Suzu

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* AS

**Suzu Naito**, also known as her virtual reality alter-ego **Belle**, is the titular main protagonist of the movie "Belle".

## Information

 Suzu is a regular third-year high school student (12th grade), who lives in the rural countryside of Kochi Prefecture with her father. Learning to love music from a young age, she used to share a close relationship to her mother, who encouraged her to compose music and sing together with her. When she was in 1st grade, she lost her mother in a weather tragedy, leaving Suzu to wonder why a child's life she rescued was more important than her own daughter. The loss resulted in a mental trauma, causing Suzu to lose her passion for music, as the mere attempt to sing would result her in having severe nausea. After closing her heart off from the rest of the world, Suzu grew more and more distant from her father.

Suzu is shy and quiet around strangers, having a difficult time making friends outside the people she had been familiar with since her early childhood. She is kind, mild-mannered and polite. While taking on her persona of "Belle", she is glamorous and confident, but she is humble and does not let the fame get to her head. Both Suzu and Belle are compassionate, empathetic, selfless, loyal and brave.

## Appearance

Suzu is a young girl of high school age with pale skin and russet brown eyes. Her dark brown hair, which sometimes can appear as a brownish-black, is kept in a bob-cut that reaches down to her shoulders, with messy bangs covering her forehead. Several freckles are scattered across her cheeks. Suzu is usually seen wearing her high school uniform, which consists of a white t-shirt, a red tie, a long blue plated skirt, and black shoes. On her days off, she wears a comfortable white T-shirt with blue jeans. Also, she occasionally has a grey pullover worn on colder days.

As her alter-ego, Belle, her appearance is altered drastically as she then turns into a very beautiful woman with rose pink hair that extends to her knees with blue eyes, fair skin, reddish-pink freckles in a straight line, white lines on her face, and full red lips. She can be seen wearing a red flower-themed costume in the introduction of the movie.

## BELLE

### Early Life

Suzu grew up as a single child in the rural countryside of Kochi Prefecture, enjoying a happy childhood raised by a loving mother and father. At an early age, she discovered music through a keyboard phone app and began singing with her mother. One day while she was in 1st grade, a terrible downpour flooded the village, threatening to carry away a child that had been stranded on an isolated island. Suzu watched her mother bravely rush into the flooding stream to save the child without returning. Since then, she resented her mother for choosing saving a child over her own daughter, lost her passion in music and her ability to sing, kept her growing distance between herself and her father, and became shy around other people.

## Relationships

#### Hiroka Betsuyaku

Hiroka is Suzu's best friend and manager of her identity as Belle. As the first person to be aware of her secret identity, she works tirelessly to establish a virtual presence for Suzu, wanting her to be able to cheer up again from her mother's death and regain her passion for music. The two share an open and close friendship in which blind trust is not a question, though Hiro does not seem fond of the fact that Suzu is always crying. Suzu refers to her as "Hiro-chan".

#### Shinobu Hisatake

Shinobu is Suzu's childhood friend, who vouched to protect her from potential bullies after she lost her mother at the age of six. Suzu initially mistook this promise as a proposal, resulting in a crush that carries into her high school days. While the two deeply care about each other, Suzu does not manage to confess her feelings to Shinobu despite repeatedly trying to gain the courage to do so, even willing to give him up to Luka, who she believes also has a crush on him since they had a minor incident. Following the events inside U, Shinobu expresses his relief that he can finally lie down his role as Suzu's protector and pursue a romantic relationship with her.

#### Chikami Shinjiro

Chikami is a good friend of Suzu, whom she refers to as "Kamichi". She is incredibly supportive of his determination to found a canoeing club in their high school, excited to learn that he qualified for the nationals. Later when Luka tells Suzu she likes Chikami instead of Shinobu, she helps them start a relationship after the two end up being too shy to properly face each other prior to Luka stating that she will support Chikami.

## Trivia

* The name "Suzu" (鈴) directly translates to "Bell" in Japanese, inspiring the name of her alter-ego. She is later redubbed "Belle" by her fanbase, the French word for "beautiful". This name is a direct nod to "Beauty and the Beast *(La Belle et la Bête)*", a classic fairy tale which served as an inspiration for the movie's thematic of a beautiful girl getting to know a terrible beast's true nature.