Summer Wars

johnny_ultimate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryb3ljgtoMQ

Just rewatched this absolute charmer of an animation on Blu-Ray. When I first saw it at the anime fest in the IFI last year, I thought it was a thoroughly enjoyable if messy film. Watching it again though really shows how it's so effective as a crowdpleaser as well as something deeper and more interesting than that basic description.

Basic plot follows a teenager called Kenji from Tokyo who's persuaded by his friend Natsuki to pretend to be her fiance at her great grandmother's 90th birthday party in rural Japan. Kenji's also a maths whizz and heavily involved with a social network called OZ. Alongside the quirky family drama/comedy of the party, the other half of the film takes place in the heavily stylised OZ after a sentient AI gains access to the network and starts to shut down the world's electronic infrastructure.

If it sounds like an unusual blend of the Matrix / Tokyo Story / The Social Network and some ludicrous American rom-com, that's because it is :pac: It's an unwieldy mesh of genres, but a wonderfully enjoyable one. It has tonnes of humour, character, action and emotional payoffs. At a purely visceral level, it looks absolutely gorgeous, especially the heavily CGIed OZ with a range of fun and imaginative avatars. Alongside the crowd pleasing blockbuster, it also has a lot of interest to say about traditional values vs advancing technology, taking a surprisingly in-depth look at both. Plus, there's an epic subplot about the wonderful Japanese card game Koi-Koi.

There's nothing quite like it really. It's from the director of the very enjoyable Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and a rare anime that truly deserves to break out from the niche market such films often occupy. Anyone else had a chance to see it yet? If you haven't, definitely recommended for one to put a big old grin on your face!

TheIrishGrover

Yeah, I got this last year on Blu-Ray (Looks AMAZING). It's a great film. Like you said, a bit allover the place but the whole romance is nicely done and the family is hilarious. The animation is beautiful, both in the virtual and real world of the movie. very reminicant of Makoto Shinkai who made Voices of a Distant Star, 5cm Per Second and The Place Promised in Our Early Days. However the version I got I got from Japan and it came without the English dubbing (I prefer subs anyway) but, just looking at the trailer, the English dubbing looks awful.

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about the card game. I must watch this again.

While I enjoyed this film I still think his best is The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

johnny_ultimate

I think Hosoda and Shinkai are two great directors making interesting, mature and offbeat anime. I would have added Satoshi Kon to that list too, but alas his death cut his short but fruitful career short But hopefully Hosoda and Shinkai still have a lot of interesting films left to make.

I liked Girl Who Leapt Through Time too, but thought it was maybe a bit too fluffy on occasion. Summer Wars had more ambition and ideas, and while they don't all stick (most do), there's nothing like it!

Skipped the dub myself as always (dubs are sacrilege!), although the speedy pace made some frantic subtitling! Agree that the Blu-Ray looks amazing - animation in general is something always worth spending the extra few euro on.

e_e

Saw this in the IFI last year and loved it so much that I had to pre-order the blu-ray (along with Girl Who Leapt Through Time).

It definitely is worthy of a wide audience, joyously entertaining as well as having as much substance as some of Pixar's recent work. Anime fan or not, highly recommended.

e_e

Although personally I think Hosoda's previous move is more mature and emotive, they're both great. Can't wait to see what he releases next!

Links234

oooh I have to see this