Summer Wars

Summer Wars is a perfect example of a story biting off more than it can chew. The film opens with an introduction to ‘OZ’. An information network that controls and monitors electronic services all over the world: from shopping to competitive gaming to healthcare facilities. Think the current internet age, but even more extreme. Then we’re introduced to Kenji, a math wiz who works as a moderator for Oz and has a crush on a girl named Natsuki. A few moments later we’re introduced to this crush of his who begs him to come with her to visit her family’s summer home. Thus kicking off theplot. Well not quite. Turns out Natsuki has a huge family and the film takes its sweet time introducing them one by one thus establishing some characters and relationships. If you can’t quite tell who’s who by the end of all the introductions you needn’t worry. The characters who end up mattering can be counted on one hand. All the setup eventually builds up to the following: Kenji, during his stay with Natsuki’s family, is tricked into giving a dangerous computer virus access to OZ. Said virus wrecks havoc over the entire digital world causing all sorts of trouble to pop up in the real one. Now Kenji must work together with Natsuki’s family (the 2 or 3 that matter at least) to save two worlds from imminent disaster (because the authorities don’t matter). Thus the whole story unfolds in typical blockbuster fashion: (cyber)-battles will be fought, old grievances will be reconciled and boys will turn into men. So the end result is a movie that wants to be a sci-fi action blockbuster AND a family drama AND a romance story. Problem is that none of the elements are particularly good in their own right. To elaborate: -It fails as a romance story because the whole plotline is trite and forced. The lovebirds-to-be are complete anime-stereotypes (nerdy nice guy and cheerful nice girl) who lack any kind of believable chemistry. Initially the whole thing just feels like a plot-device to set the plot in motion. Then the middle act all but drops it. Finally, the end of the film also concludes the love story in the cheesiest way imaginable. That wouldn’t have been so bad in and of itself but it doesn’t feel believable. The 2 characters in question aren’t shown growing towards one another and learning to understand each other better. They just love each other when the plot needs them to. -It fails as a family drama because an overwhelming majority of the characters is painfully one-dimensional. They’re just caricatures who stand in the background and occasionally showcase their one personality quirk. The few who don’t fall victim to this aren’t particularly interesting either, and are often no more than devices to shove the aforementioned crappy love-story in certain directions. The only somewhat interesting element in this plot-thread is a subplot dealing with a bastard-child who was branded an outcast of the family; but this thread is ultimately resolved in a sentimental manner. -It fails as an action-packed blockbuster because most of the fights aren’t very interesting. The idea of having avatars do battle against a computer virus within Oz allowed for the makers to go crazy, and there are 2 or 3 spots where some creativity is showcased in regards to having fighters transform the arena to better suit their purposed. But as it goes on any semblance of choreography or creativity is thrown out of the window in favor or giant punches fuelled by the power of love and friendship. It’s sad that the best choreographed fight is a short demonstration early on in the film. Summer Wars sadly fails to avoid the usual anime-cliché where fights get less creative when the power-levels are increased. So there you have it: 3 poorly executed and fundamentally flawed storylines that merge into one to create an unfocused and ultimately unsatisfying viewing experience. Summer Wars was directed by Mamoru Hosoda, who previously directed the acclaimed ‘The Girl Who Leapt Through Time’. The irony here is that the two movies are almost polar opposites from an artistic standpoint. To elaborate: -One tries to be a blend of many different popular anime-trappings and ends up unfocused and messy. The other has a very focused and well-thought out narrative that fully explores all the possibilities of its scenario. -One features a huge cast of characters with no real standouts, the other features only a handful of characters most of which are (somewhat) realistic, well-developed and humanly flawed. -One has a gimmick that ultimately serves as either window-dressing or a cheap way to create tension in the plot. The other has a gimmick that contributes the narrative in a meaningful way as an interesting dynamic. In the end ‘Summer Wars’ failed to impress me. It tried to combine all kinds of different flavors only to end up with a product that doesn’t have any kind of flavor to it, much less one to call its own. It’s not a bad movie. The animation, especially in OZ, is wonderful (though the designs of the human characters are a little basic), the soundtrack is adequate and there are a few entertaining moments but after all the hype I excepted much more. PS.: -Want an interesting love-story with a cool twist? Check the aforementioned ‘’The Girl Who Leapt Through Time’’. Same director, much better movie. -Want a good story that explores familiar relationships? ‘’Haibane Renmei’’ features a surrogate family of sorts. Wonderful drama filled with realistic, richly-drawn characters and a captivating atmosphere. -Want a cool science fiction story where a bunch of kids use strange technology in all sorts of imaginative and fun ways? Check out ‘’Dennou Coil’’. Same studio, similar concepts but explored in much more detail and with better characters to boot.

As one of the directors responsible for making Digimon: The Movie happen, I guess it makes sense for Mamoru Hosoda (also did The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) to infuse elements of his past work into future projects. Such is the case for Summer Wars, his latest and quite possibly his most ambitious film to date. Even if you’re not a fan of anime, you’ll find something to like in this sci-fi/comedy/romance spectacle that is both awfully heartwarming and very pleasing to watch. Kenji Koiso is a high school student/math genius who works part-time with his best friend, Takashi Sakuma as moderators for the massive, widelypopular virtual world called OZ, where the norm consists of virtual shopping, business, and much more (Second Life, anyone?). One summer Natsuki Shinohara, Kenji’s senpai (who he also has a crush on) invites him to her grandmother’s 90th birthday celebration in the Jinnouchi clan estate. But Kenji is immediately caught up in Natsuki’s desperate request to act as Natsuki’s husband-to-be, much to his chagrin. Kenji spends the initial parts of the movie getting acquainted with the rest of Natsuki’s relatives, and receives a mysterious email soon after. The message contains a huge numerical code, and, being a math whiz, Kenji opted to crack the code right away; he does so overnight. But as soon as he sends the solution, a virus - named Love Machine - successfully hacks within the OZ mainframe and causes turmoil in many parts of the world. As Kenji is deemed the culprit, it is up to him and his newfound family to solve the problem before more lives are put in danger. So, this is basically Digimon: The Movie adapted to a newer version, minus all the ‘mons making up that particular movie. While that thought might pull you away for whatever reason you might bear, Summer Wars’ narrative is more than just games and cyberspace. This movie touches on important themes, with family being one of its central points. Okay, I lied. This movie IS all about games and cyberspace. For as much of a silly thing it is to base your movie on the inner workings of the Internet and social networking, it actually makes you feel weirdly sympathetic for those things. Perhaps Summer Wars teaches and/or reminds us that family can stretch beyond bloodlines, and we all can potentially build unbreakable bonds with total strangers even across the entire world, both real and virtual. Also, when it may seem that all the chips are down, there’s always hope, and it’s a hope we could always hold on to. While the story’s great and all, Summer Wars would probably be nothing without its outstanding cast of characters. Stretching from the shy, introverted Kenji to the rest of Natsuki’s spunky, quirky, and empathetic family members, it truly feels like watching an ensemble cast bring their A-game to the table. Though it’s a lot of characters to take in immediately, seeing them once or twice is enough to make you remember them. Hell, I only remember a few names out of all the characters introduced, to be honest. There is a good mix of funny and sincere banter in-between, which really makes each character’s presence seem imperative and convince you to care about them. The main characters as well as the supporting ones play integral roles in bringing Love Machine down, and the movie does a good job making their strengths shine through. But I think the best character out of all--and I think everyone is in unison on this--is Sakae Jinnouchi, Natsuki’s grandmother. Despite having minimal knowledge of the virtual world, she’s pretty much the one inspiring everyone to fight the infection and teach them the value of what family is. I also think it’s her courage and pretty much her overall personality that drives the story forward, as well as motivate the characters to do what they must. Summer Wars is perhaps one of the best examples of an ambitious visual splendor, animated or not. The production values are all top-notch, with the near-perfect blend of CGI and cel-shaded effects bringing a lot of vibrancy to the movie’s cyberspace environment, the real world, and astounding attention to detail. Just thinking about the unimaginable number of sprites and avatars interacting in the entire virtual space is just insanity, and shows how much incredible amount of work was done to make this visual masterpiece happen. The animation style is no pushover either, as it is both breathtaking and awe-inspiring. Action scenes are all incredibly exciting, intense, and amazingly crafted that kept me at the edge of my seat for most of the movie. Character designs are also sharp and well-designed that all the more makes this one of the most magnificent-looking animated movies I’ve seen in a long while. I don’t usually pay attention to movie soundtracks that much, mainly because most of them are so forgettable and barely intriguing; Summer Wars’s musical score is an exception. Top that with an excellent Japanese voice cast that brings much needed emotion and invokes life through the characters they play. I haven’t heard the English dub of the movie yet, but after seeing this movie, I’d be glad to that version when I finally get the chance to, all while reliving this grand adventure again a second time. Hell, I wouldn’t mind seeing it for a third go. Or a fourth. Who can blame me, really? Summer Wars is definitely one of the best anime movies I’ve seen in years. It’s as enjoyable of a watch as it occasionally tugs on the heartstrings. It's a good reminder that there actually IS something to feel positive about being in the Internet. For all its eye-popping, superb visual presentation, it’s also got a well-written, thematic, feel-good storyline and a fantastic cast of characters that will surely please the audiences both inside and outside of the anime realm. In short, if you haven’t seen this movie yet, you’re missing out on something special.

There is only one word that can sum up this entire movie. Family. The whole concept of this entire movie revolves around being a cooperative and strong family. What does the word family mean to you? A group of people who are of same blood? This movie will show you the true meaning of family, a group of people who may or may not be of blood relation, but truly support each other till the death. That is what a true family is. One spoiler in this review. Story: 9 In a world where everything is connected to OZ (Imagine the internet,but with animation), OZ assists almost everything, from GPS's to maintaining water pressure to sending dispatch calls for emergency vehicles. OZ helps the world and is well protected. The movie follows Kenji as he joins his crush in a visit to her grandma's 90th birthday part. While there, OZ gets taken over by a hacker and chaos ensues. Spoiler! One of the best parts of the movie is the ending, as it gave so much closure and a feeling of happiness even though it was suppose to be sad. What I was expecting in the end was a funeral for grandma, but what they showed was something truly inspiring, a birthday party. While the family was dressed in normal attire, everyone who came to visit grandma (And she knew a lot of people) dressed in normal funeral attire. This was so cute, as the grandma always wanted her family to smile and never be sad. Spoilers over. The pacing was a bit slow in the very beginning, as much action hasn't really happened. It was a lot of introduction scenes, for the massive amounts of family members in the Jinnouchi family. This pacing picked up rather quickly and kept the quick pacing until the end which was very good due to the seriousness of the main story during the time. Art: 9 The art in the anime changes form night & day rather quickly. We have a gorgeous digital world, the world of OZ, and the very scenic real world, the world of Japan. The world of OZ is a very bright world with bright shapes and designs. The real world was very normal, except with amazing backgrounds and scenery, what more do I expect from the same people who made Wolf Children? The animation of the action scenes were amazing. The animation was fluid and very little use of transitional scenes to change the angle of the fight. I enjoyed this very much since we can see every punch thrown, every kick blocked, we do not miss a thing when it comes to a fight, and there is no confusion on what exactly happened as well. The character designs were quite splendid as well. The designs of the avatars help compliment the artwork of OZ and are very unique. The designs of the family members were great too, different enough to separate the family members (most of the family members, there were a couple who looked similar... but they were brothers) but not too unique so they still fit in with the real world Japan. Sound: 10 The soundtrack is outstanding. The first song that plays is OZ, the Virtual City, a song that helped introduce the world of OZ. The song is a very simple electronic song that gives off a great feeling of happiness. This assist in sending the message of OZ being a great and helpful resource. The other songs do the exact same thing the OZ, the Virtual City, as it helps carry the message and mood through. What is the difference between normal anime background music and Summer Wars soundtrack? The use of the song in the right scene and the feeling each song brings out are both executed very well throughout the movie. If this is not a good enough reason, I may just be a bit biased on the sound then. Character: 9 The family members were awesome. Everyone in the Jinnouchi family appears to be in a high ranking profession. This along with the character designs helps distinguish the family members from each other. The grandma tops it off as being the best family member with her connections to a lot of high ranking people and her optimistic attitude. This movie had great character development in the form of Kenji. Kenji learns what it is like being in a family, what it means to support one another even if the odds are against you, and too be supported by others when facing dangers such as death. Enjoyment: 9 This would have been a ten, if the slow pacing in the beginning wasn't there. The movie had amazing art, a wonderful story with a great ending, an outstanding soundtrack, and a very memorable family... It is impossible to not enjoy this movie. My own little personal life also influenced my enjoyment of the series. This is a personal story... I am a member of a big family, something I really never cared much for. Sure I like a few cousins, but that aside, I'm not that interested in talking to my uncles or aunts since there are just so many of them. I am aware though, of a strong sense of family shared between all the members of my family, and this movie has pushed me to get to know my family more when we have another reunion. I am now more interested in the history of my family thanks to this movie... who knows, my family may have lost an easy battle to the Jinnouchi. Overall: 9 I feel as if Mamoru made Kenji a reflection of the people who are watching the movie. In modern society, it is safe to say a sense of strong family bond has weakened, much like Kenji's parents (Sorry about the slight spoiler). Towards the end, Kenji gains support of the Jinnouchi family as well as supporting the family and learns what it means to be part of one. This is why I say the message is about the meaning of family. I will suggest this movie to be a great movie to watch with family.

This is the first anime to have gotten me off of my lazy bum to write a review. Why? Because it was awesome and I think that I need to chuck in my biased review into the mix with all the other reviews to balance out some of the negative stuff out there. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not trying to create an argument here or anything and everyone's entitled to their own opinion, here's mine: First I’ll give you brief summary of the story in my own words. In the near future, where the internet has manifested itself into one coherent program named theWorld of Oz. World of Oz is a virtual world where users can create an avatar and do miscellaneous activities such as shopping and customizing (a bit like 2nd Life). Except that "real world companies and governments" have also based themselves in the World of Oz so banks, telephone and mobile companies, national railway systems, hospitals with access medical history etc. can easily be accessed by the user. Simply put, it is a vast, global, centralized medium of communication and the user's actions in the World of Oz can potentially have real world consequences. The story revolves around a humble maths genius named Kenji and a typical beautiful school girl named Natsuki. Natsuki asks Kenji to pretend to be her boyfriend while they visit her dying grandmother in the country. The story begins to unfold from here as Natsuki's cousins and family are introduced revealing dozens of varied characters and personalities which adds a great flavor to the story. Anyway, the first night at natsuki’s grandmother’s house, Kenji receives a text littered with random numbers on his phone via the World of Oz from an anonymous user. He solves the problem and sends off the results. Unbeknownst to him, the code was to hack and get pass Oz’s intricate security system. I’ll stop there. But you can imagine what happens next... Right? The anonymous user wreaks havoc and so on. The story however is much more complex than that. Personally, that was why I enjoyed it so much. The story’s complexity never ever over reached itself however it just kept on growing and growing in “epicness”. Here, I’d like to compare the style with Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, not with its manliness, mecha or a particular large breast character with a humungous sniper. But with how the plot in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann was constantly developing, one plot after another followed by a solution and a climax that was much bigger and interesting than the previous ones and how they struggled to fight on even if struggling meant moving just an inch and how they all collaborated together to fight unanimously against one cause giving us, the audience, a warm glow of pride inside. That’s how a real story reaches epic proportions which this movie successfully does within a mere 1 hour and 54 minutes. I’m going to merge the art an sound paragraph together because though I’ve watched plenty of animes, I don’t think I’m particularly justified to talk about such thing. Let’s just say the art was simple yet elegant (oh so cliché), but yes, it served well for its purpose because it never got “in your face”. Plus its simplicity emphasized particular moments of cuteness that make you unable to contain your adoration inside causing you to leak the sound “hhnnnnggghhhh!” from your appropriate orifices. And as far as I can tell the animation was a smooth as silk. The sound was simply amazing, it was almost completely dialogue and voice driven, and occasionally a random soundtrack would pop up but not noticeably whilst adding nicely to the ambience. The voice acting was lovely… You know when a particular voice just fits a particular character? Yeah, that was the case for all the characters here. So no complaints in that department. This perfectly leads me on to characters, there were so many characters and you probably would not be able to remember a single supporting character (i.e. the cousins) names by the end of the show. But you’d sure as hell be able to recognize them. Each character had their own unique personality and little knick-knacks. Their interaction was absolutely hilarious and also kept the plot flowing efficiently. Of course, like most stories, there is a theme of romance which threads the whole story and ties a complete knot around it. It was perfect for me as it was not overdone in any sense. To enjoy an anime like this though, you have to shake yourself loose and just let yourself immerse in the story because it’s not incredibly realistic and of course like all anime it’s extremely exaggerated! But hey! It’s enjoyable and I would have given it 20 out of 10 for enjoyment if I could. So what's the verdict? This is not another Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (though similar animation style) and should be judged differently. Both were amazing in their own right. I realize this review has been incredibly biased and lacks criticism. I do have some tiny, tiny criticisms but they were miniscule and it did not affect my enjoyment one little bit. I really hope you do go watch and enjoy this movie as much as I did!