Ever since I saw “Your Name” and “Weathering With You” a few years ago, I figured that I would soon get around to watching “Suzume” next, the third and final film in director Makoto Shinkai’s Disaster Trilogy. It was simply a matter of finding the time to do so. How difficult could that truly be?
It’s been two years since, and only now have I finally gotten around to watching it. I’m not quite sure why it took me so long to sit down and see the movie, especially since I’ve really wanted to for a while. Perhaps I got distracted by other movies or shows to watch, or it simply dropped down in my list of priorities over time. However, as my final column for TSL was on the horizon, I decided that now was the perfect time to finally take a look at Shinkai’s third installment in his trilogy.
So, after all these years of procrastination, was it worth it?
“Suzume” follows the titular character, a high school girl living with her aunt, who suddenly finds herself entangled in a high-stakes adventure with an aloof stranger named Souta Munakata. Together, they must travel across Japan to seal mysterious doors that contain a massive supernatural worm threatening to trigger cataclysmic earthquakes throughout the country.
The situation takes an even more bizarre turn when Souta is cursed and turns into a three-legged chair. While cynical viewers might assume this was the filmmakers’ desperate attempt to give this film a quirky twist, the chair actually serves as the emotional core of the entire movie. Not only is this chair possessed by Souta — the man Suzume eventually grows attached to — but also relates to Suzume’s childhood, since this chair was built by her mother before her life was taken by a devastating earthquake. This one unassuming chair encapsulates two important people in Suzume’s life, connecting her past to her future. Despite sounding like such a silly concept, I have to give props to the filmmakers for making this idea work.
Beyond her mother and Souta, Suzume also forms bonds with different strangers across Japan, from a girl named Chika in Ehime to her new friend Serizawa in Tokyo. While most of them do not play a major role in the overall story, they are important because they are anchored in their respective locations. They help make each stop in Japan more than just a checkpoint for the protagonists to visit. The stakes are then raised once more when, at each stop, the worm emerges from the door — the audience is gripped, because they wouldn’t want to see these characters fall victim to the disaster the worm could potentially unleash.
Speaking of stakes, the movie does a great job of getting the audience genuinely invested. In the beginning, we see the consequences of letting the worm out of its door: Citizens are initially unaware of what is truly happening, until the ground shakes hard beneath them and they are struck by collateral damage. The only way to prevent this carnage is to seal the door shut with a chant and a key before the worm comes crashing down onto the ground. Even though the worm is stopped before it can wreak havoc on the city, the fear and tension that arises upon seeing it echoes throughout the movie. The audience has seen what this worm is capable of at the start, and its sheer scale and overwhelming presence do a lot to sell it as a proper threat.
For all that it does right, “Suzume” follows many similar story beats from Shinkai’s previous two films. All three movies follow a boy and a girl as they develop a relationship, with supernatural disasters acting as the major threat to their story. Souta’s transformation into the chair can be seen as a parallel to the body-swapping plot that occurs in “Your Name.” Souta himself even bears many similarities to Hina from “Weathering With You,” since they are both connected to the ongoing disasters and forced to sacrifice themselves to prevent them. Even Makoto Shinkai himself seemed to take note of his clichés. He had originally planned to center the movie around a lesbian relationship, because he believed that he had done “everything that [he] possibly could in terms of ‘boy and girl.’” However, this was shot down by his producer.
Personally, I didn’t find these recurring tropes to be as egregious as others did. While they are definitely noticeable, they never truly bothered me because, in the end, the storyline was still well-executed. Having a girl as the main protagonist rather than a boy also helps make “Suzume” stand out from the last two movies.
“Suzume” is a beautifully-made film, and I look forward to seeing what Shinkai is working on next. I don’t regret not watching this movie sooner. I’m just glad that I’ve finally gotten around to it. I wish I could continue this column for longer, but I am happy that I got to use this opportunity to fulfill an old promise I made to myself all those years ago. As I close out both this review and my column, it is only fitting that I tackle a movie revolving around sealing doors for good.
Joon Kim PO ’26 doesn’t have a preference between subs or dubs in anime and would rather stay away from the debate. Sometimes, he will watch the subbed version. Other times, he’s in the mood to watch with a dub.
Facebook Comments