Mamoru Hosoda has had a good week. On July 15, the anime director known for films such as “Summer Wars” (2009) and “Mirai” (2018) debuted his latest movie, “Belle,” at the Cannes Film Festival to a 14-minute standing ovation. It opened in Japan a day later, where it made around ¥890 million on its opening weekend, putting it on solid footing to be one of the year’s biggest films.
Hosoda, 53, also made headlines for comments he made at Cannes about the way women are portrayed in anime.
“You only have to watch Japanese animation to see how young women are underestimated and not taken seriously in Japanese society,” he said in an interview.
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