Scarlet: a blood-streaked quest through life, death and memory
- US and UK theatrical release: Friday, 12 December 2025.
- Mamoru Hosoda directs; Studio Chizu returns with a new visual approach.
- Cast includes Mana Ashida (Scarlet), Masaki Okada (Hijiri), Koji Yakusho (Claudius).
- Revenge tale with afterlife waypoints and rules that shape each battle.
- Fantasy action scaled for big-screen spectacle, emotional core intact.
Princess Scarlet pursues justice across worlds, at a cost
A stylised, spoiler-light preview of Hosoda’s fantasy epic: a young royal pursues her father’s murderer, crossing into uncanny realms where loyalty, memory and duty collide, while the film balances mythic action with humane stakes.
Vows, ghosts, and the blade you carry
Scarlet and Hijiri: oaths that bind and break
Scarlet (Mana Ashida) begins with a simple vow—find the truth, avenge the slain king. Her drive is absolute, but the rules of the worlds she crosses force pauses, bargains and detours. She’s written as wilful rather than reckless, a heroine who learns to read the terrain as carefully as she wields a sword.
Hijiri (Masaki Okada) operates as a counterweight: steadier, more analytical, and a reminder that rage dulls as often as it sharpens. Their exchanges give the film its human pulse, framing battles as choices rather than foregone conclusions.
Their partnership is not romance by default; it’s a pact of purpose. When the path bends into the afterlife, that pact is tested by rules neither of them sets—and by what each is willing to trade to keep moving.
Claudius and the court: power wears many faces
Claudius (Koji Yakusho) embodies a court where ceremony cloaks ambition. The public story is tidy; the private one bleeds. He’s less a cackling villain than a study in authority that justifies itself, which makes him harder to topple and more interesting to watch.
The court scenes are built for contrasts—velvet rituals against steel intentions. When the plot wanders into funerary pomp or coronation flare, the subtext is simple: appearances are a weapon too.
As Scarlet pushes closer, the court’s allies and opportunists form a moving maze. Each audience, each petition, becomes a test of who controls the narrative—and who pays for its upkeep.
Afterlife cartography, mortal consequences
The Land of the Dead: rules, risks, returns
The afterlife isn’t a foggy backdrop; it has mechanics. Waystations, guides and thresholds dictate how long a traveller can remain, what they must surrender, and how memory reshapes the body that carries it. Those mechanics make action beats legible and give quiet scenes a charge.
Time behaves differently here, and the film leans into that tension: urgency on one side of the veil, ritual on the other. When Scarlet crosses back, the delay matters; choices echo in who’s lost, who’s waiting, and what the living world has decided in her absence.
Visually, the realm mixes monumental architecture with tactile detail—engraved gates, ossuary corridors, wind-torn banners—so that each encounter plays like a trial more than a brawl.
Swords, signals, and how the film stages danger
Set-pieces favour clear geography and readable stakes. You understand where opponents stand, what opens a path, and why the next bridge may cost more than the last. The choreography privileges commitment over flourish: when Scarlet closes distance, it feels earned.
Sound cues carry meaning—ritual drums, breath caught in a mask, a bell that tolls for passage. Those cues help audiences sense when power has shifted long before the blade lands.
The cumulative effect is momentum with room to feel: victories sting, retreats teach, and the destination never erases the toll of getting there.
Dates, audiences, and where to start
US and UK release
United States: exclusively in cinemas from 12 December 2025. United Kingdom: wide theatrical from 12 December 2025, with typical Thursday-evening previews likely in major chains.
Opening-night energy suits the film’s scale; if you prefer quieter rooms, target early Friday or late-Sunday slots. Premium screens will flatter the depth cues and large-scale vistas, though standard auditoriums retain the story’s clarity.
Parents’ note: thematically intense but framed as mythic adventure; expect peril, duels and a grief thread handled with restraint rather than shock.
Quick facts
At a glance
Title: Scarlet
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Cast: Mana Ashida (Scarlet), Masaki Okada (Hijiri), Koji Yakusho (Claudius)
US release: 12 December 2025
UK release: 12 December 2025
What to expect: Fantasy revenge epic with afterlife rules, grounded character beats, and large-canvas set-pieces