Makoto Shinkai Reveals Suzume Was Originally About Love Story Between Two Girls

Acclaimed director Makoto Shinkai revealed that his latest film Suzume was originally intended to be a romance between two girls.

Shinkai, known for his works such as Your Name, wanted to take a different approach to storytelling and explore the theme of sisterhood in his latest project. However, the producers convinced him to change the plot to appeal to a wider audience, stating that it was “too early” for Japan to have a story involving two female leads.

He believed that the LGBTQ+ element would work well in Suzume’s character and that it would work whether the character was a boy, girl or non-binary. He also added that the story was more about a human overcoming something than the context of male/female.

“I wanted to pivot to a more sisterhood type of romantic story, but I had to change that because my producer said, ‘You may be tired of these romantic stories, but your audience loves it,’” the director told Looper.

It also implies that the reason Souta turns into a chair was because Shinkai was basically forced to have a male lead in his film. “In order to not make it too much of a romance, I decided to make her primary interest a chair,” he said.

The director said he explored everything about a typical love story between a boy and a girl in Your Name, and he even felt “a little bit tired of telling the very traditional romance story.”

Suzume is about a 17-year-old girl named Suzume, who lives in a quiet town in Kyushu and encounters a mysterious young man searching for a door. After following him, Suzume discovers a weathered door in the ruins of the mountains and is drawn to it. As she touches the door, it opens up and Suzume finds herself in a world where doors are opening all over Japan, bringing with them disasters. Suzume now has to close the doors that are bringing calamity and save the world.

Suzume releases in India on April 21.