‘Suzume’: When Somebody Loved Me, Everything Was Beautiful (3/3)

The storyline about the white cat in the film, Daijin, is probably the one that confuses audiences the most. I think it’s because of the identity of Daijin, it’s not only a cat but also a god. Besides the storyline of Daijin, the relationship between Suzume and Sōta also can be confusing. However, this is indeed a branching plot, and if it is described in detail, the main theme will be affected.

Therefore, Makoto Shinkai adopted the techniques of many film masters, and the audience needs to savour them carefully in order to understand the whole storyline of Daijin. Although such a narrative is somewhat more difficult for audiences of commercial films, it is also an interesting challenge.

Makoto Shinkai used the narrative method of a road film to show how Suzume and “chair Sōta” embarked on a journey to close abandoned doors while chasing Daijin.

At Ehime, they got help from Chika Amabe, a girl who is also a sophomore in high school and closed the abandoned door in an abandoned middle school.

In Kobe, they got help from bistro hostess Rumi Ninomiya and closed the abandoned door of the abandoned ferris wheel.

It wasn't until the giant worm reappeared from Tokyo's abandoned door and filled the entire sky that Sōta finally understood his mission was to become the new keystone, Daijin's successor. In order to complete the mission, Sōta chose to complete it.

To find ways for saving Sōta, Suzume found Sōta's grandfather in a hospital. Suzume learned that the reason why she could see the afterlife was that she had entered the abandoned door, and a person can only enter one abandoned door in a lifetime. This brought Suzume back to a vague memory of her childhood.

Suzume went back to her hometown in Tohoku with her aunt Tamaki and Sōta’s friend Tomoya Serizawa. In Tohoku, Suzume found the diary she wrote in her childhood and found that she once wrote about the incident of entering the abandoned door at that time.

With Daijin's help, Suzume found the abandoned door that she had entered in childhood and broke the cast on Sōta. In the end, Daijin turned back into the keystone, Suzume and Sōta sealed the giant worm and end the crisis.

After this, Suzume and Sōta found little Suzume appeared in the afterlife, and she was looking for her mother.

Suzume finally recalled the past and realized all the truth. It turned out that the woman little Suzume saw was her present self.

Suzume passed the yellow chair to little Suzume and told her that the dawn would come. Then Suzume and Sōta sent little Suzume out of the abandoned door together, fulfilling her destined mission in the afterlife.

Sōta's mission has not yet to done, he continued to close the abandoned doors in various places and made a promise to Suzume.

Suzume, her aunt Tamaki and Tomoya Serizawa drove back home, they revisited Chika Amabe, a high school girl who had helped Suzume, and Rumi Ninomiya, the bar hostess.

A few months later, Suzume returned to school, but suddenly one day, on her familiar way to school, Sōta came back.

3 The Absent Father

The above is the complete storyline of Suzume, but there is still a little incompleteness, that is, why Suzume could enter the abandoned door by mistake when he was a child?

We know that ordinary people cannot see the giant worm that comes out of the abandoned door, nor can they find out where the abandoned door is. A person must have a special ability to be able to do it.

Here I have a bold guess. Suzume has never met her father since she was a child. Is it possible that her father is also a person who has the same mission as Sōta, to find abandoned doors and close them? If Suzume's father is such a person, then Suzume's experience can be more explained.

But such a special life mission will always lead people to the road of loneliness and sacrifice. Perhaps the father did not want this fate to be inherited by his daughter, so he left the family and took on this responsibility alone. But her father's mission and talent still flow in Suzume's blood, giving her the ability to open abandoned doors.

But this is just my speculation. Why do you think little Suzume can open the abandoned door to enter the afterlife? What details do you discover about the film? Tell us what you think in a comment.

~🚪~🚪~🚪~🚪~🚪~🚪~🚪~🚪~🚪~🚪~

‘Suzume’: When Somebody Loved Me, Everything Was Beautiful (1/3)

‘Suzume’: When Somebody Loved Me, Everything Was Beautiful (2/3)

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