A student tries to fix a problem he accidentally caused in OZ, a digital world, while pretending to be the fiancé of his friend at her grandmother's 90th birthday.A student tries to fix a problem he accidentally caused in OZ, a digital world, while pretending to be the fiancé of his friend at her grandmother's 90th birthday.A student tries to fix a problem he accidentally caused in OZ, a digital world, while pretending to be the fiancé of his friend at her grandmother's 90th birthday.
- Awards
- 10 wins & 5 nominations total
- Kenji Koiso
- (voice)
- (as Ryûnosuke Kamiki)
- Yorihiko Jin'nouchi
- (voice)
- (as Tanaka Yôji)
- Naomi Miwa
- (voice)
- Kiyomi Ikezawa
- (voice)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMamoru Hosoda completed all 500 pages of storyboards for the film at Denny's, working in hugely long 12 and 16-hour shifts.
- GoofsThe coordinates shown on screen by the satellite probe would put the castle more than 53 kilometers away from the center of Ueda-city and wouldn't even be in the Nagano-prefecture. It would then be the closest to the Agatsuma district in the Gunma prefecture.
- Quotes
Sakae Jinnouchi: Never turn your back on family, even when they hurt you. Never let life get the better of you. And if you remember nothing else, remember to find time to eat together as a family. Even when times are rough; especially when times are rough. There's no lack of painful things in this world, but hunger and loneliness must surely be two of the worst.Thanks to you, my precious family, I didn't know a moment of either of those the last ninety years.
- ConnectionsFeatured in JesuOtaku Anime Reviews: Summer Wars (2011)
- SoundtracksBokura no Natsu no Yume
(Our Summer Dream)
Lyrics, Music, Arrangement & Performance by Tatsurô Yamashita
Courtesy of Warner Music Japan
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.
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Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $80,768
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $1,412
- Dec 26, 2010
- Gross worldwide
- $18,434,328
- Runtime1 hour 54 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1