4.5 stars

I've been meaning to watch the film so when I saw it was coming out as a manga I knew I had to read it

I thoroughly enjoyed this and loved the whole premise behind it all! I love the characters and I'm now super eager to watch the film and continue on with the manga!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed reading this. The artwork is beautiful and it did a great job of adapting from the movie. This was a fun quirky story about a 17 year old girl going on an adventure to save the world from an other worldly foe. Fun adaption from the anime and I’m excited for book 2!

When a door opens to another world, what do you do? You step through it. Past, present, and future, combine when Suzume steps through her first doorway.

If you want a manga that will give you maximum emotional damage, Suzume should be your go to. Fair warning, volume 1 ends on a massive cliffhanger. It's worth the jump.

On the way to school one morning, Suzume encounters a mysterious stranger looking for some ruins. After directions him to an abandoned hot springs, she heads off to school, thinking nothing of it, that is until an earthquake hits and out of sky just above the hot springs, a giant form erupts Knowing she won't be able to forgive herself if something happens to the young man she rushes off to the hot springs not knowing she was taking her first step in the adventure of a lifetime.

Suzume has been on my "To Watch" list for a while, so when I saw that Netgalley had the manga, I jumped on the chance to read it, and I'm glad I did. Makoto strikes the perfect balance between a supernatural adventure story and a coming of age story so far with this first volume. Suzume is an excellent main character in that she is really one of those genuinely selfless people who don't seem to realize that they spend so much time thinking about others they forget to consider themselves. I've found that authors (of manga or otherwise) are often unable to write this character type without it feeling fake, so it was a nice surprise that Suzume felt very real.

I'm also enjoying that Suzume is helped by others along the way. She's not just traversing Japan alone with a talking chair but finding, again, genuinely nice people to assist her and being able to give them something back in return. To be fair I'm pretty sure I enjoy this portion because it reminds me a bit of the Pokemon anime which is just fine with me because there's not many people who can pull of the purity that is Ash and friends just running around the world helping people out.


Overall, I definitely enjoyed this and am looking forward to reading Vol. 2!

As always, thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha for the eArc!

Very enjoyable!

I went into this manga knowing nothing about it. I didn't know there was a movie until after I finishing reading this. So, in the beginning of the story, I was a little lost. But I was quickly able to pick up on what was going on, and then really got into it. The art is beautiful, and I'm loving the storyline. I look forward to reading future volumes!

A huge thank you to Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for giving me the chance to read Suzume (BOOK 1) by Makoto Shinkai in exchange for my honest review.

What to say about this beautiful masterpiece ?
It's simply outstanding, full of wonderfully illustrated panels that do justice to the artist and the storyline.
As someone who hasn't yet the movie, this volume made want to watch it as soon as I finished reading it ! It was not only an enticing and captivating story by Makoto Shinkai but a true work of art as far as Denki Amashima's works are considered.

I really want to get my hands on my own physical copies of the book/manga adaptation of this amazing story .

This was beautiful! Having the opportunity to read this after having seen the family was wonderful and it gave me the chance to fall deeper in love with the story. The manga was incredibly and it gave the chance to almost die deeper into the characters and spend more time getting to know them. I would absolutely recommend this to someone just getting started in manga and anime (like me) or someone who is already deep in the genre! It's something everyone is going to love!

Rating: 5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟's
Thank you Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for approving me for this ARC!! I was super excited to read it as the same author wrote 'My Name'!!
-》Review《-
LOVED THE ART IN THIS BOOK! I love this authors art style and have read My Name by him and seen the movie!! This book was super short, but cute and full of a unique storyline!! I was laughing so hard at the cut scenes from the main character Suzume to Souta, where Souta is a chair and clearly has no capacity to express emotion but still the scene shows his clear distaste. I REALLY hope this book becomes a movie/show one day!!

I will be posting more reviews as the date gets closer both on goodreads and retailer sites@

Ever since I saw the film, I fell in love with this story. Now to see this marvellous story come to life on paper was the best thing they could have done.

Once again, I loved these characters and the artwork is magnificent! I can't wait to read the second book, coming this fall 🥹

I highly recommend that everyone get to know this story full of strong characters.

I watched the movie version of this back when it was first released, and I had a few qualms with the pacing and lack of explanations. I asked for the ARC of this manga in hopes that it'd spend more time on the topics that the movie wanted to explore but didn't have enough time for. This volume covers the start of the movie up until they meet the kitty keystone in the bar. It didn't cover enough material to sate my curiosity on ny post-movie questions, because they appear later in the plotline. Still, I'd like to read future volumes to see if the series covers them in the future.

One thing I'll note is how well the artist did with the art. I loved how they draw expressions on Souta's chair form. In the movie, it felt like they heavily relied on body language and the voice actor because the chair's "expression" never changes. Sure, it's missing most of a normal person's facial features, and even missing something as trivial as eyebrows can be a huge detriment to expressing emotion, but you can show so much emotion with just eyes. The artist combines composition and expression to depict the weight of stress, frustration, or desperation that the characters feel. Speaking of composition, the pages have panels that are well-placed and make it easy to follow the flow of the page - the composition is used to guide the reader's eyes to the next panel or speech bubble, and it naturally guides the reader to the next panel. I've never seen an artist do that before, and it was a joy to read! You could tell each page was well thought out and planned.

The artist hand-draws each background in each panel, which is a delight to see - especially when they take creative liberties and show how less can be more, and they don't shy away from doing this on panels with impact that take up the whole page. Some favorites are the panels where they retrieve the fruit on the road and the scene where Souta confirms Suzume closed the school gate and rain is falling. It gives off a light and refreshing feeling.

I have to bring up the soundtrack for the movie was so iconic that I kept hearing it while I read this volume! I'd recommend new readers to listen to a playlist of the OST in the background.

The plot itself is straightforward. We start off with high schooler Suzume and a mysterious man who's looking for random doors. When Suzume accidentally removes the keystone from the ground, we learn about how the keystone is essential to preventing earthquakes. The keystone has been yearning for freedom and turns Souta, the mysterious man, into a chair to prevent him from interfering from their long awaited exploration of life and the world that it finds itself in. Meanwhile, Suzume and Souta go around closing gates, preventing earthquakes, and chase down the keystone. The manga adaptation has been faithful to the movie so far, and I enjoyed revisiting Suzume and Souta's world!

Better Than The Novel

I have already read the light novel Suzume, and thought it was good. However, this Manga version was outstanding!

I was so happy to be able to "visualize" the characters of the book, and give insight into the world of the books.

I really thoroughly enjoyed the art, and found it very impressive.

The story was great, and flowed well throughout the pages.

I am very glad I got this book, and thank you to Netgalley for this.

Definitely recommend checking this one out!

4.4/5

I really don’t know why I don’t read manga more often because practically every time I do I end up loving it!
Suzume was such a fun read, the atmosphere was so cozy it felt like curling up with a blanket to watch one of your favourite movies!
It was so light and summery, and I love the idea of doors that lead to liminal spaces! Even though I'm not entirely sure I've grasped that particular concept yet but hopefully Vol.2 should tell us more. Definitely recommend for fans of the Studio Ghibli films especially My Neighbour Totoro And Howls Moving Castle! With the magic in a modern world and the adventure through the countryside i think i can safely say this book is now one of my new favourite manga!

I’m fairly new to manga, and after reading this adaptation, I’m definitely eager to watch the film it’s based on. Following Suzume Iwato, a high schooler who encounters a mysterious man searching for a door, the story quickly drew me in. It’s a heartwarming tale that emphasizes how people can support each other in unexpected ways. The artwork is stunning and effectively captures the essence of each scene, keeping me engaged throughout. And the addition of a cute yet mischievous cat just added to its charm.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for providing me with this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 ⭐

Suzume is one of my favourite anime movies and I'm glad too see there's a manga adaptation for it!!

The story is about Suzume and Souta going on an adventure to catch a keystone turned cat while closing doors to stop earthquakes along the way. Luckily for them, the cat has hashtag called #hanginwithdaijin and they eventually meet new people who helped them on their journey.

I would highly recommend this manga for literally anyone even if you don't like anime. I'm interested in getting the full set and reading them once they released.

Thank you to Kodansha Comics for the e-ARC!

Super cute adaptation of the movie!! I love the movie though and think it's hard for a black and white manga to capture how beautiful the colorful and rich animation of the movie.

Thank you netgalley for letting me read the ARC!

Suzume was a very sweet manga. While the core of the story is pretty straight forward, the main character is so likable, you can’t help but root for her. This manga has a good combination of sunshine and grumpy and who doesn’t like the crazy feeling of watching a girl try to conceal her talking chair. I personally would have liked a little more deep content, which the story starts to get to, toward the end of the volume. I would happily read more volumes of this story and look forward to seeing how it develops.

3.75⭐
Thank you NetGalley for an ARC copy of "Suzume". I enjoyed this cute little manga, I really liked the cat.

It's refreshing to revisit this story in manga form.
I loved Suzume from the first watch. At the same time, I gripped the chair while I anxiously waited to see what would happen to Souta.
I love Makoto Shinkai's work so much because everything about this story is grounded in our world despite the fantasy element. It feels real through the sound design, the visuals, the small details, and most importantly it shines through its humanity. It depicts the story of Suzume who's trying to turn Souta back to normal however, in the journey she meets different people whom she learns with, and bonds with. It's beautiful to see how much Suzume grows, and how much closing the doors makes her realise how the past, present and future are so intertwined.
It is a beautiful story.
Despite lacking the charm of the animation, the drawings shine through the page.

This is a manga adaptation of the movie which I have yet to watch but after reading this first volume I can't wait to. It follows Suzume Iwato, a high schooler, who meets a mysterious man looking for a door and the adventure goes on from there. I found this story heartwarming, showing how people can help each other in need along the way. The art style was beautiful and clear to what was happening in the story, making it engaging from start to finish. Plus, with a cute but mischievous cat, what's not to love?

Thank you NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Received as an e-arc. Pretty much word for word from the movie. This is part 1 of 3. Suzume meets a mysterious man named Souta tasked with locking magical doors across the country.
This is an extremely heartwarming story and I recommend reading this and watching the movie. It truly is amazing.

Thank you netgalley for the arc copy!