2

What's the reason the chair in the anime Suzume No Tojimari only has three legs? It's never really explained in the anime.

Screenshot of the chair

Improve this question
2
  • 1
    Does there need to be a reason? Does this chair, or its three-leggedness, have any particular significance, or is it literally just a chair that happens to be missing a leg?
    – F1Krazy
    Mar 16 at 12:10
  • And there are three legged chair IRL also.
    – Fumikage Tokoyami
    Mar 20 at 3:35

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

The Hollywood Reporter did an interview with Makoto Shinkai on this very topic.

Tell us about how the decision to have the character Sōta get stuck embodied in Suzume’s broken, three-legged children’s chair (...)

As for what the three-legged chair symbolizes, Suzume is a victim of this massive disaster and there’s profound loss in what she has experienced. And even though it’s not depicted in the film itself, I imagine that this chair that she has carried with her was probably swept up in the tsunami and lost one of its legs in the destruction, so it’s reflective of Suzume’s state of mind after everything she’s been through. Even though it’s lost one of its legs, it’s still persevered, and in many ways, it’s still able to fulfill the functions that it’s intended to have as a chair.

The chair was made by Suzume's mother, likely representing the highlight of her past childhood and the only thing that remained after the disaster... The lost leg likely represents a pillar in her life being lost in the disaster.

He also mentions:

Another metaphor behind the chair has to do with how this film, in many ways, has a very unique backdrop, because we were working on it during COVID and there were many lockdowns and restrictions across the entire country then (...)

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .