02.06
In these past few years, we have undoubtedly noticed that anime, aside from some few exceptions, has been lacking. For every Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, there’s at least a dozen K-On! clones. Whenever we see an original, genre-breaking show premiere, it’s always drowned out by the legions of pandering moe shows. But at least there’s something going on for TV when you compare it to how Japanese animation has fared recently at theatres. The tragic passing of Satoshi Kon means we won’t be seeing his post-modern presence anymore (though there’s supposed to be one posthumous work coming out soon). Studio Ghibli hasn’t been able to find a successor to Miyazaki or Takahata. And when you get right down to it, most of the output just consists of film spin-offs of already established shows like Evangelion or Pokemon. But like all mediums, you will, one way or another, find a gem among the pit. And for this review, we will be discussing a certain gem by the name of Summer Wars.
A timid math prodigy named Kenji Koiso finds himself living among his high school crush Natsuki and her gigantic mess of a family. On the first night there, he gets e-mailed an encryption code, and with curiosity killing the cat, ends up cracking it. By the next day, Kenji realizes that he’s been duped, having actually deciphered the code to break into the virtual reality world known as OZ that literally everybody’s connected to, and now the one who gave him the code to translate has taken his account and is wreaking havoc throughout the digital world. And given that everything’s online, this being has the ability to send all technology into disarray as well as even launch a nuclear missile just for the hell of it. Kenji, as backboneless as he is, doesn’t stand a single chance of fixing the mess he helped cause, but luckily for him, Natsuki and her family have some connections of their own.
And for those who think this sounds a bit familiar, it should. In many ways, this movie is an expansion of the Digimon short film “Our War Game”, by sharing a main plot about a bunch of kids having to stop a virus from ending the world, as well as having Mamoru Hosoda direct both movies. But it would be rather short-sighted to cry “Rip-Off!”, with Kenji being as far of an opposite of Tai as can be in terms of character (though he does share a few traits with Izzy). Where “Our War Game” served as a short after-series treat with the Digidestined saving the world once again, Summer Wars is a wide-ranging coming-of-age story featuring people forced out of their comfort zone and having to improvise like hell in order to stop Armageddon. And besides, WarGames did it first.
For the characters, the movie goes to great lengths to give even the most insignificant characters a distinct personality. Speaking as someone with an annoying extended family, the film definitely captures how awkward, yet interesting it is to be part of one. There are the judgmental aunts and uncles prying into your private lives, the older, overprotective cousins who think they know what’s for your own good, the grandparents who are very old-fashioned, but are usually the only ones able to moderate everything, as well as the submissive black sheep who end up being the most interesting members of the family tree. In any other movie, they would’ve been shoved into the background with only a couple getting any dialogue, but here, this clan is utilized to become one of the most endearing and realistic portrayals of what a huge family is like. It gets to the point where Natsuki just seems kind of bland in comparison to her relatives.
The art and animation is something that only few anime ever succeed at. The scenes in the virtual reality, OZ, are just an absolutely sight to behold. It’s all very stylized and vibrant. From the designs of the characters to the whole look and feel of the digital world, Hosoda pours truckloads of imagination into it. Even from the opening scene showing how OZ works, there’s definitely a sense of whimsy to it all. One of my favorite scenes is when the main villain absorbs millions upon millions of accounts and turns into this gigantic monster with its entire body being an amalgam of hordes of avatars. Just watching it move helped show the absolute desperation the main characters were going through when facing it. And the film’s no slouch when it comes to the scenes in the real world, with fluid character interactions and quite detailed scenery.
The voice acting is pretty good, having the benefit of not going through the usual talent pool (because God knows how many roles Hiroshi Kamiya or Kana Hanazawa already have on their resume). It also helps that they cast actual teenagers for the two leading roles. They give their characters a sense of authenticity that is seldom heard in other animated films. And everyone else fits fairly well in their roles, with the point where the grandmother and head of the clan narrates how her family should accept their aloof half-sibling Wabisuke no matter what being one of the most moving scenes in the film.
So overall, this is the best anime I’ve seen in over five years, putting Hosoda right up there among Miyazaki, Oshii, Anno, and Kon. Yes, I’m probably overrating it. And no, I don’t care. If quality were measured in height, Summer Wars would be among the bloody Himalayas. It’s so good that it makes me hate other anime more for how they can’t be like this. Whether you’re a click away from torrenting it or waiting for FUNi to release the DVD, every anime fan owes it to themselves to watch this movie.
Rating: 10/10
Originally posted on Wednesday, September 29, 2010.