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I'm as much of a Shinkai fan as the next guy, but I have to admit his latest work is also his weakest to date. Shinkai's writing has always been a point of criticism in his previous works, but in Suzume, even the relative strength of its visuals and music do little to rescue its struggling storyline.

Shinkai makes no attempt to push the boundaries in Suzume, and viewers will find that the story follows pretty much the same formula as his previous two works. Unfortunately, there's just a bit too much crammed into its 2 hour long runtime for anything to be resolved in a ... satisfying manner. There's that slightly forced, slightly awkward romance subplot; there's a coming-of-age/self-discovery segment; not to mention some familial angst and trauma thrown into the mix. None of these threads are given enough time to develop and it all ends up feeling like a bit of a cop out with little to no emotional payoff. Side characters come and go, serving as little more than checkpoints in the main characters' journey, doing little to influence their development and final destination. Our main guy might look cute, but he has less emotional depth than the chair he turned into. Overall, not great, even by Shinkai's standards.

The visuals are, as usual, the star of the show. Suzume departs from the more grounded, realistic atmostphere of past films, instead opting for a more ethereal, supernatural vibe. Viewers will once again be treated to stunning panoramas and wallpaper-worthy backdrops. Although, the film is sorely missing the small, human aspects that were so effective in creating that extra bit of immersion in Your Name and Tenki no Ko. In my opinion, Suzume doesn't quite reach the high bar set by Tenki no Ko in terms of atmosphere and visuals.

To no one's surprise, sound design and SFX were once again impeccable, and lent quite a bit to the realism of the film. Our friends in Japan may (or may not) appreciate the attention to detail in earthquake-related scenes in particular.

In the music department, Radwimps reprise their role in the soundtrack, delivering a great soundtrack. Unfortunately, while the sougs were fine, the timing felt a little "off". There was a noticeable reuse of some tracks, and it never quite felt like there were many emotional notes hit. There was no moment like when "Sparkle" or "Grand Escape" started playing in Your Name or Tenki no Ko; no moment that made you go "damn, this is it". Perhaps this is more the fault of the plot than the music. That said, relegating one of the only vocal Radwimps tracks to the end credits was a... questionable decision, to say the least.

Viewers going into this for the visuals (and other things Shinkai has traditionally done well) should prepare to be whelmed, or maybe underwhelmed. Viewers hoping for an improvement in the story writing department shouldn't bother. While I will still eagerly await Shinkai's next project, I only hope that he brings something new to the table next time. Even the best formulas get stale after a while.

After 12 episodes I genuinely have no idea what this show was even trying to do. For some mysterious reason, I went into this expecting lots of death and gore. That was a mistake. There was none. In fact, the show dreadfully boring the whole way through. The story goes nowhere, half the characters have no reason to exist, and its not even 'so bad its good'. Objectively speaking, the art isn't bad at all, and the character designs are pretty alright. The problem lies in the fact that the characters themselves have all the charisma of lawn clippings.
Perhaps some might find it funny ... in some strange way, but not for me. Spend your time on something more productive, like scrolling through memes or something. Just don't spend it on this.