I watched it 2 times, after the first viewing I was thinking about the Tokyo section, where Suzume is going to the hospital. That's probably the lowest point for the protagonists, and I just wanted to hug her so badly, what got me thinking. I remembered that Chika (scooter girl) hugged her when they were saying goodbye. So on the second viewing I payed more attention to this. Every time they close a portal, they have someone to lean on during/after. First Suzume helps Sote with his injured arm. They have each other, but it gets more complicated since Sota turns into a chair. Second time They have Chika to help them. And at the and of tha part she hugs her. Third time there is the lady from the bar (sorry but i forgot her name). I think shink she also hugs him after she returns from the ferris wheel. Both of these instances involved Suzume and her new friends helping each other. After things go bad in Tokyo, Suzume is completely alone, no one left to help her. People who see her comment on her not having shoes, and that her clothes are ruined. But no one knows her, and no one even tries to help. (Not sure if this is intentional commentary on city life, or just an accident) When she gets to the hospital she finds Sota's grandfather, who after some convincing tells her what she needs to do is she wants to help Sota. With that she once again was not completely alone, even if he was too sick to actually go with her. (This isn't super relevant, but the montage of her patching herself up, with her iconic theme playing, probably made her my favorite anime protagonist ever. I've seen some reviews where the called her uninteresting, which I dont get at all but I'll just return to my point) After the montage she meets with Serizawa and her aunt (who also hugs her the moment she sees her if I remember correctly). They both go with her to her original home, and at this point she gets the remaining support she needed to save Sota. Maybe most people notice this theme of helping others, and leaning on others in times of need, maybe i'm just reading too much into it, after viewing the movie 2 times, and thinking about it for week.
I think that's a great point I hadn't fully noticed before: leaning on others in times of crisis. I don't think you're reading too much into it at all, and I'd go as far as to say it's intentional. I'll definitely be on the lookout for those moments when I rewatch this film! Thank you so much for sharing, and for the feedback and support!
I remember meeting Shinkai back when I was like 10 yo after he made his first film almost fully on Photoshop, I showed him my short animations that I made using Toonboom and Micromedia Flash MX. He honestly kind of asked me to stop and I haven't made drawn or created art using that medium. Until today I wonder if the translator screwed up because he had no idea what we are talking about! don't know don't care anymore but I still appreciate him and his work.
I watched it last sunday at the cinema. It was incredible experience. I'm a fan of Shinkai's movies and Suzume was one of his best works. Music, especially main leitmotiff, was wonderful and eerie at the same time.
Big Shinkai fan. His eye for the si-fi esthetic and his voice creates a world you can feel home in. The lessons he wants us to take away resonate and connect with me. Was a fan of him since he made movies at home and on his work computer. He improves every time and delivers at a higher than expected level
My wife & I had a movie day Thursday and watched The Super Mario Bros. Movie in the morning and Suzume in the evening. We enjoyed them both and had a lot of fun with the different types of animation and storytelling. Thanks for the review and congratulations again on the success. 🙏
I loved the film. I liked some of his other works better but the film was amazing. I would love to see you do a full review of the movie. Love your videos!
Aww thank you so much! Yeah, there's an argument to be made Shinkai's other works are "better," but I appreciate the liberties he took with this title. The more we talk about it, the more I wanna do a full video! At this point it's probably only a matter of time before I give in.
I’d love to see a you do a more analytical video of this film! I think it has a lot to say about the world, humanity, Japan and most of the of all nostalgia and the power of objects, places and people.
I walked away feeling kind of underwhelmed with Your Name and I haven't seen weathering with you. so I'm hesitant to watch suzume but the themes seem cool enough to give him another chance. great video!
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I believe in meeting a film where it's at, and I never want to over hype anything. I recommend, as always, going in with no expectations and seeing what the film has to say. It's not for everyone, but I personally really liked the presentation and flow of this film, even if some of the technical shortcomings were hard to ignore.
I was somewhat in your position when I was watching the movie - watched Your Name and found it underwhelming considering the praise it seemed to get everywhere and I really didn't like Wheathering With You. To be frank, my only reason to watch Suzume was the mere fact that it's rather rare to watch an anime in the local cinema and that's a cool thing in and of itself in my books. But! Boy, did I love this one. The characters were great (it's awfully nice to have so many people being kind and helpful), the music was great, I loved the whole aesthetic of the movie and while I was in my mind connecting the places visited in the movie with the real life inspirations for the movie I was completly taken. On another note: The way the supernatural was handed reminded my boyfriend of Haruki Murakami's works, so if you know and like his novels you might be interested to give it a try. I personally didn't draw the connection myself while I really love Murakami's novels but that doesn't mean it's not worth mentioning :)
I'm glad you enjoyed the movie too! I'm not familiar with Haruki Murakami's work, so I'll definitely check him out; thank you so much for the feedback and recommendation!
@@timberw0lfstudios please check him out - he's one of my favourite authors. For a start here are some recommendations: Kafka on the shore, Hardboiled Wonderland and the end of the world, After dark, Sputnik Sweetheart. Some of them deal with the supernatural more than the others so you might want to check out their synopsis first, but I think each of those are great. As I said, I personally didn't draw the connection to Murakami's work while watching Suzume myself so don't expect them to feel like Shinkai's movies... Maybe you'll find similarities, maybe you won't. 😉
For whatever it's worth (very little), I'm a fan of Shinkai's work, and I was pretty disappointed with Suzume. I felt like it lacked the emotional core that Your Name and Weathering With You had. The characters just felt kind of flat and undercooked to me. The action scenes were exciting, but I found myself not caring very much about their outcome. That was especially true as we see the same basic sequence of events play out for the 3rd or 4th time.
Suzume certainly opens a great discussion as to why some of Shinkai's films work emotionally and others don't. I think there's a lot to study on a technical level as to what succeeded and failed, and how that affects the viewing experience. I'll certainly be interested in the video essays coming out in the following months deconstructing this film.
Certainly technically and visually impressive and did not disappoint in that regard, but feels really ghiblified or more family movie style compared to his older works. Also the male protagonist's voice acting is really flat although its not a crucial component.
Knowing yourself is the first step to discovering what you enjoy. This film isn't for everyone, but the tight execution and thematic handling is admirable and worth the experience, in my opinion.
I won't watch your video now, as I haven't watched Suzume yet. I'm rooting for you to be right, because Shinkai for me has been on a tragic downward spiral of quality since Your Name. ALL his movies before that one were wonders of beauty, depth and complexity. But from Your Name on, they started to just becoming cliche standard anime romcom/dramas and I couldn't be more disappointed with each successive movie. To see him decay from miracles like Voice of a Star, 5 CM/Second, and Place Promised to BS mediocrity like Weathering was painful, especially when we find the latter was more due to studio pressure to introduce a love story Shinkai never intended to be there.
Totally. Suzume clearly struggles from the director wanting to go in a different direction than the studio, which results in some genuinely interesting twists on traditional dynamics, but overall I'm excited to see what he creates once he regains the creative freedom he needs.
I'd argue that at least Your Name has a well-developed story structure, although Weathering With You's was a little more abstract and unfocused. Suzume seems to be controversial for different reasons, circle to circle, and while I liked it, I can't say I found it concretely better than his past work.
I watched it 2 times, after the first viewing I was thinking about the Tokyo section, where Suzume is going to the hospital. That's probably the lowest point for the protagonists, and I just wanted to hug her so badly, what got me thinking. I remembered that Chika (scooter girl) hugged her when they were saying goodbye.
So on the second viewing I payed more attention to this. Every time they close a portal, they have someone to lean on during/after.
First Suzume helps Sote with his injured arm. They have each other, but it gets more complicated since Sota turns into a chair.
Second time They have Chika to help them. And at the and of tha part she hugs her.
Third time there is the lady from the bar (sorry but i forgot her name). I think shink she also hugs him after she returns from the ferris wheel.
Both of these instances involved Suzume and her new friends helping each other.
After things go bad in Tokyo, Suzume is completely alone, no one left to help her. People who see her comment on her not having shoes, and that her clothes are ruined. But no one knows her, and no one even tries to help. (Not sure if this is intentional commentary on city life, or just an accident)
When she gets to the hospital she finds Sota's grandfather, who after some convincing tells her what she needs to do is she wants to help Sota. With that she once again was not completely alone, even if he was too sick to actually go with her.
(This isn't super relevant, but the montage of her patching herself up, with her iconic theme playing, probably made her my favorite anime protagonist ever. I've seen some reviews where the called her uninteresting, which I dont get at all but I'll just return to my point)
After the montage she meets with Serizawa and her aunt (who also hugs her the moment she sees her if I remember correctly). They both go with her to her original home, and at this point she gets the remaining support she needed to save Sota.
Maybe most people notice this theme of helping others, and leaning on others in times of need, maybe i'm just reading too much into it, after viewing the movie 2 times, and thinking about it for week.
I think that's a great point I hadn't fully noticed before: leaning on others in times of crisis. I don't think you're reading too much into it at all, and I'd go as far as to say it's intentional. I'll definitely be on the lookout for those moments when I rewatch this film!
Thank you so much for sharing, and for the feedback and support!
I remember meeting Shinkai back when I was like 10 yo after he made his first film almost fully on Photoshop, I showed him my short animations that I made using Toonboom and Micromedia Flash MX. He honestly kind of asked me to stop and I haven't made drawn or created art using that medium. Until today I wonder if the translator screwed up because he had no idea what we are talking about! don't know don't care anymore but I still appreciate him and his work.
I watched it last sunday at the cinema. It was incredible experience. I'm a fan of Shinkai's movies and Suzume was one of his best works. Music, especially main leitmotiff, was wonderful and eerie at the same time.
Couldn't agree more! Shinkai and his team brought their A-game, and the results speak for themselves.
Big Shinkai fan. His eye for the si-fi esthetic and his voice creates a world you can feel home in. The lessons he wants us to take away resonate and connect with me. Was a fan of him since he made movies at home and on his work computer. He improves every time and delivers at a higher than expected level
Absolutely. All well said, friend. His creativity is unmatched, and his perspective fresh and hospitable.
I’ll check it out… but not through a weird door! Great video.
It's definitely worthwhile (although not through the weird door--you understand)! Thank you so much for the feedback and support, I appreciate it!
My wife & I had a movie day Thursday and watched The Super Mario Bros. Movie in the morning and Suzume in the evening. We enjoyed them both and had a lot of fun with the different types of animation and storytelling. Thanks for the review and congratulations again on the success. 🙏
Thank you so much! I also really enjoyed both Mario and Suzume; they're both awesome! Thank you for sharing and for the feedback, and for the support!
I loved the film. I liked some of his other works better but the film was amazing. I would love to see you do a full review of the movie. Love your videos!
Aww thank you so much! Yeah, there's an argument to be made Shinkai's other works are "better," but I appreciate the liberties he took with this title. The more we talk about it, the more I wanna do a full video! At this point it's probably only a matter of time before I give in.
I’d love to see a you do a more analytical video of this film! I think it has a lot to say about the world, humanity, Japan and most of the of all nostalgia and the power of objects, places and people.
Absolutely! Once the film becomes more accessible, I'd love to dive into all the unique aspects it presents, especially the dimensions of nostalgia.
I walked away feeling kind of underwhelmed with Your Name and I haven't seen weathering with you. so I'm hesitant to watch suzume but the themes seem cool enough to give him another chance. great video!
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I believe in meeting a film where it's at, and I never want to over hype anything. I recommend, as always, going in with no expectations and seeing what the film has to say. It's not for everyone, but I personally really liked the presentation and flow of this film, even if some of the technical shortcomings were hard to ignore.
I was somewhat in your position when I was watching the movie - watched Your Name and found it underwhelming considering the praise it seemed to get everywhere and I really didn't like Wheathering With You. To be frank, my only reason to watch Suzume was the mere fact that it's rather rare to watch an anime in the local cinema and that's a cool thing in and of itself in my books. But! Boy, did I love this one. The characters were great (it's awfully nice to have so many people being kind and helpful), the music was great, I loved the whole aesthetic of the movie and while I was in my mind connecting the places visited in the movie with the real life inspirations for the movie I was completly taken.
On another note: The way the supernatural was handed reminded my boyfriend of Haruki Murakami's works, so if you know and like his novels you might be interested to give it a try. I personally didn't draw the connection myself while I really love Murakami's novels but that doesn't mean it's not worth mentioning :)
I'm glad you enjoyed the movie too! I'm not familiar with Haruki Murakami's work, so I'll definitely check him out; thank you so much for the feedback and recommendation!
@@timberw0lfstudios please check him out - he's one of my favourite authors. For a start here are some recommendations: Kafka on the shore, Hardboiled Wonderland and the end of the world, After dark, Sputnik Sweetheart. Some of them deal with the supernatural more than the others so you might want to check out their synopsis first, but I think each of those are great. As I said, I personally didn't draw the connection to Murakami's work while watching Suzume myself so don't expect them to feel like Shinkai's movies... Maybe you'll find similarities, maybe you won't. 😉
Great video as always! I’ve been wanting to see this movie since the first trailer released and I’m hoping I’ll get to see it in the theater!
Thank you so much! I hope you get to see it in theatres; it's definitely worth it!
For whatever it's worth (very little), I'm a fan of Shinkai's work, and I was pretty disappointed with Suzume. I felt like it lacked the emotional core that Your Name and Weathering With You had. The characters just felt kind of flat and undercooked to me. The action scenes were exciting, but I found myself not caring very much about their outcome. That was especially true as we see the same basic sequence of events play out for the 3rd or 4th time.
Suzume certainly opens a great discussion as to why some of Shinkai's films work emotionally and others don't. I think there's a lot to study on a technical level as to what succeeded and failed, and how that affects the viewing experience. I'll certainly be interested in the video essays coming out in the following months deconstructing this film.
Certainly technically and visually impressive and did not disappoint in that regard, but feels really ghiblified or more family movie style compared to his older works. Also the male protagonist's voice acting is really flat although its not a crucial component.
God bless you too
As a non shinkai fan yet, this movie is mostly solid
For sure. I think "mostly solid" is a great way to put it.
I want to see this film. But I just know that me being hypercritical and all that, I'll just ruin it for myself. Still, I hope it'll worth my time
Knowing yourself is the first step to discovering what you enjoy. This film isn't for everyone, but the tight execution and thematic handling is admirable and worth the experience, in my opinion.
I won't watch your video now, as I haven't watched Suzume yet. I'm rooting for you to be right, because Shinkai for me has been on a tragic downward spiral of quality since Your Name. ALL his movies before that one were wonders of beauty, depth and complexity. But from Your Name on, they started to just becoming cliche standard anime romcom/dramas and I couldn't be more disappointed with each successive movie. To see him decay from miracles like Voice of a Star, 5 CM/Second, and Place Promised to BS mediocrity like Weathering was painful, especially when we find the latter was more due to studio pressure to introduce a love story Shinkai never intended to be there.
Totally. Suzume clearly struggles from the director wanting to go in a different direction than the studio, which results in some genuinely interesting twists on traditional dynamics, but overall I'm excited to see what he creates once he regains the creative freedom he needs.
Hope it’s good cause none of his films have been better alright as his story’s are all over the place with no real explanation and no story structure.
I'd argue that at least Your Name has a well-developed story structure, although Weathering With You's was a little more abstract and unfocused. Suzume seems to be controversial for different reasons, circle to circle, and while I liked it, I can't say I found it concretely better than his past work.