Introduction
Ohayo, fellow adventurers! After a long break from reviewing new animated movies, Blaziker is back for another adventure! And boy, this is an animated movie I had been very looking forward to ever since its teaser last year, but after a while, it finally has arrived. The long-awaited third movie in the unofficial Makoto Shinkai trilogy, Suzume!
Also known as Suzume no Tojimari and the final movie in the Makoto Shinkai trilogy, a young girl named Suzume helps a stranger to close doors from other dimensions that are releasing disasters to Japan, but as more of these doors appeared across Japan, she must embark on the adventure with the stranger to close all doors and prevent any impeding disaster from happening in Japan, whatever that might be.
For a long time, I had been a huge Makoto Shinkai fan, and so does the majority of Singapore’s anime community. I remember memories of being jam-packed during my screenings of Your Name and Weathering with You, which would often sell out within hours after the release of the theatre tickets. Personally, Your Name is a masterpiece and Weathering with You is still great despite being an overall disappointment. With Suzume enjoying rave reviews and high box office earnings from the Japanese community, will Suzume continue to exceed its high expectations? Stay tuned to find out!
Key Information
- Director: Makoto Shinkai
- Animation Studio: Comix Wave Films
- Country of Origin: Japan
- Rating: PG
- Release Date: 9 March 2023 (In Singapore theatres)
Trailer
The Review
Story and Characters
Rather than focusing on a main romantic plot like in Shinkai’s previous two movies, the focus for Suzume is on explorations to abandoned places across Japan, while combining the Japanese myth about the Namazu, a mythical underground catfish (on in this case, a giant worm) that is believed to have caused earthquakes across Japan. This emphasizes more of the human elements of Suzume and Souta (in his chair form after Daijin, the cat that broke out of its keystone cursed him) encountering with new folks on their adventure during their pursuit of Daijin, which lowers the staleness of familiar elements from Shinkai’s two previous movies.
Speaking of human stories, the first half of the movie felt like a warm hug as it starts on a comforting note, with some tension as the “worms” began their rampage in various abandoned places across Japan. However, once we reach the second half, the emotions flipped, and we get a different vibe that makes every moment stand out. What floored me was the balance being serious and comedic moments throughout the movie, as well as the even pacing throughout the two-hour runtime, especially since the movie pays tribute to previous disasters Japan faced as well as the effects these disasters had caused to its victims. That was what kept me in my seat, because even though it was a fans’ screening, I enjoyed this polished writing from Shinkai and his team.
It is also worth mentioning that the titular Suzume might be one of the most mature and well-developed characters in the Makoto Shinkai trilogy, maybe even more than Your Name’s Mitsuha. Being an ordinary high school student dragged into Souta’s door-closing mission, Mitsuha turned out to be more than just that, as her motivations and backstory set her apart from other Shinkai characters. In fact, I say her character development could be one of the better character developments for any animated movie for the past few years, which goes to show the high quality of the writing in this movie.
Besides Suzume, Souta (whether in his human or in his chair form) had his moments and motivations as the door closer entrusted to prevent disasters from opened doors occurring, and I like how Shinkai decided not to play it straight and provide a straight-up relationship build-up between him and Suzume. Yes, there was some romantic foreplay, but I am glad Shinkai kept the focus on the door closing and emotional aspects of the movie. They both played off very well, maybe even better than Mitsuha and Taki from Your Name, which has to be unprecedented.
In fact, there are so many positives about the writing and characters, that I could go on and explained more about them, but we have to move on to the animation. All I can say is that Suzume might have one of my most favourite scripts of any movie this year so far.
Animation
If there is one element of any Makoto Shinkai movie that I am looking forward, it has to be the animation. Shinkai and his team at Comix Wave always put in an effort to showcase realistic 2D animation, with some of the best background animation of any animated movie, even compared to those by the animation giants like Pixar and DreamWorks. Unsurprisingly, that is the case for Suzume.
I don’t think we need an introduction to the background designs and animation in Suzume, because let’s face it, this is the hallmark of Shinkai’s animation style, playing around the realism of the backgrounds with the fantasy elements of the “worms” and the magic of the door closing rituals. Using superb contrast of colours, whether to depict the time of day or the dark grisly “worms”, is a bonus, which should not surprise given Hayao Miyazaki’s Kiki’s Delivery Service is one of the inspirations behind this art style.
However, while the Shinkai style should be familiar with most moviegoers that had witnessed his previous two movies, what is new this time round has to be the blend between Shinkai’s 2D style with some 3D animation. When chair-form Souta “moves” around to chase after Daijin, it looks as if it leapt out from the screen to real life, and this was done near effortlessly. We have now seen this blend of 2D and 3D before with the rise of stylised CG animation, such as my most favourite animated movie of 2021, Belle, and this bodes well for the industry.
Besides the background animation, character movements and the contrast of colours used in the animation, I also enjoyed the simplistic nature of the animation designs in the movie as they enhance the story even further. Not every movie needs to have complicated animation designs to be successful, and Suzume captures this essence well, or maybe it was because I like simple but effective animation more than the CG ones.
For any anime movie, animation quality is key to the success of the movie, and to say Shinkai and his team delivered once again is an understatement. I am honestly at a loss for words for how much Shinkai and his team improved on what was already an excellent animation style they perfected in Your Name.
Soundtrack, Other Elements and Level of Enjoyment
For those expecting a lot of Radwimps songs in the Suzume soundtrack, I have some bad news: there are not a lot of Radwimps songs in the soundtrack. The good news, however, is that the songs they composed are of the same high quality as the soundtracks they worked on for Your Name and Weathering with You.
“Suzume”, the theme song with Toaka, had this ethereal feel that differs from the previous Radwimps songs in Shinkai’s previous movies, and that was what makes this song stand out. Not only is this a great animated movie song, but the vocals match the slow, but melodic feel the movie was going for. And don’t worry, Radwimps got you covered with the ending song “Kanata Haluka”, which is as entrancing as their other songs, even if it is on a slower side than usual. That is not to take away the rest of the excellent music score Radwimps composed, which goes to show how a good soundtrack can make or break an animated movie.
Also, this is the first Makoto Shinkai movie with an UltraWide resolution (2.39:1) and when I saw it at a fans’ screening, I was wondering whether I will get used to that resolution. However, once I saw through the wide shots throughout the movie, I understood and appreciated that resolution change.
But enough talk. How about my level of enjoyment during my screening of Suzume? To provide context, I watched Suzume one week before its actual release in Singapore as part of a fans’ screening, so already, my excitement level went up to eleven. Still knowing I will be excited, I did not expect how much Suzume impacted me until probably the climax, and that was when I realised Makoto Shinkai had put a spell on me. Really, I felt overwhelmed with emotion as the ending credits rolled.
In other words, yes, I enjoyed a lot out of Suzume, maybe even more than The Wandering Earth 2 and Marcel: The Shell with Shoes On (two movies I covered in 2023 that I scored 5/5 for level of enjoyment).
Conclusion
Seven years ago, Makoto Shinkai released one of the best modern anime movies of all-time with Your Name, and people had been showering him and Comix Wave with accolades aplenty. I had a feeling we will get to see more of that with the release of Suzume.
Despite some very minor flaws in terms of the writing, Suzume showcased the evolution of Shinkai’s storytelling, by making each and every storyline as important as possible, with enough emotional baggage to leave a lasting impression. The animation, as per Shinkai’s specification, brings a simplistic beauty of the animation to the forefront, and the soundtrack, while lacking Radwimps songs, pack a delightful punch with some of the best usage of needle drops for any animated movie ever.
Whether this is as good as Your Name is up for debate, but until then, Suzume is the first animated movie of 2023 to get the full 20/20 from me. Not only is this a must-watch, but the Makoto Shinkai trilogy has to be one of the best animated movie series, and I am glad he and Comix Wave ended the trilogy on a very high note!
Thank you so much for reading this review. Now that we got ourselves strapped in into the good stuff, why don’t we take a step back and go through a couple more movies? I will see in the second Animated Movie Rundown of 2023, and until then, k thanks bye!
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Movie Rating
