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lead=yes is a 2022 Japanese anime coming-of-age Fantasy film adventure film written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. The third and final installment of Shinkai's disaster trilogy, following Your Name (2016) and Weathering with You (2019), the film follows 17-year-old high school girl Suzume Iwato and young stranger Souta Munakata, who work together to prevent a series of earthquakes across Japan by sealing doors from the colossal, supernatural worm that causes earthquakes after being released.
Produced by CoMix Wave Films, it features the voices of Nanoka Hara and Hokuto Matsumura, with character designs by Masayoshi Tanaka, animation direction by Kenichi Tsuchiya, art direction by Takumi Tanji, and its musical score was composed by Radwimps and Kazuma Jinnouchi, making it Shinkai's third collaboration with Tanaka and Radwimps. The film began production in early 2020, eventually being announced as completed by October 2022. Its themes were inspired by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. A novel adaptation, also written by Shinkai, and a manga series illustrated by Denki Amashima both debuted prior to the film's release.
Suzume first premiered in IMAX in Japan on November 7, 2022, followed by a theatrical release by Toho on November 11. It received largely positive reviews from critics, with praise directed towards the characters, animation, visuals, music, and emotional story. The film grossed over million worldwide, making it the fourth highest-grossing Japanese film of all time as well as the fourth highest-grossing film of 2022 in Japan. Among its numerous accolades, the film was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 81st Golden Globe Awards and received seven nominations at the 51st Annie Awards.
During lunch, Suzume notices a huge column of smoke from the location of the abandoned resort, which no one else can see. She returns there and finds the man from earlier struggling to close the door through which the smoke is escaping. Suzume helps him lock the door with an old key. The smoke disappears, but not before causing earthquake damage to the town.
Suzume takes the injured man, Souta Munakata, to her home. He explains that he is a "Closer" and must locate and lock specific doors in abandoned places throughout Japan to prevent a supernatural "worm" from being released and causing earthquakes. As they talk, the cat from the resort appears and turns Souta into the chair he was sitting on. Souta, now an animated three-legged chair, chases the cat onto a ferry headed for Ehime Prefecture, with Suzume following. Souta tells Suzume that the cat is a "keystone", and that the worm was released after the keystone's removal from the resort door.
Upon reaching Ehime, Suzume and Souta find social media posts from locals, who have photographed and named the cat "Daijin". They locate the worm again and close the door it is escaping from in an abandoned school. Suzume and Souta hitch a ride to Kobe, and Daijin leads them to an abandoned amusement park, where they stop the worm from emerging again through a Ferris wheel gondola. Souta explains that the portal within the doors leads to the Ever-After, where souls go after death.
After tracking Daijin to Tokyo, Souta asks Suzume to take them to his apartment. He explains the legend of Namazu, and that he is the last descendant of a family that, for generations, had been responsible for locking doors which lead to the Ever-After. Souta speaks of two keystones that seal the worm: the western keystone has become Daijin, while the location of the eastern keystone is unknown. He warns that if the worm tries to emerge in Tokyo, it could cause damage similar to the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. Suzume notices the worm emerging again, and the two head towards it. Daijin reappears and reveals that he has passed on his function as keystone to Souta. Souta suddenly turns into the new keystone and Suzume reluctantly uses him to seal the worm.
Awakening at a shrine housing the Tokyo gate, Suzume sees Souta within the Ever-After but is unable to enter. Suzume visits Souta's grandfather Hitsujirō at the hospital, hoping to discover how to rescue Souta. Hitsujirō explains that Suzume's ability to see the worm and the Ever-After through the doors means that at some point in her life she entered the realm through one such door. Moreover, the doorway she first used is the only place where she can re-enter the Ever-After.
Suzume runs into Souta's friend Tomoya Serizawa, who is looking for him, and Tamaki, who wants to take her back home to Kyushu. She instead convinces Tomoya to drive her and Tamaki to her childhood hometown in Tōhoku, which was destroyed in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that also killed her mother. Suzume believes she will find her door there. At a rest stop along the way, Suzume and Tamaki get into an argument, and she discovers that her aunt is possessed by Sadaijin, the eastern keystone, who now accompanies them. They reach the ruins of Suzume's old house, where Suzume finds the door and enters it with Daijin and Sadaijin. Inside the Ever-After, Sadaijin distracts the worm, while Suzume awakens Souta, who regains his human form. Realizing the consequences of his freedom, Daijin reverts himself to being the western keystone. Suzume and Souta use him and Sadaijin to imprison the worm again in the Ever-After.
Afterwards, Suzume sees a young girl in the Ever-After with them. She realizes the young girl is herself, from 12 years ago, and that the younger girl mistook her older self to be her mother. Suzume gives her young self the chair that had been Souta's body, built by her mother as a childhood birthday present. The young Suzume leaves the Ever-After 12 years in the past, to be taken in by Tamaki. Souta and Suzume also leave the Ever-After in the present. Souta returns to Tokyo and Suzume and Tamaki return to Kyushu.
A year passes and while biking to school, Suzume unexpectedly encounters Souta again, at the same location where they first met.
| Iwato Suzume | Nanoka Hara Akari Miura (young) | Nichole Sakura Bennet Hetrick (young) |
| Munakata Sōta | Hokuto Matsumura | Josh Keaton |
| Iwato Tamaki | Eri Fukatsu | Jennifer Sun Bell |
| Okabe Minoru | Shota Sometani | Roger Craig Smith |
| Ninomiya Rumi | Sairi Ito | Bennett Abara |
| Amabe Chika | Rosalie Chiang | |
| Iwato Tsubame | Kana Hanazawa | Allegra Clark |
| Munakata Hitsujirō | Matsumoto Hakuō II | Cam Clarke |
| Serizawa Tomoya | Ryunosuke Kamiki | Joe Zieja |
| ダイジン | Ann Yamane | Lena Josephine Marano |
| ミキ | Aimi | Mela Lee |
The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami served as an influence for the themes in the film. While the Tiamat comet in Your Name (2016) and the concept of Weathering with You (2019) were ideas influenced by the natural disaster, Shinkai felt that he should "express the impact he felt through the earthquake and tsunami, instead of continuing to depict it as a metaphor." He feared that people's memories of the disaster start to become "hazy" over time, and by depicting the earthquake and tsunami in his film or novel, he could also share his memories with teens who were unaware of the disaster. Shinkai also cited Kiki's Delivery Service, , and Haruki Murakami's novel Kafka on the Shore and short story as influences for the film.
Shinkai and his staff planned the project from January to March 2020. They started developing the film's script in April, which is when the Japanese government declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In an interview with TV Asahi, Shinkai mentioned that the pandemic had a less tangible effect on the film's production. However, he said that "the mood of the times is indelibly etched into the script", adding that the film will have a post-apocalyptic theme. Souta turning into a chair was in reference to Shinkai feeling trapped during the COVID-19 curbs. After finishing the script in August, the storyboards were drafted from September 2020 to December 2021, while the production of the animation started in April 2021. The film was officially unveiled during a press conference on December 15, 2021. The film's staff includes Masayoshi Tanaka as the character designer, Kenichi Tsuchiya as the animation director, and Takumi Tanji as the art director. CoMix Wave Films and Story Inc. were revealed as the film's producers. In October 2022, Shinkai announced that production on the film was completed.
Several bonus items were given to filmgoers in Japan. A booklet, titled Shinkai Makoto Hon, was the first to be distributed, and had a print run of 3 million copies. The booklet contained the original proposals for Suzume, Your Name, and Weathering with You, and interviews with Shinkai, Hara, and Matsumura. A second booklet, Shinkai Makoto Hon 2, was distributed beginning on December 3, with a print run of 1.5 million copies. A spin-off novel written by Shinkai, subtitled Tamaki-san no Monogatari, was given starting on December 24. A second novel, Serizawa no Monogatari, was distributed starting on January 28, 2023. McDonald's Japan released a Happy Meal set that includes a spin-off picture book, titled "Suzume and the Chair", which tells an original story written by Shinkai and illustrated by Senbon Umishima. Other partners for the film include , Lawson, and KDDI's au. Additionally, a promotional campaign was held involving one local company from each of the 47 prefectures of Japan. The film also had a 20-page special feature in the #50/2022 issue of Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine.
In Asia, the film began screening on March 2, 2023, in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau; March 8 in Indonesia, the Philippines, and South Korea; March 9 in Malaysia and Singapore; March 10 in Vietnam; March 16 in Brunei; March 24 in China; April 13 in Thailand; and April 21 in India. Singapore-based distributor Encore Films handled distribution in Southeast Asia, with the Philippines and Thailand releases co-distributed with Warner Bros. Pictures.
In May 2022, Crunchyroll, Sony Pictures, and Wild Bunch International acquired the film's global distribution rights. Crunchyroll handled distribution in North America and partnered with Sony Pictures Releasing in territories outside of Asia under the Sony Pictures Releasing International banner, while Sony and Wild Bunch co-distributed in Europe. A special screening for the film was held on March 1, 2023, at the BFI Southbank in London, with Shinkai himself attending the event. The film had its North American premiere at the New York International Children's Film Festival on March 5. Another special screening was held on April 21, 2023, at PVR Cinemas Citi Mall in Mumbai, which Shinkai attended to celebrate the premiere of the film in Japanese and in the Hindi dub in India. He interacted with media outlets along with his overseas fans and attended a Q&A session. He also participated in a signing event along with Denki Amashima, the illustrator for the manga adaptation. This was his second visit to India; he previously visited the country during the premiere of his film Weathering With You in 2019.
Suzume began its general screening on April 12, 2023, in France, Malta, and Switzerland; April 13 in Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Brazil, Central America, Chile, Denmark, Ecuador, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Slovakia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Venezuela; April 14 in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, Gibraltar, Ireland, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Southern Africa, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States; April 20 in Colombia and Portugal; April 21 in Bulgaria, Finland, Poland, and Romania; April 27 in Italy, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates; April 30 in Iceland; May 25 in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Albania; and May 26 in Czech Republic and Madagascar.
In Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, an English-language dubbing was screened along with the original Japanese version.
Internationally, Crunchyroll began streaming the film on November 16, 2023. It was followed by a Blu-ray and DVD release in North America on March 12, 2024, and in the United Kingdom on April 1. The film was also released on Netflix on April 5 in selected countries.
In China, the film topped the box office and grossed million in its opening weekend. It earned million within its first ten days. It surpassed the box office of Your Name and became the highest-grossing Japanese film in the country. Suzume ultimately grossed million, becoming the second-highest-grossing foreign film of 2023.
In South Korea, the film debuted with million in its opening weekend, topping the box office. It was the highest-grossing film for 35 consecutive days after its release, setting a record second only to Avatar (2009). By April 14, 2023, the film grossed million and had attracted a total of over 4.48 million viewers, surpassing The First Slam Dunk (2022) to become the highest-grossing and most-watched Japanese film in the country. Suzume grossed million, ranking second among the highest-grossing foreign films of 2023. It also became the first Japanese film to have sold over 5 million tickets.
In the United States, the film was released alongside Renfield, The Pope's Exorcist, Mafia Mamma and Sweetwater, and was projected to gross million from 2,170 theaters in its opening weekend. It made million on its first day, as well as from Thursday preview screenings. The film went to debut on million in its opening weekend, finishing seventh at the box office behind , Renfield, , Air and The Super Mario Bros. Movie. By May 2023, Suzume earned million at the box office.
On Japanese review site Filmarks, Suzume received an average rating of 4.00/5 based on 6,585 user reviews, placing second in its first-day satisfaction ranking. Matt Schley of The Japan Times gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, and called it "the director's most satisfying work yet." He praised the art and animation, and while he described some of the dialogue as "cliche or cringe-worthy", he also felt that the film was "a bit more mature" than Shinkai's past films. Schley also found the film's climax "somewhat disturbing", and said that it might divide viewers on whether Shinkai "earns" it. Richard Eisenbeis, writing for Anime News Network, graded the film "A", praising the story, characters, animation, and music, but found the plot structure to be similar to Your Name and Weathering with You, making the film "more predictable." Eisenbeis also criticized the appearance of a creature that Suzume encountered in Tokyo, describing it as "a cheap CG effect placed over the otherwise quality animation and blended poorly." Gautam Sunder of The Hindu praised Shinkai's "mastery over light and shadows", character writing, humour, and references to older animated films, while conceding that it could not match "the raw beauty of The Garden of Words or the dramatic beats of Your Name".
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| Best Anime Song | (by Radwimps featuring Toaka) | |||||
| Best Movie: Disc Release | Suzume | |||||
| Best FX – Feature | ||||||
| Best Character Animation – Feature | ||||||
| Best Music – Feature | Radwimps and Kazuma Jinnouchi | |||||
| Best Storyboarding – Feature | ||||||
| Best Voice Acting – Feature | (as Souta Munakata) | |||||
| Best Writing – Feature | ||||||
| Best Anime Song | (by Radwimps featuring Toaka) | |||||
| Best Score | Radwimps and Kazuma Jinnouchi | |||||
| Best Voice Artist Performance (Spanish) | (as Suzume Iwato) | |||||
| Best Voice Artist Performance (German) | (as Suzume Iwato) | |||||
| Best Voice Artist Performance (French) | (as Suzume Iwato) | |||||
! scope="row" rowspan="2" | Best Foreign Language Film | Suzume | ||||
| Best Animated Film | Suzume | |||||
| Outstanding Achievement in Music | Radwimps and Kazuma Jinnouchi | |||||
| Ōfuji Noburō Award | Suzume | |||||
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