Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. It’s summertime! I love summer! The weather is nice and hot, school is out, and everyone just seems more relax and happy around this time of the year. I’ve got a lot going on this summer, vacation, looking for a new job, visiting some old friends and the biggest event of all a family reunion. So in order to get ready for the first week of summer I’m going to review Summer Wars. Okay so technically this isn’t a summer anime but it’s got summer in it, takes place in summer and I just need an excuse to review something directed by Mamoru Hosoda the same guy who made the Digimon Movie as well as The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Coming out in 2009 Summer Wars under the development of Madhouse is often considered one of the best animated films of all time. The story centers on a boy who likes a girl and gets dragged to her grandmother’s birthday celebration where the girl makes up the story that they’re getting married and all sort of hijinks, family drama, and internet takeover ensues throughout the film. Is Summer Wars really all that and a bag of chips? Well let’s take a trip to the countryside and take a look at Summer Wars. Also, I’m watching the English version of this film.
So the film opens up by introducing us to Oz a virtual world where people across the world can interact with each other using their personal computers, televisions (Xbox One’s probably), phones, ipads, chromebooks, etc. (it’s like what would happen if you crossed Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook). The world of Oz has so much to offer as it’s completely taken over the internet you can create your own avatar to play games, watch videos and movies, plan vacation, buy stock from businesses, do business deals through it, it’s pretty much the go to spot to do whatever you want whenever you want and get whatever you want (scene here: //youtu.be/kPTfdO5hQUw?t=5s, it’s like Google fully realized without all the evil of corporations and management. Plus no annoying advertisements). After getting the grand tour of Oz (the gift store is on your right) we get to meet Kenji voiced by Michael Sinterniklaas (Moritaka from Bakuman) a part-time code monkey who works for Oz and is a math genius (blah, the root of evil in the world if you ask me) getting ready for another boring summer until Natsuki voiced by Briana Palencia (Holo from Spice and Wolf) barges in on him and his friend wondering if one of them would like a job for the summer (do I get paid in cash or in your body either way I accept the job). Since Kenji has the hots for Natsuki he takes her up on the job offer which is going with her to the country for her great grandmother’s 90th birthday where the whole family is coming in to celebrate. We get to the country and meet the great grandmother Sakae voiced by Pam Dougherty who I’m not gonna lie is just a badass grandmother. Natsuki introduces Kenji telling Sakae that Kenji is her fiancé after which Sakae goes straight up badass on us and gives Kenji the talk (scene here: //youtu.be/AeBXwig_9yU, okay that was just awesome. Just look at how she talks to him. The authority and no BS in her voice. This is a woman you don’t wanna mess with. I think the only thing that would have made Sakae better is if she was voiced by Betty White. Now there’s someone you don’t mess it, //youtu.be/KRUZK01LffE?t=1m25s).
After meeting Sakae, Natsuki explains that the whole reason she’s lying is because she wanted to make Sakae feel better since she’s been sick some time ago (and lying was supposed to make her feel better how). She begs Kenji to play along saying she’ll break up with him after the party is over (oh wow Natsuki that’s very comforting to know you’re playing with the feelings of a young boy, why don’t you just crush his balls while you’re at it) and he reluctantly agrees to do it (yep, love makes a man do stupid things). At dinner that night we get introduced to the rest of the family where we find out that the family are descendants of a samurai who challenged the Tokugawa clan in 1615. After dinner Natsuki’s uncle Wabisuke voiced by J. Michael Tatum (Lawrence from Spice and Wolf) a computer expert shows up much to the family’s displeasure. Why, well 10 years ago he stole a part of the family fortune and ran away to America where he’s been living for the last 10 years and he shows zero respect to his homeland and his family. However, the only person who gives a rat’s ass about him is Natsuki who gives off some strange vibes that she might have a crush on him like she’s getting awfully close to him and I don’t mean uncle/niece close more like this young high school girl wants to date this older man close (Natsuki do I have to tell to stop touching your douchebag of an uncle). Later that night Kenji receives a text message with an advanced math problem in it asking him to solve from some unknown sender and like an idiot he solves it and texts the answer back to the sender (why!? What dumbass tries to solve a math problem sent from somebody you don’t know? Better yet who sends a math problem to be solved in the first place). The next morning we see that Kenji is on television being blamed for hacking into Oz’s infrastructure and taking down the system causing widespread panic (holy shit he broke the Internet. And they said it was impossible). With the help of his good friend Takashi, Kenji realizes what we realized earlier that the math problem he solved last night was actually the encryption code to OZ mainframe (see, like I told you. Math is evil~) and Takashi gives him a new avatar which he uses to log into Oz to stop the hacker but the hacker has rewritten the rules and turned Oz into one giant cage fight where anarchy rules (so it’s no different from the Internet today). Kenji gets his assed kick that is until Kazuma, Natsuki’s second cousin (twice remove) logs in (how I don’t know) and unleashes his avatar King Kazma a very popular avatar who wins a lot of battles online. He logs in and starts chasing the hacker and catching it. The hacker escapes, eats another avatar and changes into the creature we’ll come to know as Love Machine (seriously, that’s the name we’re going with) and takes on King Kazma once again (scene here: //youtu.be/795__YILSY0?t=9s, KO! He wins). Takashi finds out that Love Machine isn’t a hacker but instead an AI created by a student in Pittsburg. It somehow got loose on the Internet and its main purpose is to hack stuff (so once again the fault lies in America, //youtu.be/m5RtlpXsl8k). The family finds out about the whole Oz scandal as well as Natsuki lying about her relationship with Kenji and we find out that the girl has had a crush on her uncle since kindergarten and projected his image, qualities, and education on Kenji (oh you sick bitch! You seriously fell in love with your uncle, projected his character on someone else, been in love with him for God knows how many years, and not once did you question if your feelings for him were right!? You are messed up lady, messed up).
He gets arrested by one of the relatives who just happens to be a cop and doesn’t like Kenji dating Natsuki (I swear if you have a crush on Natsuki I will punch you in the fucking soul) and they make their way to the station only to get caught in traffic because Love Machine has taken over the Internet everything from stoplights to emergency alarms are at his control and he’s letting them all go off which leads to many of the family members being unable to leave work and come to Sakae’s party and the whole country as well as the world in a state of panic (alright wait wait. Let me get this straight. A virus has taken over the Internet and is bringing the world to its knees. This plot sounds familiar- THE DIGIMON MOVIE! Wow, it’s literally the Digimon movie. Why!? Why retell that story!? Was Mamoura-sensei out of ideas so much that he just had to retell this story again!? Granted it actually works this time around, is a little better, and animated better but still this makes no sense). Natsuki tells her cousin to turn the car around and bring Kenji back to the house and Sakae uses her connections to tell her family members and friends to get off their asses and try to settle this situation and get everyone to calm down (badass granny for the win) and it succeeds. On Kenji’s side of the story he’s able to break the code on the administer lock using math and Takashi gives him some good news (//youtu.be/HHfOejlvVsY), it turns out that Kenji isn’t responsible for Love Machine hacking Oz. It turns out that Love Machine sent the text message to multiple users who also broke the code last night but Kenji isn’t on the list because he misspelled one word (so Love Machine is a Word Nazi. Good to know) which means he’s not a criminal he’s just an unfortunate bastard who got his avatar hacked. Thanks to granny everything settles down and the family members who were late managed to arrive safely but Oz is still down somewhat because Love Machine is still alive so the gang has to go back in and kill it. But Wabisuke reveals that it’s impossible to stop Love Machine because he developed it as a request by the US government (again why is it always our fault? I know we don’t have a lot friends in the world but still come on must every major disaster be our fault). He tries to get Sakae on his side by explaining that he did all of this to make up for the past (//youtu.be/O9xRhwmHBBE) but Sakae doesn’t believe him, grabs a spear, and tries to kill him (I like the way this woman thinks. If half the people in my family are like her it’s gonna be one fun family reunion). Rather than take his death like a man Wabisuke leaves (with Natsuki telling him to come back. Oh my God, what the hell is wrong with this girl!? She’s worse than Selena Gomez and her addiction to Justin Bieber) and the family decides that it’s up to them to clean up his mistakes. The next morning strikes hard not because of Love Machine but because Sakae has passed away in sleep (fuckers). Actually in all honesty to this films credit the death of Sakae is done amazingly well the whole family is sad and angry as they should be and the film stops and acknowledges this beautifully they don’t skip over it or nothing they take the minutes to let it all seep in and this leads to the saddest moment in the film (scene here: //youtu.be/b_TIahFGVT8). So the women of the family decide to make preparations for Sakae’s funeral but the men (Kenji included surprisingly) want revenge on Love Machine and Kazuma wants a rematch against the bastard. They go all out bringing a super computer into the house, military equipment, Kazuma does some Xaolin training (I don’t know how that’s gonna help him fight Love Machine but whatever puts him in a state of concentration) and send out a message challenging Love Machine to a rematch. Love Machine shows up to fight King Kazma and this time King Kazma is able to bring the bastard to his needs (get you some King Kazma) but Love Machine starts taking control of other avatars and using them to fight forcing King Kazma into a tight spot. Luckily, the family helps him out and he’s able to lure Love Machine into a trap where they catch him and begin drowning him with water but the super computer starts to overheat because someone (I’m not gonna say who) removed the ice surrounding the computer which allows Love Machine to escape and take out King Kazma again. After beating King Kazma, Love Machine takes control of a powerful satellite and begins targeting nuclear plants saying he’s going to set one off in about 2 hours. You know I just realized something, why aren’t the two giant whales doing anything. They’re said to be the guardians of Oz yet they haven’t done jack shit. Come on! You know Love Machine is a bad program so get rid of it. Worst security program ever I swear.
Natsuki calls Wabisuke (stop hitting on your uncle this is incest it’s wrong) and tells him Sakae’s dead (oh nevermind). He rushes home in his beat up car (how many people did you kill to get here) and goes to pay his proper respects to her as well as apologize to the family for his actions. With only an hour left to stop Love Machine and with King Kazma absorbed by him along with millions (and millions) of other avatars all hope seems lost but they figure out Love Machine likes to play games so they setup a casino where Natsuki challenges him in a game of hanafuda and wager accounts. Yeah I forgot to mention the family loves to play hanafuda. While I admit it’s an interesting card game (yeah the fate of world all comes to down a card game. Starting to sound like another popular anime series) the film doesn’t take the time to properly explain how the game is played or how you win so throughout the film you’re constantly asking yourself what just happened. I’m sure the likely excuse for this is just not enough time but still this is a major part of the film so they really should have took the time to explain the game properly. It’s like if I played someone in a game of Yu-gi-oh who hasn’t played the game or seen the show. Sure you would know the rules and all but that person wouldn’t and it wouldn’t be fun for both parties (scene here: //youtu.be/5nlS8KU6p4o, I have no idea what the hell is going on). Natsuki continues to win but Love Machine turns things around and she can’t meet the minimum bet number until an Internet miracle happens and everyone in the world gives Natsuki their accounts so she can stay in the game. Even the guardians of Oz lend a helping hand (about damn time) giving her an unnecessary transformation scene making her stronger (Sailor Moon logic go: //youtu.be/GT-rBIVnrRk) and she beats Love Machine (we did it granny! We beat that motherfucker! Mission accomplished). But Love Machine is a sore loser and uses the last of his accounts to direct a satellite to their house and have it crash down on them (that son of a bitch). Kenji logs into the infrastructure of the satellite to get it to change its course a little but Love Machine keeps changing the encryption code until King Kazma comes back and gives him possibly one of most epic Falcon Punches I’ve ever seen destroying him entirely. Kenji solves the final encryption code (in his head mind you) and is able to redirect the satellite away from the house and have it crash somewhere else where it finds a hotspring (well good to know some good came out of this). We end with the family celebrating Sakae’s birthday/funeral, Natsuki kissing Kenji and the two becoming a couple (//youtu.be/2UCmYyta_O8, that picture of Sakae laughing is just perfect).
Final Thoughts
So that was Summer Wars and it is awesome. I can see why so many people like this film so much. It has the right blend of action, comedy, drama, and suspense that just makes for a great movie to watch. While I admit the story is good I don’t like how it’s basically the Digimon movie done correctly. Like I said before the story is better and fits better in the situation but I don’t know in the back of my mind I keep expecting the Digimon to show and just fight Love Machine. I’m also not a big of Natsuki and Kenji. They’re not bad characters but they’re just not strong leads or a couple. Kenji falls into the cliché anime guy who doesn’t have a lot of confidence in himself and a total wuss around girls. As much as I make fun of him for being a math nerd for him to crack encryption codes using math and cracking them in his mind is pretty damn cool. Natsuki is just a weird girl. I like how she’s strong and independent that part of her is good but the girl had a crush on her uncle since kindergarten. If he had been the local neighbor boy who acted like a big brother to her when they were kids and left some time ago but was a good friend of the family I be okay with that, that would actually make more sense and it would be somewhat cute but instead it’s her uncle and it’s messed up. I also don’t like how the two get together at the end. There was very little interaction between them we never got a chance to see them talk or hang around with each other to get to know each other better and see sides of the other they thought they never had. While I’m sure they’ll make a good couple I don’t like how the film handled the romance aspect of their relationship it could have been done so much better.
Besides those two characters the rest of the characters are great. I love this family. To me, they are driving force of this entire film. If you watch any video or read any reviews about this film the one thing you’re gonna see every reviewer praise is the family they are the strongest and weakest point in the film. They’re the weakest in that they never really change, they remain the same throughout the majority of the film except for Wabisuke but other than him the family has no major character development. But that’s also their strongest point. They don’t change just like a real family they’re very realistic. Whenever I look at the family I see my family. We got the loud relatives drinking, laughing, and telling stories, the young cousins playing and causing trouble, and that one relative you can’t stand or consider an outcast but you can never turn your back on them because they’re family and family sticks together through thick and thin. Sakae was hands down my favorite character in this entire film. She is just great, she has this aura of power around her. She is in control, when she talks you listen, and when she tells you to do something you do it. Even when she dies she still exits on an impactful note, you literally feel sad that she’s gone as if it was your own grandmother or relative that died and the film handles her death excellently even in the aftermath of her death when she leaves that impactful message saying how she wants the family to forgive Wabisuke and how her life was never filled with loneliness or sadness because of them. That really pulls at the heartstrings. The music is great and the animation can be split into two categories. The first is the typical Mamoru-sensei animation that we see through a majority of the film and I’m not really a big fan of this animation style. Its okay I guess but I just never really liked how the characters were drawn they just look odd to me. The other animation is the animation for Oz which is amazing. It’s bright, colorful, and beautiful even. The avatars are creative, the fight scenes while only a few are done excellently and the idea of Oz is pretty cool and something I would love to see in the world. I highly doubt it’s gonna happen because just like this film showed us if somebody were to hack into Oz it be disastrous but I think with a few tweaks here and there it could work out.
Final Score
The final score for Summer Wars is a high score of 8.5/10 with a much deserved must watch stamp of approval. This really is one of the best anime films out there and one of few anime films outside of Studio Ghibli that I really enjoyed. For all the jokes I make about the film it’s one I highly recommend worth checking out. You will love every minute of it and find yourself coming back to watch it multiple times in the future. And speaking of jokes I’ve been sitting on this one long enough take it away Miracles, //youtu.be/QmVa2jRFhC0 *Nitsuj gets up and starts dancing*. Thanks for reading, enjoy your summer, and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
*All images, photos, music, and videos are not mine and belong to their respected owners*
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