Makoto Shinkai's 'Suzume no Tojimari' Gets Teaser Trailer

Makoto Shinkai is one of the few directors working in Japanese animation to have a degree of name recognition outside of the usual anime fan circles. Your Name (2016) was a massive hit in his home country, but it was also a considerable cross-over hit in the US and UK. His 2019 follow up Weathering With You proved it was no fluke and so now any of his films are sure to garner a lot of attention with cinephiles everywhere.

Shinkai's next feature is due this year, and we have previously been shown a teaser image and told the basic set-up. And as teaser images go, it was certainly intriguing- a lone door seemingly in the middle of what looks like a derelict or ruined building.

The film is releasing in Japan under the title Suzume no Tojimari. No official English or international title has been revealed yet but it translates as 'Suzume's door locking' or 'Suzume's locking up' depending on who you ask.

Via Wikipedia:

The film is about Suzume, a 17-year-old girl who lives in a quiet town in the Kyushu region of southwestern Japan. The story begins when Suzume meets a young man looking for a "door". The two travel together and find an old door at an abandoned house in the mountains. As if pulled by something, Suzume reaches out her hand towards the door and is pulled in. "Doors of Disaster" begin to appear across Japan, which started a series of unfortunate disasters.

The film is a journey through Japan as Suzume needs to close and lock the "Doors of Disaster" one by one to stop the disasters, as well as an adventure and battle in the modern world in search of a girl's maturity and freedom. 

                  

This past weekend, Shinkai has revealed a second teaser image- this time featuring main character Suzume standing in front of that same day. The image was released alongside the news that the film will be released in Japanese cinemas on November 11, 2022.

The next day it got even better as the first teaser dropped. Unsurprisingly, this being a Shinkai film, it looks utterly gorgeous. You won't learn anything much about the plot- not more than we already know- but as a teaser and a mood setter, it more than does the job. We really hope that the film will make its way westward as soon as it can!

Suzume no Tojimari is written and directed by Makoto Shinkai with production by ComixWave Films. The film will be distributed in Japan by Toho Films- no US or UK release has been confirmed as yet. 

This May, GKIDS Films will release Shinkai's first three features and shorts in new Blu-Ray editions.