Summer Wars REVIEW [Talkisoba]

I only developed the thing. It isn't like I told it what to do. I'm sorry. I couldn't... What won't do you any good? You better work for an answer. Why is all this happening? I'm not scared. Never turn your back on family. Especially when times are rough. Hey guys, welcome to the 25th episode of Takusoba with our review for Summer Wars. I'm your anime master, Moles. As always here with my anime casual, Nate. Summer Wars is one of my all-time favorite anime films and I was happy to watch it again for this review. What did you think of it, Nate? I thought it was a good film, but I didn't like it that much personally. I had high hopes for this film since I really liked The Girl Who Left Through Time, which was directed and produced by the same people, but this film's story didn't really grab me. I thought it was a little contrived and I just didn't really have an emotional reaction. Let's get right into that story. Summer Wars came out in theaters in August 2009. It takes place in modern Japan that is dominated by a virtual world called Oz. In Oz, you can do practically everything from going shopping to playing some games, practically everything on the internet you can do. Our main character, Kenji, is a part-time monitor for Oz who was invited by his crush Naotsuki to join her on her trip to visit her great-grandmother on one secret condition. When Kenji arrives, Naotsuki suddenly reveals that Kenji must pretend to be her fiancé to appease her great-grandma. Kenji is taken aback and begs Naotsuki to give up on the charade. However, Naotsuki wants to keep up the act and she made a promise to her great-grandmother that she'd bring back a fiancé next time she saw her. Kenji reluctantly accepts the condition. From this point on, it becomes a sweet young romance with comedic elements, though it would take a turn when trouble happens in Oz. The entire story revolves around the theme of family. There was no shortage of cheesy moments with the family activities, as along with Naotsuki's great-grandmother, Kenji gets to meet Naotsuki's entire extended family, which makes for a lot of interaction. However, things take a turn for the worse when the world of Oz gets attacked. It causes real-world chaos due to the fact that the entire nation of Japan relies on Oz for everything including serious things like monitoring health and infrastructure. This is why I consider the story contrived. It sets up a world that uses one single online service by one single company as a catch-all for an impossibly large number of tasks. This makes just one point of failure, causing harm to people in the real world who rely on Oz. And bizarrely, Oz is not just a cloud service or a web portal. It's like the Matrix, and contains a simulated world that includes physics, leading to fight sequences within Oz. It was pretty silly, and I just thought that it was too wacky for me to feel emotionally invested in the more serious parts of the story. As previously stated, the main characters are Kenji and Naotsuki, two high school students. Kenji is a huge math nerd, and moderates Oz with his equally nerdy friend, Takeshi. Kenji has a crush on Naotsuki, but he is very socially awkward, and he struggles with that really long family gathering. I actually felt some embarrassment and awkwardness through the screen, because I can kind of relate to Kenji a bit. Kenji is a bit of a weak character, and his math skills are a bit overpowered when he miraculously helps save Oz, but his heart is in the right place, so he's alright. The most important character for Naotsuki's family is her great-grandmother, who is the head of the family and has a very commanding role in the family gathering. Much of the characters in the family are not explored in depth, because there are simply way too many of them, and this is just one film, but they were a very charismatic bunch. I'll let Malesh talk about a couple of the more prolific family members. One of the major characters is Wabisuke, the black sheep of the family, due to him being adopted. He also borrowed tons of money from his family to fund various activities while he studied abroad. He comes back after 10 years to reveal that he's actually made back the money he borrowed, but he did so by shady means. Wabisuke gets the most development out of all the family characters. He also acts as the pseudo-villain for Summer Wars. I liked his character and enjoyed seeing him become a better human being. Another family member of importance is Kazuma, a young boy who is considered a martial arts legend within Oz. He aids Kenji in defending Oz from his devastating attack. Now let's talk about the animation and art style. Summer Wars was animated by Madhouse Studios, who have animated tons of great TV and films. The films show the director of The Girl Who Lived Through Time and Wolf Children, Mamoru Hosoda. His works have a distinct art style, which uses simpler character designs. However, the characters still look great and have wonderful expressions. Madhouse did an excellent job of this film in every aspect. The fight scenes had fluidity, being off the charts, and even the CGI used looked natural. Madhouse is one of the best animation studios ever, so come as no surprise, with a film budget, they make everything look incredible. I'm also a huge fan of anything Madhouse, and I agree this film looked great. It had so many amazing colors and beautiful background and scenery illustrations. The CGI was used interestingly in the Oz world, but nothing too special. The visual style was pretty much identical to The Girl Who Lived Through Time, which is a movie I loved. This is a great film to look at overall. Now let's talk about the great soundtrack and voice acting. I really enjoyed this soundtrack. It had a lot of upbeat, lighthearted tracks that really made me enjoy the film more. There were also some very powerful and dramatic pieces that fit the tone for every scene. This soundtrack enhanced the film in a perfect manner. I, too, loved the soundtrack. The composer Akihiko Matsumoto created brilliant pieces that fit with every scene in the film. I watched the English dub, which was marvelous as well. All the voice actors killed it in their roles, especially Pam Doherty, who voiced Nausie's great-grandma. The end credits scene was also an enjoyable experience. This was a huge production for Madhouse, so Warner Bros. hooked us up with an excellent English cast. It was great all around, and it features the man, the myth, the legend, J. Michael Tatum. What else can I say? Overall, I've got a lot of positive things to say about this film. I just didn't like it that much. The story was written well, but I'm just not one to care about family. I felt that some of the dramatic moments clashed with the cheesier moments. The movie comes off as a light romance with sci-fi elements, but it falls a bit short in both those areas, leaving it a bit too focused on family bonds for my tastes. I also found the most dramatic moment too predictable. But, if you like stories about families coming together through hardships, then this is a great anime film that I would recommend to everybody. When I first watched Summoner Wars last year, I fell in love with it right away. I loved the theme of family. Rewatching it was a blast as well. It also reminded me of the Digimon movie, which makes sense because its actors are the same. If you love any movies about family, and if you also like the Digimon movie, I would totally recommend Summoner Wars. Summoner Wars can't be streamed, but you can rent it on Amazon or Vudu. The Blu-ray is modestly priced as well. As always, if you've already watched Summoner Wars, click the first link in the description for our post-review discussion, which includes some light spoilers. Thanks for watching our review of Summoner Wars. Please give it a like or comment for feedback. We'll see you guys next time with a review of the anime, Golden Time. Ciao!