Common Sense Media Review
Heartfelt anime film explores love, loss, and adventure.
Parents Need to Know
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Suzume
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 5 parent reviews
Based on 15 kid reviews
Kids say the film is visually stunning and beautifully animated, with characters and story elements that resonate with both kids and adults. However, the plot has been criticized for being repetitive and difficult for younger viewers to fully grasp, leading to mixed recommendations from audiences.
- visual appeal
- mixed reviews
- complex themes
- suitable for ages
- emotional depth
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
What's the Story?
SUZUME, from acclaimed writer-director (Makoto Shinkai, Your Name), centers on Suzume Iwato (voiced by Nanoka Hara in the Japanese original and Nichole Sakura in the English dub), a teenage girl who crosses paths with a mysterious young man named Souta (Hokuto Matsumura/JoshKeaton). Through their chance encounter, Suzume learns that she can see supernatural doors to a realm called the "ever after." These doors are opening up all across Japan, causing natural disasters. Determined to help save the country, Suzume teams up with Souta to journey across Japan and close the supernatural doors before it's too late.
Is It Any Good?
This beautiful anime movie explores themes of love, loss, and adventure and asks what happens to the places we used to love that have been abandoned. Suzume is gorgeously animated and delivers a mature and relatable story about dealing with grief and love. Throughout the film, Suzume is forced to revisit the trauma of her mother's passing in a tsunami when she was a child.The film also explores the loss of locations -- places such as an old amusement park that were once full of life but have been abandoned and left to rot. Every time Suzume closes a door in one of these forgotten locations it feels like she's giving it a proper sendoff as one of the only people that can tap into and feel the lingering memories and emotions from a bygone era.
The art and animation in Suzume are stunning, the attention to detail in the environments and the lifelike animation of characters that perfectly captures their emotion is a joy to behold. The music is fantastic, and the voice actors deliver excellent performances that capture the emotions of heartfelt scenes such as an argument between Suzume and her aunt that exposes the strain and struggles of each character's loss following the death of a parent and the frustrations with their situation as a nontraditional family. Overall, Suzume is a winning anime film that is impressive in just about every way, and one that's wonderful for all ages.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about healthy ways of coping with grief and loss, which are major themes in Suzume. Have you ever had to deal with that?
One character abandons their responsibilities by leaving an important post, which causes grave consequences. Why is it important to be responsible?
How does this movie compare to mainstream Hollywood animated fare? Which do you prefer, and why?
Movie Details
- In theaters : April 14, 2023
- On DVD or streaming : March 23, 2024
- Cast : Nanoka Hara , Hokuto Matsumura , Eri Fukatsu
- Director : Makoto Shinkai
- Studio : Crunchyroll
- Genre : Anime
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic ) , Adventures
- Run time : 122 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : for action-peril, language, thematic elements and smoking
- Award : Common Sense Selection
- Last updated : October 9, 2025
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