Suzume no Tojimari

On her way to school one day, Suzume Iwato stumbles upon Souta Munakata, a young man searching for abandoned areas. The high school girl directs Souta to a nearby ruin, but out of pure curiosity, she herself decides to head to the same destination.

Once there, Suzume discovers an isolated door with a dreamlike universe lying beyond it—a place that she can see and feel, but not enter. A strange stone rests on the ground nearby, but it turns into a cat-like creature and scurries away when Suzume lifts it. Suddenly afraid, she heads back toward her school, not realizing that her act of leaving the door open will have consequences.

With the "keystone" released, the evil within the other universe can now freely escape and wreak havoc throughout Japan. Intending to correct her dangerous mistake, Suzume joins Souta—whose true goal is to prevent evil from festering—in finding and locking all open doors before the country is destroyed.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Iwato, Suzume Main

Hara, Nanoka Japanese

Munakata, Souta Main

Matsumura, Hokuto Japanese

Daijin Supporting

Yamane, Ann Japanese

Serizawa, Tomoya Supporting

Kamiki, Ryunosuke Japanese

Sadaijin Supporting

Yamane, Ann Japanese

Iwato, Tamaki Supporting

Fukatsu, Eri Japanese

Iwato, Tsubame Supporting

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Okabe, Minoru Supporting

Sometani, Shouta Japanese

Amabe, Chika Supporting

Hanase, Kotone Japanese

Miki Supporting

Aimi Japanese

Itou, Kouichirou Producer

Okamura, Wakana Producer

Shinkai, Makoto Director, Storyboard, Screenplay, Editing, Original Creator

Yamada, Haru Sound Director

Reviews

Nov 27, 2024

orihihc

Recommended

Suzume is a story about understanding trauma and finding meaning in life. Or that's what I took from it. Beautifully animated and with an amazing story, the 2-hour-long feature hopes to leave an impact on its viewers, but despite everything, the plot falls flat, and that is one of the most important parts of a story.

The general premise of the story is that there are these doors or portals that lock away a 'worm monster' that is attempting to destroy Japan through natural disasters. It is not explained why this happens. Suzume manages to release one of two 'keystones' keeping this monster locked away ... and is now tasked with closing the remaining doors and locking the worm monster away with the help of Souta, who comes from generations of door 'closers.' One of the biggest loose ends occurs here when the old keystone, which ends up being a cat (diety) called Daijin, turns Souta into a chair Suzume's mother gave her as a child. There is no explanation as to why this happens, which bothers me more than it should.

The animation is beautiful, and many of the scenes are incredibly beautiful and could be used as still pictures with their vibrant colors. The storyboarding and cinematography are also phenomenal, with shots of the everyday life of people past (passed) being shown multiple times throughout the movie. These scenes are very impactful and are tastefully depicted with the viewer embodying the people in the past with our viewpoint coming from their perception (basically a first person pov.) The last fifteen minutes within the final door are also beautifully animated, and I can tell the animators spent a lot of time and care into these few moments in the movie.

The music is wonderful to listen to. It's no surprise that RADWIMPS created amazing music, but the title track from this movie has to be my favorite of their anime OST's.

Another problem this film had was pacing. And it reminded me a lot of Miyazaki's Boy and the Heron in that aspect. The pacing felt slow and then fast at different points in the movie, and it felt like there was so much content being fit into a 2-hour feature, which I think is the leading cause of the pacing issue. There were two main climaxes to the movie, and both 'hero's journey' outlines take an hour, yet somehow the first hour felt so much longer than the second, and this was because the rising action of the first half did not measure up to the rising action of the second half. If you don't pay close attention to the plot at all, you will still enjoy the film, but because the plot falls flat, the message does, too.

It's important to note that this story deals with trauma and memory of natural disasters, specifically the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, in which Suzume lost her mother when she was four. This movie serves as a journey of growth in which Suzume begins to remember her repressed memories of when this all occurred and ends with her understanding the meaning of living and persevering through life because life is fleeting and because it's fleeting, it's beautiful. (I think because it ties to the cultural memory of this earthquake and tsunami, the movie may have been more impactful to Japanese audiences who still feel the effects of the recent memory of the tsunami and earthquakes on them.)

However, my biggest issue with the movie was the unnecessary romance. Suzume goes out of her way to save Souta, not because they became friends throughout their journey, but because she has fallen in love with him. This I didn't find the strangest because a high school girl could totally start crushing on the older, good-looking guy she is working alongside to save the world. However, during almost all of their time spent together, Souta is a chair. It's literally a walking and talking chair. So the romance just doesn't make sense to me and seems... strange and out of the blue when Suzume suddenly professes her love for Souta to his grandfather as she begins her journey to save him literally halfway through the movie.

Another loose end that is never cleared up is how Suzume was able to enter the door when she was four years old after her mother died. It's never cleared up despite being mentioned at the end of the movie.

Long story short: I recommend this movie for the musical and animation experience. The plot and message fall a little flat, with a couple of loose ends, but it's a good movie to play on a night you're bored.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Nov 30, 2024

lainnvx

Mixed Feelings

The recent works of Makoto Shinkai can be described with two words: mediocre and conformist. He continues to recycle the same formulas that brought him success with Your Name, to the point where it seems he believes he cannot achieve success without creating something strikingly similar to his most notable work. In this film, he consistently reuses the fundamental elements from Your Name, merely placing them in a slightly different context with characters who, at their core, remain remarkably similar.

In this regard, it can be argued, not just based on Your Name but also on his earlier works, that he appears incapable of creating distinct ... types of characters. Nearly all his characters exhibit similar behaviors, conform to the same stereotypes, and engage in romantic and personal relationships that are virtually identical in nature.

More specifically, the characters in this story feel particularly shallow. Secondary characters often act in ways that are blatantly convenient, serving only to advance the plot or benefit the protagonists and their relationship. Certain characters even completely abandon their initial goals or beliefs to achieve this purpose, creating a rather cheap and forced sense of drama in the process. Furthermore, the animistic or pantheistic portrayal of nature as a major source of trouble, a recurring theme in Shinkai's works, feels overused and, at this point, renders his narratives bland and lacking in depth. The same can also be said about his tendency to incorporate time-travel elements into his works, even if they make little or no sense in the context of the story presented (something that happens in Suzume).

That said, the film offers an odd viewing experience. Despite its flaws, it can occasionally be entertaining, though at other times it feels overly long and quite childish. However, as with all Makoto Shinkai films, the visual and musical aspects are impeccable (almost hypnotic, I’d say) featuring beautiful, fluid designs for the world and its characters.

In conclusion, although I did not enjoy the film and believe it could have been much better, I can understand why some people might find it appealing. I might recommend it to someone with two hours to spare and no better options than watching a rather melodramatic film.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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Sep 12, 2024

Its_munnan

Not Recommended

The positives: the art, the animation. It's spectacular. The initial village setting was beautiful.

The mids: the music is overused in Instagram and YouTube, otherwise forgettable.

The negatives: some of the CGI was awful. We are expected to believe that the white cat was really leading the MCs to the doors. What about that scene where he threatens to destroy tokyo? How did the cat know that the male lead can be used as a keystone substitute? Nonsense. Initially he was supposed to be the keystone, but then we are told it's the black cat.
The characters are forgettable. It's the damsel and the hero, but gender swapped. ... The plot is the same old disaster prevention bull from weathering with you and your name. The romance was shoe horned and awful. The side characters had no roles except as plot devices. The abilities of the cats are nonsense. They can possess and send souls into objects? Okay. The MCs also bump into the white cat in the most contrived and convenient ways imaginable.
The white and black cat join the heroes for no reason, despite being portrayed as villains initially. The black cat incites a fight between the MC and her aunt for a forced and pointless reconciliation scene. The doors lead to the afterlife, but when you try to close them to prevent the worm from coming out, somehow the souls of the people who resided in now derelict areas help close it? Makes no sense. Why does the afterlife have a damn worm that causes earthquakes? Why aren't the souls already in the afterlife? Actually the afterlife looked pretty bare, where are all the souls that passed on? Maybe the worm ate them. Pretty terrible afterlife. How is the MC the only Closer around? There's like a million damn doors. The climax had an unnecessary time travel tack on. The MC's mother's fate is never made clear.
The narrative is a complete failure and pretty colours don't solve bad writing. The writer also belongs to the violet evergarden school of making people cry by showing people crying, which is a terrible way to invoke emotion. Waste of time.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	Got any news about Makoto Shinkai's next one? salsalsalsal - Dec 3	10 replies	by AnimeTheOVA »» Dec 7, 11:53 PM
	Poll: Suzume no Tojimari Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Shikkakku - Nov 11, 2022	357 replies	by sharkzzx »» Dec 6, 4:31 PM
	Next one coming soon? kingsley_017 - Oct 15	12 replies	by kingsley_017 »» Oct 20, 7:28 PM
	Is Suzume not related to your name/weathering with you? BAKA0402 - Apr 27, 2023	27 replies	by Remlz_77 »» Sep 2, 9:14 PM
	Feet and shoes in the film trvekvlt666 - May 19	22 replies	by Comander-07 »» Jul 12, 2:42 PM