'Suzume no Tojimari' Is the Gorgeous New Must-See From the Director of 'Your Name' — and It Has a Trailer 

Overview

Studio Ghibli has become a household name for its stunningly delightful, beautiful and moving films, and rightly so; however, it isn't the only source of wonderful Japanese animated cinema. Everyone should know this in general, but fans of Your Name and Weathering with You should feel it in their shimmering hearts, because director Makoto Shinkai's past two movies have been that astonishing — and deservedly proved huge international successes.

Shinkai's list of gems doesn't start with that pair of flicks — it also includes The Place Promised in Our Early Days, 5 Centimetres per Second, Children Who Chase Lost Voices and The Garden of Words — and it certainly won't end there, either. Indeed, come November this year in Japan and sometime in 2023 elsewhere around the world, the acclaimed filmmaker's new movie Suzume no Tojimari will start enchanting and entrancing cinemagoers.

From the just-dropped latest trailer, which also has an English-subtitled version, Shinkai looks to be in familiar territory. In other words, just the animation and art direction alone is spectacularly and breathtakingly gorgeous. Every detail-filled frame of his films could easily sit on a wall — and from this sneak peek, Suzume no Tojimari continues the trend as it follows the titular high school girl and a mysterious young man, who team up to travel through otherworldly gates as disasters start to strike around Japan.

If Weathering with You had you dreaming of a Tokyo getaway — or reminded you of past trips, because its renderings of the city are that realistic yet also bewitching, like capturing a glorious memory in animation — then expect the Suzume no Tojimari trailer to have you yearning to travel further afield in Japan. (Obviously, the swoonworthy scenery in the full film itself is certain to amplify that feeling approximately 75,000 times when the movie hits the big screen.)

Also part of the fun, as doors keep opening up in Japan's "lonely areas people have forgotten": talking cats, swirling red clouds and scampering chairs, just to name a few of the trailer's highlights.

As they did with Your Name and Weathering with You, Radwimps are providing Suzume no Tojimari's soundtrack.

Check out the English-subtitled version of Suzume no Tojimari's trailer below (and the Japanese version, too, if you prefer):

Suzume no Tojimari opens in Japan on November 11, 2022, and is expected to release elsewhere around the world in 2023 — we'll update you with a release date Down Under when one is announced.