Watch: ‘Your Name’ Director Makoto Shinkai’s ‘Suzume no Tojimari’ Gets First Trailer

Comix Wave Films, Story Inc, and Toho Co. have released the first teaser trailer and a new still of Makoto Shinkai’s upcoming feature Suzume no Tojimari (working title) and have announced that the film will hit Japanese cinemas on November 11.

Shinkai is best known for his 2016 instant classic Your Name, which grossed over $380 million worldwide, breaking box office records and becoming the third highest-grossing anime film of all time. In 2019, his next film, Weathering with You, was a critical and audience hit, pulling in nearly $200 million of its own. It’s safe to say that Suzume no Tojimari is one of 2022’s most anticipated animated feature releases.

Shinkai’s latest follows 17-year-old Suzeme, after a young man tells her that he’s looking for a door. Drawn in by the stranger’s quest, she stumbles on a weathered door amidst the rubble of an old hotel. When the door is opened a magical destructive force is released, and other similar doors begin opening around Japan, bringing peril to anyone nearby. Suzume quickly sets out on a quest to shut any other such door she can find and prevent further disaster. Shinkai describes the film as “a story about closure.”

The teaser begins with Suzume riding her bike down a street overlooking her picturesque seaside village. We get a brief glimpse of the interaction that ignites her journey before several shots of her life at home split apart clips of her arrival at the door. From there, magic and reality collide before a final shot of Suzume and the stranger closing the out-of-place door.

“We must think about how to close the many doors we left open,” said Shinkai in a statement. “I’ve bestowed that responsibility upon Suzume as she travels across Japan closing various doors. It is my sincere hope that this film leaves its audiences with big smiles and excitement as they walk out of the theater.”