Makoto Shinkai's Suzume competes at Berlinale, first Japanese anime in competition since 2001

Makoto Shinkai's animated film Suzume is competing in the main competition of the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), marking the first Japanese anime in competition since Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away won the Golden Bear in 2001. Released in Japanese theaters in November 2022, Suzume is the tenth highest-grossing animated film in Japanese history and the fourth highest-grossing film overall in Japan in 2022. The film follows a 17-year-old girl named Suzume who lives with her aunt in a provincial town in northern Japan and can see what others cannot, using the help of a mysterious young man (voiced by pop star Hokuto Matsumura) to 'tame' an earthquake. Shinkai stated that Suzume draws inspiration from the devastating tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, 2011, 12 years prior. He expressed curiosity about how international audiences will connect with the film and what cultural commonalities will emerge. The director emphasized his goal to entertain a wide audience, particularly young people, and noted that even without festival screenings, he would have been satisfied if many young viewers saw it. Critics describe the film as a sensitive portrait of a shaken nation and a beacon of resilience, using a three-legged chair as a metaphor for a wobbling, destabilized country, while addressing both private and collective grief with intelligence, respect, and irony.