Makoto Shinkai, director of the critically-acclaimed Japanese animated film Your Name, announced on Wednesday that his next film has been titled Suzume no Tojimari. His announcement comes three years after the release of his last film, Weathering With You, in 2019.
The director-animator unveiled the first look poster of the film at a press conference held on Wednesday. Along with the director, the event was attended by Mone Kamishiraishi and Nana Mori, the voice actors of the female lead characters from his earlier films Your Name and Weathering With You, respectively.
According to the official English synopsis, Suzume no Tojimari is an action-adventure film that revolves around 17-year-old Suzume from a quiet town in Kyushu, Japan. After meeting a travelling young man, who is in search of a door, Suzume finds herself opening an old door in the mountains and soon other doors begin opening in various parts of the country. The story follows her adventure across Japan to close the doors before disaster strikes from the other side of the doors.
Speaking about the film at the press conference, Shinkai said that Suzume no Tojimari is a road film that takes the audience on a journey around Japan. He said, “After watching Your Name and Weathering With You, viewers would often say, ‘Please make a film about our town next’. That made me happy, but it would be impossible to cover every town. I indulged myself a bit by making this one a road film.”
“I tried to capture the scenery of various regions, the charming people and special encounters I experienced there. In that sense, this is a very audacious film,” he added. Shinkai also said that even though Suzume no Tojimari has several action sequences, it is different from a typical action film.
The animator emphasised that the film is about closing doors and not opening them and added that starting something is much easier than ending it. “I thought what I should make and what people should see is not a story of future potential and opening new doors but rather identifying individual opportunities that we lost and finding proper closure in order to move forward,” he said.
Shinkai also said that the idea behind the inception of his film came from the concept of closing doors. He said that the dwindling population in Japan’s countryside and the restriction of people in public spaces due to the Covid-19 pandemic is creating a somber sight. “I wondered how we could get closure to them. That was the inspiration behind the story of ‘closing door’,” he said. Shinkai added that even though the film will not depict the pandemic, it is suggested sometimes and so the characters will not sport masks.
The filmmaker expressed his wish to make a film that would lure the audience back to theatres. Even with streaming becoming the norm these days, Shinkai said that watching a film in theatres is different and added, “It is a place that unleashes special powers that are intrinsically human. That special power that we possess could be empathy for example. The ability to immerse oneself in a story. Going to a movie theatre, sitting in the dark and focusing on a huge screen will draw out these powers even more.”
Makoto Shinkai is known for his intricate and breathtaking visual style, a common aspect in all his films. Your Name, which was released in 2016, was praised for its animation and music. Shinkai won several awards for the film, including the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Animated Film. The film went on to become the highest grossing Japanese film of 2016, and the third highest-grossing anime film of all time. Weathering With You was selected as Japan’s official submission for the 92nd Academy Awards in the Best International Film category.
For the upcoming film, Masayoshi Tanaka from Your Name and Weathering With You will return as the character designer. Kenichi Tsuchiya from Your Name, will be the animation director. Takumi Tanji also returns from Your Name and The Garden of Words and will be a part of the art director’s chair. The animation will be produced at CoMix Wave Films and Toho will distribute the film in Japan and the overseas.
It has not yet been confirmed if Radwimps, the Japanese rock band which is a frequent collaborator with Shinkai, will be performing the soundtrack for the upcoming film.
Suzume no Tojimari is set to release in theatres in Fall 2022.
