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Suzume no Tojimari is a Japanese animated fantasy adventure film produced by CoMix Wave Films and written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. The film was first released in Japan in 2022 and was subsequently made available internationally in 2023 by Crunchyroll, Sony Pictures, and Wild Bunch International. It was released in theaters in the US on April 14, 2023.
Suzume no Tojimare is the story of a 17-year-old girl, Suzume embarking on a perilous journey to save Japan from a supernatural "worm" causing earthquakes. Suzume and a man named Souta Munakata need to close mysterious doors that are popping all across the land and causing chaos.
The ending of Suzume no Tojimari is heartwarming and conveys a message of hope and optimism
Suzume no Tojimari's ending sees Suzume and Souta successfully seal the worm, preventing it from breaking free into the world of the living. Daijin and Sadajin turn into keystones, helping Suzume and Souta seal the earthquake-causing worm and trapping it in the Ever-After.
Later, Suzume encounters her younger self in the Ever-After, recalling how she had entered the realm following her mother's death. Seeing her younger self weep and frantically search for her mother, Suzume embraces her and presents her with the chair her mother had built before dying.
Suzume assures her younger self that one day she will grow up and meet lots of new people whom she'll cherish, and who will in turn cherish her. Young Suzume exits the Ever-After realm with the chair following which older Suzume and Souta also exit the realm.
While the ending of the film is open to interpretation, fans need to keep in mind that all of Makoto Shinkai's works try to convey a message to the audience. Suzume in this film signifies a victim of a natural calamity, something that is woefully frequent in Japan and leaves a scarring impact on people.
Suzume losing her mother to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami is Makoto portraying loss. Meanwhile, the "worm" is a metaphor for nature and the destruction it causes from time to time. The film also portrays natural calamities and their severe damage, showing neighborhoods and homes turned into abandoned places that act as a graveyard of memories.
The mysterious doors depicted in the film serve as a connection between the past and present, evoking personal memories and traumas. Suzume's entry into the Ever-After realm is limited to the first door she used as a child after her mother's death in the 2011 catastrophe.
The doors act as a metaphor as well, highlighting the relationship between tragedies and triggers, with these doors serving as a constant window to everything fans have lost to the "worm."
At the end of Suzume no Tojimari, the protagonist Suzume managed to reseal the worm, essentially closing the door on her past. She also managed to reconcile with her traumatized younger self and reassure her that the tragedy wasn't the end of it all and that life was worth living.
The film gives a hard-hitting message to the audience trying to reassure them that even if at times there seems to be no hope, they need to forgive themselves and give their inner child the chance to heal.
One theory also suggests that Souta Munakata in this film acts as a metaphor for Suzume's own strength and determination. It says that Daijin and Sadaijin represent her fears and mental obstacles toward her goal of getting over the death of her mother.
This film can be interpreted in a lot of different ways, with the interpretation varying from person to person. The open-ended nature of the film allows people to actively think and draw their own conclusions, leaving the story at a beautiful crossroads of hope and imagination.
Suzume no Tojimari synopsis
Suzume no Tojimari is the story of a 17-year-old girl, Suzume, who comes across a man named Souta Munakata one day. The man is searching for abandoned areas with doors. She tells him of an old onsen resort nearby and out of curiosity ends up following him to the resort.
Going to the resort, she finds an isolated door standing on its frame, with a starlit universe beyond it. However, she's unable to enter the door and instead picks up a strange cat-like statue that turns into a real cat, which runs away. This freaks her out and she heads back to school, leaving the door open.
This, along with the cat-like stone being released, meant that a worm-like creature would now be able to escape to the land of the living and wreak havoc through the power of earthquakes. To stop the entity, Suzume teams up with Souta, whose aim is to lock the remaining doors across Japan. Together, they embark on a journey in which Souta gets turned into a chair and Suzume has to be the one to fix it all.
In this journey, she comes across a lot of challenges despite which she manages to seal the worm with the help of Souta, and manages to help her past self move on from the trauma of losing her mother to 2011 calamities. The film gives fans a very hopeful message about the future and urges them to look at life more positively no matter what the situation.
