Photo/Illutration “Belle” director Mamoru Hosoda, right, meets the Dragon from his anime film in Ochi, Kochi Prefecture, on July 22. (Hiromu Imabayashi)

OCHI, Kochi Prefecture--A monument of the Dragon from Mamoru Hosoda’s animated feature film “Belle” was set up at a museum in Ochi, a town known as the real-life location of the area where protagonist Suzu lives.

Standing taller than 2 meters, the near life-size monument created by leading figurine manufacturer Kaiyodo Co. was unveiled in a permanent exhibition space on the third floor of the Yokogurayama Natural Forest Museum on July 22.

The town office spent 8.4 million yen ($62,100) to buy the figurine and create the exhibition space.

“We hope that people who visit the town after watching the movie think that Ochi’s nature is important and that their experiences serve as a catalyst to pass it down to future generations,” Ochi Mayor Yasuyuki Koda said.

“Belle” centers around Suzu, a high school student living in a rural part of Kochi Prefecture. She creates an alter ego of herself in an online virtual world to become a singing sensation called Belle and meets the Dragon, who is rampaging through the virtual world.

A bridge used by Suzu when she goes to school is believed to have been modeled after the Asoo-Chinkabashi bridge over the Niyodogawa river that runs through Ochi. She lives in a community apparently based on the Kamaida settlement in the town.

After creating a buzz online, the Asoo-Chinkabashi bridge attracted more than 13,000 visitors in four months after the film was released in July last year.

During the unveiling ceremony for the Dragon, Hosoda said: “When I visited Ochi three years ago, I felt like I stumbled across the place for my movie.”

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The Asoo-Chinkabashi bridge and the Kamaida settlement in Ochi, Kochi Prefecture, serve as the locales for “Belle.” (Daisuke Ninagawa)

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