Over the years many Japanese filmmakers have created animated features that brought something new to the animation genre; with the most notable name being none other than Hayou Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. In recent years though a new name has come into the spotlight which is none other than Makoto Shinkai. The filmmaker made a name for himself with his 2016 movie Kimi no Na wa, otherwise known as Your Name, and cemented his place with his follow up film Tenki no Ko (aka Weathering with You) and both movies received many accolades over the years. Now Shinkai returns with another film that showed a lot of promise, and this film is known as Suzume no Tojimari-or just Suzume.

The movie tells the story of high schooler Suzume who teams up with a mysterious boy named Souta to prevent supernatural disasters across Japan. Like its predecessors, Suzume centers on not only thematic concepts but was also inspired by real events which in this case was the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in 2011; and along with taking inspiration from movies such as Kiki’s Delivery Service, Makoto Shinkai had a new story to tell on the big screen. I have been curious about Shinkai’s work for some time now and seeing that his new movie was hitting theaters in the spring, it was the perfect chance to see what kind of filmmaker Shinkai is; and I can see why the filmmaker has gained such notoriety as Suzume certainly left an impression.

Going into this one, I was not sure what to expect from Suzume. The preview featured some intriguing concepts that certainly gained my interest. So, after seeing it for myself, I have that the story played out far differently than I imagined. The idea of using a supernatural element to capture aspects of Japanese traditions, and natural disasters, was an interesting for the plot. Yet perhaps the biggest surprise was that the plot ended up being a road trip story. Seeing Suzume and Souta travel across Japan was a good way for the story to capture its themes in a compelling manner. Yet while this story’s direction was appreciated, it could be daunting in places. This was prevalent in the later part of the story as it felt like the plot needed to pad itself out to get to its conclusion. Granted this direction allowed the plot to take an unexpected turn, but it did take away from the overall experience.

To contrast with his previous film, Shinkai wanted to focus on a female lead in his new movie; and I think this decision proved to be effective. Suzume was an enjoyable protagonist whose development was grounded and worked with the film’s main concept. Along with Suzume was Souta who was equally as investing. While his development could have been more thorough, Souta was still captivating and his chemistry with Suzume made the duo an enjoyable pair. With the movie being a road trip film, it made sense that the cast would full of minor but memorable characters, and it was. The characters the two leads meet were decent as they able to contribute something to the film. Two notable additions to the cast was Suzume’s aunt Tamaki and Souta’s friend Minoru; who play a bigger role in the film’s later half. Both characters were solid additions for the cast as Tamaki was beneficial in developing Suzume’s character while Minoru was just an enjoyable addition to the cast. Yet a cast like this one would not be complete without a magical character or two, and in this case, it was the mischievous cat named Daijin. Daijin was fairly simplistic in his motivations, but there was a sense of enjoyment from the cat which was more enough to make this feline an endearing addition to this cast.

Seeing that this is an animated feature, I was hopeful that Suzume would be strong in this area and it very much was. While I cannot say the animation does anything groundbreaking, but it was still impressive with its stylistic presentation and being able to blend 2D and 3D animation flawlessly. The animation was at its best in the disaster sequences which, through its use of various styles and keen cinematography, captured the tense nature behind each scene. Rounding things out for the movie’s presentation was none other than the music. The score by Kazuma Jinnouchi and Radwimps was a fair companion for the film as, while not the most memorable soundtrack I have heard this year, it captured the film’s thematic nature while being a soothing aspect for this animated feature.

Suzume is a compelling animated film. Through its keen storytelling and characters, this movie showed what Shinkai’s strengths are as a filmmaker. Yet I cannot say that this new animated feature was flawless. While the film was certainly compelling, it could be excessive in its execution leading to some points getting lost in translation. Nevertheless, I do think Suzume was a captivating experience that brought its own sense of nuance and wonder to the animation genre.