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Review: Summer Wars (Hyb)

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Summer Wars by Mamoru Hosoda and Madhouse

Medium: Anime Film
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Studio: Madhouse
Genre: Romance, Science Fiction
Publishers: Kadokawa Group (JPN), FUNimation (NA)
Release Dates: 2009 (JP), 2011 (US)
Age Rating: PG (MPAA: action violence, some suggestion content, language, mild thematic material, and incidental smoking)

With every new season, the saturation of anime series continues to expand. If your tastes are fairly broad, there is plenty to keep yourself occupied with from currently running shows and a backlog spanning several decades. For theatrical films, however, the market is significantly thinner. If you don't count films based off of an anime series — original plots or condensed story arcs — the choices are rather limited. The big names are Ghibli, Otomo, Oshii, Kon, and Shinkai. Tragically, Satoshi Kon has passed away which will leave a noticeable void in Japan's animated film output. Otomo's last works include the disappointing Steamboy and oddball live action Mushi-shi adaptation. Shinkai is hard at work on a film that seems to be a (welcome) departure from his usual fare. Miyazaki and Takahata aren't getting any younger, and man cannot live on Ghibli alone. Thankfully, 2006 saw the release of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time as the feature length debut of Mamoru Hosoda. He went on to direct Summer Wars in 2009, establishing himself as a key industry director.

Kenji Koiso, a high school student and mathematics enthusiast, is recruited by a girl at his school to help her out with some job. Despite his current part-time work with the infrastructure of virtual-reality super-network OZ, he decides to help her out without asking details. He helps carry her things as they travel to the traditional Japanese family mansion to celebrate her grandmother's 90th birthday. The girl, Natsuki Shinohara, asks Kenji to play along as she announces him as her fiance to her grandma. He now finds himself in the awkward position of being a pseudo-newcomer to this tight-nit and very large family descended from a warrior clan. During his first night there, he receives an email with a large string of characters that he is asked to decrypt by an unknown entity. Being almost Japan's representative for the Math Olympics, he wastes no time in pulling out some paper to work out the problem, which takes him all night. What he did not realize is that he was being asked to break the security that would breach the main OZ server, and in the morning he finds that his account is being used by the hacker to cause chaos in OZ. With most major government and official institutions being dependent on OZ, the hacker is able to cause damage not only online, but in physical space by taking over the person's privileges. For example, by obtaining the account of the president it would be possible to launch a nuclear missile.

The main cast of Summer Wars

Kenji discovers that one of the family members, Kazuma Ikezawa, is the infamous OZ gaming champion King Kazma. The pair find themselves in a battle against a dangerous artificial intelligence being tested by the US Army within OZ. Meanwhile family drama arises as the problems online are connected to the family in ways they did not expect.

Beyond the themes of online action, what lies at the heart of Summer Wars is a thoughtful portrayal of family life. The members of Natsuki's massive family all believe Kenji to be her fiancé, and welcome him to the family in different ways. Hosoda relates his own experiences from when he suddenly became a member of a family due to marriage through Kenji's awkwardness at being accepted into their close group. Indeed, the closest thing to a human villain in the story is the one family member who drifted away from the rest and went to America. The two major aspects to the story — family life and Internet action — seamlessly intertwine, and neither is pushed into the background or feel tacked on to the other. Summer Wars is ambitious in the broadness of its scope, but this natural connection is what really makes the story stand out. If anything, it is much more realistic. In Summer Wars, world-changing events are caused from computers sitting in the middle of a traditional Japanese mansion, not an underground hacker cave with fifty monitors and a nonsensical cooling unit. The heroes are awkward mathematicians, well-connected grandmas, and working class dads with years of video game experience, as opposed to trenchcoat-wearing dudes with BitTorent and bad attitudes. (See: every movie about hackers ever to compare)

One of the most common complaints made toward Summer Wars is criticism of its technical inaccuracy. The story revolves around an incredibly advanced Internet structure, called OZ, that can be connected to through all types of devices and thus has became an extremely integral part of business, culture, and communication. Users create avatars and are able to interact over OZ in various ways: chatting, shopping, business, learning, etc. Additionally, languages are instantly translated to allow communication with anyone. Even the least technically minded viewer can see that it is an unrealistic view of the Internet. This leads to many lumping it together with WarGames and Hackers with their over the top, glamorized distortion of real technological advancements. However, this is completely missing the point of the story. Summer Wars may not be realistic in its details, but that is not the point. It is an exaggerated stylization of computer communications and should be treated as such. Like much good science fiction, it is able to make very relevant points that concern real world technology in a highly fictionalized setting.

One of our first views of the Superflat world of OZ

A major theme of Summer Wars is communication. OZ's primary function, like the internet, it to connect people and services from all over. The film demonstrated both the dangers of over-reliance on digital networking, as well as celebrating the positive aspects of everyone being able to work together towards a goal. The theme goes beyond modern technology; the grandma was able to use contacts from a lifetime to make phone calls and encourage family members and important decision makers to take action during the crisis. Throughout the movie, communication is key in solving problems — online and off.

One aspect that many viewers should be able to relate to is the contrast between the characters taking initiative and using their computers to fight the AI, and the other relatives who can't understand why they are wasting their time with “video games” during this time. For Kazuma, Kenji, and the dads who pooled their resources together, nothing is as important as stopping that threat inside OZ. They realize, especially after what just took place in their own lives, that what goes on in the wires does affect what goes on the “real world”. It isn't until tragedy is -literally- looming over their heads that the non-techie relatives finally realize the gravity of the situation.

Hosoda touches on plenty of scenarios throughout the movie that could have been pulled straight from Slashdot. Compromised users were being assured that the security was impenetrable even after the hacking took place. Online accounts held enough power that stealing their account granted the hacker the user's government privileges. A dangerous artificial intelligence program was developed which questioned the responsibility of the developer who didn't actually implement it himself. A hacker was causing problems through an account that had been taken over, leading to the arrest of the innocent true owner of the avatar. While the movie itself may be an implausible action movie with pseudo-technological workings, the points it makes are often grounded in reality. The actual computer use is done in a way that can be approachable to the average person, but the technically inclined viewer should be able to appreciate its themes with a deeper understanding. Instead of seeing it as dumbed down or inaccurate, I adored the stylization of the Internet and artistic interpretation of technical concepts through Superflat imagery. The last thing I would have wanted is if it became an Nmap documentary.

The characters all have cartoony online avatars

Summer Wars has very impressive production values with smooth, detailed animation and a high degree of artistic merit. Two distinct art styles are used to easily distinguish the real world and OZ: The real life characters are designed by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, whose work contains the same appeal and quality that he is known for, and I've noticed since The Girl Who Leapt Through Time that his style has become even more distinct and refined. The background artwork is composed of beautiful countryside scenery and convincing realistic settings. The visuals are extremely detailed, which provides a noticeable contrast to the Superflat style used in OZ. This style, mostly associated with the work of Haruki Murakami, is frequently used in Hosoda's work and has been become a trademark of his style. Even his work with Digimon incorporated a very similar (if less ambitious) Superflat world for the Digimon to fight in. Summer Wars takes it to a new level, with a fantastic stylized world with bright, flat colours against a largely pure white canvas. I've always been a big fan of the Superflat style, and Summer Wars delivered a truly spectacular example of the craft.

Hosoda has obviously been holding onto this premise for a while — after all, his work with Digimon uses almost the same plot. In Digimon: Our War Game, a virus-type Digimon is infecting all of technology through the Internet and causing chaos by manipulating everything it can. Some of the first season's cast meet up to stop the threat by sitting at their computers and working with their Digimon partners who are battling inside a Superflat-style online world. The conclusion practically mirrors that of Summer Wars with the virus launching a nuclear missile (the possibility of this was even alluded to in Summer Wars, I'm assuming as a reference). In the end, people around the world send emails in support of the Digimon. There are so many emails that Izzy/Izumi forwards them to the virus who is then slowed down (DDoS?) enough for them to finish it off. It is good to see that Hosoda was eventually able to fully flesh out the concept with the experience he has gained since then.

I absolutely love this film. It follows a fairly typical action blockbuster formula, but with a level of craftsmanship, intelligence, and social satire that elevates it above the expectations of the genre. I have no doubt that there will be criticism of its typical action film influences, but it really does Summer Wars a disservice to lump it with the mindless action film crowd. If anything, it takes the elements that makes such films so entertaining, but loses the pedestrian brainlessness associated with them. Instead, it presents a thoughtful, realistic, and charming portrayal of family life in addition to the cyber-warfare action plot. Summer Wars is a film that embraces a video gaming, highly connected culture and equally the importance of everyday family life. It is a near-perfect representation of the joys of living in the information age, presented in a wildly unique and enjoyable package.

Kenji and Natsuki share a quiet moment

[Highly Recommended]



This review is based on a retail Blu-ray disc purchased by the reviewer.

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Ani-Gamers Podcast #035 – Trying To Keep This Short (Lies)

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Toriko on the cover of Weekly Shonen Jump

Hosts: Evan "Vampt Vo" Minto, Bradley C. Meek, Ink
Topics: Reading E-mails, What'cha Been Doing?

Been fighting back withdrawal symptoms due to the lack of Ani-Gamers Podcasts of late? Well we're back to help you out, now that my crazy semester is finally over. Will we continue to put out episodes in any timely fashion? We sure hope so! Anyway, this episode features Ink as a co-host once again, but it also features Bradley C. Meek, who's been trying to get on this podcast for months. (We were happy to have him, but I had to find time to record!)

Next episode, Bradley, Ink, and I will be discussing the Spice & Wolf anime. That should be up within the next week or two.

Check out show notes and links after the break.

DIRECT DOWNLOAD - RSS Feed - iTunes - Send us Feedback! - More episodes


(Runtime: 1 hour, 17 minutes)


[00:00] Welcome back to the podcast, everyone!

[00:12] Opening Song: "Anime" by Soulja Boy

[00:30] Introductions!

[01:03] We read an e-mail from Nick Korn (from Oleetku Studios) regarding Ani-Gamers Podcast #032 – The Art of Active Viewing (ANext2010).

[10:23] Bradley has been playing Portal 2 (which Evan hasn't been playing, so we don't spoil it), Heroes of Newearth, Minecraft, Heroes of Might & Magic, Half-Life 2, and more.

[11:55] Bradley is playing the Diablo clone Din's Curse.

[17:23] Evan's been reading Otaku: Japan's Database Animals by Hiroki Azuma.

[27:47] Ink is planning on reading Getting Wet: Adventures in the Japanese Bath by Eric Talmadge (recommended by Kathryn Hemmann).

[29:18] Ink is also playing Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands.

[36:27] Evan passes the ball to Bradley, who has been watching the Spring 2011 anime season. Ink's been watching some of the shows as well, while Evan isn't watching any of them. SAD FACE.

[37:57] Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai (Tatsuyuki Nagai, A-1 Pictures)

[42:07] Blue Exorcist (Tensai Okamura, A-1 Pictures)

[44:25] [C] The Money and Soul of Possibility Control (Kenji Nakamura, Tatsunoko Production)

[47:10] Deadman Wonderland (Koichi Hatsumi, Manglobe)

[52:14] Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko (Akiyuki Shinbo, SHAFT)

[54:59] Hanasaku Iroha (Masahiro Ando, P.A. Works)

[59:39] Dog Days (Keizou Kusakawa, Seven Arcs)

[1:02:17] Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera (Yoshitomo Yonetani, Brains Base)

[1:04:38] Kaiji Season 2 (Yuzo Sato, Madhouse)

[1:05:27] Nichijou (Tatsuya Ishihara, Kyoto Animation)

[1:09:54] Tiger & Bunny (Keiichi Satou, Sunrise)

[1:12:39] Toriko (Akifumi Zako, Toei)

[1:14:11] And after an exhausting rundown of the Spring 2011 anime season, we're done! Check out everybody's Twitters (Ani-Gamers, Evan, Bradley, and Ink), review us on iTunes, send us an e-mail, and leave us comments! All that good stuff.

[1:16:25] Ending Song: "Anime" by Soulja Boy

[1:16:45] Garfield Minus Garfield.

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Con Report: Castle Point Anime Convention 2011 @ Stevens Institute

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April 10, 2011
Stevens Institute of Technology
Hoboken, NJ, USA


Ed. Note: My bad! Here's the (very late) Castle Point report — the lateness is all my fault, not Ink's!

Castle Point Anime Convention (CPAC) at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken was the first anime con I ever attended in my home-state of good ol’ Nieu Joisy (and perhaps the second con I ever went to outside of my first Otakon). It was also where I first met Evan Minto of Ani-Gamers fame, who launched me into this high-profile world of aniblogging. While it remains a small, one-day con, the 2011 incarnation of CPAC has experienced very clear growth as seen via its inter-building pathway traffic and increased panel attendance.

This year promised a decent selection of panels, which I generally look forward to most at any con. Spread out between 3 rooms, there was always some title of interest with which to whittle away the span of the con via one- to two-hour sessions. Immediately, however, the first panel I was looking forward to, “Otaku on a Budget,” was cancelled. CPAC staff was on the proverbial ball and made sure audiences didn’t wait around in false hope, but this event ended up foreshadowing my overall panel experience.


The substitute first panel – “Lost in Adaptation,” which addressed inter-medium inadequacies – was lacking in anime examples and focused instead on video games. This was fine given the inclusive nature of anime cons as well as the highly transitory nature of the videogame medium, but the proverbial straw that broke the panel’s back was that the host called Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within a GOOD movie ... not to mention his unreasonable assertion of its claim to the “first occurrence of a space marine.” While he tried to tackle differences of various examples with humor, redundancy made of his pre-programmed wit little more than an annoying and stuttered rant.

“Otaku Culture 101,” the second panel I attended, was definitely not what I was expecting but in a very good way. It focused on the Tohou and Vocaloid aspects of Otakudom, things with which I was and still am not very familiar. I left early, however, as watching the panelist play video games and video game videos, without relevantly linking together cultural poignancies, seemed ... well, pointless. As explained to me later, the panelist did manage to tie together some relevancies at the end.

The unexpected pinnacle of my panel-going experience was the arbitrary attendance of the most academic-sounding offering on the schedule: “Asian Ball-Jointed Dolls as Visual Culture.” Despite the panelist’s seemingly creepy and frequent doll caressing, there were offered up multiple vantages on and aspects of the appreciation of said hobby as well as a rather adept examination of external media bias towards it (review/summary forthcoming).

Trying to end the panel experience on a happy note, I attended “Jawdropping Moments in Anime.” Two words: editing needed. Even if you forgive the showing of the entire Naruto Sports Festival episode, the subsequently selected clips could’ve been shortened with no adverse effect to the intended shocking/humorous situations, which were, to the panelist’s credit, decently chosen from fairly mainstream series. The only thing that made my experience lackluster, however, was that I saw this clip-show last year and, aside from a couple of new inclusions from anime I’ve already seen, everything was regurgitated and consequently seemed neither shocking nor worth more than an inconsequential chuckle of acknowledgement.

On the whole, CPAC staff and organization were superb. Room schedule postings and amendments were clear, and there were people at every turn to help attendees get wherever it was they were going. The space allotted for the combined Dealer’s Room and Artist’s Alley, moved from one gym to another on the evidently athletically oriented Stevens campus, was more than spacious enough to accommodate the traffic without necessitating the insult of the staggered wait lines of yesteryear. Also, tabletop and electronic gaming rooms offered a decent selection given their respective allotted areas, and video rooms were offering an eclectic mix of accessible anime. Additionally, I have to say that my inner-otaku regrets not having my picture taken with a maid at the newly instituted Tenshi No Ai Maid Café! or attending Cosplay Chess, especially as this year saw a significant increase in cosplayers.

All-in-all, despite disappointing panels and my own event choices, CPAC, which attracted such voice talent as Michelle Knotz, Bill Rogers, and Mike Pollock, still managed to serve up a decent, otaku-themed Sunday getaway from the everyday. The experience would not have ended on such a copacetic note, however, if not for dinner and discussion with Alain (Hisui of the Reverse Thieves duo) at the Japanese restaurant, Robongi. That conversation seemed to fill in everything CPAC panels left out.  I think, for next year, problems with panels could be well on their way to being solved by listening to suggestions on the CPAC forum's Guest Wishlist thread and inviting Charles Dunbar as well as the aforementioned Reverse Thieves.

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