Makoto Shinkai needs to stray from his usual romance theme as fans have already begun calling him out for its repetitiveness.

SUMMARY

The romance in Suzume seemed extremely forced, and has led to fans pointing out how repetitive Makoto Shinkai’s love anime films have become.
From Garden of Words, Your Name, Weathering with You to Suzume, the director has been using the same formula of love.
While Suzume was obviously altered due to the meddling of Shinkai’s producer, fans hope that his next film would not be the same.

Makoto Shinkai gave anime fans one hit movie after another. From Your Name, and Weathering with You to his latest release, Suzume, every film had a groundbreaking debut. But somewhere along the way, the themes of his creations have become repetitive.

Of course, fans have realized it, too. In the highly competitive anime industry, Shinkai needs to come up with refreshing ideas to keep the audience engaged. With a whole new film on its way, it’s the best time for the director to rethink what he wants to portray next.

Makoto Shinkai needs to move away from traditional romance stories

Makoto Shinkai has not strayed from the romances since Your Name | Credit: CoMix Wave Films

A look at the last few movies of Makoto Shinkai will tell you everything you need to know about the director’s repetitive themes. From A Garden of Words, Your Name, Weathering with You to Suzume, all of these films have the genre of romance embedded into them.

In a tweet from December 31, 2024, the director announced that he has been working on a new movie. He also claimed that he is building a new world that no one has seen before, and the film might be officially announced in 2025. While this is joyous news for Shinkai fans, many are skeptical.

In the latest Shinkai movie, Suzume, the romance between the protagonist and Souta felt extremely forced. Suzume’s crush on Souta was not only unnecessary but also awkward for fans to watch. Thus, fans felt that the director has failed to come out of traditional style, and can no longer step into new themes. All of his last three movies were based on natural disasters, and fans are hoping that the next one won’t be the same.

The romance between Suzume and Souta was forced | Credits: CoMix Wave Films

Shinkai is often called the next Hayao Miyazaki. But if his movies keep serving the same old wine in new bottles, he might lose his status to other budding creators soon.

Makoto Shinkai was forced to maintain a traditional romance plot in Suzume

Suzume was originally supposed to have two female protagonists | Credits: CoMix Wave Films

While fans have been critical of Shinkai for his decision to create a romance between the protagonists in Suzume, very few know that it was completely out of his hands. The movie was originally supposed to have two female protagonists, but the idea was shelved by the movie’s producer.

In an interview with Looper, Shinkai himself admitted that he wanted to make the movie about Suzume and another girl going on a journey together, as he himself felt tired of telling the same old romance story. However, he had to change the plot because his producer was of the opinion:

“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.

-Makoto Shinkai

To his credit, Shinkai did as much as possible to fight for his ideas. But once he couldn’t get his way, he took the prettiest way ever and turned the male lead into a chair. Suzume was supposed to be about humans overcoming something together without caring about the context of male or female. Unfortunately, due to the sudden decision of the producer, his plans were stalled and he once again fell into a stereotype.

Suzume is currently available to stream on Crunchyroll and Netflix.