Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume no Tojimari anime film (still without an official English title) has completed production, according to the author himself.
The Suzume no Tojimari anime film release date is on November 11, 2022, in Japan.
However, the first 12 minutes of the film will be broadcast in Japan on NTV on October 28, 2022. That’s the date when another Shinkai’s anime movie — Your Name (Kimi no Na wa) — will be broadcast to celebrate the upcoming Suzume no Tojimari release.
There’s no news on when the movie will be made available to international audiences, so stay tuned!
What is known, though, is that an international premiere will occur sometime in early 2023. Crunchyroll will be the sole distributor for North America.
In Latin America, portions of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the Middle East, the film will be distributed by Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
In French- and German-speaking European countries, Suzume no Tojimari will be co-distributed by Crunchyroll, Sony Pictures, and Wild Bunch International.
Suzume no Tojimari anime film timeline
Suzume no Tojimari (すずめの戸締まり, lit. “Suzume’s Locking-up”) was produced by CoMix Wave Films.
The main staff includes:
- Makoto Shinkai — director, story, and script
- Masayoshi Tanaka (Weathering with You) — character designer
- Kenichi Tsuchiya (Your Name) — animation director
- Takumi Tanji (Children Who Chase Lost Voices) — art director
The plot focuses on the titular 17-year-old girl Suzume from Kyūshū island. One day, Suzume encounters a young man who tells her he’s looking for a door. Upon finding the weathered door the man is looking for, Suzume opens it only to discover she’s just initiated a series of disastrous events across Japan. To rectify her mistake, Suzume travels across the country, closing the doors to prevent a total catastrophe.
As all Shinkai’s fans already know, his movies always deal with complex emotional topics and Suzume no Tojimari is likely to follow suit.
In fact, a light novel inspired by the upcoming movie also written by Shinkai debuted on August 24, 2022, in Japan.
Here’s the second teaser trailer for the anime film for some added thrills:
Director Makoto Shinkai is rather famous: his movie Your Name was the first non-Studio Ghibli anime to gross over $100 million in Japan.
Shinkai has produced a number of highly-acclaimed anime films — both short and feature-length —including:
(feature-length)
- The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004)
- 5 Centimeters per Second (2007)
- Children Who Chase Lost Voices (2011)
- The Garden of Words (2013)
- Your Name (2016)
- Weathering with You (2019)
And (short anime films):
- The World be Enclosed (1998)
- Other Worlds (1998)
- She and her Cat (1999)
- Voices of a Distant Star (2002)
- Minna no Uta (“Everyone’s Songs,”2003)
- Someone’s Gaze (2013)
Given Shinkai’s history of making stellar anime films, it’s no wonder that many fans are looking forward to Suzume no Tojimari, including ourselves! 2023 can’t come too fast!