Suzume

Suzume Iwato is a 17-year-old still shaped by the loss of her mother years earlier. One morning she meets a mysterious young man who is searching for a door, and that chance meeting pulls her toward an abandoned gateway on a hill. When the door opens, strange forces begin spilling into Japan, causing disasters that ripple across towns and cities. Realizing the danger, Suzume teams up with the young man and a few allies to find other doors and close them before more damage occurs. The film balances everyday life with moments of uncanny peril, and Suzume grows as she contends with memory, duty, and the strange rules that bind the doors to the world.

Released in 2022, Suzume was written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. The original animated feature stars Nanoka Hara, Hokuto Matsumura, and Eri Fukatsu in voice roles, produced by CoMix Wave Films with Shinkai's distinct visual style and sweeping musical score.

Suzume opened strongly in Japan and drew sizable audiences internationally, becoming one of the year's top-performing anime releases. Its commercial success helped broaden interest in Shinkai's work beyond his established fanbase, prompting other studios to consider bigger animated endeavors too.

Suzume's vivid landscapes and scenes of collapsing architecture prompted widespread online conversation, inspiring fan art, music covers, and cosplay. Its recurring imagery of doors and the contrast between ordinary routines and supernatural threat have become frequent reference points when critics and viewers discuss recent trends in mainstream anime and culture.

Critics generally praised Suzume's animation and emotional tone, reflected in its roughly 7.9 out of 10 user vote average, while noting occasional narrative looseness. The film centers on grief, memory, and the ties between place and people, presenting loss through youthful perspective and surreal, often melancholic set pieces and reflection.