The upcoming anime film Suzume No Tojimari from award-winning director Makoto Shinkai has unveiled a thrilling new trailer -- this time, one with dialogue.
Suzume's official YouTube channel released a second trailer, which opens with a beautiful stranger asking 17-year-old Suzume about a door. The tension immediately ratchets up when the two of them meet a mysterious talking cat who turns the young man, Souta, into a toddling, talking wooden chair. Previous trailers did not have any of the characters speaking, but only the beautiful and haunting theme song "Suzume," sung by Toaka, to set the mood.
What Is Shinkai's Latest Film?
Suzume no Tojimari, or literally Suzume's Door-Looking, is Shinkai's first film in three years. Produced by CoMix Wave Films and distributed by Toho, the film is about Suzume, who finds an old door. When she opens it, she discovers that this door is part of a series of doors called Gates that open in lonely areas and unleash a series of disasters all across Japan. The story follows Suzume as she sets out on the task of finding and closing all of the doors.
Shinkai has directed several films, including the 2013 anime film The Garden of Words, but it wasn't until he released the 2016 film Your Name that he shot to fame. Your Name received critical acclaim for its animation, visuals and emotional storytelling, and went on to win Best Animated Film at the 2016 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards and at the 71st Mainichi Film Awards. Since then, Shinkai's success has not slowed down. His next film, Weathering With You, was also a box-office hit, earning approximately $15 million in its first few days of screening, surpassing his previous film. These two works have made the director a well-known name in the industry.
Nanoka Hara, who will be making her voice-acting debut, will voice Suzume. Hara, a fan of Shinkai's works, won the role after 1,700 applicants auditioned to be Suzume. Another newcomer, Hokuto Matsumura who is a member of the Japanese idol group SixTONES, will also be making his debut as Souta. The Japanese rock band Radwimps will return for the third time to score the music for Suzume, after having collaborated with Shinkai on his previous two feature films.
Suzume will premiere in Japan on Nov. 11. Crunchyroll, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Wild Bunch International will release the film worldwide sometime in 2023 with Crunchyroll handling the North American distribution.
Source: YouTube