'Suzume:' An Awaited Light Novel From the Famous Director and Writer, Makoto Shinkai
KUALA LUMPUR, December 2022 - Being sold over 350,000 copies since its' release on August 24 in Japan, KADOKAWA GEMPAK STARZ are now attaining the copyright to publish the light novel by Makoto Shinkai in Malaysia. The light novel with the title ‘Suzume’ will be published starting 17th December 2022 with the price RM20 (West Malaysia) and RM22 (East Malaysia) for Malay version. Chinese version will be published on February 2023.
This novel is the original work of the animated film ‘Suzume’ which released in 11th November 2022. As of 19th December 2022, Suzume grossed ¥9.34 billion (RM310.8 million) in Japan. The film debuted at number one at the Japanese box office, and grossed ¥1.88 billion (RM62.56 million) from the advance IMAX screening and during its first three days.
Makoto Shinkai is a film director and writer for several famous work such as ‘Your Name’ and ‘Weathering With You’. Both films have gained worldwide attention as ‘your name.’ film has grossed over ¥41.44 billion (RM1,378 million) while ‘Weathering With You’ film has grossed US$193.8 million (RM856 million) worldwide.
The novel version for both novels also received huge attention with more than 1 million copies sold.
‘Suzume’ light novel is now available at online store: shop.gempakstarz.com, Shopee, Lazada, POPULAR Bookstore, KINOKUNIYA and selected bookstores and 7-Eleven all over Malaysia. The book comes with a limited-edition freebie for each purchase; a door hanger with the illustrations from the film (while stocks last). For more information, stay tuned to Gempak Starz social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube) for more updates.
ABOUT ‘SUZUME’
The truth behind the door...
Suzume, a 17-year-old girl live with her aunt in a port city at Kyushu. One day, on her way to school, she met a beautiful man who said to her, “I'm looking for a door”.
Suzume chased the man, Souta to the abandoned area. But what appeared there was just a white door out of nowhere. She reached for the doorknob and weird incident starts to happen...
A story of Suzume's journey in ‘locking’ doors, which happen to connect the past, the present and the future!
REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD GET THE NOVEL
1. Makoto Shinkai's creativity and imagination will make you immerse in an interesting
fantasy journey led by the two main character, Suzume and Souta.
2. The novel has been sold for 350,000 copies in Japan and the film has obtained
grossed ¥1.88 billion (RM62.56 million) from the advance IMAX screening and during
its first three days.
3. Freebie is given for every book purchase made.
ABOUT MAKOTO SHINKAI
Born on 1973 in Nagano. An animation film director. Started gaining attention through
a film written almost entirely by him called ‘Voices of a Distant Star’. After that, he
has produced films such as ‘5 centimeter per second’, ‘Children Who Chase Lost
Voices’ and ‘The Garden of Words’ which have won various awards.
In 2016, his film titled ‘your name.’ became a hit film that year, and ‘Weathering With You’ released in 2019 also gained huge attention. He also wrote novels for films he produced such as ‘5 centimeter per second’, ‘The Garden of Words’, ‘your name.’ and ‘Weathering With You’. This novel is the original work of the animated film ‘Suzume’ which released in 2022.
ABOUT KADOKAWA GEMPAK STARZ
We began back in 1994 as ART SQUARE GROUP, an advertising agency servicing
various blue-chip companies before subsequently diversifying into publishing.
Sustained success consequently saw the establishment of GEMPAK STARZ, our comic
publishing arm in 2001. By 2013, our output was over 250 publications of various
genres from acclaimed local, regional and international artists.
In November 2015, we joined forces with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Japan's leading entertainment content provider and renamed ourselves KADOKAWA GEMPAK STARZ. Now, we are in the midst of advancing ourselves – from being Malaysia's biggest publisher of comics and novels to becoming one of the world's most prolific creators of creative content.
With KADOKAWA's 70-plus years of experience and know-how fuelling our rise, we are positioned to grow into a broad-based media company boasting a diverse multiplatform portfolio, including animation, games, and other digital and multimedia content in addition to our comics, novels and magazines.
At the very heart, we are a creative company. We are KADOKAWA GEMPAK STARZ.
