The Greatest Thing About... Suzume

The Greatest Thing About... Suzume

From Middle of the Row by Zac Oldenburg, Lauren Heimbaugh, Ben Grigsby

March 25, 2026 · 36 min

About this episode

The hosts discuss the film Suzume by Makoto Shinkai, sharing differing opinions on its merits and shortcomings.

Hello everyone and welcome to The Greatest Thing About Suzume… Some more anime this week, with another film from Makoto Shinkai. Ben and Lauren aren’t as high on this one, but Zac is a lot more enamored with this effort! We talk about where it missteps, how we wish it might have been better, and the Chair. This release is part of animation month, as we clear out a bunch of animated films from the backlog! Download. Listen. Enjoy! Show Notes: (Time:Stamp) General Thoughts…, Weird Choices (0:01:00) Spoilers for Suzume, Why it Falls Short for Your Name. Fans (0:13:00) The Chair and Last Thoughts (0:23:00) @middleofrow #nothe Want some more Middle of the Row in your life? Follow the site @MiddleofRow, Zac @ZacOldenburg, Lauren @BewareOfTrees, & Ben @WeirdestWizard

Topics covered

  • anime
  • film
  • Makoto Shinkai
  • animation

Keywords

  • Suzume
  • animation month
  • film discussion

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Suzume

Books & works: The Greatest Thing About... Suzume, Chair, Middle of the Row

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