Makoto Shinkai is undoubtedly one of the best anime directors that the world has received. From Your Name and Weathering With You to his recent hit Suzume, Shinkai movies are known to be heart-wrenching tales. However, the director is slowly shifting his gear.

I love Your Name and Weathering with You for their portrayal of pure and unadulterated love. But that is meddled with in Suzume as the movie suddenly deviates from Shinkai’s usual tried and tested formula. This makes me wonder if the likes of Your Name will ever be seen again.

Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name and Weathering with You are unparalleled

Being a Makoto Shinkai fan, I absolutely could not miss Suzume. But after watching it, I was sure that it had strayed from Shinkai’s formula for previous hits. Of course, the running theme of adolescence and natural disasters still exist, but Suzume felt more mature than Your Name or Weathering with You.

The love stories in Your Name and Weathering with You are more wholesome than Suzume. They consist of protagonists who are ready to do almost anything for each other. In Weathering with You, Hodaka is ready to save Hina even though it would come at the cost of Japan getting half submerged in water. In Weathering with You, the protagonists find each other after defying fate itself.

RelatedYou Can’t Watch ‘Weathering With You’ the Same Way After Realizing Makoto Shinkai Made ‘Your Name’ Characters Make a Cameo

But in Suzume, the journey is not so much about love as it is about saving the world. The romance in the movie is awkward and feels incomplete. The focus shifts to Suzume’s relationship with her aunt and reconciliation with her past. Whereas both his previous films were about pure and unadulterated love.

Makoto Shinkai might not deliver another love story like Your Name

Suzume cannot take the place of Your Name | Credits: CoMix Wave Films

A creator deviating from his usual formula isn’t bad and should never be criticized. Yet, I can’t help but miss the sentiments in his previous works. However, the issues in Suzume aren’t completely the fault of the creator, since he was forbidden from going in the direction he had originally wanted to.

Related“Too many unresolved threads”: After 6 Years, I Realize Why Makoto Shinkai’s ‘Your Name’ Is Always Going to Be Better Than ‘Weathering With You’

Suzume was initially meant to have two female protagonists instead of the relationship between Suzume and Souta. However, the producers of the film rejected the idea as they claimed the audience was not ready for this type of anime and would not find it appealing. Shinkai could no longer go ahead with his original plan but instead resorted to being petty.

Makoto Shinkai turned Souta into a chair out of rebellion | Credits: CoMix Wave Films

The result? He turned the male lead into a chair. This obviously changed the perspective of the entire movie. Shinkai was about to break the boy-meets-girl trend in Suzume, but his decisions were impeded by higher-ups. Focusing on the bond between two female characters would have not only broken away from his usual style but also remained faithful to the purity of Your Name.

Suzume and Your Name are available to stream on Crunchyroll.
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