Suzume review

SUZUME: 

ANOTHER ANIME WIN FOR MAKOTO SHINKAI! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

CRUNCHYROLL

A young girl and her newfound friend race to stop an apocalyptic entity in Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume

 

            A young girl races against time to prevent a series of apocalyptic disasters across Japan in Suzume, the new anime feature from writer-director Makoto Shinkai (Voices of a Distant Star, Your Name, Weathering with You). While I’m no expert on Shinkai’s work, I did go see his 2017 film, Your Name in theaters and I was blown away not just on a visual level, but on an emotional one also to the point where I went out of my way to review it despite the film being a few weeks old. 

            Sadly, I missed his 2019 film, Weathering with You when it came out (I think it was only released as a Fathom Event here in the U.S.), but I acquired a Blu-Ray of it not too long ago at an anime convention and will finally watch it because I hear it’s amazing. Anyway, let’s talk about Suzume, I came into this movie with very little knowledge and only saw the trailer a couple times in theaters which doesn’t show much, nor does it really tell you what it’s about. 

            When I realized it was from the same director as Your Name which was one of the best films I saw in 2017, following Renfield up with it became a top priority…and I just got back from Sakura Con the previous weekend. I can say with much enthusiasm that Makoto Shinkai has struck gold yet again with this movie. 

            Suzume is absolutely fantastic from beginning to end and features one of the most original, poignant, and beautifully told stories I’ve seen all year. Though there are some striking resemblances to Your Name in terms of ideas and themes, but they’re different enough and I never found myself drawing heavy comparisons to both films while watching it. 

            The film follows Suzume (voiced by Nichole Sakura-Teenage Cocktail, O.K. K.O! Let’s Be Heroes, Maggie), a 17-year-old girl living in a quiet town in Kyushu. One day she encounters a young man named Sōta (voiced by Josh Keaton-Hercules, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Voltron: Legendary Defender) who is searching for a door and Suzume stumbles across a single weathered door standing upright in the middle of ruins. 

            When Suzume opens the door, it turns out to be a portal to another dimension that houses a destructive entity known as the Worm that’s capable of causing extremely powerful earthquakes. On top of that, other doors suddenly open all over Japan causing apocalyptic disasters everywhere the Worm goes…oh, and Sōta’s been turned into a 3-legged chair (Very important!). 

            Suzume and Sōta race across Japan to find the Worm and seal it back into the other dimension for good before Japan (and potentially the entire planet) falls to destruction. 

            The film also features the voices of Jennifer Sun Bell as Suzume’s aunt Tamaki, Joe Zieja as Sōta’s friend Tomoya, Cam Clarke (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Metal Gear franchise, Bleach) as Sōta’s grandfather Hitsujirō, Roger Craig Smith (Resident Evil franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, We Bare Bears) as Minoru, Amanda C. Miller (Sailor Moon, Squid Girl, Boruto: The Next Generation) as Rumi, Rosalie Chiang (Turning Red) as Chika, Lena Josephine Marano as Daijin the Cat, and Mela Lee (Fire Emblem franchise, Hunter x Hunter, Mortal Kombat 11) and Miki. 

            Overall, Suzume is a breathtaking and emotionally impactful experience that should be seen on the big screen and another one of Shinkai’s finest work. As mentioned before, I haven’t seen much of this man’s work, but I can definitely say he knows how to keep the audience invested and bring on the waterworks. 

            The plot is consistently interesting with heavy and mature themes such as loss and sacrifice used in an amusing road trip story. It sounds weird and the film isn’t afraid to get silly every now and then (Most notably a sequence where Sōta is chasing a talking cat in the street…as a chair which is just great!), but it also doesn’t shy away from the more somber and heartfelt moments and the characters themselves are extremely likable. 

            While I don’t think Suzume and Sōta’s dynamic is quite as strong as Mitsuha and Taki from Your Name, they’re still very compelling protagonists with enjoyable chemistry that makes you want to see them succeed in their adventure. I even found myself getting invested in some of the side characters despite many of them only appearing for brief moments, most notably Suzume’s aunt and legal guardian who’s been taking care of her after Suzume’s mother died, Sōta’s friend Tomoya who delivers some funny banter/sarcastic remarks among the main characters, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the talking cat sidekick isn’t the least bit annoying and manages to be adorable, funny, and at times creepy all at the same time, in my opinion the best anime cat since Jiji from Kiki’s Delivery Service. 

I’m sure I’ve already discussed how stunning and vibrant Makoto Shinkai’s animation is in my Your Name review and this is no exception. Very much like that movie, it has some of the liveliest and most visually dazzling animation I’ve ever seen in an anime film. 

The animation is mostly hand-drawn with some CG for either crowd shots or added enhancements and it looks absolutely gorgeous especially on the big screen. I’m not just talking about the animation during the action scenes where Suzume and Sōta are fighting off the Worm, which is spectacular in those moments, but also the backgrounds and how Shinkai really makes Japan come alive through his animation with the vibrant colors, lighting and shadows, and the attention to detail, it makes me want to literally jump into the movie and live in that world, he makes the real world look so magical even before we go into the magical world.  

And yes, this movie can get pretty damn emotional as already mentioned with Suzume and her aunt’s current situation and plot points explored over the course of the story. I won’t give anything away, but I was about to tear up near the end because of how genuinely poignant and touching the final act was. 

Suzume is a magical and unforgettable experience that once again finds Makoto Shinkai at the top of his game with yet another expertly-crafted anime masterpiece. It’s a movie that has just about everything, stellar animation, bold storytelling, charming characters, tension-filled thrills, thought-provoking themes, and a strong balance of silly situations and gut-wrenching drama, you’ll want to open this door again and again.