The Good

I want to begin this review by emphasizing how happy I am that Shinkai took a creative risk with Suzume. Following the massive success of Your Name., the most disappointing realization while watching his next film, Weathering with You, is that the plot structures between the two films were nearly identical. Masterpieces are never created from formulas - they're almost always a creative risk, just as Your Name. was.

Although Suzume reuses some of the same Shinkai themes as always - that is, changing your destiny and love separated by the elements - I think Shinkai is on the right track to make his next masterpiece. The film shares many similarities to one of his previous works, Children who Chase Lost Voices, and considering the poor reception of that film, I'm glad Suzume is an improvement in every aspect.

I'd like to commend the visuals, which continue to showcase CoMix Wave's breathtaking scenery abilities. The sound design was also outstanding. While Your Name.'s soundtrack is iconic, this film could easily take second place under Shinkai's best sounding films.

One thing I highly enjoyed was the comedic aspect of this film. If anything, Shinkai should consider incorporating more humor in his next project. The comedy in Suzume far exceeded any other type of character interaction in increasing the audience's character attachment. In a cast full of cookie-cutter characters, the humor saves the day.

The Bad

If Weathering with You took a small step into the supernatural category, Suzume dove right in. While the possibilities for a story set in a supernatural setting are endless, such stories demand a strong exposition - something that is lacking in Suzume.

Purely based on the trailer, I could already tell it would be challenging to execute a story with so many elements. Two hours sounds like a lot, but there's only so much content you can fit. At a certain point, valuable exposition time is sacrificed for more action, and while this doesn't automatically make a story bad, it limits the story to a surface-level adventure at best. There were too many unexplained plot points, leaving the story full of holes and confusing at critical moments. While the lack of exposition may be due to the story's roots in Japanese folklore, international audiences account for around 50% of CoMix Wave film viewership, so it shouldn't be an expectation for target audiences to have this background knowledge.

Another major issue was the character motivations, which felt unbelievable at times. A story full of emotions falls flat when the character's decision-making skills are nonsensical. This could perhaps be attributed to Shinkai's little experience with female main leads. Especially when emotion is such a critical aspect of the story, Shinkai leaves very little room for attachment to characters and their wellbeing. The first thirty minutes of the story were wasted on a highly subpar relationship development between the two main characters.

As a final nitpick, I would say that Suzume is not Shinkai's most visually stunning work. With the supernatural aspect at play, the film relies moderately on CGI, which is not CoMix Wave's strong suit. While they did a decent job, it feels out of place, like it was done by a completely independent team. Suzume doesn't have something to match the iconic comet in "Your Name" - a beloved backdrop for anime fans - leaving the film lacking in standout visuals. Despite CoMix Wave's reputation for going all out with their animation during climactic moments, I felt somewhat underwhelmed during these moments.

Conclusion

All in all, Suzume is an experience I'd recommend to any anime fan. In this day and age, an anime film which gets everything right except the story is as common as it gets, but Suzume gets those non-story elements very right. If you enjoyed Your Name. and perhaps Weathering with You not as much, this film will be a breath of fresh air. Hopefully next time, Shinkai will take an even greater creative risk and deviate even more from his usual themes. With his talent and the incredible team at CoMix Wave, I look forward to the creation of his next masterpiece.