Summer Wars

Yes I am still writing reviews even on my holiday. So I got to finally watch Summer Wars and Unlimited Blade Works (which will be my next review) at my stay here in Thailand. One word to sum it all up, bloody freakin amazing. Ok maybe three but you get my point. So as usual I'll be doing my brief summary, then ratings, and then explanation for the rating. This is one movie you definitely cannot miss.

Summer Wars is a 114 minute long movie directed by Mamoru Hosoda and written by Satoko Okudera from a story by Hosoda. The movie is produced by Madhouse and was released by Warner Bros. Pictures Japan.

Summer Wars is based around an online network called the "OZ network" that governs the whole country/world. Traffic authorities, communication, buisnesses, games and more are set up here as opposed to on site buildings. the whole system requires a user to have their own ID with their own avatar that carries every infromation about them. The whole affair (which is pretty big) is explained in the first section of the show so don't fret if you don't understand. Kenji Koiso, a maths genius and, the main protagonist is a "code monkey". He works as a part time moderator for the OZ network. He suddenly gets an invitation from Natsuki Shinohara, the cutest girl in school, to her family out in celebration of her grandmothers 90th birthday. He accepts of course and goes off with her, however her plans for him are just more than assistance and in the middle of this all a wierd code consisting of numbers is sent to his mobile. In thinking it was a maths problem he solves it and sends the answer back to the sender, only to see it cause a huge problem. 

Visuals: 9/10
Plot: 8.5/10
Music: 7/10
Characters: 8/10

So lets start with visuals. The art is amazing, defintiely amazing. Although it may seem common, the visuals catches your eyes with its vivid shapes and colours. I especially like how scenes in the OZ network use different art styles and shadings compared to seens in the real world. The movie is very comedic so when comedy scenes do show up the makers use the shapes in such a way that provide much more comedic relief then intended. The visuals pleased me indeed thus it deserved such a high rating.

 

The plot was unique, the one thing that attracted me the most. Infact the last thing I thought would be in this movie would be a whole online virtul world. Not only that it kept continuing to surprise me, every twist and every turn kept me wanting more. I was even tempted to fast forward to skip all the bits where they were just talking. Thats how gripping this movie was. I admire the ideas the makers came up with, they were able to take ordinary objects that you see everyday and use it in a way that was never thought possible. I wan't to go on about one particular scene but unfortunately it would spoil it, and I would add a spoiler button but its best to go see it yourself. The family's antics and the problems they come across keeps you entertained. However its not all comedy, a tragedy does occur within the movie as well. Reminds you of Romeo and Juliet from Shakespeare doesn't it, still don't know why that was a comedy though.

 

 

Music... not much to say about the music though. I found it very typical for this kind of anime. Nothing really caught my attention and if it did it was only for a split second. Im assuming music was not a really big issue for this movie and when watching it I persoanlly didn't pay attention to the music at all, in fact its absence wouldn't of brought it to my attention.

Characters, oh how I love and hate the characters. In my view the main protagonist should of been more of a man and took a more heroic role, but what my hopes were crushed. There were some characters, such as Wabisuke (Natsuki's uncle) and Natsuki's over protective cousin whose name escapes me, that caught my attention from either their antics and jealousy (the cousin) or their sinister, dark background (the uncle). The whole family in general really provided the best entertainment, but my all time favourite goes to Kazuma Ikezawa and his avatar King Kazuma another of Natsuki's cousins, for various reasons that if I discuss would spoil the whole plot again. (Kazuma Ikezawa left, King Kazuma right)

So again this is one anime movie you do no wan't to miss, and I mean seriosuly do not wan't to miss. Now I shall be off to be a super anime otaku and find out if someone made an online OZ network, a dollars site went up went Durarara was airing so I'm hoping someone made an OZ network for Summer Wars. Oh and tomorrow I'll be doing the review for Unlimited Blade Works, so look forward to that everyone.