Summer Wars (2009) User Reviews (76)

Amazing Detail

[ebiros2 · 7/10 · 7 July 2011]

What is most striking about this movie is the detail that's been put into the animation.

Only the characters in this animation looks like animation. All the background detail looks so real. It's hard to believe that someone went to this length to put perfection on celluloid. Not only are the scenic details so perfect, the behavior of the Japanese family is also captured perfectly.

Kenji a math prodigy high school student who is working part time as a software maintenance crew for virtual reality computer network called Oz is invited to a family gathering by Natsuki at her home town of Ueda city in Nagano prefecture. Unbeknownst to him, he's been introduced to her family as her fiancé. The evening he arrives at Natsuki's family home, he receives a sequence of numbers in his phone's text message. Using his mathematical genius to work, he figures out what the code means, and sends it back to the sender. Next day, Oz network has been hacked in by a malicious computer virus that can learn and expend its control over the Oz community. Oz is connected to almost every public service, and the computer virus take control of the community. It's now up to Kenji and Natsuki's family to figure out how to beat the computer virus.

The movie is made for Japanese audience, and it's better if seen with the original Japanese dialog with subtitles. You will get better nuance about how family's interaction is occurring. It's even better if you can understand Japanese. The subtle nuance of character's emotion and intent will be missed otherwise. People who didn't like this movie invariably saw the English dubbed version which doesn't convey the true charm of this movie. Some movie just doesn't translate well when dubbed like "Back to the Future". If you've seen a dubbed version of Back to the Future in other languages, you'll see that all the humorous details didn't make it across the translation. This movie is one such movie.

One of the best anime movie to be ever created, Summer Wars is one movie that's worth watching. See the stunning details put into this incredible work of art.

Great animation, great story, great movie.

[lewiskendell · 8/10 · 23 February 2011]

Summer Wars is another excellent movie from Madhouse and Mamoru Hosada, the director of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

Like TGWLTT, Summer Wars is a science fiction movie with heart. Instead of the humorous, poignant tone of the previous movie, Summer Wars focuses on family bonds and the inherent potential for mayhem that is an unavoidable part of our incredibly connected, increasingly virtual society. It's an easy to follow story that should have a lot of appeal for a broad audience.

The dubbing and animation are wonderful, and the fact that so much of the events play out in the virtual world provides a lot of opportunities for some eye-catching visuals. The music is fine, but not quite up to the fantastic score of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

I slightly prefer TGWLTT, but both movies are fully recommended and I've given them the same score. They're wonderful films, even in comparison to the amazing movies that have been coming out of Studio Ghibli for years. I can't wait to see what Hosada is working on next.

Decent, but too conventional.

[ethSin · 6/10 · 29 December 2009]

"Summer Wars" is an interesting anime movie, but lacks inspiration and magic like "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" (2006), which was also directed by Hosoda Mamoru and produced by Madhouse.

Animation, voice acting and music were all above average, but none were truly exceptional. The story and setting were all too common in mainstream anime, a zero-to-hero plot where kids excel over hapless and stubborn adults. Also, "save the world" situation with satellite seemed like a deliberate plot device to raise the stakes. In addition, there were too many unlikely and unnatural setting and story developments that were simply too convenient.

Another fatal flaw is the headcount of characters, far too many to properly develop in a movie, with everyone being cardboard cutouts. The characters do not feel real, predicaments seem superficial. It is impossible to connect with the story the way you can with "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time".

One thing that really impressed me about this movie though, was the CGI. There were many truly breathtaking 3-D scenes in 'World of OZ', yet these scenes still retained the "anime qualities" that weren't protrusive against characters and 'real world' 2-D cel style anime scenes.

"Summer Wars" is an OK movie, but cyberspace is a common theme in anime, and this film fails to stand out. Those expecting a masterpiece comparable to "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" will be disappointed.

Easily one of the better anime movies out there

[Vartiainen · 9/10 · 18 February 2012]

I adore this movie. Something about its mad mix of colourful, vibrant portrayal of virtual world and down to earth family life in rural Japan really appeals to me. These two stories are so far away from one another, yet they manage to tell a coherent, heartwarming story about the bonds that define us and that allow us to function with one another. It's a simple story - though yes, as a scifi story it has some bizarre elements - but it's told well, with special attention paid to the quiet moments and the little gestures we make when in the company of someone else.

And I really liked the Jinnouchi Clan. I could easily place myself among these people and feel immediately at home. I know that one uncle, who's loud and boisterous and all about big, material things. I have one. I know that teenage emo cousin, who's made of awkward. I have one. I know that aunt, who's bossing people around with a verbal whip and shrill voice. I have one, unfortunately.

So yes, I love this movie, and definitely recommend it to each and every one out there. If there is something that I have to nitpick about, it's that the movie doesn't have that awe-inspiring quality. It's not going to be an instant classic that everyone will talk about in the coming years. It has all the right elements. Stunning visuals, great story, identifiable characters, good romance, nice music... Yet it lacks that special something, that final spark. Instead it's just a really nice film.

I absolutely loved "Summer Wars"!

[dee.reid · 10/10 · 23 August 2011]

If you liked 2006's "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time," you're going to absolutely love "Summer Wars." Mamoru Hosoda's new film is an oddball mix of science fiction, cyber-punk, teen romance and family comedy/drama, all rolled up into one beautiful, lavish-looking Anime' that also somehow manages to throw in a pretty chilling end-of-the-world fight for the future of humanity. This has to be the best animated film to come out so far this year, or was it last year (I honestly can't remember). All I know is, I would have passed this film had I not read "The Washington Post's" "Style" section early one morning.

Regardless of how you feel about Japanese animation, "Summer Wars" is one film that the whole family can enjoy. Unlike most family films, however, this one doesn't insult the intelligence of the audience, nor does it treat its characters in a half-a**ed, perfunctory fashion. Every character in this film is alive and brimming over the top with personality, poise and humor, a rarity in most films these days - whether they be animated or live-action. But you know how most American audiences are here: they're pathologically afraid of anything foreign (i.e., not American). And then there's also all those negative stereotypes that Japanese animation is violent and full of sex.

Not true here.

It all just shows the marvelous degree of attention to detail that Hosoda paid to this project. It definitely has the makings of a labor of love for the Japanese filmmaker. "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" was an enjoyably light-hearted sci-fi/comedy romp in its own right. I liked it well enough (I rated it a 10/10), yet I still something felt missing from it. I didn't find anything missing from "Summer Wars," a brilliantly inventive and highly original movie that combines elements of the online virtual world Second Life, "The Social Network" (2010), "The Matrix" (1999), "Meet the Parents" (2000), and "The Simpsons" together with a bunch of other stuff I can't really remember.

17-year-old high schooler Kenji Koiso is a mathematical genius who like most high school geniuses, is shy, uncoordinated, and inarticulate in the area of girls and love. Things become even more complicated for him when the girl of his dreams (and fellow classmate) Natsuki Shinohara "hires" him out to be her fake fiancé to please her ailing great-grandmother at an upcoming family reunion. Cue the family dramatics. Cue the crazy and/or obnoxious relatives. Cue all-out familial craziness!

Sakae Jinnouchi is the 90-year-old family matriarch of this motley bunch of oddball relatives. The Jinnouchi clan fought bravely against the army of the Tokugawa shogunate that ruled all of Japan for nearly three centuries. The spirit of the Jinnouchi clan lives on to the present day, as poor Kenji finds out first-hand. His feelings for Natsuki will have to take a backseat when he receives a random text message one night that contains a 250-character algorithm. Kenji solves it with little difficulty.

The next day, Kenji finds out that he is responsible for bringing down Oz, the film's online equivalent of Facebook combined with MySpace combined with a world-wide chat room/business center. Additionally, when Kenji solved the algorithm, he also gave a malevolent A.I. (artificial intelligence) called "Love Machine" instant access to pretty much everything in the online world. And it isn't long before "Love Machine," using Kenji's online avatar to hack into accounts and steal information, sets its sights on also conquering the real world, even if it means killing all life on Earth as we know it. This apocalyptic showdown between man and A.I. unfolds amidst the family drama at Sakae's hilltop estate - Will Kenji get the pretty girl Natsuki? Will Natsuki return the affection? Who will stop "Love Machine's" online rampage?

"Summer Wars" is very easily one of the greatest Anime' films ever made. The film is a dazzling display of vibrant, pretty colors, computer-generated backgrounds/scenery, and lively three-dimensional characters. I honestly haven't been this in love with a group of characters in animated form in a very long time. Every single member of the Jinnouchi family is alive & well and have their time to shine with familiar family theatrics in carefully written scenes of family comedy/drama. And the battle scenes in cyber-space are brilliantly animated and executed, and are appropriately edge-of-your-seat thrilling.

You have to give praise to a movie that starts out like something off "The Brady Bunch" and ends with an apocalyptic showdown like in "The Matrix." Now in today's filmmaking industry on both sides of the ocean, that's what I call originality.

10/10

What an excellent film! It had everything!

[siderite · 13 July 2011]

If you can imagine the easy going yet fascinating Hayao Miyazaki stories, with their kind heartedness and deep Japanese roots being mixed with Denou Coil, you will get Summer Wars. It has good animation, a really cute story and features a cyber battle between a Japanese family and a malicious A.I. inside something that can be seen as the future of Facebook.

What I found really nice in the film is that traditional family values are mixed with modern views of the world, a beautiful countryside scenery is mixed with the virtual cyber world of OZ. There are both moral values to be learned from the story as well as the excitement of a crisis and how giving your best can get one past it. I found brilliant the way the scenes of cyber battle were intertwined with scenes of Japanese baseball, birthday then dying rituals, the individual traits of all of the members of the family, all without losing anything, just adding more and more depth to each scene.

I highly recommend it for all anime fans and for people who might become so, after watching a masterpiece like Summer Wars.

Here Comes The Summer

[robinski34 · 7/10 · 2 June 2013]

'Summer Wars' is another excellent exponent of the Japanese anime genre, directed by Mamoru Hosoda, whose modest (so far) directorial cannon includes 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time' (not to be mistaken for one of the Stieg Larsson trilogy!), which is also highly enjoyable. This film is a lively and colourful affair, nicely evoking the optimism and energy of the season, and its large cast of characters is well drawn in both senses, each one sketched with enough care and detail to be believable and interesting, and to make their own distinct contribution to the story, despite there being some twenty family members or so to deal with, no mean feat.

The plot is bedded in the technology of future, an almost ubiquitous theme for the genre, but the story's posit of a worldwide virtual network to which every financial institution, emergency service and government agency links, and indeed some cedes control of its systems, is hardly Science Fiction! Events take a turn for the worst of course, but despite the action being centred on a bright and colourful online world, and a plethora of cuddly personal avatars, Hosoda invests the conflict with a dark malevolence that is convincing, and delivers a real sense of threat.

'Summer Wars' may look at first glance like a kid's film, but don't dismiss it as 'some kind of Pokémon', the film delivers some emotional passages and a sweet central relationship that you will root for. All in all very satisfying for fans of the genre, and has something to offer those who are not. For me, the final note strays from the tone of the piece, but that is a minor quibble. Treat yourself to a dose of optimism.

lovely movie

[cherold · 9/10 · 22 June 2013]

Summer Wars does a wonderful job of combining touching human Japanese animation with weird monster-fighting stuff. The former is the frame of the movie in which a young man finds himself caught in a friend's family drama involving a really cool old lady and a snarky black sheep. The latter involves a facebook-meets-second-life-meets-everything-else-on-the-internet entity that gets hacked. The two sections are beautifully integrated into a single, fantastic movie.

There are criticisms I could make if I really wanted to. The technology really makes no sense at all, and some remarkable idiocy has to happen in the real world to worsen things in the virtual one. But none of that bothered me, because the characters feel real and the animation in both worlds is absolutely gorgeous.

Disappointing Compared to Wolf Children and the Girl Who Leapt Through Time

[ralo229 · 6/10 · 1 September 2014]

I was expecting to absolutely love this movie. I was expecting to fall in love with it like I did with Mamoru Hosoda's other films like Wolf Children and the Girl Who Leapt Through Time. And while this film was in no means bad, I couldn't help but feel a little underwhelmed by it.

What's good about it: The animation is great and unique as always, A lot of the emotional scenes were handled pretty maturely, and it can be pretty engaging and gripping at times.

What's bad about it: They're trying to tell two different stories at once. One story being about a bunch of people trying to save the world from a corrupt artificial intelligence and the other being about a kid who has to pretend to be the fiancé of a girl he likes. And they're not balanced out very well. I personally think it would've worked if both of these stories were two separate films. Another issue with the film is that the characters that are meant to be important (the love interest in particular) had little to no development outside of just being the love interest. The reason behind that is because there were too many characters. A lot of the film focused more on her family than it did the actual main characters. If you want this character to have a big family, then fine, more power to ya. But you shouldn't put all of your focus on them. You should keep the focus where it should be: on the main characters.

But even with these issues, does this film still hold up? Yeah. This movie is in no mean amazing or even great, I still think it's decent. However, if you were expecting a masterpiece like Wolf Children or the Girl Who Leapt Through Time, you may wanna look elsewhere. For me, I'm glad I saw it, I just wouldn't see it again.

no masterpiece, but not too bad either

[robertheinrich73 · 8/10 · 1 January 2011]

There are some anime masterpieces which can be recommended as a must-see to virtually anyone, and not only fans of the genre. Movies like Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, etc.

If you know them you will understand what I mean. In addition to being visually compelling these also have an original plot with some twists here and there, and will leave you with the feeling that you have just watched something really awesome.

Let's be honest: Summer Wars will not enter this eternal hall of fame, mostly because the plot is far too conventional and straight-forward.

On the other hand, a solid plot is not necessarily a bad thing, and makes this movie suitable for a broad audience. While a real fan of anime will probably be disappointed by the lack of weirdness and original ideas, Summer Wars might be a real good starting point for a newbie.

And if you are willing to excuse the fact that the plot won't knock your socks off, apart from that Summer Wars is a really good movie. It does quite an excellent job in introducing literally dozens of characters and still managing to give every single one of them a unique personality.

The story unfolds on parallel levels (the action part about saving the world, the part about the values of a family, the dangers of relying too much on technology, a little bit of teenage love story, ...) - while each level is too obvious and shallow on its own, they blend in together nicely. Reminds me of a virtual chop suey - nothing special, yet very tasty.

The visual presentation is quite good, too. The scenes in the real world are well done, and the cyberspace world is amazing.

In conclusion, Summer Wars is OK. Not really original and far from being excellent, but good nevertheless. No unique masterpiece, yet solid work, and if you won't set your expectations too high, you will enjoy it.

The Machine took over

[infinajt · 6/10 · 14 January 2011]

I'm sorry, I just... I just can't enjoy this.

And it's too bad because this guy has been called the future of anime. To me he seems more like the past. This has all the clichés you'd come to expect: over-the-top expressions, ridiculously insecure teenagers and stock characters, lots of rumpus over nothing, no real turns or twists or innovative narrative mechanics. All the stuff that reinforces the stereotype that anime is just for kids and teenagers.

Sure, it's gorgeous to look at, but even in that aspect it is lacking: there's no real personality here, just borrowed stuff and millions of tiny details created with expensive computer work. And you know, any dummy can create big things with a big budget. Michael Bay can.

Well, maybe Hosoda is just stuck with an uninteresting screenwriter. And he hasn't put out much stuff yet, after the Digimon movies. But somehow I think he should know better. There is nothing of his own here.

Times like these, I really miss Satoshi Kon.

This is how you make animation!

[wozzizlozz · 9/10 · 30 November 2012]

As Kenji, a high school student, takes on a job for the most popular girl in school, Natsuki, stuff is quickly spiralling out of control for him. Not only is this job for Natsuki not entirely what he had expected, but an A.I. has taken over his Avatar in the virtual world of Oz, wreaking allsorts of havoc. This is the premise of a roller-coaster ride that is exciting, sweet, strange, touching, funny, cool, exhilarating and most of all, a lot of fun. If someone asked me to make a good animation /science fiction/ romance/ action/ comedy/ drama/ movie about a virtual world, a family, Japanse high school students in a save the world kind of scenario: I'd probably laugh in their faces... Director Mamoru Hosoda however likely said something along these lines:"Yeah, sounds cool!". And continued on to make an awesome movie. It baffles me how he pulled this off with this wacky scenario, every scene sets the right tone, has the perfect pacing and touches the right strings at the right time. Summer Wars (and the also amazing Girl Who Leapt Through Time) made it clear to me Japan has the one of the best directors on the planet in animation with Mamoru Hosoda, and I can't wait to see what more he will conjure up. Highly recommended!

Solid collection of cliches

[tollko · 6/10 · 27 June 2020]

"Summer Wars" isn't a masterpiece of invention. All its elements (audio, visuals, story line) are decent but nothing stands out as extraordinary. The soundtrack felt fitting and emotional during the scenes but completely forgettable as well. The visuals were well done, especially during the fight scenes, but just on par with modern anime standards. The characters and plot points were a mix of elements that you can easily find elsewhere. You have the shy protagonist, the annoying children, the strong family lead etc.. You have a typical suspense curve of a drama. From a technical standpoint, this movie hits all the right notes but in no way does it try to surprise the viewer.

"Summer Wars" is definitely worth a watch if one is looking for a well-made but simple anime. However I doubt that I will watch it a second time.

Note that several conflicts in this movie are resolved in combat (not realistic bar fights but full blown anime fights), so it might not be accessible to everyone.

Do not watch if "Hollywood hacking" bothers you

[jaygorian · 3/10 · 25 April 2016]

The good (As in, why I didn't give it only one star):

The art and animation in this movie were excellent The extremely large cast of characters is very well managed, there are very few that fall completely to the sidelines, story or writing wise The plot is easily digestible for those who are younger or newer to the medium

The bad:

The plot was mediocre at best, with the way the MC was brought into the plot utterly unrealistic and stereotypical for anime being one of its many unoriginal aspects, however, I could've set aside my qualms about the plot if not for the digital side of the film

The ugly (As in, here's where I make an itemized list so it's not too ragey):

1. The world of OZ is portrayed as impossibly immersive considering the fact that it uses mouse and keyboard or hand-held controls

2. OZ is given an insane amount of access to the world. Considering that even UPS uses an internal network for its in-hub computers, it is unbelievable that computers with control over public works, infrastructure, satellites, and nuclear power plants would be connected to this social network on steroids.

3. The "hacking" is so utterly nonsensical that to point out every single issue would take up the rest of this relatively short review

4. Real life martial arts skills do not translate to video game skills

5. A combat control scheme that requires use of the entire keyboard is utter nonsense and would be considered trash by anyone with even a small amount of gaming experience, and therefore should not have been even remotely popular

6. The number of different platforms OZ is accessible through is difficult to believe, mostly in terms of the DS. Plausible, but unlikely.

7. The supercomputer should not have been able to have OZ installed on it out of the box, installing an OS on the thing should've taken most of the time they had

8. There should have been no way for people to "give" the girl their avatars in the end

9. In-game proximity should have had nothing to do with whether the hacking AI could steal one's account

There's more, but just remembering this movie is starting to upset me, so I'll leave it at that.

"Here is another masterpiece Japanimation!"

[charlie_ishiyama · 9/10 · 23 August 2009]

The story begins with a math genius high school boy Kenji and his secret idol Natsuki going back to her hometown Nagano to celebrate her great grandmother's 90th birthday. One night, Kenji unintentionally helped crack the security code of a second life net community called "OZ" where billions of users communicate and live. Eventually a single password crack in virtual reality caused an enormous disaster to the real world. And young hero and heroin, and heroin's families are united and determined to fight against their overwhelming enemy.

The characters, designed by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, including a young hero and heroin, are all vivid and adorable enough to make me feel that I actually want to be with them and related to the family. Also I think it was a right decision for a casting director not to use popular TV personalities for commercialism because I often witnessed their unexceptionally poor voice acting destroying masterpieces into pieces. Here the voice acting by the experienced actors or actresses enlivened all the characters, especially the great grandmother's affectionate yet dignified voice was just awesome.

The script woven by Satoko Okudera involved me into the story from the beginning to the end. The advanced internet technology and the traditional large family of Japan are cleverly integrated into one cloth, not contradicting to one another. The main plot of the movie is the fiction, however, I read and watch similar types of accidents on the paper or TV now and then. And the fact, I think, added the reality and impact to the story.

In 2006, Mamoru Hosoda proved himself a promising animation director in "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time". This time he proved himself a truly talented story teller who is capable of entertaining anyone regardless of age, gender, or culture. In this movie, he successfully had a virtual network and a real life coexist and interact with each other seamlessly in order to make the 'save-the-world' type main plot as tangible as possible and let it roller-coaster on. The reason why I called this a masterpiece is that this is not a mere roller coaster; he elaborately described the family tie, the growth of youths, and the romance between the young hero and heron, too.

Up until today, the avatars on the internet were just 2D/3D images or computer programs for me. But after the end roll of this movie, I've become aware that he or she actually lives behind avatars and I am "connected" to them in some way through the internet. It is a highly recommended animation film!

An ambitious anime and beautifully executed

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 26 January 2015]

Summer Wars is one of the most ambitious animes to exist, ambitious doesn't always equal greatness on film as a result of being over-ambitious but Summer Wars is one of those that gets it right. Some characters are better developed than others, the main family members are very compellingly real but some of the side characters are sketchily written. If the film had less characters than it did the character development would have been even better.

The animation is just wonderful though and stylistically unlike any other I've seen, the colours are eye-popping and the backgrounds are so richly detailed and textured. None of it felt confusing to me. The cyber-battles are particularly strong in this regard, the action itself is thrilling and the visuals positively dazzle. Summer Wars has a music score that is both rousing and ethereal, and luckily mood-wise when matched with the animation and the tone of the storytelling it never jars. There is also a thoughtful script that handles its emotional themes very touchingly and remarkably maturely, while the story covers a lot but despite exploring several themes it doesn't feel too much. The family themes are ones that really resonate and charm, and while the message is not the most original it's a truthful message that doesn't patronise. The lead characters are engaging and the voice acting, both in Japanese and dubbing, is dynamic and expressive.

All in all, a beautifully executed anime and shouldn't disappoint anybody who likes Wolf Children and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. It's ambitious but apart from the writing of some of the characters it doesn't feel too much so. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Ozu Family Drama meets Hackers. (and War Games for that matter)

[mbs · 7/10 · 7 January 2011]

Solidly put together film answers the long unanswered question what if famed Japanese director Ozu had lived long enough to tackle the foibles of internet hackers in his films??? What starts out as both a quiet domestic family drama about a college girl who needs to find a boy to escort her back to her grandmother's 90th birthday celebration lest her family think she isn't being cared for...turns into a movie about this hacker's attempt to overtake well everything in cyberspace more or less. (References are made to how many people's identities are being stolen, and a reference is made as to how the hacker could conceivably impersonate the president and get access to nuclear launch codes.) The chaos that the hacker brings ends up wrecking havoc in the real world and ends up infringing on the supposed to be quiet family together weekend--as it becomes more and more clear that the stuff happening in cyberspace may just have a couple of things to do with the family getting together that very weekend. (The boy of course whom we know is painfully shy, and great at math will figure prominently of course in the saving of the world soon enough.) That's about as much plot as I'd wanna give--but its also as much as I think i could possibly give--because to go into specific details about what or how all of this chaos happens--and what the people in the film do to combat the hacker in cyberspace would prob be hard for me since i knew so, so little about what they were actually doing. I got the broad ideas and i always knew what they were doing...but i could not begin to tell you exactly what it was they were doing...and yet it did not hamper my enjoyment of the film overall much to my relief.

Even if you know next to nothing about the going ons in cyberspace, it is definitely still possible to enjoy this film as a cute film about an extended family reuniting for their beloved grandmother's birthday. There are the usual family arguments, tragic back stories, and quirky characters that generally occupy these kinds of films, and the 2 main protagonists are quite appealing characters as presented here. It can also be seen as how the family unit pulls together in times of crisis--even in this crazy internet era we live in where entire lives can be lived out in a virtual world, and chaos can be wrecked as easily there as it could in the real world, the family dynamic is the most important one, and that whole pulling together of the family even by members who don't quite understand exactly what's going on--just that something monumentally important is going on, and that they have to band together or risk their potential last moments on earth being split apart. The film's gentle humor and humanist spirit are pure and traditional recalling the various family dramas of Ozu even if the technology and lingo are modernistic cyberpunk.

Koi Koi. The film has a good sense of humor to it as well---getting laughs out of good old fashioned awkwardness or certain juxtapositions of different things happening at the same time. (this entire cybercrisis is happening at the same time the younger members are watching this much beloved local baseball team playing for the championship--and both the baseball game and the cybercrisis go down to the wire and into extra innings if you will.) Its a good look at modern life versus traditional life and how the two can (and should) exist with one another. (the traditional family and lifestyle is big and accepting enough to adept to any new style of living so long as the people within the family can still band together at the end of the day.) The only thing about the film is that in the last half hour or so when the heroes are putting their plan to save civilization into action--i had little idea what they were actually doing in order to save everything--however i knew it had something to do with a big showdown involving the card game Koi Koi (???) which to someone who doesn't know anything about the game itself reminded me more or less of my grandmother playing mahjong's when i was much much younger. it just goes to show you that the film's embrace of traditional values is even included within the way civilization is going to be saved---it ends up being saved by a game learned by your grandparents as a youngster.

Hosoda's newest film is a must see for all ages...

[jmaruyama · 8/10 · 11 April 2010]

Hosoda Mamoru's thrilling and surprisingly touching anime movie "Summer Wars" is this generation's "War Games", a cautionary tale that while warning of humanity's over-reliance on technology (especially the new emerging cellular, virtual, internet and personal/portable technologies) also celebrates the human spirit by showing the importance of family and how those bonds triumph against any and all adversity however insurmountable. Hosoda once again delivers the goods with a timely, winning, intelligent, and very poignant anime/cartoon that will appeal both to adults and kids.

The story begins rather innocently - high school computer geek Kenji (voiced by Kamiki Ryunosuke) and his classmate Takashi (voiced by Yokokawa Takahiro)spend their free time doing grunt coding/programming work to help support the global social network system known as "OZ". "OZ" isn't just a place for people to meet and socialize, play games and do research but is also tied into virtually everyone's daily lives (every single business, government, public service including the military are linked together -- think a Super World Wide Web). One day the high school's most popular girl, Shinohara Natsumi (voiced by Sakuraba Nanami) visits their classroom to ask a favor. Natsumi has to go back to her hometown in Ueda Prefecture to attend an annual family reunion and wants one of them to accompany her as support, as she says these gatherings are often uncomfortable. While both volunteer, it is timid and bashful Kenji whom she picks to go with her. Kenji soon realizes that things aren't exactly what they seem as he soon learns that the real reason Natsumi asked him to go with her is so that they can pretend to be a couple and to reassure her relatives that she is doing well in Tokyo. Natsumi wants to especially impress her influential grandmother, the resilient and authoritative Jinnouchi Sakae (voiced by the wonderful actress Terashima Junko) who is not only the matriarch of the family but who seems to know just about any and everyone in town.

As with most family reunion films, the Jinnouchi Clan is quite an eclectic band of people including your atypical oddball relatives, noisy aunts and uncles, bratty grandchildren and mysterious cousins. One of those relatives is Natsumi's 13 year old cousin Kazuma (voiced by Tanimura Mitsuki), a social misfit who has been bullied at school in the past but who has found Internet fame via his online fighting alter ego and avatar "King Kazuma" (think a animorphic version of the "King of Fighters" character Terry Bogard). Another relative, the enigmatic Wabisuke (voiced with cool smoothness by Saito Ayumu) has also come back for the reunion after cutting ties with the family years earlier and who now lives abroad in the US. Much to Kenji's chagrin, he learns that Natsuki has always had a school girl crush for her handsome "uncle".

The real story however unfolds when Kenji inadvertently breaks the security code/password for the "OZ" network (Kenji just so happens to be a mathematical prodigy who is able to crack complex computer code in his mind in a matter of minutes) thus allowing a super computer virus/artificial intelligence program called "Love Machine" to infect the network and cause all sorts of havoc both in the virtual world and in the real world (Love Machine uses OZ to crash major city energy grids, divert military satellite orbits, arm nuclear war heads and takeover/hack the information and Avatars of billions of OZ users). As Love Machine gets stronger and brings the world to total chaos, Kenji, Takashi and Kazama struggle to save the OZ network while Natsumi and her grandmother Sakae gather their friends and family together to help save their community from all the technological mayhem.

As with many of the recent Pixar films, Hosoda's film succeeds at transcending the "cartoon" medium to deliver a story that is just as thrilling and poignant as any live action film.

At the heart of "Summer Wars" strength is its likable cast of eccentric characters who make the audience care for them. The characters of Kenji, Sakae, Wabisuke and Natsumi are all very well developed and it is a credit to the talented voice actors that portray them that they are able to flesh these characters out so well and make them work on so many levels.

Okudera Satoko's brilliant story celebrates the advancements that have been made in computer, internet and communication technology while also criticizing the over-reliance on those technologies to take care of our complete needs. As with Pixar's recent film "Up", Okudera's story celebrates the human spirit of individuals especially our elders and shows that despite their age, they bring a wealth of experience, world knowledge and tenacity that is absolutely invaluable.

Enough can't be said of Hosoda's inventive direction and storytelling. As with his first anime film the "Toki O Kakeru Shojou" Hosoda has a knack for telling interesting and engaging stories. Never once is "Summer Wars" at all boring. Hosoda is able to mix both comedy and drama well and in fact there are also some genuinely tearful scenes that were really very touching.

The animation work by the famed Madhouse group is stunning and beautiful to behold. While not as elaborate as some of the computer generated works of Pixar they are still quite effective at creating a believable world - from the lush backgrounds of the Ueda countryside, to the ultra detailed city scenes of Tokyo, to the imaginative virtual world of "OZ" they were able to do it all. Sadamoto Yoshiyuki's character designs were also quite good and he gave each character a unique and appealing look which seemed to match their personality well.

"Summer Wars" is not just a great "anime" movie, it is just a great movie period and one that will have you appreciating your relatives and extended families however odd they may be.

Amazing characters bastardized by illogical and generic action sequences

[TheDavyStar · 6/10 · 2 October 2015]

Summer Wars features LM, the most boring villain in anime thus far. Granted, its backstory is amazing, but, without spoiling anything, it is rendered dull by the fact that it does not have any true motivation behind its atrocities. If you have watched the film, you may understand why it doesn't have any motivation, but what good is a bad guy who's bad for the sake of being bad? And the moment the movie goes into detail as to how its characters fight LM, the movie loses its damn way. Here, the action of countering LM is represented visually, but that also means that the action on screen is all a loose interpretation of what the computer aficionados at home are actually doing. They dedicate so much time and effort into forcing viewers to watch Oz-related action sequences that it drags me away from what made me love the film initially - the awesome characters. I don't know if just 'general hacking' and 'better computers' are really what are needed to best an AI opponent in a fighting game, but yeah...as I said,

I Cry Every Time (KOI KOI!)

[emilywake · 9/10 · 29 March 2016]

I know this is a spoiler, but when every remaining free avatar rallies behind Natsuki, I always cry. After the bombing in France, the world actually united in the same way and I cried. In the movie, it took people losing their lives and everything needed to function for everyone to come together. In reality, it takes people dying. I cry for two reasons.

Movie: - It takes deaths and potential fall of society for people to unite - People do amazing things when they rally together

Reality: - It takes many deaths for us to unite - We can do great things (i.e. solve world hunger, world peace) if we can rally together like we do when people are having tragedies, but do it everyday

UNITY people! Apply it everyday for a brighter future. That's what I get from this movie. The perfect movie. Now, if I can stop crying, I won't get a stopped up nose. Then it would be a 10 out of 10!

P.S. Hanafuda (Koi Koi) is a great game. You need to get the app.

Doesn't really work for me

[zetes · 6/10 · 15 July 2013]

A teenage boy lives two lives, as everyone does in the world of this film: the real and the virtual. In the real, he goes on vacation to his would-be girlfriend's family reunion, where he is forced to pretend to be the girl's actual boyfriend. While navigating the tricky situation there, in the virtual world he's tricked into releasing a malicious A.I. that starts to consume the accounts of a good chunk of the world population. The virtual world, called OZ, has a lot of influence on how the real world runs, and the A.I. begins destroying the real world from the inside out. This film isn't bad, but it's a little too vague to work. The characters are all paper-thin and the rules of its universe are ill-defined. It's also ugly to look at. The animation is too choppy and cheap-looking. The virtual world is a little more interesting than the real world, but it's nothing too special to look at, either. Worth checking out, but it's far below the director's earlier work, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

One of Mamoru Hosoda's Finest

[valen060 · 9/10 · 9 September 2016]

With an abundance of films made by Studio Ghibli, Mamoru Hosoda really found something to call his own by stepping outside that famed studio and finding focus on a movie that plays on themes of cyber warfare and the value of family.

Kenji Koiso is an average high school student with a skill in mathematics and a job with OZ, an online virtual reality world where many users browse and socialize with each other. But when he's given a "job" by his crush Natsuki Jinnouchi to travel to the country with her during the summer, he gets himself in over his head when he's framed online by a rogue AI called Love Machine.

For an anime film, I found this to be enjoyable and cleverly crafted. The cyber realm setting does borrow off the elements (albeit even a similar scenario) of one segment from Digimon: The Movie, but Hosoda admitted that Digimon is a prototype to Summer Wars. Now Kenji clearly lacks social skills, but his extensive math knowledge is put to the test as he and the rest of the Jinnouchi clan come together to put an end to this AI. The characters feel relatable and the family values remind me so much of my own that it feels inviting and immersive just by getting to know several of Natsuki's extensive family members.

Although the movie may start off slow, there are some moments throughout its two-hour run time that give off an emotional sense when it comes to either angst amongst family or even the intense fight scenes in cyberspace. Hosoda's previous work The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was pretty impressive, so his follow-up Summer Wars is another hit. I also see parallels to the series Digimon (specifically, its segment Our War Game) in terms of story and concept since Hosoda coincidentally once contributed to that series years prior. Whether you're an avid anime fan or simply an average film-goer (and regardless of animation medium), its story is simple, yet complex in balancing the virtual world and reality. As for OZ itself, it's like a hybrid of Miyazaki's art style crossed with Nintendo's designs. Made me want to watch the movie again whenever I choose.

When's Autumn?

[AnimationFiend · 6/10 · 12 March 2014]

Summer Wars is a movie that doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it a coming of age story? A family drama? Cyber-punk? A rom-com? There are moments dedicated to each genre, but nothing is fully developed.

Speaking of not being fully developed, there is no reason for this story to have 24 characters, as half of them serve little to no purpose (e.g., the woman obsessed with her son's Highschool baseball games.) The audience can get a sense of family unity simply by the actions of the family, not the numbers; quality over quantity.

The story is filled with anime tropes (nose-bleeds caused by stress or embarrassment), clichés, and twists that offer no surprise and drag out the run time.

The saving grace of Summer Wars is that it managed to keep my attention from start to finish. And while the designs of Oz are gorgeous, the animation is wasted on a story that has been told many times before and will be told many times after.

6.36 out of 10, because despite the hodgepodge pacing, the characters that are developed remain likable and the story (despite being unoriginal) manages to entertain and even have its charming moments.

Anime fans should consider giving Summer Wars a watch, but don't expect much.

Really stupid and not what I expected

[CuriosityKilledShawn · 5/10 · 6 June 2018]

From the cover art I assumed that this would be a 90-minute affair about some kind of village annual games and that's what got me interested. It's not like that at all. It's a 2-hour techno-thriller, and a badly misconceived one at that. I can't remember any of the characters names, so it'll be hard for me to give you a rundown of the plot, but in this version of 2010 the whole world is plugged into a overlarge social networking site and a sinister entity within is using it to...I dunno...something...and knock a satellite out of the air to land on a nuclear power plant and blow up...some place. Only an extended family of eccentrics can band together and stop it because they all just-so-happen to be involved in the tech business and have everything that they need at their disposal.

This is nonsense. There is a really good core concept here, but this is not the right way to tell it. Some ideas in Summer Wars are clever and they are wasted. It's too quirky, overlong, and seems like a mash-up of two unrelated scripts that got mixed together when two interns collided in a hallway and didn't bother to keep their papers separate. I won't be watching this again.

Best animation I've seen this year

[ksub · 10/10 · 2 January 2011]

My Christmas eve 2010 was spent with my extended family but I had the pleasure to spend that Christmas day in a movie theater with the Jinnouchi family. I went to see the movie Summer Wars in San Francisco on that rainy Christmas day and it was well worth the 100 mile drive.

In my humble opinion Summer Wars directed by Hosoda Mamoru is the best animation I've seen in a long time.

The heroes of this exciting, hilarious and heartwarming movie are Kenji and the Jinnouchi family. The best animations have authentic believable characters and here we find several of them most notably Sakae, the family's charismatic matriarch. If there was an Academy award for best supporting actress in an animation it should go to her. In what could have easily stayed a simple scifi adventure alone, Hosoda has seamlessly weaved in an extensive cast of charming heart and togetherness.

The male lead Kenji is a shy math geek who has never even dated a girl before. He agrees to a summer job escorting Natsuki, the most popular girl in school, to her family's gathering. A sprawling earthy ancient rural family estate where the Jinnouchi clan has gathered to celebrate the family matriarch's 90th birthday. This is the real world setting where the enemy strikes however the movie doesn't just take place in this world. It starts introducing you to the white sterile appealing online universe called OZ that has all but completely taken over all the worlds workings. As in "the Wizard of OZ" something there declares it self as "all powerful" and starts stealing peoples very identities and online privileges.

Kenji stuck in the middle of nowhere like a fish out of water has to ask for help from the people he just met and instead of saving the day alone, is becomes the catalyst that helps unite the family together in battle.

Yes it gets deadly serious, and just when you think the battle is over the villain strikes back once more and then once again putting you on the edge of your seat.

Not being Japanese, I enjoyed being introduced to things like the ancient card game of Hanafuda Koi Koi and the anime cliché wherein a shy boy gets a nose bleed when kissed by a beautiful girl.

If you liked Mamoru Hosoda's the Girl Who Leapt Through Time (and why shouldn't you) then you'l definitely love this movie.