By now, Makoto Shinkai’s 2022 hit Suzume needs little introduction. However, what if you were told that the anime was originally intended as a yuri film? That’s what the renowned filmmaker revealed, among many other fascinating bits of trivia, in an interview with Looper last April 12. It seems like there’s always more beneath the surface than meets the eye.
In addition to a fascinating discussion about the film’s distinct lighting techniques and its Studio Ghibli influences, interviewer Reuben Baron brought up how Shinkai initially intended Suzume to be about two women journeying together, only to be told by an executive to have a romantic male lead. The anime director apparently expressed surprise, since he had only ever brought that detail up in Japanese interviews, which was confirmed by writer Mihoko Aoyagi.
新海監督、最初は女性二人のロードムービーを作ろうとしていたのだが、プロデューサーから「早くない？」と言われて今回の組み合わせになったと。え〜ん（日本市場…）
— 青柳美帆子 (@ao8l22) April 10, 2022
Director Shinkai, at first he was going to make a road movie of two women, but the producer said, “Isn’t it too soon?” Hmmm (Japanese market…)
Shinkai himself explained in more detail what happened and why he originally went for a “sisterhood” kind of romance, which was interpreted by the interviewer as lesbian love:
Why I even wanted to go in that direction in the first place is because I personally felt a little bit tired of telling the very traditional romance story. I felt that in Your Name, I [did] everything that I possibly could in terms of “boy meets girl” and “will they, won’t they, will they meet.” That element of romance is very relatable to the masses, which is why it was a subject matter that resonated with a large audience.
Personally, because I’ve done that so many times, I pivoted. 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.” So in order to not make it too much of a romance, I decided to make her primary interest a chair.
It’s not surprising that some might take those words at face value and conclude that Shinkai seems tired of classic love stories or that anime producers are behind the times. Just as with the yuri trivia, however, there’s a bit more to it.
Over the question of whether he would “try to tell more direct LGBTQ+ stories in the future,” Shinkai mentions the following:
In terms of the LGBTQ commentary, it’s not something that I’m actively trying to write or not write or [is] a conscious decision. But with this film, Suzume as the main character, it works. But I think it would also work had she been a boy or had she been non-binary. It’s not necessarily the context of male/female; it’s about a human overcoming something. In my future films as well, I want to focus on that human story as opposed to too much commentary on gender or sex.
Shinkai’s remarks don’t subtract at all from what he’s accomplished. More than anything else, you can count on him to make a stroke of brilliance that anyone, regardless of gender or gender politics, can enjoy.
Speaking of Suzume, J-List has the movie’s official visual guide on hand, straight from Japan! Feel free to check it out here!
