Suzume trailer shows the strange new film from the director of Your Name

Makoto Shinkai (the acclaimed director of anime behind these films) Your Name Weathering with youFilmmaker, returns this autumn with a film about a young girl who falls for a chair. That’s essentially the elevator pitch for Suzume, but there’s a whole lot more going on in the new trailer for the upcoming film, which is slated to release in theaters in Japan this November.

This film, set in Kyushu’s quiet suburb, tells the story about a girl aged 17 who is thrust into an adventure by a strange and mysterious stranger, Souta.

Suzume confides in Suzume about the danger of Japan’s doors not being closed. Souta becomes a sentient chair when a evil cat transforms Souta into an unspeakable creature. Suzume must team up with Souta to find the cat and shut down all doors in Japan.

As outlandish as the premise might sound, the crux of the story feels very much in line with the rest of the director’s oeuvre. A persistent theme in one form or another across all of Shinkai’s films is the concept of missed connections, of people finding each other in spite of seemingly improbable circumstances, only for those connections to be stymied by equally improbable circumstances outside of their control. I’d say “being turned into a chair by an evil magical cat” falls squarely within the latter description.

SuzumeJapan will open the theaters for this film on Nov. 11. It is expected to be released in the United States in 2023.