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Summer Wars

(Samâ wôzu )

Synopsis

Astounding anime... dazzlingly imaginative... the future king of Japanese animation may be with us’ - The Japan Times. Summer Wars is the captivating and spectacular new animated feature from Mamoru Hosoda, director of The Girl who Leapt through Time. Millions are addicted to the vast online world of Oz. Maths genius Kenji tears himself away from Oz to escort his crush Natsuki to her formidable Great Grandma’s 90th. The family gathering is not what Kenji expected and soon he is the brains of a kindred force out to defeat the Oz-invading, Earth-ending Love Machine virus.

Reviews

Welcome to the world of OZ: a virtual world not dissimilar to a cutsey version of SecondLife , where your fluffy little avatar can talk to anyone in the world, shop, start a business, even pay your real-world taxes online, or just battle other characters! In the real world, Natsuki needs Kenji to help at her grandmas in the summer for her 90th birthday, but her huge close family are understandably daunting to Kenji. Matters worsen when Natsuki introduces him as her boyfriend, and his problems grow when he solves a code which he thinks is a mere maths problem, and unwittingly throws OZ into chaos. Having his identity stolen through OZ, this virtual world becomes all too real, exacerbating to the point where billions of the world’s businesses come under threat and virtual reality affects reality more than the world could ever have thought. With character designs by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, the same guy who’s characters are so beloved in Neon Genesis Evangelion by hardcore anime fans, animation by Madhouse, and direction by Manoru Hosoda, director of much of the Digimon franchise and the hugely successful The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars certainly has the credentials to be a great anime film, and it doesn’t disappoint. Character and set design is simply stunning both in OZ and out; a light to dark aesthetic which becomes increasingly impressive towards the climactic end. OZ from the outset seems a desirable place to live online, and it is fascinating to see an immaterial concept such as the matrix in which OZ exists represented in material form. Switching between the ‘real’ world, filled with the realist anime recognisible from previous Mamoru Hosoda features (The Girl Who Leaot Through Time), and the Evangelion/Digimon-style anime of the battling avatars of OZ, the design is hugely contrasting, making this a truly great looking film. Whatever your animation style of choice is, Summer Wars caters for it. An intricate yet charming script complements the visuals perfectly, and the humour laced through it is rarely lost thanks to the detail of the character design and direction, notably the ass-kicking matriarchal granny. OK, so they slower pace and realism of the ‘real world’ scenes may not be to everyone’s taste, this is meant to be an animation, so it should act like one, right? Bear this in mind, however: intricacies of family life have long been a staple of Japanese cinema since its very beginnings, and to see this done in animation adds a new texture to a subject first explored in such disparate genres as the Japanese family drama, or the realism of Ozu’s ‘shomin-geki’ (working class minimalist cinema). There’s plenty of colourful virtual fun and fighting in OZ, but a step back from this frenzy is essential for the themes and story to get across so succussfully. Summer Wars addresses a metanarrative of avatars as an extension of the self, a narrative that it itself is a part of as an anime. The Japanese have certainly shown the world that animations are not just cartoons, and Summer Wars is no exception as a thoughtful and stunning film which addresses concerns that are ever more prevalent in the digital age, such as virtual reality becoming reality, and how society has inextricably tied itself to technology. Traditional family fun, games and interaction versus the faux interaction of life online are also debated in this coming of age story will appeal to kids as much as fans of Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli’s less fantastical, more whimsical productions (Only Yesterday, Whisper of the Heart), and also to anyone who has ever questioned online culture and immersion in a virtual world.