Movie · 2025 · Animation, Action, Drama, Science Fiction · 1h 52m · PG-13 · Japanese
Curator score: 2.3/10 (17.9K ratings)
Overview
After failing to avenge her father's murder, Princess Scarlet, wakes up in the "Land of the Dead." In this world filled with madness, if she does not achieve her revenge against her nemesis and reach the "No End Place," she will become "Void" and cease to exist. Can Scarlet find a way to live at the end of her endless journey?
Ratings
Curator score: 2.3/10
IMDb: 6.4/10
Letterboxd: 3.00/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 73%
Metacritic: 56
TMDB: 7.3/10
Director
Mamoru Hosoda
Production
Studio Chizu, Nippon Television Network Corporation, Sony Pictures, Sony Pictures, KADOKAWA, TOHO
Cast
Mana Ashida, Masaki Okada, Yutaka Matsushige, Kotaro Yoshida, Koji Yakusho, Masachika Ichimura, Yuki Saito, Shota Sometani, Munetaka Aoki, Kazuhiro Yamaji, Tokio Emoto, Kayoko Shiraishi, Noa Shiroyama, Michio Hazama, Mamoru Miyano, Kenjiro Tsuda, Toshio Furukawa, Kazuki Namioka, Koki Uchiyama, Shirou Saitou
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A striking but uneven fantasy-quest adaptation with some of Mamoru Hosoda’s most memorable imagery, but also a rushed, overstuffed narrative that divides viewers. If you respond to bold animation, tragic romance, and Shakespearean reinvention, it has enough ambition to reward patience.
Best for
Fans of ambitious anime epics
Viewers who like Shakespeare reimagined in fantasy settings
People who prioritize visual invention over tight plotting
Audiences open to melancholy, mythic revenge stories
Skip if
You want a clean, tightly paced story
You’re sensitive to meandering middle acts
You prefer understated, realistic drama
You dislike films that feel emotionally and narratively overloaded
Overview
Scarlet is the kind of animated feature that reaches for myth, grief, and transcendence all at once. Its premise has real pull: a princess trapped in a liminal afterlife, chasing revenge while the world around her bends into allegory and spectacle. When the film clicks, it has the scale and emotional charge of a modern fairy tale with a bruised, tragic core.
Worth noting
The problem is that the movie often seems more interested in its ideas and imagery than in clean storytelling. The middle stretches can feel overextended, and the tonal shifts are abrupt enough to make the experience feel fragmented. Even so, Hosoda’s visual instincts still land hard, and the final movement has enough force to make the journey feel worthwhile for the right viewer.
Bottom line
This is not an easy recommendation, but it is an interesting one. If you’re drawn to animated films that swing for the fences, especially ones that fuse classical literature with contemporary emotional concerns, Scarlet offers enough beauty and ambition to justify the detours.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Rein (2.5★) · 703 likes
The La La Land dance break was so random.
allain♡ · 436 likes
one of the few movies out there that could be better if muted
Anastasia ✄ (0.5★) · 331 likes
Yo bitch just die already😭😭
A movie that holds you as the stupidest creature on the earth, that somehow manages to be offensively rushed yet overstuffed with so much uninteresting stuff that it gradually becomes more and more painful to watch. I wanted to bash the editor, but it's probably the director who was smoking the most crack here; that would explain the laughably ridiculous, pathetic editing choices. And plot lines. And the fact that the main character wants to… more
PA27 (3★) · 277 likes
Le dragon qui est juste là pour aurafarm
Q Isaiah (5★) · 248 likes
overwhelmed with the feeling that life can be good and the world can be good