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

Terakawa, Aimi Japanese

Itou, Kouichirou Producer

Okamura, Wakana Producer

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

Yamada, Haru Sound Director

Reviews

Sep 25, 2024

Treatise

Recommended

I promise that, eventually, this review is about Suzume.

Your Name is brilliant and nearly flawless, words that do not do justice to its impact. Brilliance is both blessing and curse. How could anything M. Night Shyamalan make after The Sixth Sense compete with its predecessor? Same with Peter Jackson, and Lord of the Rings. These works, so monumental in their excellence, overshadow completely any other works created by their visionaries. So too with Makoto Shinkai and Your Name; before its release, Shinkai is quoted as saying that "it isn't ready" and that its story was flawed. He was simply trying ... to avoid the fate of his fellow directors, and he failed. This review critiques Suzume, not Your Name- but it is incomplete without stressing how much Suzume lives in the shadow of its predecessor.

Suzume's Locking Up beautifully mixes stunning visuals and soundtrack with an engaging, overtly supernatural story, something which Shinkai has leaned into in recent releases. It features what is, by my estimation, Shinkai's strongest protagonist, Suzume, who possesses agency and drive, and is often a mover rather than the moved. Shinkai's movies often employ themes of distance and time, of which Suzume is no exception. Across the board, its excellent quality shines through, yet across that light a pall is cast.

I cannot stress this enough; Makoto Shinkai, whether by his own operative or that of a studio, has essentially made the same movie three consecutive times. Following his filmography, in Voices of a Distant Star, distance defeats love; same too with 5 Centimeters per Second. In The Place Promised and the Garden of Words, time indubitably trumps our human feelings, though in different ways. Yet for these commonalities, each feels distinct in tone, setting, and concept. When Your Name rebukes these themes, and proclaims "Yes, love is more powerful than any forces that seek to destroy it", it resonates, not only because of the strength of Your Name, but also because of its juxtaposition with Shinkai's earlier films. And its impact is diminished on the second and third time.

Suzume is quite a good film, and would be indisputably excellent if not for how closely it parrots its precursors. While much better than Weathering With You, it pales in comparison to Your Name, a comparison it invites in every scene. It's been eleven years since the last truly unique Shinkai film- maybe the next one will be.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Aug 5, 2024

YuuChanneru

Mixed Feelings

Great visuals, abysmal writing, adorable cat. Honestly the cat is so adorable that I would recommend watching it just for that. The greatest weak point is the lost potential that is apparent. If the story could have been focused on one thing for a longer period, it could've been fantastic. Shinkai should just stop touching the romance genre forever after this film.
story 4/10
art 10/10
characters 3/10
cat 10/10
voice acting 5/10
cat voice acting 10/10

This might be enjoyable if one isn't paying much attention, but for people looking for a well-rounded, fleshed-out plot and believable characters, this is not for you.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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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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	Next one coming soon? kingsley_017 - Oct 15	8 replies	by AnimeTheOVA »» Yesterday, 1:05 AM
	Poll: Suzume no Tojimari Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Shikkakku - Nov 11, 2022	354 replies	by torararadorarara »» Oct 3, 9:26 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
	Remake of weathering with you? ( 1 2 ) Hickykissy - May 1	52 replies	by SpiderMiles3523 »» Jun 7, 3:15 AM