The latest anime movie from celebrated director Makoto Shinkai, who made the highly critically-acclaimed Your Name (2016) and Weathering with You (2019) is getting a US release in the spring of 2023. Suzume will be coming to US theatres on April 14, to be precise. They will be hoping to replicate the success of Your Name, which made $380 million at the box office. Weathering with You made nearly $200 million, showing that audiences are clamouring for more from Shinkai.
The synopsis reads; “On the other side of the door, was time in its entirety — Suzume is a coming-of-age story for the 17-year-old protagonist, Suzume, set in various disaster-stricken locations across Japan, where she must close the doors causing devastation.”
The trailer features scenes of expansive shining seas and the detailed renderings of domestic settings that we’ve come to expect from Shinkai. We see abandoned houses and theme parks, an extremely cute white cat and a magical child-size chair which can move around by itself. The trailer ends with Suzume opening a door and saying; “I wandered beyond a space, where it seemed all time had melted together in the sky.”
Suzume seems to be continuing themes from Your Name – which involved both body-swapping and time travel – and Weathering with You, which featured a magical ability to be able to control the weather. Your Name was the third highest grossing anime movie of all time, and Weathering with You was the seventh. Shinkai is one of the few rivals to Hayao Miyazaki in terms of international popularity for Japanese anime directors.
Your Name had a meteor which threatened the city of Itomori, and Weathering with You featured a totally flooded and submerged Tokyo. Suzume has a similar dystopian, apocalyptic feel with abandoned locations following mysterious disasters. They also featured unusual romance stories, which potentially will be a part of Suzume too.
While we wait until April to enjoy Suzume on the big screen, check out our guide to the best anime characters.