Review of Suzume

Here I am after viewing Shinkai Makoto’s latest masterclass and wondering just how high he can continue to push the bar. As soon as I think he’s peaked he just shifts into a new gear and elevates this medium. Suzume is the best Shinkai project since Kimi no na wa and it may be the closest he’ll ever get to that type of magic again. While it may not be as strongly written as Kimi no na wa, I do think it’s quite a bit better than his last work, Tenki no Ko. And I believe Suzume is an improvement over its predecessors in many regards.Particularly the fact that it gripped me from the very beginning of the film. I think one criticism you could make about his last works is that they take a while to get going and then hit that emotional climax with a RADWIMPS banger and kinda slowly burn out as the film reaches the credits. Suzume instantly launches you into the action and keeps it going from start to finish with a few moments of laughter here and there. I was locked into the big screen from beginning to end on this one and that’s a testament to its quality.

Character wise I think this movie was probably his best “save the world” style picture yet. The characters were all pretty entertaining and brought something to the table plot wise from side character to MC. The titular character Suzume is probably his best MC yet as well. Whereas the main girls in the last couple of movies felt like plot devices disguised as characters, Suzume feels like an actual person and you want to root for her. The supporting cast, particularly her Aunt were amazing too. I almost liked her more than Suzume. Definitely best girl. The main male character felt a little bland at times, I would have liked to have seen a little more of his backstory and to have him fleshed out, but the limited run time made that somewhat difficult. Funny enough, his best friend who was supposed to be more of a comedy relief character ended up being better than him as a character with less screen time.

I’ve got a few nitpicks writing wise that did not really hamper my enjoyment too much, but should be noted. For starters, I found the romance subplot that inevitably has to be in every Shinkai movie to be really weird and forced in this one. The two characters have only been with each other for a couple of days and one is just madly in love? It just felt like a token romantic subplot for the sake of doing it. In the previous Shinkai films, despite their limited run times they usually take place over longer stretches of time, so when romance comes up it makes sense. Did not at all here. I also am a little tired of the save Japan from natural disaster trope that he’s been on for the past few films and I would really like to see him go back to his more grounded storytelling approach. The gimmick in this one was definitely way better than TnK, but the way it was solved was a little stupid in my opinion. Again, for me these are minor criticisms as I rate purely on enjoyment and the sense of wonder that an anime can provide and this one had a lot of it.

As I said before, technically these projects just keep getting better and better. Whether it’s the rotoscope style camera movements, the character models, the set pieces, etc.,etc. Shinkai just keeps getting better and better. You can tell he’s poached a lot of the top talent from Ghibli and other studios and it seems like the Avengers of the animation medium come together and help him with these projects. I am consistently in awe when watching these films in cinemas.

Now, everyone knows you can’t evaluate a Shinkai project without talking about the RADWIMPS soundtrack. RADWIMPS of course were on this one, but I didn’t feel that same sense of magic with the OST here that I felt with TnK and Kimi no na wa. Admittedly, I have been listening to the album since it first dropped so maybe that took some of the magic away, and I will definitely give it another go having seen the film now. But, I felt like this one lacked the masterful insert songs like Zenzenzen, Sparkling, celebration, etc. The main theme “Suzume” is great, but it didn’t get enough play during the film unlike Nandemoniya.

I certainly hope Shinkai goes back to the more grounded style of film he used to make like 5cm, Garden of Words, etc., but this is definitely a great film that everyone needs to check out. It’s the best Shinkai project in years and it is a magical ride filled with emotional and powerful moments. I can’t wait for the collector’s BD.

Suzume gets 10 chairs out of 10.