‘Scarlet’ on Netflix: Mamoru Hosoda’s Wildly Ambitious Anime Reimagining of ‘Hamlet’ Is a Visual Spectacle Worth Streaming

What happens when you take one of the most revered tragedies in Western literature, gender-swap its brooding prince, and drop the entire narrative into a surreal, time-bending afterlife ruled by a lightning-blasting dragon? You get Scarlet, the latest audacious offering from celebrated Japanese anime director Mamoru Hosoda. Now streaming on Netflix, this visually breathtaking and narratively daring film reimagines Shakespeare’s Hamlet with the boundless imagination that only anime can deliver. It’s a bold, sometimes baffling, but ultimately unforgettable ride that pushes the boundaries of adaptation.

Hosoda’s Latest Literary Leap

Mamoru Hosoda is no stranger to transforming classic stories. His 2018 film Mirai earned a surprise Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, and his 2021 reimagining of Beauty and the Beast (titled Belle) wowed audiences with its digital pop-opera aesthetics. With Scarlet, Hosoda turns his attention to Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy, but he does so with a radical twist: the protagonist is a princess, and most of the action unfolds in a bizarre, quasi-afterlife dimension where time and space are meaningless.

This is not your high school English teacher’s Hamlet. Hosoda grants himself extraordinary creative liberties, setting the tale in a realm that defies logic and physics. The result is a film that feels less like a direct adaptation and more like a fever dream steeped in Elizabethan drama—a fever dream with giant magic dragons.

Plot: A Princess’s Revenge Beyond the Grave

The narrator (voiced by Kayoko Shiraishi)—a wise old woman who later reveals a delightfully crude habit of picking her nose—introduces us to the Otherworld, a place where life and death, past and future, coexist in a swirling tapestry of impossible landscapes. Scarlet (voiced by Mana Ashida) awakens there, confused by skies that look like oceans and a gigantic dragon that shoots lightning. Her realization is matter-of-fact: “That’s right. I died.”

We flash back to late 16th-century Elsinore, Denmark. Scarlet is a princess, daughter of the beloved King Amleth (Masachika Ichimura), a ruler who seeks peace. His brother Claudius (Koji Yakusho) and Queen Gertrude (Yuki Saito) see this as weakness. In a move familiar to any Shakespeare fan, Claudius murders Amleth, marries Gertrude, and seizes the throne. But before Scarlet can deliver a single soliloquy—though she does train to become a formidable warrior—she is poisoned and dies, landing back in the Otherworld.

Here, the revenge quest takes on a metaphysical edge. Claudius, still alive, can also enter this realm, seeking the gate to Eternity as the ultimate conquest. Scarlet must traverse a harsh desert, encountering bandits, nomads from different eras, and burly thugs loyal to her uncle. Crucially, she befriends Hijiri (Masaki Okada), a 21st-century Japanese EMT who tries to temper her thirst for vengeance with pacifism. Their dynamic becomes the emotional core of the film.

Visual Grandeur and Thematic Ambition

Anime has often been compared to opera for its emotional scale and willingness to condense epic stories into tight running times. With Scarlet, Hosoda fully embraces that operatic sensibility, fusing it with Shakespearean tragedy. The result is a film that swings between hyper-dramatic anime flourishes—think explosive battles and over-the-top declarations—and the more contemplative, disciplined tone of Studio Ghibli.

The action sequences are meticulously choreographed, especially the one-on-one duels. But the true star of the film is its visual design. The Otherworld offers Hosoda an infinite palette: skies that ripple like ocean waves, a massive refugee army battering Claudius’s barriers, and that godlike dragon raining lightning on the wicked. At times, the plot meanders into an episodic midsection, padding the runtime with vague romantic tension between Scarlet and Hijiri. Yet the eye candy is so relentless, so inventive, that it compensates for the narrative sag.

Cast and Performances: Voices That Anchor the Chaos

The Japanese voice cast brings depth to these larger-than-life characters:

• Mana Ashida as Scarlet: She channels the character’s fury and vulnerability, balancing adolescent rage with ghostly detachment.
• Masaki Okada as Hijiri: His calm, measured vocal performance offers a welcome respite from the typical anime bombast. Okada’s Hijiri is the film’s grounded heart.
• Koji Yakusho as Claudius: Renowned for his live-action roles, Yakusho infuses the villain with a quiet malevolence.
• Kayoko Shiraishi as the Narrator: Her wry, unpretentious delivery sets the tone for the story’s cyclical nature.

There is no sex or skin in the film; Hosoda keeps the focus on emotional conflict and visual wonder.

Industry Context: Why This Adaptation Matters

Adaptations of Hamlet are legion—from Laurence Olivier’s 1948 classic to Kenneth Branagh’s uncut version, from The Lion King to the recent Hamnet. But an anime version set largely in an afterlife pushes the boundaries of what Shakespeare can mean to modern audiences. Hosoda is part of a tradition of Japanese directors who have reimagined Western classics: Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle (based on a British novel) and Hosoda’s own Belle (inspired by Beauty and the Beast) paved the way.

For fans of anime, Scarlet is a showcase of the medium’s ability to handle serious literary themes while retaining its signature imaginative excess. For Shakespeare scholars, it’s a fascinating case study in how a 400-year-old play can be dissected and reassembled through a completely different cultural and artistic lens. The film simplifies Hamlet’s meditations on revenge and morality, but it replaces nuance with raw visual poetry.

Critical Verdict: Stream It or Skip It?

Does Scarlet fully transcend its genre trappings? Not entirely. The film occasionally feels like a very loud, very pretty argument about revenge rather than a deep exploration of grief. But its visionary aspirations are undeniable. Hosoda has created something that looks like nothing else in the Hamlet canon—or in anime. If you want a visually rambunctious, genre-bending adaptation that swaps existential soliloquies for dragon lightning and desert chase scenes, Scarlet is a must-watch. Stream it.

The film is available now on Netflix, inviting audiences to decide for themselves whether a princess’s bloody revenge quest can coexist with a pacifist EMT and a godlike dragon. In an era of safe reboots and predictable sequels, Scarlet dares to be bizarre. That alone is worth celebrating.

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