Reviews

I think it's pretty safe to say that with this movie, director Mamoru Hosoda(The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) can officially be labeled as the next Hayao Miyazaki. The movie has all the aspects of a great Miyazaki movie while retaining it's own style. Madhouse is responsible for the beautiful animation while famed character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto(Evangelion) did what he does best. The core aspect of this movie is all about family and how when people work together, anything is possible. The world of OZ itself looks like a Takashi Murakami painting brought to life. It's a vibrant and colorful world populated by hundreds of millions of avatars that people have created. OZ is also where the majority of masterfully animated action scenes take place.

Since so much of the world is integrated with OZ, when Kenji inadvertently hacks OZ, it's ramifications are felt throughout reality as well as the virtual world. False emergency calls are received, traffic gets completely jammed everywhere, city utilities go haywire, etc. It's a chilling vision of what a modern day world would be like if the internet suddenly died. You don't know what you've got till it's gone, and when something as vital as that is taken away, chaos is bound to ensue.

The music was very fitting for the movie, it conveyed the appropriate emotions at the right moments. From pulse-pounding action scenes to emotional and touching moments it was very effective. The composer is relatively new to anime it seems but he's already off to an amazing start.

The fansub that's currently available is watchable, but not the greatest quality video. It must've been ripped off of a pay-per-view service of something. It's got korean subtitles throughout the entire movie with the english subs transposed over the top of them. In the beginning you hear a japanese and english narrator trying to talk over each other but you find out shortly that it's part of the movie. It's one of OZ's features, a universal translator program. As I said though, despite some minor annoyances, it's still very watchable.

I'd recommend Summer Wars to pretty much anyone, it's got something for everyone and I could easily see this as being a 'gateway anime' for future generations of otaku someday. A well paced story, gorgeous animation, fun characters, fast paced action, intense situations, and touching moments. Summer Wars has them all. This movie is definitely deserving of your shelf space and hard-earned money when it finally comes out here. As of this review it hasn't been licensed for the US but i'm sure that will change in the not-too-distant future. Considering Bandai licensed Hosoda's other movie, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, i'd say they're the likely contenders for bringing it to our shores. All there is to do now is to sit and wait with great anticipation of what Hosoda will give us next.