The film follows 17-year-old high school girl Suzume Iwato and young stranger Souta Munakata, who team up to prevent a series of disasters across Japan by sealing doors from the colossal, supernatural worm that causes earthquakes after being released.

Produced by CoMix Wave Films, it features the voices of Nanoka Hara and Hokuto Matsumura, with character designs by Masayoshi Tanaka, animation direction by Kenichi Tsuchiya, art direction by Takumi Tanji, and its musical score was composed by Radwimps and Kazuma Jinnouchi, making it Shinkai's third collaboration with Tanaka and Radwimps, after Your Name (2016) and Weathering with You (2019).

It received largely positive reviews from critics, with praise directed towards the characters, animation, visuals, music, and emotional story.

She has recurring dreams of her childhood self walking through a ruined cityscape at night, before running into a shadowy figure she believes to be her late mother.

He explains that he is a "Closer" and must locate and lock specific doors in abandoned places throughout Japan to prevent a supernatural "worm" from being released and causing earthquakes.

Upon reaching Ehime, Suzume and Souta find social media posts from locals, who have photographed and named the cat "Daijin".

With help from a local girl, Chika Amabe, they locate the worm again and close the door it is escaping from in an abandoned school.

After parting with Chika, they hitch a ride to Kobe with a kind bar owner named Rumi Ninomiya, who asks Suzume to babysit her twin children.

He explains the legend of the worm, and that he is the last descendant of a family that, for generations, had been responsible for locking abandoned doors which lead to the Ever-After.

Suzume then runs into Souta's friend, Tomoya Serizawa, who is looking for him, and her Aunt Tamaki who wants to take her back home to Kyushu.

At a rest stop along the way, Suzume and Tamaki get into an argument, and she discovers that her aunt is possessed by Sadaijin, the eastern keystone, who now accompanies them.

Shinkai noticed that there were more empty or abandoned areas in Japan due to the country's declining birth rate and aging population, so he thought of writing a story about "mourning deserted places.

[12] Shinkai also cited Kiki's Delivery Service, Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, and Haruki Murakami's novel Kafka on the Shore and short story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" [ja] as influences for the film.

Hara has been a fan of Shinkai's works, remarking that she could not imagine being the one to share the "unforgettable, heart-shaking sensation" she felt when first seeing one of his films in theaters.

[5][22] On September 29, Eri Fukatsu, Shota Sometani, Sairi Ito, Kotone Hanase, Kana Hanazawa, and Matsumoto Hakuō II were revealed to be joining the voice cast.

[8] On October 25, Ryūnosuke Kamiki, who voiced Taki Tachibana in Your Name, was added to the cast for the role of Tomoya Serizawa.

It was also revealed that TikTok singer Toaka provided the vocals for the first theme song, "Suzume" (すずめ),[23] which debuted on music streaming services on September 30, 2022.

[16] On April 9, 2022, an updated version featuring the film's protagonist was released online and as a full-page advertisement in the morning edition of The Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

[8] Nippon TV previewed the first 12 minutes of the film on October 28, 2022, during a broadcast of Your Name on NNN's Kin'yō Road Show [ja] programming block.

[54] Singapore-based distributor Encore Films handled distribution in Southeast Asia, with the Philippines and Thailand releases co-distributed with Warner Bros. Pictures.

[57] Another special screening was held on April 21, 2023, at PVR Cinemas Citi Mall in Mumbai, which Shinkai attended to celebrate the premiere of the film in Japanese and in the Hindi dub in India.

The collector's edition features a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and bonus content such as audio commentary, a making-of documentary, animatics of the film, and interviews with cast and staff members.

[64] The film was broadcast on Nippon TV's Kin'yō Road Show block on April 5, 2024, serving as its premiere on Japanese terrestrial television.

[71] The film debuted at number one at the Japanese box office, and grossed ¥1.88 billion (US$13.49 million) from the advance IMAX screening and during its first three days.

[85] In the United States, the film was released alongside Renfield, The Pope's Exorcist, Mafia Mamma and Sweetwater, and was projected to gross $4.7 million from 2,170 theaters in its opening weekend.

[88][89] The film went to debut on $5 million in its opening weekend, finishing seventh at the box office behind Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Renfield, John Wick: Chapter IV, Air and The Super Mario Bros.

The website's consensus reads: "Suzume sees director Makoto Shinkai falling just a bit short of the bar set by previous outings – but when the results are this visually thrilling and emotionally impactful, it's hard to find much fault.

Eisenbeis also criticized the appearance of a creature that Suzume encountered in Tokyo, describing it as "a cheap CG effect placed over the otherwise quality animation and blended poorly.

"[96] Gautam Sunder of The Hindu praised Shinkai's "mastery over light and shadows", character writing, humour, and references to older animated films, while conceding that it could not match "the raw beauty of The Garden of Words or the dramatic beats of Your Name".

[123] A children's paperback edition, which adds furigana and illustrations drawn by Chiko, was released on October 13 under the Kadokawa Tsubasa Bunko imprint.