Suzume (film)



Suzume (すずめの戸締まり, Suzume no Tojimari, lit. "Suzume's Locking Up") is a 2022 fantasy anime film by Makoto Shinkai, his eighth major production. Its soundtrack sees the return of RADWIMPS, this time in collaboration with Kazuma Jinnouchi, and with TikTok star Toaka doing vocals on the eponymous song. It is animated by CoMix Wave Films and distributed by Toho. In Japan, the film released in November. It is scheduled to release in 2023 in English speaking countries.

12 years ago, then 4-year old Suzume Iwato (Nanoka Hara) lost her mother Tsubame (Kana Hanazawa) in the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

In present day, Suzume is now a high school student staying with her aunt Tamaki (Eri Fukatsu) in Kyushu, southwest Japan. One morning while cycling to school, she passes a college-age young man looking for ruins, who she later learns is named Sōta Munakata (Hokuto Matsumura). She beats him to an abandoned onsen resort, where she finds a solitary door through which an inaccessible starry sight can be seen. In the process, she dislodges a statue that turns into a white cat. Later, returning to the resort from school after seeing a crimson smoke emitting from that direction, she reencounters Sōta and helps him close the door. He gets injured in the process, and Suzume takes him home to bandage the wound. However, the cat appears and curses him to be bound into a three-legged chair that Suzume's mother had made for her. Suzume and Sōta now have to pursue the cat, which social media nicknames Daijin (Ann Yamane), across Japan in the hope of subduing it before it opens any more doors to let disaster through again.


 * Book Ends: The film starts (almost) and ends on Suzume cycling to school and meeting Sōta going the other way.
 * Character Title: Guess who the main character is. No seriously. Guess. We will give you three hints: the character's name starts with "S", ends in "E", and shares a name with the title of the 2022 Makoto Shinkai film "Suzume".
 * Diving Save: Sōta does one to save Suzume from falling debris.
 * Ghost Town: The Portal Door which Suzume first closes is located here, an abandoned onsen resort.
 * Invisible to Normals: Suzume quickly learns to her horror that, apart from Sota and herself, nobody can see the worm.
 * Opposite Gender Protagonists: From what is shown in the twelve minute preview, at least. The film involves the titular Suzume helping a man closing doors all around the world.
 * Ordinary High School Student: Suzume Iwato somehow gets roped into closing doors releasing demonic presences throughout Japan. The film quickly shifts from being a Teen Drama to an action-adventure film.
 * Portal Door: The door leading to what is essentially Suzume's Dream Land shown in the first couple of minutes. It's impossible for her to step through it, though. Any attempts to do so only lands her on the other side of the door.
 * Sailor Fuku: The uniform of the local high school.
 * Scenery Gorn: The film opens on the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Many scenes take place in abandoned, overgrown, ruined areas. The climax occurs among a landscape of flaming wreckage.
 * Scenery Porn: There are lots of shots which focuses on green scenery, or wide shots of the sea.
 * Screen Shake: Occurs in the scene when Suzume first helps close a door, used to emphasize the intensity of the actions occurring.
 * Slice of Life: The main part of the film opens this way, starring the journey of an Ordinary High School Student biking to school.