This’ll be another spoiler-ific review post, so only hit the jump if you’re ready (or skip the post in the feed).
Summer Wars aired last year in August in Japan, and while I did watch it the same year, I haven’t had time to review it till now. But better late than never I suppose.
Here’s the first five minutes of the movie, lest you didn’t actually watch it (and ignored my “spoilers abound” warning):
The movie’s main focus is OZ, a social network engineer’s wet dream. It’s accessible from almost every modern electronic device, from the PC to the DS, and can probably do almost everything you can think of. That’s one heck of an API.
But geek-gasming aside, the main plot feels like it got ripped out of a certain Digimon Movie. Observe the following facts:
- The main setting is an online social networking site.
- Residents in OZ take on the form of digital creatures.
- The antagonist is a virus. It’s butt ugly, too.
- Millions of people worldwide offer their accounts to the protagonists just as things look bleak.
- The virus decides to chuck a piece of a satellite to Earth, starting a countdown timer in the process. In the end the satellite aims for the protagonists.
If you’re still doubtful about whether they actually used the same plot (though not totally), note that Mamoru Hosoda (the director) also directed Our War Game. I don’t think there’s any coincidence there. 
Yes, this reminded me of Cherubimon for some reason. >_>
There is a slight disconnect in the way OZ works, though. While Digimon did it right by having the humans look on from virtual screens, in Summer Wars, the people are able to express their actions through their avatars, no matter the medium through which the owner is accessing OZ. How the heck do you fly around and fight in a 3D environment using a Nintendo DS? How do you play hanafuda on a mobile phone, and get distracted doing so in-game?
Or maybe no one gives a crap about logic anymore…meh. Don’t mind me.
Anyway, the art style of the movie resembles The Girl Who Leapt Through Time; in short, if you’re looking for moe, this movie is definitely not for you. The action scenes are also very well-drawn and smoothly animated, and Madhouse certainly didn’t skimp on the CGI (in OZ) either.
As you might’ve guessed, there’s product placement abound, though not as obvious as a certain show I did episodics on (see second image in post). I don’t recall Windows 7 ever having that cube effect though…unless someone out there managed to port Compiz to Windows. Oops, geek-gasming again. =3
It’s also interesting to see how the movie manages to introduce about 20 characters almost at once without breaking a sweat. Add to the fact that all of them have unique traits (some of which play a part in the main plot directly), and you have an awesome extended family right there.
I’m glad though, that they didn’t try to make Kenji the all-powerful (an) hero, though he’s still able to crack codes since he just happens to be an almost-Math-Olympiad. His Crowning Moment Of Awesome still pales in comparison to Kazuma’s Courage Of Maka at the end, though.
Speaking of Kazuma, the fight scenes are awesome. King Kazma is awesome. Kenji’s freaking useless as a fighter, and his own avatar doesn’t even show up anymore after its initial appearance.
Also, of all the things that happened in the movie, Sakae’s death was the most surprising (but not as facepalm-y as the countdown timer). I have to admit, I could tell they were building up to it, especially with the last few scenes involving her encouraging our emo and unconfident hero, but come on! Why did you have to kill off the only character badass enough to wield a naginata IRL? ( *A*)
While I did mention that the plot is re-used, they did do a good job in the story-telling department, and even managed to keep things interesting with all the twists, like when Wabisuke reveals he’s the virus’ creator, or when the vision of his younger self in the city with Sakae turns out not to be a vision at all.
All in all though, Summer Wars turned out to be a pretty good movie, and it kept me watching till the end. Mamoru was pretty ambiguous about making a new movie at his interview back at last year’s AFA, so here’s hoping he’ll make another.
Rating? All that and you just want a rating? Fine.
Overall Rating: 8/10
3 Responses to “Summer Wars – Feels Like That Show All Over Again”
Leave a reply
I challenge you to solve the algorithm is as little time it took Kenji.
.-= chibihien´s last blog ..New School Semester, and I’m already distracted by… =-.
Unfortunately, I think I’ve forgotten most of my formulas. Also, looks BEYOND MY LEVEL OF STUDY NE.
Who the hell cracks encryption codes by hand these days? Even computers take ages to brute-force a 256-bit AES encrypted key, what say an almost-Olympiad math wiz on a 2048-bit whatever-algorithm key?
Love the movie though. Excellent story-telling and pacing, and I would say it’s an amazing feat because the plot’s mostly quite simple.
.-= pkchukiss´s last blog ..Aesop’s tale about citizenship =-.