September 5, 2024 1:00 pm
It's not a Ghibli movie, but it's no less striking and touching.
Suzume became one of the highest-grossing Japanese anime films in history, just like the two previous works by Japanese director and animator Makoto Shinkai, Your Name and Weathering with You. At the same time, Suzume inherited not only the box office success, but also his signature directorial style and favorite themes.
In Your Name and Weathering with You, Shinkai reflected on the topic of a great national tragedy – the 2011 earthquake that killed about 20,000 people in Japan. In Suzume, however, the director eschews metaphor and speaks about this trauma as openly as possible.
What is Suzume About?
Suzume lives in a small town on the island of Kyushu. One morning she meets a young man named Souta who is looking for a certain door. Unable to stop thinking about the mysterious man, Suzume finds the door herself, and along with it, a cat figurine that turns into a real cat.
Meanwhile, a strange creature in the shape of a worm starts crawling through the door, and Souta, who arrives in time, closes it with a magic amulet.
It turns out that Souta travels all over Japan closing magic doors that lead to a dimension where a worm lives that causes earthquakes. The cat Suzume freed threatens to open other doors because the girl does not want to be friends with him. Suzume and her new acquaintance have to set out across the country in pursuit of the cat.
Suzume is Reminiscent of Studio Ghibli Films
Shinkai's directing style, with its attention to detail, extremely realistic animation, emotional music, and unusual plot solutions, is in many ways reminiscent of the work of the famous Studio Ghibli's Hayao Miyazaki, and Suzume is probably the closest in spirit to it.
As in many of Miyazaki's animated films, a girl and a young man unite to fight evil, and the relationship between them never reaches a romantic level.
Suzume is a Touching Story of Overcoming Trauma
Shinkai uses the pursuit of an unexpectedly resurrected cat as an excuse to travel across Japan, where the characters encounter abandoned and once vibrant places. To close the door to another dimension, it is not enough to simply use an amulet – you have to remember all the people who once lived in that place, leaving their images in the collective memory.
Suzume has personally experienced earthquakes, from which she tries to save all Japanese people by closing the magic doors. And here Shinkai speaks directly about the tragedy of 2011, which predetermined the whole further life of the main character.
According to the director, the memory of it should be preserved, but not lived. Suzume's great adventure is a kind of processing of the trauma, as a result of which she finally comes to terms with her past.
Where to Watch Suzume?
Suzume is available to watch on Netflix and Crunchyroll.
It's not a Ghibli movie, but it's no less striking and touching.
Suzume became one of the highest-grossing Japanese anime films in history, just like the two previous works by Japanese director and animator Makoto Shinkai, Your Name and Weathering with You. At the same time, Suzume inherited not only the box office success, but also his signature directorial style and favorite themes.
In Your Name and Weathering with You, Shinkai reflected on the topic of a great national tragedy – the 2011 earthquake that killed about 20,000 people in Japan. In Suzume, however, the director eschews metaphor and speaks about this trauma as openly as possible.
What is Suzume About?
Suzume lives in a small town on the island of Kyushu. One morning she meets a young man named Souta who is looking for a certain door. Unable to stop thinking about the mysterious man, Suzume finds the door herself, and along with it, a cat figurine that turns into a real cat.
Meanwhile, a strange creature in the shape of a worm starts crawling through the door, and Souta, who arrives in time, closes it with a magic amulet.
It turns out that Souta travels all over Japan closing magic doors that lead to a dimension where a worm lives that causes earthquakes. The cat Suzume freed threatens to open other doors because the girl does not want to be friends with him. Suzume and her new acquaintance have to set out across the country in pursuit of the cat.
Suzume is Reminiscent of Studio Ghibli Films
Shinkai's directing style, with its attention to detail, extremely realistic animation, emotional music, and unusual plot solutions, is in many ways reminiscent of the work of the famous Studio Ghibli's Hayao Miyazaki, and Suzume is probably the closest in spirit to it.
As in many of Miyazaki's animated films, a girl and a young man unite to fight evil, and the relationship between them never reaches a romantic level.
Suzume is a Touching Story of Overcoming Trauma
Shinkai uses the pursuit of an unexpectedly resurrected cat as an excuse to travel across Japan, where the characters encounter abandoned and once vibrant places. To close the door to another dimension, it is not enough to simply use an amulet – you have to remember all the people who once lived in that place, leaving their images in the collective memory.
Suzume has personally experienced earthquakes, from which she tries to save all Japanese people by closing the magic doors. And here Shinkai speaks directly about the tragedy of 2011, which predetermined the whole further life of the main character.
According to the director, the memory of it should be preserved, but not lived. Suzume's great adventure is a kind of processing of the trauma, as a result of which she finally comes to terms with her past.
Where to Watch Suzume?
Suzume is available to watch on Netflix and Crunchyroll.
