This was a really beautiful story that was able to keep me intrigued throughout, and you don't fully understand the entire story until the very end of this movie. This movie has so many intertwining plotlines playing simultaneously, and every character is so fleshed out no matter how little screen time they get. I highly recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Makoto Shinkai's other movies as this is another great example of his amazing creativity.
National and personal trauma needs healing. Makoto Shinkai guides us to find it through art.
"Probably I, too, would have remained trapped by the compulsion to protect the parents and, because it is also pervasive, would not have recognised it as such had I not come in contact with the child within me who appeared late in my life waiting to tell me secrets. She approached me very hesitantly speaking to me in an inarticulate way, but she took me by the hand and she led me into a territory that I had been avoiding all my life because it frightened me. Yet I had to go there. I could not keep on turning my back, for it was my territory. It was my very own territory. It was the place that I have attempted to forget so many years ago, the same place where I had abandoned the child that I once was. There she had to stay alone with her knowledge waiting until someone would come at last to listen to her and to believe her. Now I am standing at an open door, ill-prepared, filled with all the adult's fear of the darkness and malice of the past, but I could not bring myself to close the door and leave that child alone again until my death. Instead, I made a decision: that was to change my life profoundly. To let the child lead me. To put my trust in this nearly autistic being who has survived the isolation of decades." - Alice Miller.
As expected of a Shinkai film, it's a visual and auditory feast and some of his best work in those regards. Unfortunately, it's held back by a bit of a scrappy narrative and some lazy & underdeveloped character writing and dynamics. Specifically, I felt there was a lack of significant development or establishment for any of the cast, with the only attempts at such coming way too late into the film, leaving most of them feeling bland but at least likeable. This could have been remedied with better utilisation of the supporting cast during the travel segments, but an unnecessary focus on 'the kindness of strangers' squanders what could have been a wonderful opportunity to actually explore Suzume's character in depth. However, the overall cohesiveness seems to feel more put together than in his previous films, even with the flaws mentioned earlier. It carries a bit more of a Disney or Ghibli sense to its tone - perhaps a sign of Shinkai further understanding and embracing his target audience of young adults and my overall feeling is that, in terms of his career, it's a bit of a 'two steps forward, one step back' moment, even if I didn't personally like it as much as some of his other works.
Nanoka Hara and An Yamane absolutely nailed their debut roles as Suzume & Gaijin's VAs, respectively, though.
Very high expectations on this, which were not fulfilled. It belongs of that kind of Japanese movies which looks for an explanation of natural disasters. The overall result is very pretentious and cumbersome, it does not deal with the background topic well, and leaves more questions than the ones it answers.
An amazing story - created by one absolutely amazing person 'Makoto Shinkai'.
Well written just outstanding film - beautiful animation and colours.
Kept you in suspense and amaze throughout the entire movie - 10/10 Will most definitely watch again.
Also amazing music soundtrack
Nooo Daijin!!! I can't T_T
A beautiful film about loss and resistance that has ramifications for the impact that the 2011 earthquake had on Japanese society, but is so rich in themes and representations that it provides different layers of readings. It is an attractive story with excellently executed animation, typical of director Makoto Shinkai, which has a depth in the characters and plot that elevates it above the good level of animated cinema. And it is already part of a trilogy of great films directed by Shinkai that demonstrate his abilities, not only formal, but also narrative.
Makoto Shinkai doesn't disappoint, as always.
while i was a bit sad about the fact that Souta spent the entire movie as a chair, i'll ignore that and still give this movie a 10/10, because the animation carries it as always, & with each movie they find a way to outdo themselves;
i really liked the road-trip aspect of this one, that was fun
the ending RADWIMPS song into the other one was beautiful, it was so worth the wait
It's got that mysteriousness of what's through this portally door? and gorgeous imagery.
The kids were enthralled, and excited!
I’m sure this movie was trying to say some other interesting things, but I don’t think it did a good job at it.
In my opinion, Weathering with you was worst than Your Name, so I didn’t know what I would find here. But I think it’s a great move and the best one of this three. Nice animation and special mention to the bso, masterpiece.
A young adult girl's journey in discovering that everything they need in life was already given, despite the loss she had when she was a young girl. From living in the past, from pain, to embracing it, so she can live in the present and face her future with happiness and fulfilment.
"If they don't wake up just give them a kiss"
As always, Makoto knows how to bring love to this life.
Once again, Makoto Shinkai made something that I can say-
Yes, you're brilliant and I love how you made it
Makoto Shinkai's film has this perspective of going against the nature for the sake of love.And it always ends in a balanced way.Moreover, the landscapes from the real world, the fantasy building in it, the characters and their stories, the other elements-all makes it worthwhile.Specially, the soundtrack hangs in your mind for a long time.Radwimps and the film always end up into a perfect combination.And in the end,wins the heart of the audience.
It's just the praise for Makoto Shinkai's work.But about this one,it approached slowly but the landscapes and the songs made it going.And the voice for the cat Daijin was extremely cute and heartwarming.In and all,compared to other works of Shinkai,it lacks a bit as the expectations were much higher for the three years wait.But it didn't disappoint . Rather took my heart as always.
The fantasy adventure parts were enjoyable but the road trip and the quiet parts were a chore to get through. I was seriously bored at times (pretty much the whole middle part). I wish they focused more on the adventure and fantasy elements. So many unnecessary characters too, they just stall the adventure. Although, because of all that fooling around Suzume really feels like a fleshed out character. Beautiful score and even more beautiful animation. The cat was cool. The chair was unnecessary but memorable. Way too long. The sheer thought of the real life catastrophe had me shed a tear but it was completely unrelated to the story, more the song that played at the end.
What a cute movie! I really enjoyed it. Really interesting story, even though some things one kind of made sense and then did make sense, then didn’t anymore. Still very sweet in itself sad way.
With Shinkai's last two movies (Weathering with You, and this one), I got this uncomfortable feeling that there was some intention to recreate the Your Name success formula. In this case, the main character, Suzume, feels like a little plain character from the very beginning, falling in love with some strange guy on the street (?) and making weird decisions like following him to a ruins outside the town (???). In my country, at most, this plot could end very, very badly, and doesn't make sense to include this kind of dangerous situation in a movie that could influence teenagers to put themselves in such danger.
Also, we have this weird cliché of the director to make relationships between underage teenagers and a mature partner.
Having said that, the love (and the drama) that develops between the two characters feels a bit forced, not natural, as it flows in the Miyazaki's movies (in general). Don't get me wrong, it's a good movie (in general) with impressive scenes and with interesting lore, but it could be more if the director got away from repeating himself.
This movie is all over the place. There are so many tonal swings that don’t feel cohesive, it feels like a bunch of different movies slapped together. One moment it wants to be an epic action/adventure film, other parts feel specifically targeted at children or melodramatic teens. The pacing of this movie would be vastly improved by making a more focussed story. I also don’t like how this incorporates the overused ‘let’s turn people into an animal/object’ trope, the way it’s used here feels unnecessary to the plot. These characters are good enough by themselves, so there’s no need to add a gimmick like that. The story is a metaphor for the disaster that struck Japan on 3/11, it works decently on an emotional level while sometimes going a little too much into cheesy territory. It’s not a movie where the story alone carries it to the finish line. Luckily the set pieces are pretty great, and the animation is unquestionably attention grabbing, so that often gets the job done. The score is also pretty fantastic, despite musically being as all over the place as the story. It’s a mild recommendation, but not a must see.
5.5/10
Makoto Shinkai’s visuals pleasuring masterpiece and the soundtrack is :fire::heart_eyes:
What a wonderful movie and so amazing to see it in the cinema, an amazing tribute to 3/11 and such a tragic story.
Japanese anime movies are like cat videos: every time I see one, I realize I like them less than I thought I did.
This movie was done by the same team that did that one about the Weather and that one about the Name, so if you liked those you'll probably like this one about as much as I didn't care for any of them.
This story about a girl who falls in love with a kiddie chair that comes to life (I'm not even kidding, at first he won't let her sit on him but then he comes around) while they chase an influencer cat feels more like an anthology series of shorts that goes off the rails at the end.
I can't believe I was able to see this in the cinema. First time I've seen a Japanese and even anime movie shown here. Easy 10 for me. Great story, beautiful animation, and music. Likable characters. The story is quite different from what I expected after the trailers and is like many other Japanese movies rooted in tragedies. There is a lot of sadness, but also a lot of beauty.
Possibly Makoto Shinkai’s masterpiece, and he already had a couple films in contention.
Absolutely gorgeous and quite touching.
What a wonderful story! Besides that, the animations and visuals are the best I've ever seen!
visually stunning, audibly breathtaking, i was completely enraptured. i just know when i hear this score again it’ll be just like walking through suzume’s door ;-;
My god... This movie is absolute trash, the plot is full of holes, the characters are plot device and the relationship between characters is so bland and lame... Nothing in this movie except the animation worth it. Yeah, right, the visuals are great but nothing in the films works is very meh to me.
A curious theory to explain the earthquakes in the Japanese archipelago.
The animation, as expected, is phenomenal. I found the first half very entertaining with a quick pace. The second half comes to a screeching halt, and I didn't enjoy this section as much. Though I think Shinkai has been reusing certain tropes in his last few movies, I think this tackles a different theme, and the very ending does a good job of driving it all home. Because it tried to approach his focus on nature in a different way, I appreciate it as it serves as sort of a culmination of iterations of him trying to find the perfect messaging.
Rated a Connor 0, normal 6.4
Animation is good. The story was hard to get at first but the ending sums it up. Maybe some will need to research after to understand it. Anyways, it was just good but not as good as Your Name. I think there is a lot to unpack but was not able to. Like it was hard to understand the symbolism and connections between those for me to be able to get into the story itself.
might want to read this to understand the movie deeper: https://screenrant.com/suzume-ending-explained/
Shout by AlexVIP OG 12BlockedParent2023-03-11T16:17:36Z
It's been exactly 12 years since the Tôhoku earthquake and tsunami and I can hardly imagine how devastating a tragedy that has been. I can also only imagine how it would've been seeing this movie in a Japanese cinema all these years later, maybe even with ppl that were the age of Suzume when all this happened back then...
As someone not from Japan that was not involved in the catastrophe 12 years ago, this is a beautifully moving work that tries to express and process a national trauma in its own way and I think it succeeded at that. One of Shinkai's best work and very well worth a watch.