Suzume’s ending explanation

Like other Makoto Shinkai films, suzume has a complex ending that encapsulates all the themes presented in the story and conveys a powerful message behind it. While Suzume’s ending may seem a bit confusing at first glance, it’s actually easy to understand once the movie is put through the author’s previous work.

Suzume is the latest film from modern anime conductor Makoto Shinkai, who rose to prominence thanks to Your Name (2016) and Weathering With You (2019). It’s the coming-of-age story of the 17-year-old protagonist, Suzume, set in various disaster-hit locations across Japan, where she has to shut down causing havoc.

The Story of Suzume

Suzume’s journey begins in a quiet town in Kyushu (the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands) when she meets Souta, a young man traveling to Japan, searching for mysterious doors that lie within. in the ruins of places abandoned by man. When Suzume found one of these doors near her hometown, she reluctantly released a guardian deity, unleashing the supernatural force it was guarding, known as the “worm”. After Suzume and Souta sealed the first door, many more doors began to open one after another throughout Japan, these doors must be closed before the Worm can cause an earthquake in the surrounding area. .

Unfortunately, Souta is cursed by the guardian god Daijin and turned into a baby chair that Suzume keeps as a memento of her mother, making her task all the more difficult. Despite that, the girl bravely embarked on a journey across Japan, meeting different people and gathering meaningful experiences that helped her grow and overcome her tragic past. Suzume’s only parent, her mother, was killed in the great Sendai earthquake that hit Japan on March 11, 2011, which understandably left her with an emotional scar, though was raised by her loving and caring aunt Tamaki. Suzume’s journey eventually leads her to Tokyo, where Souta makes the ultimate sacrifice and becomes the Keystone needed to seal the Worm once more.

What happens in the ending of Suzume

However, Suzume’s story does not end with Souta’s sacrifice. Suzume refuses to abandon the young man she fell in love with for his fate, and with the help of Tamaki and Souta’s friend Serizawa, she travels to her hometown and the ruins of the house she lives in with her mother. . Souta is trapped in the Ever-after, which is basically the realm of spirits to which mysterious doors lead, and the only door that Suzume can pass through as a living person is the one through which she lives. she passed as a child, when she got lost. while desperately searching for her mother.

In Forever After, Daijin has a change of heart and decides to help Suzume free Souta. However, Worm is raging and trying to escape to the world of the living, where he will cause great destruction. Daijin transforms back into Keystone and along with his twin god, Sadaijin, they let Suzume and Souta use them to seal Worm in the Ever-after again. Later, Suzume saw her childhood self lost in the spirit realm, and came to comfort her, giving Kid Suzume the chair her mother had built for her before she died, and reassured her. that she will grow up and meet many people who will love. her and make her happy. After that, Suzume and Souta returned to the world and their lives.

Suzume’s ending explanation

To understand the true meaning of Suzume’s ending, it’s important to keep in mind that, like in all of Makoto Shinkai’s work, the characters and story are the means by which the message is delivered to the audience. According to an interview Shinkai did for the Berlin Film Festival, the great earthquake of 2011 completely changed his life (and the lives of his countrymen). He realizes that he can no longer create entertainment just for it, but that it is his duty to use his art to share that traumatic experience with the world and perhaps find some meaning in it. This is the origin of Suzume and also the inspiration for Shikai’s previous films.

In the film, the Worm represents the destructive power of nature, which lies dormant until it is unleashed on the world. Doors open in abandoned places because, according to Souta, the weight of human emotions is what holds the land back. Through Suzume’s journey, the film shows the natural beauty of Japan, but also the tragedies left behind by natural disasters. The only thing people can do in the face of them is accept their role as part of something bigger and move on, looking to the future with hope. The doors that Suzume and Souta close are literally connecting the past with the present and the future, so the act of closing them is a metaphor for facing the past, no matter how tragic it may be. Where is the carpet?

Timing is also an important factor in Shikai’s works returning in Suzume’s epilogue. As a child, while wandering through the door, Suzume met someone she believed was her mother, even if that memory has faded over time. However, the ending reveals that the person is actually the grown-up Suzume herself, which is possible because, as Souta explained earlier in the movie, in Forever After All Time Coexists time. Meeting one’s future self is somewhat of a cliché, but it worked better than usual in this particular case.

What is Suzume really?

In the end, Suzume is a movie about the power of memories and emotions to connect people, shown by closing a door, Suzume and Souta have to think about the people who live there and their feelings. the end of suzume It may not be as shocking as Your Name, or as sad as Weathering With You, but it is really effective in conveying the message that Makoto Shinkai was trying to convey to his audience.