Anime fans are raving about Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume and we confirm if the movie is from Studio Ghibli, discuss if it’s related to Your Name, and introduce you to the cast.
The anime provides a poetic and fantastical explanation of natural disasters and we previously discussed the meaning behind the movie’s worm.
Written and directed by Shinkai and distributed by Toho, the anime fantasy, Suzume (Suzume no Tojimari), follows the titular high school student who meets a mysterious young man who is tasked with preventing disasters in Japan.
**Warning – Spoilers ahead for Suzume**
Is Suzume from Studio Ghibli?
No, Suzume is not a Studio Ghibli production as it is produced by CoMix Wave and distributed by Toho, Sony Pictures, Wild Bunch International, and Crunchyroll.
Instead of being helmed by directors Hayao Miyazaki or Isao Takahata, Suzume is captained by animator, filmmaker, and manga artist, Makoto Shinkai – who is responsible for Your Name, Weathering With You, and Garden of Words.
That being said, Suzume is clearly influenced by some of Studio Ghibli’s work, and Shinkai has even credited Nausicaa and The Castle of Cagliostro, to name a few, as his favorite anime films.
Details such as the way the worm merges with the land as well as some of the environmental designs are quite similar to Studio Ghibli’s previous work.
Is Suzume related to Your Name and Weathering With You?
Technically, no, but anime fans are nonetheless convinced that Shinkai is working on establishing a shared universe that encompasses Suzume, Your Name, and Weathering With You.
Suzume is not a sequel to any of Shinkai’s previous work, nor does it have any relation to Your Name, but since the latter shared a central character with Weathering With You, anime fans thought the same feat would repeat in Suzume.
Weathering With You featured one of Your Name’s main characters, Taki Tachibana, who was visiting his grandmother, Fumi, in Tokyo when Hodaka, Hina, and Nagi go to visit Fumi as well.
![Your Name - Trailer [English Subtitled]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xU47nhruN-Q/hqdefault.jpg "Is Suzume from Studio Ghibli? Is it related to Your Name? 2")
Meet the cast of Suzume
Voicing the protagonist is Japanese actor, Nanoka Hara, who has previously appeared in the shows Guilty Flag and Night Doctor.
Playing Sota is Hokuto Matsumura, who has starred in the series Red Eyes and the movies Liar x Liar and XxxHolic.
Voice actors representing the English dubbed version of Suzume include Nichole Sakura, Josh Keaton, Jennifer Sun Bell, and Roger Craig Smith.
Below, we have listed the full Japanese cast of Suzume:
- Suzume Iwato – Nanoka Hara
- Young Suzume – Akari Miura
- Sota Munakata – Hokuto Matsumura
- Tamaki Iwato – Eri Fukatsu
- Minoru Okabe – Shota Sometani
- Rumi Ninomiya – Sairi Ito
- Chika Amabe – Kotone Hanase
- Tsubame Iwato – Kana Hanazawa
- Hitsujiro Munakata – Matsumoto Hakuo
- Tomoya Serizawa – Ryunosuke Kamiki
- Daijin – Ann Yamane
- Miki – Aimi
By Jo Craig – [email protected]
Suzume is now in theatres worldwide.
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