Welcome to the land of Oz... no, there are no girls that claim to be sucked into a tornado with her little dog as she goes down a yellow brick road in a giant musical number with friends she makes along the way. This Oz is a social network, if that's even the right word for it... I guess you could call it a program that can literally do anything. It can help you with your business, it can buy real estate, you can play sports, and make friends from all over the world while being able to communicate with a script that translates everything you say into any language imaginable. Pretty incredible, right?
Now, what would you say if a virus had been uploaded into that program? A virus that could cause mass destruction to any location in the world?
Summer Wars was a very entertaining movie. It was full of action, it had a good story, the characters were likable, almost flawless. However, with most movies and TV shows these days, there are almost always things that need to be improved on. Despite these very few things, this is easily one of the best movies I've ever seen. Now, without further ado, let's get this review started, shall we?
How many of you have seen the Digimon Movie? Remember the plot? A virus is uploaded onto the internet, and causes a whole lot of hell, and it's up to the main characters to destroy it. Now, Summer Wars is amazingly similar to the Digimon Movie, but what really counts is how they play it out. Meet Kenji, a maintenance worker for Oz. He is given the opportunity to go with the girl of his dreams, Natsuki, on a vacation to meet her family while celebrating her Great Grandmother's 90th birthday. Here's the catch: apparently they're engaged, or so Natsuki says. He just goes along with it after some begging from her, and things are going pretty well, until an amazingly large digit code is sent to Kenji's phone, and him being a math genius solves it. It wasn't until the next day where he was accused into allowing a virus access into Oz and a warrant is placed for his arrest. Unfortunately the virus on Oz appears to be a bigger problem then anyone could imagine, and now it's up to Kenji, Natsuki and the rest of her family to find a way to stop it before it causes some mass destruction to the world.
The story is full of comedy, heart, and some pretty hardcore feels. All of it mixes together to create a pretty good anime. The only problem is that the entire time I was watching it, I was reminded of Digimon and I kept waiting for Kenji's avatar to digivolve.
This movie was brought to you by the company Madhouse Studios, and was directed by Hosoda Mamoru. The movie might have a similar feel to the art style, mainly because it's from the same company as The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. I remember that I really loved the art style to TGWLTT, and I knew that I'd love the artwork in Summer Wars as well. It doesn't stop there though, it also has a different animation style as well. The artwork in the real world was similar to TGWLTT, while the artwork in Oz seemed very video game-ish, which was perfect considering the fighting in this movie reminded me a lot of fighting in a game. Very awesome indeed.
There's one definite thing I can say about the cast list: it's fricking HUGE. There are tons of characters you might know from other animes. We have Maxey Whitehead, Pam Dougherty, Michael Tantum, Michael Sinterniklaas, Brina Palencia, and a whole lot more! I was amazed when I kept naming all the actors in my head when their characters showed up on-screen. Very satisfied with the cast (mainly cause all of my favorites were in it).
As I previously stated, the cast list is huge, so naming every single character is out of the question. So, I'll be introducing the 5 main characters to you:
1) Kenji Koiso
Kenji is your average high school student, with the exception of him being the smartest math genius in anime history, and he runs maintenance on Oz. He can easily solve 1000 digit cryptic equations (later proved to be useful). He is very shy around people, especially around Natsuki.
2) Natsuki Shinohara
The prettiest girl in school, or so they say. She's apparently very popular, and she comes from a very long line of Jinnouchi's. She loves her friends and family, and is a very skilled card player (later proves to be useful).
3) Kazuma Ikezawa (King Kazuma)
He is the martial arts champion on Oz, his username being King Kazuma, and he has the world record in the Martial Arts Championship (later proves to be useful), and he's only 13! However, he doesn't care for the game itself, he cares for the fighting and winning.
4) Wabisuke Jinnouchi
At first, he appears to be a no good scumbag, at least according to everyone in the Jinnouchi family. He is the illegitimate son of Natsuki's Great Grandfather, and was adopted into the Jinnouchi family, however a few years ago, before the story took place, he took a large sum of money from the family to fund a project of his. He is an incredible computer programmer (later proves to be useful).
5) Sakae Jinnouchi (Granny)
She is the main reason Kenji was invited to Natsuki's home, because Natsuki told her grandmother she had to meet her boyfriend/fiance before she died due to her poor health. She has a lot of courage, and is able to pass that on to people by encouraging them (later proved to be useful). A very important character to the story.
Summer Wars was, in a word, epic. I had chills going down my spine for over half of the movie, especially near the ending. The movie was filled with action, comedy, and just an overall feel of both sadness and happiness. It's like the Digimon Movie, only in my opinion, 10 times better. For all those who enjoy action and artwork by Hosoda Mamoru, don't hesitate in watching this any longer. Watch it as soon as you can, cause this is a definite must see for everyone!
