I was thrilled to delve into the manga adaptation of "Suzume no To" after being deeply moved by the movie, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the manga beautifully encapsulated the same emotional depth and resonance that had captivated me in the movies.

The characters in the story are enjoyable, and I particularly love the inclusion of the chair. It's a brilliant way to bring in something meaningful and important while adding a touch of humor. The chair has become quite iconic.

The world building in Suzume is captivating, and I hope to explore it further through this series. Overall, I highly recommend this manga to everyone. It's a story that is truly worth reading.

Suzume is an enchanting manga adaptation of the Golden Globes-nominated worldwide hit directed by Makoto Shinkai, the visionary creator behind Your Name and Weathering With You. As a fan of the movie, I was thrilled to dive into this all-new adaptation and experience Suzume's journey once again in a different medium.

High school junior Suzume's adventure begins when she encounters a beautiful stranger, Souta, who is searching for ruins and a certain door. Curiosity and concern lead her to an abandoned resort, where she unwittingly opens a door to a world beyond time and place, setting off a seismic adventure that captivated me from the start.

One of the most remarkable aspects of this manga is how closely it follows the film. The first few pages, in particular, are stunningly beautiful, capturing the essence of Shinkai's cinematic artistry. I found myself wishing the entire manga was in color to fully appreciate the visual splendor of this piece. However, I understand this is a common limitation in manga, and the black-and-white illustrations still manage to convey the story's magic.

The relationship between the characters is one of the manga's strongest points. The dynamic between Suzume, Souta, and the other characters kept me thoroughly entertained. The interactions involving the “chair” and the cat had me laughing out loud, adding a delightful layer of humor to the story. The evolving relationships kept me on my toes, and I was fully invested in their journey.

My only complaint is that just as the story was reaching its climax, it abruptly ended, leaving me heartbroken and yearning for more. Had I not seen the movie or known where the story was headed, I would have been eagerly anticipating the next chapter, desperate to know where the narrative would take me.

I want to extend my gratitude to the publisher and NetGalley for providing the ARC of this manga, which is set to release on 9/24/24. For fans of manga or anime, "Suzume" is an absolute must-read. It captures the essence of Shinkai's storytelling and offers a compelling, visually engaging experience that is sure to resonate with readers.

Based off the plot of the film Suzume, the first volume of the manga follows the beats of the film very closely. The art style is lonely and in keeping with the film. I do wonder how easy it is to follow parts of the plot if you haven't seen the movie, but if you have read other manga or are familiar with other magical realism storylines, most will be able to follow it.

Thank you to Kodansha Comics and Vertical Comics for an ARC on NetGalley. All opinions are my own. This book is due to be published  9/24/24.

Suzume has been on my radar for ages now and when I saw there was a manga adaptation I leapt to read volume one.

The premise is interesting and the characters seem intriguing. The dynamic between Souta and Suzume was fun to read. The art style is a bit too chaotic looking for my tastes, but this manga moved at a very fast pace so it makes sense.

I’d definitely recommend it to manga lovers looking for an interesting story!

Ohhh I just finished and I absolutely loved it.. I needed something like this as an amuse bouche between my reads and this was absolutely perfect.. Also because I’m a huge anime fan.. really need to see what’s happening with Souta and Suzume

I think a lot gets lots in translation between the movie and the manga. You don't really understand that someone's been turned into a chair until a couple pages later. Some middle and high school readers may like this a lot, but only if they're familiar with manga pacing.

<i>Thank you Netgalley and Yen Press for providing me an eARC of this manga</i>

3.5 stars.

This manga is an adaptation of the ononimous animated movie. I watched the movie before and loved it. The manga follows the movie exactly, even if it covers only the first third of it, but it falls a little short. First of all, the dialogues are sketchy and the translation sometimes felt off with expressions that I hardly hear in everyday language (e.g. "let's call a grown-up! / a grown-up could help...").
The story is beautiful, but here it moves very fast with too little explanation and it feels dry. In the movie I felt attached to every character, each of them was very well drawn, but here the characterisation is very bare bones.
My review is somewhat influenced by the fact that I saw the movie first, as I was able to recall the emotions I felt while watching it here while reading, but I'm pretty sure my opinion would be harsher if I hadn't seen the movie first, for the reasons I have listed above.
All in all, I would recommend watching the film and skipping the manga adaptation, which doesn't do justice to the source material.

I've been an avid Makoto Shinkai fan since his short Hoshi no Koe film forever ago. When the Suzume film was released in Japan in 2022 I was in Tokyo, and remember seeing Tsutaya in Shibuya wrapped in stunning advertisements for it. Still, I haven't seen the movie yet, so I was thrilled for a chance to read an advance copy of the manga adaptation. Thanks so much to Vertical and Kodansha for this opportunity.

It's difficult to rate a series based on reading only a third of the story, and just as our main character Suzume's adventure gets going, the volume ends. The supernatural concept is interesting but little is shown of the worm-like phenomenon in this volume. Shinkai has said that the film was inspired by the Tohoku 2011 disaster, and it's clear that grief and loss are important themes that will be covered in the story, but with only a third available to read, it's hard to judge how effective the storytelling is. Having seen some of the other reviews, it seems like most have seen the film, and are judging based on how close of an adaptation it is. But for those of us going in fresh, it feels like the depth is lacking.

Where I personally struggled was the art. Shinkai is notorious for favoring style over substance, so even if the plot is lacking, you can count on absolutely stunning visuals. It's notoriously difficult to make a manga - especially in black and white - as detailed and impactful as you can in a visual anime. When it's done well it's glorious; for example, the Planetes manga has a two-page spread that perfectly depicts the emptiness and loneliness of space, even in black-and-white. But Suzume fell short there for me, for example the supernatural snake phenomenon felt scribbled and dull, and the character designs felt unpolished and slightly amateur (for example Suzume's huge cartoony eyes) especially when compared to Shinkai's typical style. It made more sense once I looked up the artist and saw it appears to be their first published work.

Overall I can't speak to how good of an adaptation this is, but it seems like a decent start for a story that surely gets better. I just wish the art was more polished to better showcase Shinkai's style.

ARc Copy...Promising so far and I haven't seen the movie yet...feels like fans of "Your Name" and "Weathering with You" will enjoy this adaptation.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc. Suzume is one of my all time favorite anime movies, it is visually stunning, greatly weird and funny and has some beautiful messages. When I saw it was getting a manga adaptation I had to relive this journey in new format!
We follow Suzume who one day stumbles upon a portal to another dimension that is leaking out into our world. She sees a very cute cat totem and cute guy trying to close it. She helps him out, the totem turns into an actual cat and leaves leaving the situation unbalanced and turns the boy into a memorable childhood chair.
This leaves it up to Suzume to follow the cat and continue closing these doors that it keeps opening, protecting the world from natural disaster.
While I still prefer the movie because its a visual masterpiece I highly enjoyed the manga adaptation and can recommend it to people who like quirky stories with high stakes!

I loved it! I can't wait to read the rest and find out what happens and why Suzume can see the doors and everything else.

The plot is well developed and the characters are fantastic. The drawings are evocative and make you feel like you are right there with the characters.

I devoured the while thing and I can't wait to read more!


Link to review coming soon

Thank you NetGalley and the author for a copy of this manga.

I watched Suzume and it was very captivating. Getting to read the manga is an entirely different experience. You get to take in the story at your own pace. The art style is cute, although not my favorite. Book 1 is pretty much identical to the beginning of the movie. Love it!

Freak! It was BEAUTIFUL!
It's funny, the story is soo original and the drawings are PERFECT!🪑🏞️🚪🐈‍⬛


Thank you Netgalley, Makoto Shinkai and Denki Amashima for this amazing read!!
Literally CAN'T WAIT for volume 2 🩵

Suzume had an interesting story and stunning artwork. The manga follows the first parts of the film pretty closely so if you enjoyed the movie you will likely enjoy this. Looking forward to reading more of the series. My one criticism would be that I wish there was a bit more than there was in the film but other than that the manga is great.

A great adaption from the movie, it was able to capture the moments perfectly that were drawn and reflected on the big screen to manga form

Enjoyed this first volume and the art was perfect for it. I just hope it doesn't become a weird age-gap relationship going forward given this involves a minor.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc of Suzume Vol 1.

I saw the film when it was out in cinema and loved it! I as planning to pick up the manga regardless, so when I saw it available on NetGalley it was a no brainer.

The manga follows the first part of the film where Suzume meets Souta and discovers the door, the keystone and learns about closers. This chance encounter on her way to school leads her on a wild chase with Souta (now cursed to take the form of her childhood chair) for Daijin the keystone. It is such a bizarre but heart warming journey of processing grief, loneliness and inner strength.

With anime series or films that I love, I will generally try to read the manga to see if there are any other little details that maybe got missed or weren't as obvious. At the moment, this is pretty faithful but I am hoping for more depth and detail in the later volumes which I will definitely be picking up.

I found this fascinating. There was so much going on that it kept my interest the whole way and I will definitely seek out future volumes. The story is engrossing, the characters are intriguing, and the paranormal aspect has me hooked.

The art is lovely. The premise is intriguing. (I really want to know more.) Plus, the guy turned into a sentient chair really caught my attention.

I am concerned there might be a forthcoming bit of an age gap romance, but hopefully, the MC will mature a bit.

This is the manga adaptation of the animated film of the same name by Makoto Shinkai. Shinkai makes the movie, then the novel, and then the manga, haha. The story has a very nice background that has to do with overcoming pain after a catastrophic loss, the only drawback is that this is the first of three volumes that complete the story. I haven't seen the movie, but after this I'm going to look it up.

What is it about? Suzume is a junior high school girl who was orphaned after an earthquake and is raised by her aunt. One day on the way to school she meets a young man who catches her attention and who tells her that he is looking for a door in an abandoned place. Suzume points him to an old abandoned tourist site, and then she regrets it because the ruins can be dangerous, so when she goes to look for him, her adventure begin.

The famous door is a portal to another world that has to do with a 'worm' that represents the force of the earth that causes earthquakes. And the young man is a 'door closer' named Souta.

Soon this turns into a road-trip, and a coming-on-age, in search of a cat that turns Souta into a chair (this is a very good device on Makoto Shinkai's part to avoid turning the story into a romance ), so between humor and meeting people on their trip, the story is unraveled through a Japan of forgotten places, seeking in a sense to exorcise ghosts and as a tribute to those who have suffered great losses in natural tragedies.

On the other hand, Daijin the cat is a little god of chaos who leaves little crumbs (aka images of his path on social media), signaling that myth and technology coexist in modern Japan.

We will have to wait for the next volumes.

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Esta es la adaptación manga del filme animado del mismo nombre de Makoto Shinkai. Shinkai hace la peli, después la novela y luego el manga, jaja. La historia tiene una trasfondo muy lindo que tiene que ver con superar el dolor después de una pérdida catastrófica, la única pega es que este el primer tomo de tres que completan la historia. No he visto la película, pero después de esto voy a buscarla.

¿De qué va? Suzume es una chica de junior high school que quedó huérfana después de un terremoto y es criada por su tia, un dia camino al colegio se cruza con j0ven que le llama la atención y quien le dice que anda buscando una puerta en un sitio abandonado, Suzume le indica un viejo sitio turístico abandonado, y luego se arrepiente porque las ruinas pueden ser peligrosas, al ir a buscarlo empiezan sus aventuras.

La famosa puerta es un portal a otro mundo que tiene que ver con un 'gusano' que representa la fuerza de la tierra que provoca los sismos. Y el joven es un cierra puertas llamado Souta.

Pronto esto se convierte en un road-trip , y un coming-on-age, en busca de un gato que convierte a Souta en una silla (este es un recurso muy bueno de parte de Makoto Shinkai para evitar convertir la historia en un romance), asi que entre humor y conocer personas en su viaje se va desentrañando la historia por un Japón de lugares olvidados buscando en cierto sentido exorcisar fantasmas y como un homenaje a quienes han sufrido grandes perdidas en las tragedias naturales.

Por otra parte, Daijin, el gato, es un pequeño dios del caos que deja pequeñas migajas (también conocidas como imágenes de su camino en las redes sociales), por lo señla que el mito y la tecnología coexisten en el Japón moderno.


Habrá que esperar los siguientes tomos.