuta wants to be his apprentice.

Kyuta, he is alone (similar as Kumatetsu), with his mother deceased, and father whereabouts unknown until later on. He is angry, with his father, not there for him when his mother die? His anger leads to hatred, and hatred harbours darkness in his heart.

He missed her mother much (imagine her talking to him few times). Unable to understand what Kumatetsu tried to teach him, he soon found out the only way to learn from Kumatetsu, is to copy his move. Shortly, he is able to familiarise with Kumatetsu's footwork and easily predict his move, gaining upper hand when fighting with him.

They learned and grew from each other, with Kumatetsu learns movement from Kyuta, at the same time Kyuta learns sword fighting and punching from Kumatetsu. Even thou they argued almost alllllll the time, deep inside them, they cared for each other (can be seen during the climax).

Second Part, (when Kyuta turned 17 and found his way back to the human world), from here, both characters already have formed a strong bond. After back to human world, Kyuta starts to study/learn from books.

During this time, Kaeda befriends with Kaede (who helps him with his studies + always support him). He also met with his long lost father. He is grateful for all those than have taken good care of him.

He is not lonely anymore, with the accompany of his friends around him. Kumatetsu has somehow saw himself as Kyuta foster father/guardian. He is even willingly to sacrifice himself to save Kyuta even when he is badly injured (by the villian), by sacrificing his right to reincarnate (something which only grandmaster can do) to.

In the end, he successfully filled up Kyuta's darkness with the memories they shared together all those years. The interactions between the boy and the beast as well as the exciting fighting sequences are definitely worth your two hours!!! Additionally, one of the message the film tries to convey that every human has darkness inside them, struggling with it, but should not let it consume us.

By then, we already lost. The sword in your heart is important!!!! as what Kumatetsu said.