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Suzume no Tojimari (2022, ComixWave)

Anime Reviews

Suzume no Tojimari (2022, ComixWave)

すずめの戸締り
Suzume no Tojimari

Worth A Watch

On her way cycling to school, a long-haired stranger stops Suzume to ask if there were ruins nearby. After letting him know, she suddenly has a feeling they've met before and decides to follow after him to the ruins. She doesn't find her there but instead, she finds a white door and decides to open it. A strange place appears but nothing happens when she goes through the door. Instead, she discovers a little statue on the ground but astonished, it runs off after she picks it up.

After returning to school late, a small earthquake occurrs but no one seems to notice the giant snake-like shape appearing from the ruins apart from Suzume. She rushes back to the site and discovers the stranger Souta struggling to shut the door and she helps. Later Souta is cursed and Suzume decides to help him close the remaining gates around Japan before they lead to catastrophe.

Suzume no Tojimari

Since I was in Hong Kong when it was due to screen, I went along to get a postcard (they were giving a different one out for the first three weeks of screening). It turned out... so-so.

Plenty of freebies. Which to pick...?

It felt like watching Lost Voices but instead of journeying through Agartha, it's Japan. I was pretty excited when I heard from Shinkai's first press conference that it would be a road trip so he could show off as much of the country as possible but it's actually far from that. It features few places and the over all flow felt more like a JRPG where the protagonists are travelling from dungeon to dungeon, sealing off the "evil gates". And no, they don't work like Doraemon's Anywhere Door.

The relation between Souta and Suzume just didn't quite click with me even though there were quite a few in tears amongst the audience. Same for the antagonist mascot too.

The whole joke about Souta can't run around as a chair wasn't really that amusing personally. The ending seems to be very much open to interpretation but, I think it has the familiar sci-fi multiverse where Suzume ends up saving the younger version of herself who also got lost in the other universe. So it's not actually Suzume's mum after all! But that doesn't quite explain what happened to Suzume's mum itself.

As with previous movies, it re-uses a lot of art assets so a lot of times it feels like you're watching Your Name or Weathering again. Yes, we see the Yoyogi Docomo Tower again that's now a signature of Shinkai's movies even though we're well south of Tokyo in this movie. That said, it's still eye candy. Ghibli fans among you might have fun with the music.

Very first week's postcard bonus.

There aren't any bonus scenes after the credits so there's no point waiting for one if that's what you're after. I also couldn't spot Hina and Hodaka from the last movie, Weathering despite Shinkai hinting it may feature cameos but not in the same was as Avengers. Maybe you can spot them.

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#1

Duy Hung


Hi, I'm Hung, 22, from Vietnam. Just discovered your blog and I have to say that I really appreciate your efforts. I have read some of your blogs review Shinkai Makoto's movie and it's boxset, really interesting. Hope I can get boxset like that one day.
The earliest blog that I read is this one
https://blog.lhyeung.net/2007/08/10/5-centimeters-per-second-le-dvd-arrives-with-interesting-booklet-and-short-story

Can't believe that you keep blogging and updating since 2007, really admire that. I think maybe I should start blogging like you :)). Having some blogs to keep memories like this is so precious.

I will try to read all your blog, bookmark your blog now :))

Regards, Hung.

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#2

LY Author


Hello Hung,

Thanks for reading!

Yeah, started this blog back when I was still a student when I had lots more free time. These days I don't have as much time to write any more unfortunately but still enjoy sharing my thoughts and info when Twitter or other sites are too restrictive, haha.

I started off free with Wordpress for blogging so maybe it will work for you too ^^

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