Sana: Let Me Hear (2024) Film Review – Takashi Shimizu’s Unexpected Sequel

Posted on by Oki Covarrubias

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Sana: Let Me Hear (2024), also known as Ano Ko wa Dare or Who’s That Kid, is a direct sequel to Takashi Shimizu’s Sana (2023), a film which I thoroughly enjoyed. Admittedly, I was oblivious to the fact that Sana would even receive a sequel, as I felt like everything was wrapped up nicely in the first film. I suppose that’s usually the case with horror films, though, right? Sequels are almost always inevitable. When I watched the trailer for Sana: Let Me Hear, I was immediately curious to see if and how Shimizu-san would expand on the mythology he established in the first film surrounding Sana’s obsession with sound. 

During summer vacation, substitute teacher Honoka Kimijima is tasked with taking over a supplementary class while her predecessor is out. The class consists of six students, including Hitomi Miura, Takeru Maekawa, Rento, Mari, Daiki, and a mysterious girl named Sana. Honoka and Hitomi are actually already acquainted because they both witnessed a car accident which left Honoka’s boyfriend, Yuuma, in a coma days prior. One day, Mari suddenly jumps off from the school rooftop and dies in front of her peers. Honoka soon discovers that a similar incident occurred in 1992, and when her student’s parents begin to reveal details about it to her, she discerns that a girl named Sana was also involved then, and she looked exactly like her current student of the same name. 

The film begins with a flashback to the event that occurred in 1992, which we also saw in the previous film. This scene, although not new to those who have seen Sana (2023), sets the tone for the rest of the film and effectively pulls me back into the fictional universe that Shimizu-san previously established. I was eager to see which new insights would be provided to help deepen the significance of this tragic incident, but I soon realized that my expectations got way ahead of me. The first act re-established events and revelations that I already knew or remembered, so I started to doubt my presumption. The new characters needed to learn everything they missed in the first film, of course, so I accepted the repetition.

The lore is slightly expanded upon in the latter half of the film, but not in the way that I had anticipated. As mentioned above, I craved a deeper understanding of what Sana was really after, or rather, why she was after it. Sometimes, the less you know, the scarier a film can be, but her desire to hear the last sound someone makes is so specific that I wish we could have gotten a bit more context. We do get to see where Sana’s parents have been since the events of the last film, and how those events have affected them. I’m sure you can surmise that they were not affected positively, but I did appreciate their scenes as they added an emotional weight to the horror that continues to plague them and those around them.

And that’s the thing about Takashi Shimizu: even when the narrative doesn’t entirely resonate with me, I still have a good time because he is such a good horror director. Not only does he have a keen eye for disturbing visuals, but he also always manages to link them to very weird scenarios, for the sake of discombobulating the viewer. There is one scene in particular involving a claw machine that I found joyfully unsettling; one of the characters is attempting to win a large bear, but at some point looks over to see that the bear is now a life-sized Sana doll. It may sound silly via text, but the execution is pure Shimizu goodness! I always look forward to his films because I know my eyes will feast on striking imagery.

Sana: Let Me Hear features several twists and turns throughout the second and third acts, but one twist in specific was perhaps a bit too transparent to truly surprise me, and I doubt that it will shock even a moderately attentive audience. The final twist at the end didn’t quite land for me, simply because I’ve seen it done more effectively elsewhere. Overall, I did enjoy Sana: Let Me Hear, but not quite as much as the first film. For those of you wondering where you can watch both films, Arrow Video released a Sana Collection Limited Edition Blu-Ray back in February of this year, which you can order through their website. It is also available to stream in the UK for those of you who prefer that method of film viewing!

 

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