The official website of Makoto Shinkai’s upcoming anime film, Suzume no Tojimari (Suzume’s door-locking) has revealed the first promotional video for the film. The film is scheduled to release on November 11 this year, in Japan.
This will be the first, Makoto Shinkai’s project in 3 years after his previous film, Weathering With You was released in 2019. He started working on the script of the film in Dec 2020, when the Japanese Government declared a state of emergency due to the pandemic.
Makoto Shinkai himself will be producing, writing and directing Suzume no Tojimari. Shinkai has also brought back Masayoshi Tanaka as character designer (also worked on Your Name film), and Kenichi Tsuchiya will be the animation director (also worked on Your Name film). Takumi Tanji, Shinkai’s former collaborator, also returns from Your Name and Kotonoha no Niwato for the role of artistic director. The animation will be produced at CoMix Wave Films, with production by STORY Inc. and TOHO is responsible for distributing the film.
Here is the synopsis for the Suzume no Tojimari:
Suzume, a 17-year-old girl who lives in a quiet town in Kyushu, meets a young traveler who tells her “I’m looking for a door”. She follows him and discovers a worn door in the ruins of the mountains, as if it were the only thing left standing from a collapse. As if attracted by something, Suzume approaches the door… Before long, doors begin to open one after another in various parts of Japan. As catastrophes come from the other side of doors, open doors must be closed. The stars, the setting sun, and the morning sky: in that place she entered, there was a sky that seemed to mix all the time. Guided by the mysterious gates, Suzume’s “gate-closing journey” begins.
Source: Official Twitter