An animation that touched my heart, it's full of content, a nice story that beautifully blends the past with the present, despair and suffering with hope and the joys of life (humor, helplessness, difficult situations, love, food, travel, and people) loneliness with friendship, the fear of death with the joy of being alive, simplicity with complexity, everyday life with the magic of life...
The story covers all these aspects, and we can see both sides of a situation throughout, maintaining a beautiful balance and equilibrium, even visually and audibly.
The story flows smoothly, almost slowly, yet it's full and has many very relevant and pleasant situations that convey well-being.
The main character Suzume is a resourceful girl with many qualities and gifts (lost at some point along the way) and has the power to bring freshness and well-being wherever she goes. We see multiple scenes where she stops by those she meets on her journey, as they always had customers and things were going well, thanks to Suzume. Suzume is hardworking, attentive, courageous, humble, gentle, knows what a bond means, and is willing to risk a lot to protect what is important to her.
It is worth mentioning Suzume's connection with Souta around whom the story somewhat revolves. The two are destined to be together, and we can see how strong a bond of friendship, love, and collaboration is as they face difficult and challenging situations. How valuable the time spent together is for both, how they support each other, and how they grow together.
And I really liked how Souta's spirit was transferred to Suzume's old chair.
The chair represented love, care, work, dedication, and joy with which Suzume's mother made the chair, and it was the most palpable reminder of all these feelings and what Suzume's mother meant to her.
And I liked how Souta, a person with human qualities, courage, love, and care for others, ended up in a situation where he felt helpless. And having such an experience allowed him to be helped and cared for, and in this way, to observe both the fear of death and the desire to be alive.
The movie was so delightful that it seemed like a loss to stop it and write down quotes or lines from it. However, I can tell you that there are many, and the movie is full of content and meaning.
Some of the lines I remember, and scenes I liked:
"The things I said in the parking lot, I felt sometimes. But it wasn't the only thing I felt in relation to you."
In this scene, we can observe what it means to pour your anger on someone, to express your frustrations fully, frustrations based on partial truth. And when both parties are responsible for their own lives, and understand what a bond of friendship, love, care, and concern means. After they vent their frustrations, we see that they communicate sincerely and vulnerably what they feel for each other and what the connection between them means from a broader perspective.
"I want to live. Want to hear your voice. I don’t want to be alone. I fear death."
This is what it means to understand the value of a life, and in this way, I believe we also encounter the regrets we accumulate in a lifetime if we do not listen to our soul and live our lives.
"I am tomorrow."
This sentence at the end, I consider it to be the main message of the movie. And I'll leave you curious to discover the meaning of this message on your own.
Enjoy watching.