SEOUL: Japanese director Makoto Shinkai’s anime movie “Suzume” has been seen by over 4.49 million people in South Korea, a record high for any Japanese film screened in the country.

Another Japanese anime film, “The First Slam Dunk,” has drawn 4.48 million viewers. The popularity of Japanese anime suggests South Korean people are becoming more interested in Japan amid improving relations between the two countries.

Suzume depicts the journey of a 17-year-old girl trying to close “doors of disaster” and is based on the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated areas along the Pacific coast of northeastern Japan.

The film made its screen debut in South Korea on March 8, gaining popularity especially among people in their teens to 30s.

“The background images were beautiful and very attractive. The way the earthquake was portrayed as a monster was also good, and the way the pain of the damage caused by the tsunami was conveyed through the movie was amazing,” a company employee in his 30s said.

“I could feel Shinkai’s desire to look to the future and move forward,” he said.

A lot of South Koreans are fans of Shinkai’s films such as “Your Name,” which was released in South Korea in 2017 and has since been seen by some 3.8 million people.

JIJI Press